Fracking In The United States: Article Analysis

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The United States as well as the rest of the world are dealing with the issue that the world supply of oil is dwindling. Ever since our peak consumption year in 2005 the United States has been a major consumer of crude oil and petroleum products. As of 2012 according to the U.S Energy Information Administration “The United States consumed 18.6 million barrels per day of petroleum products, making us the world’s largest petroleum consumer.” The U.S. has long been dependent on foreign petroleum products to meet our ever growing energy demands and consumption. With the revolutionary and controversial rise of fracking it is now possible for the United States to become a self energy sufficient country. With fracking, the proper technology and economic …show more content…

In the article “The End of Easy Everything” by Michael T. Klare he details the controversial process of how these unconventional sources of oil and gas are extracted. “To obtain gas in this manner, a powerful drill is used to reach a gas-bearing shale formation, often thousands of feet underground, and then turned sidewise to penetrate the shale layer in several directions. Then concrete is applied to the outer walls of the resulting channels, explosives are set off to penetrate the rock; then millions of gallons of water-usually laced with lubricants and toxic chemicals-are poured into the openings to fracture the stone and release the gas. The “frack” water is then pumped back up and stored on site or sent for disposal elsewhere, after which the gas is sucked out of the ground.” Although this process has only recently existed making fracking much more alluring in an article by Matt Egan “Oil Milestone: Fracking fuels half of U.S. Output” he details how the fracking revolution has taken place. “Innovation has made previously-expensive fracking much more efficient. High oil prices before and after the Great Recession lured tons of investment dollars fueling a technological revolution.” In addition the United States sits on massive shale reservoirs such as the Green River formation and the Marcellus …show more content…

Because of fracking within our nation we are experiencing an abundance of cheap natural gas that provides power for hospitals, schools, homes and mass transit systems. Because of this sudden growth and development the job market has massive opportunities available for Americans. The regions that have seen the highest growth in these opportunities are in Texas and North Dakota. Additionally North Dakota has seen the highest jump in income by 7.6 percent and the lowest unemployment rate in the United States. However what is ultimately shaping this economic boom is our dependence on fossil fuels. With the ever present dangers to the environment “fossil fuels will lead to increased emissions of greenhouse gases and an acceleration in climate change, the extraction of these materials will involve ever greater cost, danger and environmental risk as energy firms operate deeper and in more problematic rock formations (Klare).” Because of the end of easy access deposits the increase investment of time, money and resources becomes more valuable the deeper we extract and the more we choose to extract the more we pollute. The amount of resources that is invested into a single facking site is staggering. More than 8 million gallons of water can be used in a single frack and laced with over 600 chemicals. Some of these chemicals are known carcinogens and dangerous toxins that cause harm on

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