Bad for the environment is relative. If the alternative to fracking is less energy consumption, then of course fracking is bad. But in the short run that mean

Bad for the environment is relative. If the alternative to fracking is less energy consumption, then of course fracking is bad. But in the short run that means lowering the standard of living and politically that is a non-starter. If the alternative to fracking is wind+solar+nuclear, then yes fracking is probably worse. But it will take years, if not decades, to build up the green power generation capacity to replace fossil fuels. We're on our way and we should be doing more of this, but we're not there yet. In the current environment, Germany is reverting much of its energy generation from gas back to brown coal. This has far worse emissions than gas. As far as fracking goes, I'll happily accept a few earthquakes in the Dakotas over the ecological disaster that is coal. All of the choices here are bad. We still need to pick the least bad one.