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The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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In today’s world, sources of energy are becoming increasingly more scarce, which raises awareness. Obtaining enough energy to sustain future generations is a question that needs to be asked to today’s generation. Many experts believe that hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is one alternative that will create a clean source of energy to fuel the future. However, with other alternatives laying around, research needs to be done in the field to fully identify both the pros and cons of fracking. Many people do not know what hydraulic fracturing is or how it is done. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking, forces natural gas and crude oil out of shale buried deep below the earth by using highly pressurized and treated water. The cracking of the shale by …show more content…

Many people are concerned about what the fracking process is doing to both the drinking water supplies and the air people breathe. One of the major reasons for global warming today is a large amount of carbon dioxide being pumped in the air every day. Fracking does not produce as much carbon dioxide but may produce much more methane which can be equally as bad for the environment. This raises awareness that hydraulic fracturing and the use of natural gas may not be as environmentally friendly and clean as once thought. “The data suggest that methane emissions from natural-gas operations could be substantially higher — and so be worse for global warming — than was thought.” (Gas and Air 131). This quote shows that more research needs to be done in the field to find more consistent numbers on pollution and fully understand the environmental effects. Air pollution is not the only concern, though many people are worried about what fracking does to the water supply. According to The Case for a Ban on Gas Fracking “wastewater contains high levels of radioactivity and other contaminants that wastewater treatment plants have had difficulty removing; this potentially contaminated wastewater can then be discharged into local rivers.”. This side of the argument tends to have the largest effect. Not only could the air people breathe be contaminated but the water that America drinks may be also. The effects of the pollution are not to be taken lightly either. Some alleged effects of the pollution are lingering rashes, nosebleeds and respiratory

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While delving into the advantages and disadvantages of domestic natural oil and gas production I realized that hydraulic fracturing has proven itself to be a valuable asset to the United States economy. In “Fracking: Fix It or Forget It?” by Daniel E. Klein, Daniel shares with his readers that “in the last decade, shale development technologies have become technically and commercially feasible. Pairing horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing, “fracking” has revolutionized the oil and gas outlook as few other industries’ ever have done before. Increased domestic production of both oil and gas has led to enhanced energy security, reduced fuel imports, and improved balanced of payments for the United States.

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Conventional oil drilling does not deal with nearly as many dangerous chemicals in its process. Fracking can also be used to draw more oil from depleted conventional oil wells. This process exhausts the Earth. Furthermore, immense amounts of water is used when fracking and is a huge waste of natural resources. “Based on approximately 1,500 horizontal wells fracked in 2011, Pennsylvania used about 12-20 million gallons of water per day for Marcellus Shale drilling, which represents approximately .5-.8% of the 9.5 billion gallons of water the state uses daily” (Explore Shale.

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Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is a very controversial method of capturing oil and natural gas. It involves shooting a solution of water, sand, and almost 600 chemicals at extreme pressure into underground wells, causing the rock formations to crack. This allows the oil and natural gas to flow more freely, allowing previously trapped resources to be harvested. Fracking is so controversial because the potential monetary gains are enormous, yet the environmental impacts are devastating. The documentary “Gasland”, directed and narrated by Josh Fox, provided first hand insight into the fracking industry.

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Though with those benefits, there are many risks including water contamination, air pollution, high methane emission, induced seismicity, and high worker injury or death. The effects fracking has on the environment and

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2077 Words | 9 Pages

Retrieving gas that is hidden thousands of feet in the ground, in rock formations called shale, has led to a very controversial retrieval method called fracking. This gas is called natural gas, and it consists of 70-90% methane, and 0-20% of ethane, butane, and propane. Natural gas can be used to replace petroleum and coal in many aspects of our daily lives, such as heating our homes, powering manufacturing, creating electricity, and even powering cars and buses. The process of retrieving this natural gas, hydraulic fracturing, is done by: drilling thousands of feet below the surface, past the ground water, then a steel casing is inserted so the chemicals don’t leak into the ground, then a specialized drill starts drilling horizontally into

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The Fracking Dilemma Hydraulic fracturing, like any form of disruptive innovation, has been divisive. It is viewed as both a potential source of energy independence for the US and a geological threat. Cost-benefit analysis must be conducted on breakthroughs like fracking. The argument that natural gas captured by fracking outweighs the risks required to obtain the natural gas is made by the energy and transportation industries. These industries willfully ignore or downplay the instability it causes to the geological system and immense resources used.

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632 Words | 3 Pages

Fracking is a process in which fractures in rocks below the earth’s surface are opened and widened by injecting chemicals and liquids at high pressure, used especially to extract natural gas and oil.(Webster Dictionary) While researching information on fracking, I have come to realize that there are pros and cons to this particular process and why it is important to the world. In addition, I learned that during the drilling process, it is always vertical and not so much horizontal (BBC.com). With this method, new pathways are created for reuse. Finally, when the shale rock is fractured, oil and gas are extracted and releasing of natural gas.

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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.

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820 Words | 4 Pages

Like many things in the world, fracking can harm not only the environment, but also people. These effects can cause a lifetime of health problems on the human population. Although some people think it is right and agree with fracking, many do not after seeing what it has done to them or their loved ones. Fracking is quite the process. To put it in a simple easy to understand definition, it is comparable to a mini earthquake that retrieves natural gases and water out of the ground.

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649 Words | 3 Pages

The term “fracking” refers to a process in which chemical infused water is pressure injected into a well. The chemical infused pressurized water breaks up layers of earth and releases the natural gas trapped within it. There are a variety of opinions regarding fracking. The most popular seem to be people arguing whether or not fracking is a dangerous process. It is my opinion that fracking is harmful for the environment, and this idea of mine has only been reinforced the more I have learned about fracking.

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1699 Words | 7 Pages

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).

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443 Words | 2 Pages

From the article “Fracking Fuels Energy Debate” they said that the air is polluted when gases from fracking are leaked during the process that drills and brings gases to market and the potentially toxic chemicals that are used in the fracking process create air pollution that increases global warming and is a danger to health. Toxic air pollution from fracking causes a wide spectrum of health issues for Americans across the country. Fracking has led to an increase in truck traffic, one of the reasons for worsening trends in air quality in areas with oil and gas

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695 Words | 3 Pages

With that knowledge and knowing that Marcellus Shale operation planned to construct up to 200,000 new wells, means that 190,000 leaky wells could very well be in operation in one year (Nikiforuk 24). Now there are some arguing that it’s just as, if not worse than fracking. Jeff Tollefson, states that methane pollution in the air is just as bad. “[there is] hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal when it comes to climate change” (1). He continues by saying “methane is some 25 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere” (2).

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1568 Words | 7 Pages

The search for new, clean energy has been going on for a number of years with a plethora of ideas and innovations as evidence. One of the biggest and most talked about alternative energy sources is natural gas. Found in shale beds underground, natural gas is obtained by a process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it’s more commonly known, that breaks apart the rock by using high pressurized chemicals. Though it has been a known process for some time, the argument of whether fracking is worthwhile is still going strong. Some believe the risk it brings to the environment is too high, while others think the positives outrank the negatives.

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951 Words | 4 Pages

1. Introduction 1.1 What is hydraulic fracturing? Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is the process of drilling down into the earth’s surface, followed by a high-pressure water mixture, which is directed at the rocks to release the gas and oil that is inside of them. Furthermore water, sand, chemicals and other substances are injected into the rock at a high pressure, in order to allow the gas in the rock to flow out and up to the top of the fracking wells.

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