The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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. As a consultant agency that develops technology to help people invest in the energy industry,

It’s reasonable to assume that energy industry workers are using dangerous machinery in order to obtain whatever resource they’re mining, which comes with a lot of possible risks. Fracking jobs, however, are poorly regulated even with the increased chance of harm. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the fatality rate for those working in fracking is about 28 per 100,000 workers, a statistic that is over seven times that of all U.S. workers (Sturgis). As the battle to demand more oversight is going on, injuries continue to occur, a good portion of which happen during transport of materials. There are rules that state an employee cannot operate a vehicle after 14 hours of work, yet Timothy Roth and over 300 other workers have been the victims of highway crashes due to overwork. Roth’s employer was even punished for violating this rule in 2009, when many workers were commonly pushed to work over 20 hour shifts (Urbina). New employment opportunities for Americans is very much needed, so the fact that fracking does create them is a positive; however, the benefits of new jobs is quickly overshadowed when they put citizens at a preventable

Setting up a site to frack for natural gas has, in many instances, forced people to relocate their homes. Thirty two families in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania found out they were being evicted due to fracking by reading it in the morning paper. In February of 2012, these residents of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park were offered a measly $2,500 at most to vacate the premises when lawyers later calculated the cost of moving just one trailer to be around $10,000. The incident grew to the point where residents unable to leave either financially or physically built a blockade with help from local supporters until state police came to take it down. In the end, the fracking site was built, and Riverdale was no more (Chiang-Waren). Families shouldn't have to abandon their livelihood like this in order to satiate a company’s desire for more profits. Unfortunately, this isn’t uncommon, and many residential areas are turned into industrial sites, leaving some without anywhere else to go. Communities still intact near fracking sites are also affected heavily by their presence. More recently in 2015, a Texas neighborhood of 100 homes was forced to evacuate when over 42,000 gallons of fracking fluid flooded the