Imagine having no clean drinking water, no agriculture, and no fresh air. Imagine having to import everything, even something as basic as water, because industry has polluted all our natural sources. Imagine a nation, no longer a leading producer of the world’s crops. Revenue will be extremely low; economy will diminish. Imagine having to wear a mask every time one steps outside. This is the inevitable fate if the United States continues to use fracking as a means to produce energy. As the environment diminishes so do the natural resources humans take for granted. The process of fracking has destroyed too many places in the nation already. Not only has it damaged natural resources, but it has also caused health issues. The common people must insist upon a natural energy sources and reject fossil fuels. Despite fracking’s economical advantages, it must be banned because it contaminates the water supply, pollutes the air, and …show more content…
In order to get citizens to use these energy sources, they must be cheaper than traditional fuel sources. For instance, currently the purchase price for more fuel efficient vehicles is more expensive than the less fuel efficient ones. There must be a change in prices. The government must step in and take charge of the car companies’ and make them price the fuel efficient vehicles lower than the big trucks and less fuel efficient ones. Also involving solar energy, all homes and buildings with solar panels should get a tax deduction because they are using little to no gas. The appliances that create natural energy must be priced lower in order for people to invest in them. Never the less, to actually make the use of natural energy effective, the government must get involved and set regulations and incentives to the people who are using natural sources of
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently adopted the first federal limits on air emissions from oil and gas, creating New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for certain pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds. In New York, fracking has been banned completely after the release of a revealing seven-year study of drilling practices. The future looks bright, and perhaps, as the need for alternative energy sources becomes more prevalent, the US will adopt safer
SUMMARY Journalist, Nick Stockton, in the article, “Fracking’s Problems Go Deeper Than Water Pollution,” published in June 2015, addresses the topic of hydraulic fracturing and argues that fracking has more negative consequences than one might think. Stockton supports his claim first by appealing emotionally through a short summary of a recent event involving fracking and also by utilizing evidence to back up his statements. The author’s overall purpose is to highlight outcomes of fracking in order to make more people aware of issues that can arise from this common way of obtaining energy. Stockton utilizes a scientific, yet critical tone in order to create an unbiased article and appeal to his audience’s concern for the well being of the
My general overview of this article is the methods used to obtain fossil fuels is hurting people and nature all around the world. People are beginning to come to a realization about how fracking is harming the world. However, people in cities like “Buffalo, New York, Pennsylvania, and the author’s hometown
Fracking has been shown to increase pollution in both the air and water surrounding fracking plants which are currently covering a wide area in the U.S. Hydraulic fracture can also lead to polluted ground and surface water (OccupyTheory 2014). Fracking releases benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene and n-hexane into the air and can be negative for organisms including humans nearby to fracking plants. Disposing of the waste water improperly is also detrimental to the environment like the example given of the fish kill that happened in 2009. In addition to affecting species nearby and the atmosphere hydraulic fracturing is now being linked to more earthquakes. Fracking is thought to have caused the biggest earthquake in Ohio recorded in 2011.
"Hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting oil or gas by forcing fluids into the ground to fracture shale rocks, at the Eagle Ford Shale Play has produced more oil and natural gas but at the cost of environmental hazards and affect human health. The part of the process that creates the environmental hazards is the fracking fluids that are forced into the ground. For each fracking job, these fluids are comprised of 1 to 8 million gallons of water and 40,000 gallons of chemicals. Some of the 600 chemical carcinogens and toxins in the fracking fluids are lead, radium, uranium, mercury, methanol, hydrochloric acid, ethylene glycol, and formaldehyde. Once the fracking job is done, about 50 to 70 percent of fracking liquids are left in open
With the rise of natural gas on the market, and shale oils becoming last week’s news, fracking companies are looking towards the gas for their next money pot. Hydraulic fracturing leaves acres of farmland contaminated and the people on that land sick. Should Fracking companies get the ability to continue their endeavors fracking for natural gas, then many more wells will pop up all across the company, destroying the land and contaminating the inhabitants who live there. Overall, The U.S. shouldn’t bother with allowing major fracking companies to frack for natural gas, for the U.S. runs the risk of: the major usage of natural resources, major land damage, and an increase of sick people. With these many problems that fracking causes, there
Fracking poses potential danger to all of the workers. For example fracking can cause small earthquakes that can be harmful. The earthquakes have not been a safety concern yet but if they get any bigger they can become a big concern. During fracking it takes several days, during those days it requires continuous monitoring to ensure the safety of the workers.
1. Even though fracking reduces carbon emissions, it is still harmful to the environment. For example: water pollution/contamination. There can be accidental seeping of the chemicals (possibly carcinogenic) and can contaminate groundwater around the site due to bad practice (this imposes harm to both the ecosystem and people 's health).
Some people believe that the environment isn 't being harmed by everyday production, but one can argue that as people move closer to fracking industries, people become exposed to harmful gases and chemicals. Fracking a destructive force, is it safe, is it reasonable, is it right? As Chris Hedges explains in his article “Death By Fracking”, he says, “There are more than 15 million Americans, many of them children, who live within a mile of a fracking site. Most are being exposed daily to a deadly brew of toxins. Because the oil and gas industry is not required under law to disclose the chemicals used in
But, aside from the benefits that the industry has brought, the oil boom, and the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, has exposed many underlying issues. With the population rising, crime rates have soared; there are more burglaries, rapes and drug trafficking than the state has ever seen. But the issues don’t stop there: the controversial practice of fracking has come under fire as evidence points to fracking as the cause for both harmful air and water contamination. The effects of fracking have not only affected the people living in the North Dakota oil-towns, but also the animals, and the flora and fauna that have been gravely impacted as well. However, to completely eliminate fracking, at least in the short term, is not a reasonable possibility; therefore, it is imperative that short term solutions: such as greater regulation on fracking infrastructure, more police officers to curb crime and a movement towards more traditional oil drilling is imperative.
The way hydraulic fracturing is affecting the environment is too harmful for it to be a sustainable option. It contaminates drinking water, turns unused lands into industrial dumps. They pollute the air and with global warming emissions and create earthquakes. People’s right to clean water is being compromised by fracking industries, not being careful enough and their lack of regulations enforced on them. There are numerous occasions in
Thesis statement The benefits of natural gas hydraulic fracking do not justify the adverse effects it causes through continuous earthquakes, pollution of the water table, or potential health hazards to human populations. This subject is interesting to me because I work for a natural gas company. I have had many conversations with other employees regarding natural gas fracking, and most of them are biased to the views of the drilling companies which means they do not see any harm in it. There also used to be companies fracking for natural gas in Arkansas on the Fayetteville Shell. The number of small earthquakes did rise (3.0 or smaller), but there was nothing resulting in a large amount of devastation.
The article Gasland Debunked and the documentary “Gasland” discuss the very controversial topic of “fracking.” According to the beliefs of Josh Fox, fracking is extremely dangerous to the environment and the Earth’s groundwater supply. Contrary to this, the article Gasland Debunking claims that Fox is trying to portray untrue words as facts. In the article Gasland Debunked, there are many pros to how the article was written.
To what extent should we sacrifice the environment to become energy independent? Today in America, fracking has become a popular mean to extract oil and gas as a new technology, but unfortunately the process poses as a controversial issue throughout the country. Various issues are debated upon the topic as some say it is a better source of alternative fuel, while others argue that hydraulic fracturing, also referred to as fracking, is detrimental to citizens’ health and the environment. Altogether, we should banned the new technology of fracking before it provides long term, detrimental damage -- economic, environmental, and health-wise.
Our natural resources are at risk every time fracking occurs. Fracking needs to be banned since it is hurting our health and that it drains our natural and limited resources required for us to sustain life. Water is an essential to living and it is a need. Without it we would be dead from the dehydration. Fracking in this case can contaminate it to where we cannot drink it and if we do it can lead to death or a trip to the hospital: