How Does Fracking Affect The Environment

Fracking is a useful way to provide energy, however it affects the environment in many ways. Hydraulic Fracturing is a procedure used to extract oil and natural gas by inserting water, sand, and liquids such as chemicals in the subsurface, which indicates that this process can lead to dangerous risks (Weible 232). That method involves drilling feet underground through layers of stones, which indicates that the drilling fractures the rocks (Newton 23). Furthermore, fracking has some benefits that last a brief period, but it is not worth the risk. In fact, fracking is a political and environmental issue that has impacted the world and people’s lives. Hydraulic Fracturing negatively effects the environment because it creates severe health conflicts

Unfortunately, society focuses on the benefits of fracking, rather than the risks because fracking still happens today. Fracking causes water contamination because, “faulty casings near underground aquifers, intersections of old wells with new wells, seepage from fissures in the shale formation, or flowback water seeping back into the ground,” (Suzuki 272). There are toxic chemicals that are mixing with the water supply, which are causing injurious side effects. Chemicals involved in fracking come from the underground water, “chemical additives within fracking fluid, flowback water also causes contamination because it contains dangerous chemicals, including alarming amounts of salt, mercury, arsenic, and other heavy metals,” (Suzuki 272). Furthermore, fracking fluids are getting into shallow aquifers, which contaminates drinking water. The author states that, “flowback water can release fumes or overflow, which can cause drinking water contamination, chemical cloud formation, or other hazardous consequences,” which indicates that drinking dirty water causes human beings’ and animals to get sick (Suzuki 272). Moreover, drinking water is important for living things and people so that they

Moreover, the high-pressure fluids can cause the underground to crack, which damages people’s properties and their lives. Cliff Frohlich and Scott Davis declare that, “human activities that commonly induce earthquake activity are injecting high-pressure fluids into rock formations beneath the earth’s surface, withdrawing large amounts of fluids or gas from beneath the surface,” which indicates that human beings’ rely on shale for an abundant of their oil and gas (Frohlich and Davis 71). Therefore, if the fracking of rocks reduces then the number of earthquakes will also reduce. Furthermore, the force of liquid wastes can be beneficial for people, but it can also harm them. They are beneficial because they provide water supplies which is needed for drinking water and industries such as mining, however they also cause earthquakes which damages buildings, houses, and hurts people. The author declares that, “One proposal was to force those (liquid) wastes into deep wells that had previously been used for other purposes, such as the collection of water for human use,” which indicates that this process redistributes stress and causes earthquakes (Newton 97). Consequently, earthquakes can lead to other dangerous affects in the environment such as causing fire and flooding, which damages people and animals. The author states that, “Researchers came to the conclusion that the liquid wastes were acting as a lubricant on