Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is a technique for obtaining oil and gas from non-porous shale rock deep below the earth’s surface (Crawford). The process, which dates back to the 1940s, involves injecting large quantities of water infused with a mixture of chemicals and sand into the ground, which serves to fracture the rock that harbors valuable deposits of natural gas (“Fracking”). In recent years, the practice has intensified across the country enabling the U.S. to increase its gas production from 19 million cubic feet in 2005 to upwards of 25 million cubic feet in 2012 (Crawford). However, there is a conflict that exists between the need to harvest this valuable resource reducing dependence on foreign oil and providing a clean energy alternative and the need to protect a more essential and life-sustaining resource that is our drinking water. While “fracking” has made it possible to reach previously inaccessible stores of natural gas that can fill our energy needs into the distant future, the practice poses a very real threat to a far more essential and finite natural resource that is critical to sustaining life on the planet. The vigorous growth of the “fracking” industry threatens our ground water and drinking water because of the massive quantity and potentially harmful chemical treatment of water required for the process, the inadequate study of possible environmentally damaging downstream effects, and the inability of federal agencies to properly regulate the process and the industry.
The process of fracturing requires two main parts. The first step is to drill vertically deep into the earth (Crawford). The well is then drilled horizontally to allow for extraction of gas that is trapped in “lateral” layers of impenet...
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Crawford, Mark. “FRACTURING: Rocks to Unlock New Oil.” Mechanical Engineering 135.12 (2013): 24-9. Web.
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Lustgarten, Abrahm, and Nick Kusnetz. “Fracking Contaminates Drinking Water.” Fracking. Ed. Tamara Thompson. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "Feds Link Gas Fracking to Drinking Water Pollution for the First Time." www.propublica.org. 2011. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 June 2014.
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Works Cited
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