Prior to watching Gasland 2 and Truthland, I am familiar with the term “fracking” but never took the time to look into it. After watching these two films, I realized how fracking is a controversial topic in the world of environmentalists. These two very different films explain how fracking is effecting the environment around us. Before explaining further into these films, we need to know what fracking really means. Fracking is “a process by which the rock is split so that natural gas can flow to the surface,” defined by Terry Engelder, a professor of geosciences at Penn State University.
Fracking involves drilling a hole into the ground and injecting a combination of fluids and chemicals into the shale. The fracking fluid contains upwards of 600 different chemicals (David). The pressure of the fluid is what causes the shale to fracture, then releases natural gas. That fracking fluid is what is really dangerous, as this is what poses the biggest threat, since many of those chemicals are extremely dangerous and some are completely unknown by the public. After the fracking process is complete, the fracking water, known as flowback, which includes water, chemicals and additives, is either collected and transferred to holding-tanks or it is injected back into the ground for storage
SUMMARY Journalist, Nick Stockton, in the article, “Fracking’s Problems Go Deeper Than Water Pollution,” published in June 2015, addresses the topic of hydraulic fracturing and argues that fracking has more negative consequences than one might think. Stockton supports his claim first by appealing emotionally through a short summary of a recent event involving fracking and also by utilizing evidence to back up his statements. The author’s overall purpose is to highlight outcomes of fracking in order to make more people aware of issues that can arise from this common way of obtaining energy. Stockton utilizes a scientific, yet critical tone in order to create an unbiased article and appeal to his audience’s concern for the well being of the
Why is fracking dangerous? During the fracking process natural gases are realized into the well where they are drilling often contaminating the nearby groundwater with methane gases and chemical toxins. After the fracking process the waste fluid is evaporated releasing volatile organic compounds causes acid rain, contaminated air, and ozone at
Fracking one well can take millions of gallons of water, but it 's not just water. In the water there are chemicals, helping to break down the rock. According to the article, Fracking Fury, “ the fluids consist of millions of gallons of water, chemical additives, and proppants” (2 AT). Chemicals like benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene are shot down into a well. The author claims that, “Critics are nervous the cocktail of fluids will leak”(2.3).
What is fracking? Why do we do it? Fracking means to create a large opening in a rock and extract fluids of the cracked rocks. Fluids as in natural gases, oils, petroleum and other substances. This increases the amount that fluids are produced and it protects supplements.
Fracking: The Fracturing of America (Introduction) Shaking wakes you up during the middle of the night. You open your eyes to scan the entire room searching for someone. No one to be found. The shaking continues and it grows stronger.
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,”
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, states that, “The EPA’s water quality study confirms what millions of Americans already know—that dirty oil and gas fracking contaminates drinking water” and that “the EPA chose to leave many critical questions unanswered” (Malewitz). It is critical that the EPA works with the general public to answer every question so that we can begin to work together to understand the complexity of this
Shots fired, officer vehicles set ablaze, and groups of protesters pepper sprayed; all hell broke loose on the date of October 17, 2013 when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) showed up to stop anti-fracking protesters in New Brunswick, Canada. Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, has long been a controversial topic. Many argue that fracking allows us access to better and cleaner burning fossil fuels, while others argue that the process in which these gases are obtained are bad for the environment. On this specific day in New Brunswick, protesters were protesting in the belief that fracking would cause contamination to their drinking water supply. But in order to find the truth, it is important to dive a little deeper into
Some people say fracking is harmful to the environment by damaging nature and by causing water pollution. Some claim that fracking is damaging nature and the landscape; however, there is actually a new technology that help reduce the amount of wells that have to be made. In addition, some people claim that fracking contaminates the groundwater, even though there is no scientific evidence that fracking contaminates groundwater. As a result the National Groundwater Association and the government agency which represents the states have found no evidence that fracking is ruining the drinking water. (No Evidence of Groundwater Contamination from Fracking)
Thesis statement The benefits of natural gas hydraulic fracking do not justify the adverse effects it causes through continuous earthquakes, pollution of the water table, or potential health hazards to human populations. This subject is interesting to me because I work for a natural gas company. I have had many conversations with other employees regarding natural gas fracking, and most of them are biased to the views of the drilling companies which means they do not see any harm in it. There also used to be companies fracking for natural gas in Arkansas on the Fayetteville Shell. The number of small earthquakes did rise (3.0 or smaller), but there was nothing resulting in a large amount of devastation.
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.
Researchers have “requested data from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Texas, all states heavily involved in the recent surge of oil and gas drilling, about complaints related to hydraulic fracking for oil and gas” for their research on fracking (Dechert). The research collected was shocking, over 2,000 complaints in Texas alone and several cases on well water contamination within the states mentioned in Decherd’s article. People need to be alerted about how real fracking is and the damages it is doing. These complaints and cases should be a wakeup call to the world and say that we should put it to a
For the citizens, “fracking will give them jobs so they can make money and support their families” (Rogowsky). Furthermore, with the addition of fracking “the United States can get about 1.8 trillion barrels of shale (“sedimentary rocks that have rich sources of petroleum and natural gas” (Rogowsky)) a year compared to Saudi
