Hydraulic fracturing in the United States started in 1949. Two million oil wells have used this method since 2013. Hydraulic fracturing is a well-stimulation technique in which rock is fractured by a hydraulically pressurized liquid. Environmental safety and health concerns about hydraulic fracturing emerged in the 1980s, and are still being debated at the state and federal levels. Since then, hydraulic fracturing method to extract natural gas has been used, even though the health risks have been recognized as fatal. Although some hydraulic fractures form naturally, most wells are manmade. A high-pressure fluid of toxic chemicals and sand suspended in water is injected into pipes from the well to create cracks in the rock. Natural gas, petroleum, …show more content…
Only 1% of the worlds water is able for human use; some of this is being used for hydraulic fracturing. The process also affects include contamination of risks to air quality, the potential migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, the potential mishandling of waste, and the resulting effects on health such as an increased rate of cancer. The extracting fluid used in the process is toxic that pose risks to the ecosystem. It has been predicted that exposure to chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluid will increase as gas wells using this technology proliferate. Many particulates and chemicals can be released into the atmosphere during the process of hydraulic fracturing can have serious health implications such as sulfuric-oxide, nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, diesel fuel, and hydrogen sulfide. Hydraulic fracturing may have caused earthquakes in North Texas from splitting too much rock. The workers of the well are also at risk; on June 3, 2010, a well explosion in Pennsylvania sent more than 35,000 gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the air and onto the surrounding landscape in a forested area. There are other developing technologies with better techniques of getting energy. Hydraulic fracturing has too many faults that make the process not worth
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.
There are a number of points at which Fox talks about how fracture fluid contains a mix of over 596 chemicals and how they are undisclosed because they are considered proprietary. Not only do individual states mandate the full public disclosure of fluid additives, but the federal government does as well, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that this information be kept at all well sites (Energy In Depth). Since then, it has been proven that fracture fluid is comprised almost entirely of water and sand, and typically containing less than one percent of an average of 12 components, most of which can be found around the house. Additionally, oil and gas is not the only use of fracturing, as it has also been used to access sources of water and geothermal
In today's global economy, energy is one of the most crucial and sought after commodities. Who supplies it and how much they supply determines how much influence they have over other countries as well as the global economy. This is why hydraulic fracturing is currently such an important and controversial topic in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as "fracking" or hydrofracturing, is the process of using pressurized liquids to fracture rocks and release hydrocarbons such as shale gas, which burns more efficiently than coal. This booming process of energy production provides a much needed economic boost, creating jobs and providing gas energy for Americans.
The United States has an immense amount of proven natural gas reserves that could become a major source for the nation's energy future (1). The mining of the natural gas resources have become feasible and cheaper due to the advancement of hydraulic fracturing technologies which have increased the amount the extraction and enabled “greater access to gas in shale formations” (2). Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking of shale formations has positive benefits that includes economic growth and the natural gas extracted is cleaner than coal and oil, however it has caused serious environmental problems and possibly could be the cause of recent seismic activity in areas where fracking operations exist (3).
Marcellus Shale drilling causes a problem because it involves the use of hundreds of deadly chemicals. Over three hundred chemicals are used in the Marcellus Shale drilling process (Environmental). According to Howells, author of the article “Don’t Frack with Our Water!,” these chemicals are especially dangerous because the companies that use them will not tell the public what specific chemicals are being used. However, through studies of the chemicals, some of them can be identified. Some of the chemicals in the fracking fluid and wastewater have been identified as carcinogens. Many of the other chemicals have been found to be harmful to humans (Environmental). According to Griswold, author of the article “The Fracturing of Pennsylvania,” wastewater is a combination of different chemicals that come from the process of fracking. Not only does this wastewater contain chemicals that were originally used in the drilling, but it also contains harmful substances that come from the earth like salts and other compounds (Griswold).
Current research, in the field of public health, is looking at the adverse health effects of hydraulic fracturing on community members. This research is focused on looking for evidence-based research in processes, procedures, materials and cleanup from drilling and running a well. In recent years, several states such as Maryland and New York, have called for special advisory commissions to examine the potential adverse health implications for the community if the moratoriums are lifted and fracturing is allowed to start. A lot of the previous research conducted focused on the anecdotal perspective of the adverse health effects. This perspective does not offer scientific verification that the fracturing processes are causing them or evidence where the contaminations are coming from.
The ethical issues regarding hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas in the Karoo are abundant and complex. Although it is not a new procedure with new technology, South Africa and especially the Karoo is not use to this term and what it entitles. There is no reason why the shale formations should not be developed to its full potential but the crisis is balancing the development and not effecting the residence living there in a negative manner. Communities was built where water was availability, industries contaminating that supply is simply unacceptable (Potter & Rashid, 2013).
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 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).
Hydraulic fracturing aka “fracking” is the mechanical process that uses fluids and other macro sized materials to create small fractures in the shale and bed rock under surfaces of the earth. The fractures, usually no more than an inch wide, allow the highly pressurized oil and natural gas to flow freely to the pipe to the pumped back to the surface. The first known commercial use of hydraulic fracking first came about during the 1940s but dates all the way back 1865 during the Civil War. To increase their available water supply, which in some cases meant the difference between life and death, soldiers would drop sticks of lit dynamite down dry wells or those with low water levels. They hoped by doing this that that explosion from the dynamite would deepen or loosen the ground to allow water to permeate to an accessible point.
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, is a widespread practice in the United States. Fracking is a method used to extract oil and natural gas. Scientists and citizens report detrimental side effects of hydraulic drilling. New York and Vermont have banned fracking statewide. Maryland has set a two-year moratorium on fracking, so that more research can be done to show the impacts of fracking on the environment.
In the day and age, we live in there is a shortcoming of fuel and resources, but people keep calling forth advances in the field of renewable energy, but there is not much drive behind their calling. We have to conform to the methods being used in this day and age, but the most complicated and yet controversial method is hydraulic fracking for oil and gas. Hydraulic fracking comes at a great cost. Some of the cost of hydraulic fracking include but are not limited to the water pollution caused by this process and the inevitable damage to the area where the gas and oil were extracted from. In the process of fracking, there is a need to vent the gas build up thus creating more air pollution that is only part of their total air pollution, the heavy machinery used for hydraulic fracking also emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Aside those risk, there is the biggest concern is the damage it may cause to livestock and agriculture.
One of the biggest natural resources used in fracking is water. On average, around one to eight million gallons of water are used on a fracture job. There are also around 500,000 active fracture sites around the world and each site can be fractured around 18 times. This means that roughly 72 trill...
Then rupture the layer of sediment with high pressures of water, sand and a plethora of chemicals. Once the chemicals are saturated in the crevices of the drill site, they extract the excess fluid and then ship them to market. The process of hydrofracking allows for a new source of renewable energy, but it takes a toll on the environment. Five-hundred plus of toxic chemicals like hydrochloric acid, sodium chloride and formic acid are left in the ground.
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...