Introduction
“Hydraulic fracturing involves the use of water pressure to create fractures in rock that allow the oil and natural gas it contains to escape and flow out of a well (Energy From Shale).” Fracking has served to extract natural gas and oil where other methods would not be as successful but many environmentalists argue that fracking is affecting the environment and our drinking supply of water. Although fracking is still a controversial topic, it provides Americans jobs, increases the economy of the region, and the natural gas and oil are cleaner and more affordable source of energy. The EPA recognizes that natural gas and oil are an essential part to help our planet survive but do not want fracking to come at an expense to the public health of the citizens or to the environment.
Although there have been no intensive studies on the drinking water that could be linked to fracturing practices, many people believe it could be harmful to anyone that consumes the water. The EPA and other strong environmentalists are pushing towards more strict regulations on fracking. Contrary to that belief Dr. Charles Goat stated, “drilling for natural gas in itself doesn't pose a threat to air and water quality, if it‘s done properly.” Research has also been done that fracking has little to no impact on the groundwater. Companies also use safeguards to reduce the threat of air contamination from fracking engines and compressors. Local communities and fracking companies work together to reduce noise, traffic, and other environmental factors of fracking. Water is often recycled to use in other fracturing procedures. Fracking companies are working to make fracking less hurtful to the environment and to the local community (Energy from Shal...
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...t decades but recently the government has been more involved trying to regulate fracturing processes so that they are safe to the environment and to the people. Although fracking is not very well accepted, many believe that fracking is the only way to extract natural gas and oil efficiently. While others believe that it is harmful to the drinking supply of water and to the environment as all other extractions of natural resources are. Today states, the House of Representatives, and the Senate are all working to help minimize the effects that hydraulic fracturing has within communities and the environment by enforcing stronger laws and regulations within fracturing wells and fracturing companies. Hydraulic fracturing provides sufficient and clean energy that will help minimize the impact on other natural resources that are used for energy as well.
Research Question
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.
Hydraulic fracturing, also commonly referred to as fracking, is a type of drilling for natural gas and oil that started in the 1940’s. In the beginning, when a well was slowing down, dynamite or TNT were placed inside the well head and detonated to help the flow of gas and oil by expanding natural cracks and veins in the earth. This method of fracking was used extensively for almost fifty years in the United States until the easy to mine and profitable oil had been almost completely tapped. A new form of hydraulic fracking was created in the early 90’s to help capture the less available oil and gas pockets remaining in the United States. The current method of fracking begins by drilling a vertical shaft lined with several piping layers and an outer layer of cement up to 10,000 feet deep. After achieving the appropriate vertical length a horizontal shaft is cut off of the vertical shaft that can stretch to lengths up to one mile long. A mixture of sand, water, and chemicals are injected in the shaft fracturing the shale formations and release pockets of oil and natural gas. The water is brought back to the surface where the gas and oil is separated out. The issue many people have with fracking is the possible side effects of chemicals used and water contamination. With the use of fracking helping American’s reach energy independence, economic benefits, and a bridge to help attain a clean energy source; fracking should be expanded in the United States.
The title of the article I read is What is fracking and why is it controversial? It starts off by explaining what fracking is. Fracking is the process of drilling down in the ground until rock is hit. Once rock is hit a high pressured solution of sand, water, and chemicals is shot into the rock to dissolve it so it can release the gas trapped inside the rock. After it is released it flows out of the top of the well. It is usually done vertically through shale rock or horizontally. The article then explains that fracking is the short version of hydraulic fracturing. Fracking is controversial for multiple reasons the first is that you need large amounts of water which is a environmental drain. There is also concern that the chemicals
Ever since the process of hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—made its entrance to the oil industry, issues and problems surrounding the process have become a common occurrence. Fracking is the controversial process of horizontal drilling (see fig. 1), where millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals are pumped deep into an oil well to extract natural gas from the earth’s crust (Ehrenberg 20). This practice has even been banned in some places (see fig. 1). The methane that comes out of the earth and the water used—called fracking fluid—has the potential to cause problems with local ground water supplies. Whether or not fracking is the cause of these problems, concern should be observed during the fracking process to reduce the chances of water contamination among residential areas.
In his article “How Fracking Is Bad for Our Bodies,” Jason Silverstein who is a lecturer and writer in residence in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School states the problem of hydraulic fracking in cities in the US. Silverstein article, which was published in, The Atlantic, on October 8, 2013, shows the problems caused by hydraulic fracking. Although Silverstein provides a wide array of disadvantages of fracking, he does not mention any advantages brought by fracking.
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.
Fracking is dangerous to America’s water supply, water quality, and to other resources. Due to fracking America’s water supply and quality could be compromised. Fracking is also a large scale operation. Evidence of how fracking is a large scale operation would be the use of 400 tanker trucks to transport all the
In regards to a lack of advancement, many people are concerned that due to how easily we can attain natural gas through fracking reaching difficult deposits, we will not look into a situation that proves harder-finding renewable and alternative energy resources. Rather than search for solar, geothermal, or wind energy perhaps, we will continue to pump harmful chemicals into the ground and cause global warming much more rapidly due to our excessive use of fossil and atmosphere-damaging fuels. Based on this point, it is no wonder that another con to fracking pertains to the conflict of air pollution. In regards to the prospect of seismic activity, based on the 2014 Annual Reviews of Environment and Resources paper, between 1967 and 2000, geologists observed a rate of 21 earthquakes level 3.0 Mw or greater in the central US per year. In 2001, when fracking was used to provide shale gas and other “unconventional” energy sources more frequently, the number increased to 100 earthquakes of that caliber, with 188 in 2011 alone. Supplemental research in Texas and Oklahoma also suggest that fracking can cause risky changes on seismic activity. Lastly, one of the greatest concerns with fracking- water pollution. The water that is pumped into the ground during fracking is filled with chemicals, and is not always properly
"Everybody presumes that the government is there to protect you,” Bryan Latkanich says in an interview with Marketplace. "If they were here to protect you, they wouldn't let this go on at all.” Latkanich is talking about hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Fracking has endangered the health risks of his family, along with many people around the world. Fracking harms countless people and their surroundings in various ways. Fracking contributes to climate change, releases toxic chemicals into the environment, and pollutes drinking water.
Hydraulic fracturing, also known as Fracking, is a strategic system of obtaining natural gas that could be as deep as several thousand feet underground. Basically a mixture of sand, water, and chemicals are pumped underground at extreme pressures until they hit shale which contains the natural gas and in return the gas is forced up out of the ground. Fracking has become a highly successful process for increasing natural gas reserves in the United States. This process also lowers the United States dependence on foreign gas and oil and it accounts for an estimated forty two trillion cubic meters of natural gas, which is said to be enough to keep the United States in motion for sixty five years. As good as the fracking system sounds, there is always the down sides like the fact that the chemicals used to obtain the gas are extremely toxic. These toxic chemicals are pumped into the ground and can spread into nearby water. If this happens, the water will itself become toxic and undrinkable by neither animals nor humans. There are a lot of pros and cons of fracking, but what many people over the last few years have tried to say is that human life and safety is more important than an easier and cheaper way of doing something.
Fracking is also not legal in some areas of the world. In fact, in 2001 France banned hydraulic fracturing due to environmental concerns (The Facts on Fracking). On top of that, in some towns, cities, and counties in the states of New York, West Virginia, Texas, Colorado, Ohio, and California they have made moratoria or even banns of hydraulic fracturing (The Fracking Facts).One might say that hydraulic fracturing is good because in the United States it is helping us become a more independent country. On the contrary hydraulic fracturing is hurting the country because fracking can cause earthquakes or tremors. In fact, in Oklahoma the biggest earthquake was caused by a hydraulic
There are many problems with “The entire process of fracking – from drilling a well to transporting waste – endangers our water and the health of our communities” (“Fracking”). The process of fracking contaminates drinkable water and many other resources along with it. When rivers or lakes are contaminated it can lead to the extermination of wildlife in that certain area because they no longer are able to breathe due to the amount of chemicals and waste in their habitat. After an accident with a decent amount of exploding trucks, “Twenty-five families living nearby had to evacuate their homes, one person was injured, and toxic chemicals leaked into a nearby stream” (“Act On Fracking”). Companies involved with fracking should either move away from important resources when drilling or completely stop the operation as a whole.
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
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...
Fracking is a pressurized, chemically treated mixture of water and sand to release and extract natural gas and petroleum from shale rock. There are many articles, studies being done, and organizations fighting for what they think is right. Environmentalist want the technique of fracking banned because it plays a part in global warming, affects our water, and causes human health problems. If fracking cannot be banned because of its necessity then it should be made safe and eco-friendly. The process involves a well being drilled vertically to the desired depth, then turns ninety degrees and continues horizontally for thousands of feet into the shale believed to contain the trapped natural gas. A mix of water, sand, and various chemicals is pumped into the well at high pressure in order to create fissures in the shale through which the gas can escape. Natural gas escapes through the fissures and is drawn back up the well to the surface, where it is processed, refined, and shipped to market. Flowback returns to the surface after the