Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas (what is). This new and booming form of extracting natural gasses from shale rock is sweeping the nation in controversy. Fracking has many issues, those for it claim it has large economic benefits while remaining environmentally safe. Those against claim it does in fact effect our environment, The debate over fracking and its recent boom indicate a need for better understanding of the effects of Hydraulic Fracking.
Economically, the fight for fracking is clear .One of the main reasons people support hydraulic fracking are the financial benefits. Senator Marco Rubio in his energy policy speech stated that the hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of natural gas and oil underneath
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Naturally occurring earthquakes in Oklahoma have averaged about 2 over 3.0 in magnitude per year. “Oklahoma surpassed California last year as the earthquake capital of the lower 48 states and will likely beat the Golden State in 2015. Nearly 700 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater have rocked Oklahoma this year” (gallucci). This is an epidemic Oklahoma and other highly fracked areas are currently dealing with. People are fracking now only to reap the consequences of earthquakes and other unknown problems later. A report from U.S. Geological Survey “Earthquake activity has sharply increased since 2009 in the central and eastern United States. The increase has been linked to industrial operations that dispose of wastewater by injecting it into deep wells,” This Hydraulic fracking fluid is being injected into the ground and is essentially liberating the faults allowing earthquakes to happen more frequently, causing damage across the states and most common in Oklahoma, Texas and