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Fracking and its effects
Fracking and its effects
Essay on the effects of hydraulic fracturing
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Fracking and its effects
Fracking and its effects
Essay on the effects of hydraulic fracturing
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Recommended: Fracking and its effects
They think that less CO2 would be produced compared to coal, which is also a big energy source we rely on now. The thing is they might be right, but not all right. If you look at one coal burning site and one fracking site with only one fracking machine, then that would be true, a lot less CO2 would be produced. But, the amount of energy that comes out of the hydrofracking site is a lot lesser compared to the coal burning site. For a hydrofracking site to work, you will need more than 1 fracking machines to produce as much energy.
Why is fracking dangerous? During the fracking process natural gases are realized into the well where they are drilling often contaminating the nearby groundwater with methane gases and chemical toxins. After the fracking process the waste fluid is evaporated releasing volatile organic compounds causes acid rain, contaminated air, and ozone at
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.
One reason is that it is allowing the natural gas industry to boom, and natural gas is much cleaner than other fossil fuels. Natural gas produces only two thirds the amount of emissions of crude oil and only half as many emissions as coal. This has given natural gas the label of a transition fuel, which could be used by countries to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Transitioning more to natural gas can help lessen the effects of climate change, due to the fact that it is cleaner than other fossil fuels. Another benefit of fracking is that it allows stores of oil and natural gas to be harvested that previously seemed out of reach.
Oil and gas companies should both be required to post either bonds or another type of financial assurance to make sure that they have enough capital to plug wells, reclaim their well sites, repair damages done to roads, and compensate anyone harmed by during the process of fracking. As many of the environmental consequences of fracking, such as climate change, will not be seen until years in the future, the people and companies responsible will be long gone by the time all the damage they have done truly becomes apparent (Rumpler
This technology expands access to pockets of previously unreachable fuel. The improved technology allows drilling companies to maximize their return on investments because fracking extracts product more quickly than conventional methods. In addition, companies have access to oil and natural gas deposits that were un-drillable until this technology became feasible Another benefit of the United States investing in fracking is that it will decrease the nation’s dependence on foreign oil and other nonrenewable resources. This means the price can be more stable since
Oil fracking has caused a lot of controversy the last couple years. Many believe that it is causing more harm than good. The House Committee of Natural Recourses had an entire meeting discussing oil fracking on federal managed and Native Lands. It also uses an incredible amount of water and chemicals.
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).
There have been many recent studies viewing an increased number of earthquakes in areas affected by fracking. According to the article Introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing, the injected fluids can reach a critical point and can cause a shift in tectonic plates. The frack water injected into the shale has shown to have the ability to shift the earth above causing minor fractures in the rock around the drilled area, which can result in major increases in earthquakes in the fracked area. According to the article Natural Gas Drilling: Impacts of Fracking on Health, the high pressure used to fracture the shale below can continue the cracks, allowing the frack water to flow into the drinking water.
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).
According to Climatecentral.org, “fracking for natural gas used to produce electricity may make Texas more drought resistant as the state shifts from coal power generation to natural gas power generation” (Magill). This could be a major breakthrough for Texas because not only would we produce electricity and save our environment, but we would also save millions of gallons of water. The amount of water we could save by shifting from coal to natural gas plants “is up to 50 times the amount of water lost in fracking to extract the natural gas from underground shale formations. According to the article, “The study’s authors estimate that for every gallon of water used to frack for natural gas, Texas saved 33 gallons of water by using that gas for electricity generation rather than producing the same amount of power with coal” (Magill).
Fracking has changed daily Oklahoman’s lives, from their property to their income. Fracking History In 1907, when the first oil well was drilled, which was before statehood, the abundance of oil seemed to draw everyone to Oklahoma, to make a small fortune in oil. Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was once dubbed the oil capital of the world, has a small structure still dedicated to its oil days, the Golden Driller, pictured below.
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.
Some of those chemical that we pump into the earth never comes out. In one fracking job, it takes approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals. Some might say that fracking causes earthquakes. Earthquakes are a naturally occurring phenomenon, and even in the few instances where fracking operations likely contributed to them, they were minor. In the state of Kansas it went from four in 2013 to eight hundred and seventeen earthquakes
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.