Environmental activist: 'Up to the people' to stop fracking

Josh Fox, an environmental activist and director of Gasland, on Monday said that public pressure could prevent the controversial mining practice known as fracking.

"I have to believe that this is up to the people," he said on Current TV's Viewpoint. "When these great environmental laws were passed in the ’70s, it was because we had millions of people in the streets on the first Earth Day. And this is still up to the people. And this is just beginning."

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting a mixture of water and chemicals deep underground, triggering small explosions that drive gas pockets upwards.

The energy industry defends fracking as a safe method of natural gas extraction, but the U.S. Geological Survey and others in the energy industry believe that fracking, or deep underground liquid injection similar to fracking, can cause earthquakes. Others near fracking wells have detected high levels of methane in their water supplies, including several cases where water was so volatile it could be set on fire.

Fox said there was evidence that one in five of fracking wells had leaks, allowing dangerous contaminants like benzene to seep into the groundwater.

"You’re committing yourself to centuries of water treatment," he said.

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below: