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The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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Imagine it’s 8 o’clock Saturday morning, and you and your family are awakened by the sounds of trucks in both your front and back yards. You hear a loud rapping at your front door. You rush to the door, once you open it, there is a man standing there. As you open the door he hands you a binder, and begins to explain who he is, and why he is there. With all the commotion going on, you cannot hear anything he has just said except for, “You have 48 hours till we start to drill. Have a good day” as he turns away and leaves. You’re left standing there confused and angry so you browse through the binder. The very last page of the binder states: you have 48 hours until the big oil and gas companies begin the drilling process. It is unfair that oil …show more content…

Fracking, in short terms, is the way that energy companies extract oil and gas from the Earth. Companies prefer fracking, because fracking is the easiest and most cost-efficient way to extract oil and gas from the Earth. The Lansing State Journal reports that “Michigan started fracking in the 1960s, and by far the state has done a great job at making sure the process does not hurt the residents of the state or their property (“Exposing Myths…” par.18).” Michigan has done a great job so far making sure all the regulations concerning hydraulic fracturing are followed, but who’s to say that the energy companies will continue to follow …show more content…

Many things could go wrong, and sometimes they do. The documentary Gasland does a really great job explaining what hydraulic fracturing is, and shows both the good and the bad sides of the process. Companies come in with drills, trucks, storage containers, and lots of workers. The workers prep the drill for drilling, set up storage containers, and build the backflow pits. Backflow pits are designed to collect any leftover oil or gas that may come back up. After the prep steps are completed, the drilling process begins. A drill begins to drill 5,000 feet into the ground. Next, seven million gallons of water infused with 596 chemicals are blasted into the hole. Once the hole is drilled, a different drill begins to extract the oil or gas from the Earth. The next step is the storage and delivery process. Companies store some of the product at the drilling site in storage containers.. The director of the documentary, Jeff Fox, noted that the storage containers are not fit to store these chemicals. Because of the poor quality of the containers, some of the gases leak out and evaporate into the air. The chemicals released are very harmful (gasland.com). Companies need to find alternative solutions to store their leftover chemicals. Individuals living in communities where fracking is done have the right to breath in safe

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Every year about 13,000 new hydraulic fracturing wells are made in the United States alone (Lallanilla 2015). So what is hydraulic fracturing , also known as “fracking”, and why are so many of these wells popping up? Hydraulic fracturing is a process that recovers natural gases and oil from shale rock. The shale rock or sometimes coalbed methane formations are then drilled and a well is made as deep as 10,000 feet below the surface. After a well has been drilled the actual fracking process begins.

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It is Time to Quit Frackin’ Around “Hydraulic Fracturing” has had adverse effects on the environment, the economy, and human life in general. Understanding these effects, and their imprint on the planet Earth and those therein will make things more clear. It is important to know how “fracking” works, and it will bring to light the good, the bad, and the ugly. The truth about fracking is that it is quickly becoming a nightmare for both the environment and humans alike, because there are not enough state or federal policies to help monitor and reduce the pollution it creates. During the second decade of this twenty-first century, the United States has discovered a new type of energy.

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While the spill of chemicals and large gas emissions poses a greater threat to the public due to higher concentrations of toxins, chemicals such as hydrochloric acid; muriatic acid; hydroxyethyl cellulose; glutaraldehyde; petroleum distillate; ammonium bisulfate; 2-hydroxy-1,2,3-propanetricarboxylic acid; N Dimethylformamide; ethylene glycol; 2-butoxyethanol; fluorocarbons; naphthalene; butanol; or formaldehyde are often released to the surface. (law) The chemical 2-butoxyethanol ("EGBE") is a major of concern to human health. Millions of gallons of EGBE are released in waste products over the years and are absorbed by inhalation, ingestion, or dermal exposure. “Numerous toxicity concerns are associated with EGBE, including nose and eye irritations, headaches, vomiting, breathing problems, low blood pressure, lowered levels of hemoglobin, blood in urine, and metabolic acidosis.”

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General Concerns Finally, as with any mining or intensive industry, hydraulic fracturing has the potential for noise and light pollution, and environmental degradation from the construction of the site itself and access roads into increasingly remote areas, amplified erosion from land clearing, and habitat disturbance through the means above or the accidental introduction of invasive species though equipment or soil movement (Rahm and Riha, 2012). Political, Economic, and Social Dimensions Political Dimensions Fracking in Colorado has been the source of much legislation and litigation in recent years. Although, “Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper describes the state’s [fracking] regulation as ‘the most comprehensive and stringent’ in

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“ Hydraulic fracking produces approximately 300,000 barrels of

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Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a technique that involve the injection of more than a million gallons of water, sand and chemical at high pressure down and across into horizontally drilled wells. This pressurized mixture will causes the rock layer to crack. These fissures are held open by the sand particles so that natural gas from the rock layer can flow up the well. This technique allows us to extract energy sources such as tight oil, coal seam gas and oil shale. It has been around since the late 1940s when petroleum engineers were looking for other ways to increase well productions.

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Fracking is the hydraulic fracturing of the Earth. A giant drill bit is drilled down into the Earth before a high pressure water mixture is directed onto the Earth’s sediment. When the Earth’s rock is drilled away at natural gas is released. When the drill is drilling water, sand, and chemicals are injected into Earth at high pressures. This will allow the gas in the Earth to flow out.

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For this reason, some people feel blessed that the companies started fracking in their territories. I can completely justify that because it allows people an opportunity to let their kids go to colleges, buy houses, cars, and live a luxury life which would not be possible without it. However, there is only a small number of people who were lucky enough to get the profit from that since fracking companies do everything to avoid paying people. Overall, I believe that the cost of the fracking is way too detriment and it benefits fracking companies’ considerably more than it does people who live in the areas where fracking is active. 2.

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The amendments to SWDA that excluded injection wells were “(i) the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage; and (ii) the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities. (Brady, 2012, pg. 45)”. RCRA gives the EPA all authority to regulate the cradle-to-grave process of hazardous waste (Brady, 2012, pg. 46). In 1982, waste from oil fields was exempted from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (California Fracking, n.d.).”. This happened before the EPA could complete testing on wastes produced by fracking (oil-field wastes) when Congress enacted the Solid Waste Disposal Act which exempts oil-field wastes from being defined under hazardous waste because the waste caused by fracking is liquid and not solid (Brady, 2012, pg. 46-47).

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Nicolas D. Loris, who is an economist at the Heritage Foundation, claims fracking helps create new jobs “for geologists, engineers, rig workers, truck drivers, and pipe welders”—such as a plant located in Pennsylvania that will generate about 10,000 new jobs—and also helps create more business for hotels and restaurants (“Fracking is not a Public Health Risk,” Chemicals). Using this method of wastewater injections, says Loris, also generates over “600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas… [which] is enough heat to 15 million homes for one year” (“Fracking is not a Public Health Risk, Chemicals). He continues his argument by saying that, with the creation of new jobs, hydraulic fracking increases the U.S. economy and makes natural gas available for vital things such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, and fertilizers (“Fracking is not a Public Health Risk,”

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Fracking is a phenomenon that has taken the world by storm! Hydraulic Fracturing is the procedure of creating fractures in rocks and rock formations by injecting fluid into cracks to force them further open, releasing oil and natural gas. Even though fracking can be very beneficial it also comes with cons. Fracking is a innovative way to get to those fossil fuels from deep down inside the earth that we use on a day to day basis. In source C (Fracking Explained) it describes how energy consumption in the U.S. has risen with no signs of stopping every since the industrial revolution.

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Does leaving these foreign substances in a place where they weren't originally harmful? " No, there are no long- or short-term problems with leaving frack proppants in the fractures (fissures)," Rick Chamberlain, managing director the Berkeley Research Group, told Live Science. Bjornerud agrees, "Even with the sand propping open the cracks, the weight of the overlying rock will, over months and years, cause the cracks to close and the rock’s permeability return to about what it was before the fracking." According to Bjornerud, this is a problem for oil and gas production since the process has to be done quickly, soon after the fracking fluids have opened up micro-cracks, or the amount of oil and gas that can be extracted rapidly decreases as the cracks progressively

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1. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a technique which has been used for the production of “unconventional” gas. “Unconventional” gas, is widely distributed in the rockbed or soil layer rather than being present in concentrated underground locations,and can be tapped in a cost-effective manner using special techniques like hydraulic fracturing. It is widely accepted that about 60-80% of the existing wells in the United States will require hydraulic fracking in order to remain functional..

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The health effects that fracking has on the communities around the extraction sites should be enough for the government to regulate fracking practices more than they already

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Despite, the human’s constant concerns about the impact of fracking on the environment, human health and other issues, it has been one of the most important innovations for the economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania over the last century. “It’s almost impossible to overestimate the importance of fracking to the natural gas industry and the nation”. The importance of fracking on the economy in Northeastern Pennsylvania is similar to everywhere else in the United States. However, ever since the discovery of this technology, Northeastern Pennsylvania in particular has transformed completely.

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