While delving into the advantages and disadvantages of domestic natural oil and gas production I realized that hydraulic fracturing has proven itself to be a valuable asset to the United States economy. In “Fracking: Fix It or Forget It?” by Daniel E. Klein, Daniel shares with his readers that “in the last decade, shale development technologies have become technically and commercially feasible. Pairing horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing, “fracking” has revolutionized the oil and gas outlook as few other industries’ ever have done before. Increased domestic production of both oil and gas has led to enhanced energy security, reduced fuel imports, and improved balanced of payments for the United States. Lower-priced natural gas has given the United States a competitive advantage, creating upstream and downstream jobs, income, and tax revenues.” Touching most lives in one way or another, many …show more content…
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. While these concerns seem valid, others would disagree, proclaiming that these occurrences are exaggerated. Acknowledging that there have been a few misfortunes within the fabrication process but that those mishaps are inconsiderably less than what is