There are about 600 different chemicals that are used in fracking fluid, where most of them are hazardous to both humans and wildlife. 150 000 litres of chemicals are used during fracking. Spills of the fracking fluid during the process can result in huge concentrations of the chemicals seeping into the ground. Even though, after the entire process is complete, most of the fluid that was used comes up to the surface, only 30%-50% of it is recovered. Sometimes instead of being taken to a water treatment facility, the fluid is disposed of by injecting it back into the ground.
FRACKING AND ITS CRITICISM Since the mid-80s, The First Nations and their leaders have raised numerous concerns about the failure of the government and industries in Canada to properly consult them before developing any of their lands. Fracking is a technique used in stimulating the fracturing of rocks through the use of pressurized liquid. The fluid used comprises of hot water, sand, and proppants that are thickened using appropriate agents. The fluid enters the deep-rock and makes it possible to have natural gas, petroleum and brine flow up. If the pressure is removed, the grains in the proppants are capable of keeping the fractures while open.
There are a multitude of events that could cause leak into a water well; even a small leak could cause illness and potentially death for miles around. One example of this occurred in 2011 in Texas; the flowback waste samples showed that the/re was 1.58 ppm (parts per million) of 1,2-Dichloroethane (Ethylene Dichloride). Ethylene Dichloride is a carcinogen and has a variety of other negative effects, in addition, the EPA maximum safety level for ethylene dichloride is 0.005 ppm, this shows that flowback waste was over 300 times the safe levels for ethylene dichloride (EPA Ethylene Dichloride, January, 2000). Another dangerous fluid in the fracking fluid is naphthalene, an aromatic hydrocarbon, which is toxic in a high levels as well as a mild carcinogen (EPA Naphthalene, January, 2000). Other toxins or dangerous chemicals are in fracking fluid are: 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene (an aromatic hydrocarbon), aldehyde, heavy aromatic petroleum naphtha (a hydrocarbon-petroleum distillate), formaldehyde (a phenolic resin), quaternary ammonium
Hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking) is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock deep in the ground. The fracking rig drills a pipe many miles below the ground and then injects highly pressurized fracking fluids into the shale area to release the shale gas. This process uses millions of gallons of water and hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals. The United Kingdom (UK) government is introducing a new range of licenses that if approved would allow fracking in more areas of the UK and Scotland . Hydraulic fracking should be banned because this process is detrimental to the local environment by damaging vital eco-systems and even damaging the atmosphere.
"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
Fracking fluid not only contains chemicals that have been known to cause cancer, but it also contains a number of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs have been linked to sex changes in wildlife and contaminated water have also caused fish deaths. Over 100 are EDCs that have been linked to respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and reproductive conditions. These evidences are confirmed that fracking can cause species to die and to become sick with just touching the water or the air. You need to know that fracking can have a potential effect on our lovely planet.
It involves high-pressure injections of water and chemicals into rock formations, which in turn release natural gas (Thompson, “Hydraulic Fracturing Should Be Banned”). However, fracking can result in many negative outcomes. For instance, scientists who conducted the earthquake study for Geology discovered that not only did fracking cause the biggest earthquake in Oklahoma, but it also caused more earthquakes in states that hardly experienced any seismic activity (“Wastewater Injection Spurred Biggest Earthquake Yet, Says Study,” The Earth Institute Columbia University). In fact, quakes have hit so frequently in Oklahoma, that state and oil regulators decided to shut down five disposal wells due to the increasing number of earthquakes in a city named Cushing (“Oil Regulators Shut Down Two Disposal Wells After Earthquakes Near Cushing”, State Impact: NPR).
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).
Fracking has actually been taking place since the 1940’s, but not until it was combined with horizontal drilling was it extremely useful (“Hydraulics” 71-75). In the past fifteen years the fracking business has skyrocketed. By 2015 thirty-five thousand wells are using fracking methods in order to extract the natural gases each year. Ninety percent of all gas production in the United States would be impossible without fracking (“Hydraulics” 71-75). More than ninety percent of natural gas wells in the U.S. rely on fracking (Howarth, Ingraffea, and Engelder).
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
This specifically goes against the Doctrine of Public Trust, a concept made to protect waters of the public. Fracking industries are spoiling the people 's water with chemicals unsafe to ingest or wash with/in. These chemicals are too dangerous to outweigh the positive benefits. Another environmental issue fracking causes is man made earthquakes happening only after fracking sites are set up. It was found out that the disposal wells pumped with used fracking chemical water are creating these man-made earthquakes.
The environment, in which fracturing sites are located, go from clean landscapes to factory wastelands. Bruce McKenzie Everett, a professor of international business at the Fletcher School, states that “There are air pollution problems and earthquakes from the deep-well injections of the wastewater into the gas-producing shale, as well as significant global warming emissions.” On a superficial level, this obviously shows that fracking aids the deterioration of the environment, but will also leave lasting effects on the land and the people residing in it; earthquakes do not make for safe surroundings and air pollution leads to external bodily irritations and possible respiratory disease -- these all contribute to the list of negative externalities. A primary dispute over the allowance of fracking is its water contamination. An article by Think Process states, “Scientists have found elevated levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the drinking water in North Texas’ Barnett Shale region — where a fracking boom has sprouted more than 20,000 oil and gas wells….
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing is the way of breaking dense rocks in the ground to create a fracture network to make crude oil and natural gas flow in a wellbore to bring on the surface. The process of fracking is complex. Workers have to inject fluids like water, sand, and other chemicals into the ground. Fracking is a good way to get resources but ultimately bad for human health and the environment. There are different types of pollutants that bould be released, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), particulate matter, and methane.
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.
People complain about pollution from factories, cars, global warming, and the melting of polar ice caps, yet many people disregard the dangerous that come with fracking. Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, and/or boreholes to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. Fracking is causing an epidemic economically and environmentally. Fracking is continuously destroying the earth day by day. From the endless fracking today’s economy is depleting.