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The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

1497 Words6 Pages

Introduction
News outlets often use cherry-picked scientific findings as a way to grant credibility to the information they are ‘reporting’, thus making it confusing to the viewer on whether the information is politically motivated or unbiased. Scientists have an invisible halo atop them in mainstream media, and they are frequently cited in regards to important policies that have significant ramifications. It’s common for media outlets and politicians to take research conducted by scientists and display it as a fact without proper context with the intention of misleading, additionally companies also regularly hire ‘scientists’ to justify that it meets proper regulations. A contemporary example of this is the manner in which hydraulic fracturing …show more content…

Everyone has different experiences, values, morals and therefore their opinions are unique as a function of that. In Western society, people have the option to align with whichever political party they agree with the most, with the two major parties being liberal and conservative (also: left sided and right sided). It’s becoming a common occurrence for political representatives to use science as a method to protect their policy. In regards to fracking, liberals are generally not fond with the environmental destruction that fracking causes despite its prospects, whereas conservatives believe the economic gain outweighs the potential dangers. The debate of the continuance of fracking is an ongoing battle between the dichotomous parties, and politicians are using science to back up their …show more content…

His sources are primarily governmental studies, which implies there is merit in what he is saying, nevertheless Nikiforuk uses science as an effective method to defend his argument. One of his largest concerns with fracking is the contamination it has on groundwater. Nikiforuk uses real world examples several times as a measure to further emphasize his point, a notable one being the case of Jessica Ernst, a woman whose water supply was contaminated so much that it could catch fire. Nikiforuk uses scientific evidence to further justify his

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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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Richard J. Davies, from the Department of Earth Sciences in Durham University, says that contamination may be present in aquifers but there is no proof that it is caused by fracking. Davies states that the tested wells in Pennsylvania and upstate New York may be contaminated but there hasn’t been recordings of the ground water beforehand. This could mean that the natural gas contamination could predate the hydraulic fracturing operations (3). Tarek Saba and Mark Orzechowski who are civil and environmental consultants also believe that there is a lack of data supporting the idea of fracking contaminating aquifers. They say that proposed averages in the areas are exaggerated, and that other data of the same areas shows more of a random contamination in both active and inactive wells.

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