What the Frack? Understanding Both Sides of the Fracking Controversy

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Is harming the environment ever justified? What if there was a way to develop a natural resource but you harmed the environment in the process, would that be fine? As a matter of fact there is a new innovative way to acquire a natural resource, natural gas, but the process brings as many risks as benefits. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process where shale rocks are fractured in order to release natural gas by puncturing and injecting fluid into the ground at high pressures. This procedure is very important because it provides us with abundances of natural gas, which is a fossil fuel that can provide many benefits to us especially now that we are lacking natural, alternative fossil fuels. Although fracking may benefit us greatly it also presents many disadvantages. It is important to understand both sides of fracking because we must know all the disadvantages before continuing with the process and we must also know all the benefits before trying to take a stand against it.
One of the things that attracted me to this topic is the process of hydraulic fracturing. When I first heard of the process I thought it was a very simple process and did not imagine it would bring so many benefits or dangers. The first step of fracking is gathering all the necessary items, such as water and the needed chemicals. For a single fracking job about 1-8 million gallons of water are needed, in addition to the approximate 40,000 gallons of chemicals. The next step is to create the fracking fluid, to do so the water is mixed with the chemicals and sand. Lead, radium, uranium, menthol, and hydrochloric acid are some of the known chemicals mixed in to create the fracking fluid. After producing the fluid the fluid is pressure injected into the g...

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...ng on stopping the process entirely. Many local residents are becoming aware of more and more dangers, such as how about 25 percent of chemicals used in fracking are cancer causing chemicals. Fracking has caused a great controversy due to fracking being accepted by the governor and congress although many citizens disagree. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency is working hard to ban the use of toxic chemicals for the process of hydraulic fracturing. Now, we must wait and see what the next step for fracking is.
Fracking has two faces, a good and a bad face. This is why fracking has grabbed my attention, it is not a simple alternative energy source, it is an alternative energy source with a twist. It brings various advantages and disadvantages and has brought controversy to local counties. Now, what do you think, is harming the environment justified in this case?

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