No Fracking Way Imagine a world where fresh and clear water was a luxury. Imagine water so contaminated with chemicals that every plant it comes into contact with dies. As the trees begin to die, oxygen levels drop. As the vegetation dies, wildlife begins to die out. The polluted water which flows through the ground into wells causes instant contamination. As the water flows out of the sink, one can strike a match and light the liquid on fire. Showering in these chemicals is out of the question. Fresh water has become a comfort, rather than a given. Could planet Earth survive this existence? If hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, were deemed legal, this question may be put to the test. Fracking is a process in which chemicals, sand and water are used in “high volumes… to fracture gas-bearing layers of rock” (Dolesh 2). As the rock breaks, natural gas is released and then collected to be used as energy. The United States is currently sitting on a gold mine of natural gas which could stimulate our ever declining economy. The question is what price are we willing to pay for a temporary fix? Fracking is a dangerous process that should be deemed illegal due to its harmful short and long-term environmental effects. Before one can see the devastating effects of fracking, one must first understand how fracking works. As previously stated, the main intent of hydro-fracking is to access and harvest natural gas that lies below the surface of the Earth. Having formed over 400 million years ago by the collision of tectonic plates (Marsa 3), the Marcellus Shale plays host to a gold mine of natural gas, which is currently at the center of the fracking debate in the Northeastern region of the United States. Unfortunately, access... ... middle of paper ... ...er, Cyril Josh. “Fracking Up: New York State Continues The Debate Over Gas Extraction Process.” New York Amsterdam News (2011): 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Nov. 2011. Dolesh, Richard “Fracktured Parks.” Parks & Recreation 46.6 (2011): 56-61. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Marsa, Linda. “Fracking Nation.” Discover 32.4 (2011): 62-70. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011. Morriss III, James C., and Christopher D. Smith. “The Shales And Shale-Nots: Environmental Regulation Of Natural Gas Development. (Cover Story).” Energy Litigation Journal 9.4 (2010): 1-23. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. Peltier, Robert. “Fracking Problems.” Power 155.8 (2011): 6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. Rahman, Hashim. “New York Puts Fracking On Hold.” Planning 77.2 (2011): 4. Academic Search Complete. Web. 4 Nov. 2011.
In the video “Fracking Hell: The Untold Story” by Link TV explains how natural gas has been a huge problem not only for the earth in general but for everyone and everything living in it. The video explains how North East of Pennsylvania is having difficulties to conserve a healthy environment and people. North East of Pennsylvania is the main sources to extract gas and send it throughout the United States for gasoline and so on. However, this action is wonderful for the cost of gas, but has a huge impact on the environment and the people living in Pennsylvania. A lot of people in this state are worried having health issues because everything is not usable is being thrown out to the rivers where they get their fresh water.
Fracking can cause harm to people, animals, and nature. When they drill into the ground they are pumping chemicals to extract the gas and oil, and this contaminates the water sources around it. “An editorial on gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale in the Post-Star, a newspaper in Glens Falls, New York, contends, “New York state simply can’t take the risk. There are plenty of places to find fuel. It’s not so easy to find a new water supply for 17 million people.”” (Hydrofracking
In the past couple of years the word fracking has been prevalent in the media whether its been mentioned in the news or in the movie Matt Damon stared in titled “Promised Land”. Many people know it as a method of extracting gas from the earth and don’t inquire further into what hydraulic fracturing actually is. Before the process is explained we should understand why it has become prevalent in the last decade. The reason Hydraulic fracturing has become so popular in the last couple of years is because of the passage of the energy policy act of 2005, which contained the Halliburton loophole. The Halliburton loophole stripped the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing (New York Times 2009). Allowing Hydraulic Fracturing allowed companies to finally access the abundant sources of natural gas legally. This act made it possible to access the vast amounts of natural gas contained in the Marcellus Shale, which created a boom in hydraulic fracturing. What exactly is hydraulic fracturing? Hydraulic fracturing is a method of extracting oil and gas, that is not accessible by conventional drilling methods. The process, injects chemically treated water and sand at high pressures into shale rock to release the oil and gas (Pritchard 2013).
“Should fracking be used to release oil and natural gas?” First what is fracking? Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc., so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. Since the Industrial Revolution the amount of energy consumption has risen rapidly. In the method of fracking, porous rock is fractured by the use of water, sand and chemicals in order to release the gas stored inside. So the question is should people still continue to use fracking or not? Let's look at some pros and cons.The method of fracking has been around since the 1940’s.According to source c “Over 60% of all new oil and gas wells are drilled by using fracking”. This shows how long and effective
Fracking is a bad idea for the U.S because it may be causing water pollution. When fracking continues to
Have you ever seen a brown lake, that is horribly polluted. Some of that pollution has come from fracking. The articles Poverty and fracking, What the Frack, and The Costs of Fracking support how fracking hurts the environment. Keep in mind fracking also do much more than pollute lakes, they can pollute our drinking water. Unless you want the US to go through poverty, to pay millions of dollars to clean drinking water, and to use free as fracking sites you should stop fracking once and for all!
In the 1980’s, Americans thought that the decline of natural gases and oils was an irreversible impact (Davis 178). This led us to be dependent on other countries and pay them to provide us with these goods. However, with fracking being readily available, we can become less dependent on other countries to supply us with what we need (Davis 178). Today, fracking accounts for 56 percent of the natural gas we use and 48 percent of the oil, as recorded by the EPA (Davis 178). Fracking has caused the United States to be not just one of the top producers in the world, but the top producer (Davis 178). Researchers, scientists and even experts believe that fracking will send us on our way to being energy independent (Davis 179).
What is Hydraulic Fracking? The process of extracting oil and gas by using the fracking technique. Which includes drilling at a horizontal direction into the ground to create a path underground in rock’s that allows the gas to escape. In recent discussion of the issues concerning fracking is the cause and effect that the process of fracking has on the environment including: communities, farms, water wells, earthquakes, and air pollution.
Imagine a desolate world where all your drinking water is infected. The ground underneath your feet slowly is deteriorating away and the air is always filled with pollutants, until you can barely breathe.Soon the rain will be acid. Soon this will be our reality. The United States of America, the “the greatest nation in the world,” won't be as great as people say. What is going to be our demise? Fracking. This is a major problem that can happen sooner than you think. Fracking will soon turn this nation into the worst nation in the world. “The fluids used in fracking (and the wastewater that comes back up the well) is disposed of by injecting it into wells deep underground. This is generally the safest, most cost-efficient way to get rid of it. But in some parts of
The contaminated water is used for drinking water in local communities. There have been over thousands of documented cases of water contamination near fracking areas as well as cases of sensory, respiratory and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water. New York Times reported that it obtained thousands of internal documents from the EPA, state regulators and fracking companies, which reveal that "the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle."A single well can produce more than a million gallons of wastewater, which contains radioactive elements like radium and carcinogenic hydrocarbons like benzene. In addition, methane concentrations are a lot higher in drinking-water wells near fracking sites than in normal wells. And theses agents have had reported cases of Only 30-50 percent of the fracturing fluid is recovered; the rest is left in the ground and is not biodegradable.“We’re burning the furniture to heat the house,” said John H. Quigley, former secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. “In shifting away from coal and toward natural gas,
Fracking has become a highly controversial and publicized topic due to rising concerns and growing analysis into the mutual benefits of hydraulic fracturing to retrieve natural gas and oil reserves. With concerns of water pollution, mismanagement of toxic waste and irreversible
I believe it is absolutely appropriate to hold library directors at a higher standard from other non-administrative library employees. If we take the fracking example above from question two, the library director has the responsibility to set the tone of his or her institution in order to give back to the community, whether it is information, resources, or a safe place for discussion. As Prentice (2013) states, “The leader sets the tone or the organization and serves as a role model of integrity which includes showing respect to the organization and its values and for others both inside and outside the organization” (p. 98). As for a DUI or petty theft conviction, it would be exceedingly difficult for a library director to bounce back into
Numerous reports have been given on the dangerous affects of hydraulic fracturing. One such affect that has been noticed is that drinking water wells near the fracturing sites have been contaminated. During the hydro-fracking process, injected fluids that help to break and keep open the rock bed where the natural gas is kept, have “been known to travel three thousand feet from the well (Goldman).” This fluid could have the potential to enter and contaminate any water well for homes around hydraulic fracturing sites. This incident is one of the major problems that people want to figure out and know about before they allow a fracturing site by them. It has been the most feared outcome of having a fracking site nearby, and it is highly appropriate. One site in Wyoming had this happen, “…in August, EPA reported that eleven of thirty-nine drinking-water wells near a Wyoming hydraulic fracturing operation were contaminated with chemicals used in the fracturing process (Hobson EPA).” In Pennsylvania, another such case occurred, “There have already been severe pollution cases in Pennsylvania, mo...
Ever since knowledge of fracking has entered the common domains, people have been bombarded with arguments for or against the process. Fracking is a process in which a drill is used to drill into the earth and extremely high-pressure water, combined with sand and chemicals, is used to force natural gas out of the ground to be used in any number of ways. The article being analyzed in this instance is firmly within the anti-fracking camp. Unfortunately, the article is also very much unreasonable mostly for the lack of evidence for its claims.
I am writing to you regarding the important environmental issue of fracking, in the hope that you, as the New Zealand environmental minister, will make a change. Fracking is a hydraulic process that is used to get oil and gas out of rocks by shooting high pressured water into the cracks. This process releases hydrocarbons that would have once been too costly and complicated to attain, and has been occurring in New Zealand for over twenty three years. Since 2003 it has been happening in thirty wells throughout the Taranaki and Waikato region. The issue is that many New Zealanders do not understand what fracking is, let alone the environmental dangers that are associated with it.