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The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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In today’s global fight for the growing demand of energy and promotion of saving energy, fracking has become very controversial. The dangers to our society and health are at the forefront in conducting safer practices. To obtain the natural gas, fracking or hydraulic fracking must be conducted. Fracking is defined as blasting high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals deep underground, and allowing the formations to fracture. This practice releases the natural gas out of the formations and is used for power. As this seems to be economically great, there are concerns pertaining to the construction, upkeep, and containment of the facility. The pollution rate is also a concern towards the people living around the facilities. With the issues towards …show more content…

Once built, the facility must be maintained properly and efficiently. If the facility is poorly maintaining the facility, the wells will become unstable and become damaged. If the well is to the point to where the well would be shut down, then the wells “are supposed to be sealed shut with cement” (Lustgarten, 2012, Para. 59). Many facilities do not properly seal or maintain their wells. The EPA conducts an integrity test once every five years of the wells, and this testing aids the facility at properly maintaining their wells. The EPA usually cites the facility with multiple citations prior to shutting it down. If the wells are not properly maintained, the gasses can escape polluting the air, soil and water. Even though there are many individuals who state there are no worries about water pollution, the residents and other groups still have strong speculations on polluted drinking water, also the use of water used during fracking. This means less water for the people to drink. …show more content…

Joe Hoffman was accurate on his or her material in the article. At the end of the source, Hoffman included more sources of information to further his reliability. This source is useful because of the accuracy of the information. This information was implemented in the Research Paper.
Lustgarten, A. (2012, June 21). Leaking injection wells may pose a risk--and the science has not kept pace with the growing glut of wastewater. Retrieved from Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-fracking-wastewater-wells-poisoning-ground-beneath-our-feeth/ Trillions of gallons of waste are being pumped down into deep depths of the Earth. This practice is said to be safe and nonharmful for the environment; however, many speculate these wells are unsafe for the air and water. The EPA has given strong guidelines on the wells to protect water and air from becoming polluted. Once ever five years the EPA does inspections of wells to ensure the safety of them, and usually the EPA gives the facility a lot of fines. This source is very reliable due to the amount of detail the Scientific American Journal has given. Abrahm Lustgarten did a great job on the dangers on explaining the dangers of the wells, and how the EPA is fighting to keep the facilities maintained to prevent any

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Being in the ground the fluid has the ability to seep into the soil and into water, where it will contaminate drinking water. As fracking involves drilling over 1.6 km into the ground, which is a lot deeper than water bearing rocks. In this case there is the chance that contamination occurs where the drill hole goes through these rocks. Moreover, if the hole is not properly cased to stop leaks the fracking water and fluids can seep into the water aquifers. Wells that are built in rural areas are dangerous as many people in these areas are unaware of the dangers of fracking.

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What is fracking? Fracking is the process of drilling into the ground and releasing a high-pressure water mixture into rocks in order to fracture them and release the natural gases inside. The water mixture consists of water, sand and chemicals. Fracking is beneficial because it lowers the prices of oil and gas, reduces America’s dependency on foreign oil, and reduces CO2 contribution.

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Governments are questioning where they should allow fracking and use in to get natural gases. Fracking is the process of breaking of rocks to release natural gases using drills or explosions. The fracking used today is hydraulic fracking which is the same process but uses pressurized water to break the rocks up. In order for the pipes to not get clogged up by bacteria they use chemicals to kill them. Where the natural gas is found is dug up is thousands of feet below the surface of the earth.

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Fracking is another source of fuel, decreasing a city’s dependency on foreign oil. Fracking doesn’t cost much because it is produced locally. The amount of jobs in the oil industry has almost doubled due to fracking. However, fracking requires between one and eight million gallons of water for each fracking site. This water contains many hazardous chemicals and can possibly contaminate the environment.

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Numerous people argue that tapping into the earth’s shale in this manner causes seismic activity. Generating little earthquakes deep within the earth’s core. Providing entry for the chemical mixture used in the fracking process to bleed into ground water, and water wells leaving them contaminated. Majority of the time these little earthquakes go undetected on the earth’s surface. Arguments that fumes from these chemical mixtures and gasses escape and ooze into the earth’s atmosphere furthermore causing harmful life changing consequences such as terminal cancer and birth defects.

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Scientists have found methane levels in the surrounding underground water sources are seventeen percent higher than more circumstances ("Pros"). Residents in the areas of gas well sites claim, and actually have video evidence, of holding a hand-held lighter to their sink water and being able to ignite it. If that itself isn't frightening enough, well companies can actually hide the chemicals they use in the process of fracking from the public ("New Yorkers"). The companies use up to six-hundred chemicals in the process, that go into the ground and can affect the water the public drinks but now of them have to be disclosed to the public ("Natural"). Also, the act of fracking can release naturally-occurring radioactive chemicals into well-water that, in other circumstances, could never possibly reach the public's

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The hospitals and clinics reported that over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination surround the areas of gas drilling involving sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water. The amount of water used in these processes and the amount of waste produced are also major issues. To start the oil fracking process, a massive amount of water is used. This means, a huge amount of water being transported to the fracking site, at significant environmental cost.

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"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

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If a well exceeds its drilling zone, it may also find it’s way into our groundwater aquifers. Also, if two wells’ fractures intersect each other, they can form together and create new fissures, leading into underground reservoirs. And we still do not know the full extent of the damage, considering that with over the course of several years and decades, natural fissures may let fracking wastewater into the groundwater beneath our feet. While all this goes on, it has been speculated that water used for irrigation has been contaminated. This poses serious health threats to people.

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Since fracking was introduced in 1949, well over 2 million frack treatments have been pumped without a single documented case of treatments polluting a water aquifer (Worstall). This shows that with the correct management and prevention of risks fracking can be seen as a positive. Fracking is also a positive as it dives down gas prices allowing the utilities the American people receive from the gas goes up as they spend less money on it and also fracking has begun to create jobs that are available to Michigan residences. However, many skeptics believe that fracking can be seen as a negative as it pollutes the air and water, thus damaging the Earth. The Earth is already beginning to be negatively impacted by pollution and the burning of greenhouse

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Fracking is hydraulic fracturing which is injecting fluid into cracks in rocks and the earth to force them further open, releasing oil and natural gas. Facking is a very controversial topic. Big business and oil companies like fracking because it allows easier ways to get oil and gas. However, environmentalists and green supporters don’t like fracking because it contributes to climate change, adds harsh chemicals to the ground and destroys land. There are pros and cons to fracking regardless of view point.

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While the quality of water is important for many individuals, wasting water in the matter they do can seem like a major crime. The Congressional Digest also says that fracking is a huge waste of water, and is one of the biggest wastes of water around. Millions of gallons of water are dumped into the soil to pop up these natural gases, and its no longer useful once it comes back. In fact the water that goes down into these holes, does come back up, however once it comes back up with the gas and oil, it is no longer the water we thought it was. The “flow back” or water that returns to the surface, does not always come back up,“…less than 30 percent to more than 70 percent of the original fracture fluid volume” is brought back up, and is rendered unusable (Congressional Digest).

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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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What is Fracking? Fracking has been around for many years and will probably continue to exist for a while longer as long as there is no other alternative option that is cheaper than it. Fracking is the process of drilling down and injecting water fluids at a high pressure into the ground in order to shatter rock to release the natural gas up into the surface and so we can extract oil. Fracking is a big deal in the United States in general. There have been many arguments of fracking because it can seriously affect the environment around it.

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660 Words | 3 Pages

Affecting the most drilling operations, ground water contamination presents a threat to the the drinking water for residents of areas near drilling operations (Mearns). Because an oil well can penetrate drinking water aquifers, concerns arise that the water sources will be compromised for large areas potentially causing sickness (Mearns.) The disposal of drilling fluids, though easily handled safely, can contaminate the soil if incorrectly removed due to the high level of chemicals present (Mearns). Like oil and drilling fluids, methane gas, which can be deadly if inhaled, raises alarm due to the large levels released during fracking, a type of oil recovery (Mearns). Apart from the liquid and gas concerns, the actual drilling and pipe laying processes disrupt cities near the sites.

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