ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

612 Words3 Pages

Fracking is worse for the environment than conventional oil drilling because conventional drilling does not present as many environmental threats as fracking does. It is estimated that energy companies consumed nearly 250 billion gallons of water between 2005 and 2014 for hydraulic fracturing. This is more water per unit of energy produced than conventional oil and gas exploration requires for drilling and cementing wells (How Much Water Do U.S. Fracking Operations Really Use?). Also, fracking companies are not required to disclose the chemicals used in fracking fluids, also known as slickwater. Since the fracking process is so complicated, any mistake could trigger mass contamination of these chemicals into surrounding environments such as …show more content…

Conventional oil drilling does not deal with nearly as many dangerous chemicals in its process. Fracking can also be used to draw more oil from depleted conventional oil wells. This process exhausts the Earth. Furthermore, immense amounts of water is used when fracking and is a huge waste of natural resources. “Based on approximately 1,500 horizontal wells fracked in 2011, Pennsylvania used about 12-20 million gallons of water per day for Marcellus Shale drilling, which represents approximately .5-.8% of the 9.5 billion gallons of water the state uses daily” (Explore Shale. Marcellus Shale Development, Geology and Water). This waste of water is even more concerning when the droughts in America are considered. In California and Texas, both are located in areas with major fracking shales. In fact, most places dealing with drought currently sit on top of active large shale formations that are part of active fracking

Show More
Related

How Does Fracking Affect Our Environment

253 Words | 2 Pages

In addition, there are more downsides to fracking than just water pollution, and that is the pollution of our environment. The condition of our environment is horrendous when fracking is conducted. To add on to that statement, fracking has caused natural gas leakage into the air, marred landscapes, and many more hazards to our environment. Fracking has already caused pollution to the air, and fracking companies have to remove trees, then that takes away more air from our environment. Trees are vital to Earth’s supply of oxygen, and these companies are just taking the air straight out of the lungs of the people.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

856 Words | 4 Pages

Natural gas is said to be the fuel of the recent future but at this point in time it as a resource that is quickly dwindling. A process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking is being used to access hidden reserves of gas in shale deposits under the ground. The process of fracking isn't new, but is being used more frequently and in more areas as easy-to-access deposits run out. This is where the dispute comes in; is the economic gains of fracking worth the environmental harm it causes? Fracking is too dangerous to risk when finding ways to access natural gas because it can affect water sources, has long lasting effects on the environment, and ruins areas surrounding the well site.

Read More

Pros And Cons Of Hydraulic Fracking

808 Words | 4 Pages

Each fracking operation requires up to eight million gallons of water to complete the job. A fracking well can be fracked up to eighteen times resulting in up to one hundred and forty four million gallons of water can be used in each fracking well. People across the world have highlighted this incredible waste of water, it is calculated that around seventy two trillion gallons of water is currently needed for present active wells. James Fam¬¬¬iglietti a University of California professor of civil and environmental engineering said "It's a wake-up call” and that we need “to have a conversation about what impacts there are” showing how this is an extremely serious matter. Others have stated that while fracking wells need millions and millions of gallons of water to operate and fuel our never ending addiction with gas and fossil fuels millions in Africa and countries across the world walk home every day,

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

1385 Words | 6 Pages

Domestic Energy or the Environment: The Controversy of Fracking The use of fracking as a way to extract tight natural gas and oil is becoming more widespread and more controversial due to the many benefits and damages it causes. Fracking has helped many people. In areas where the extraction takes place, there is an economic boom that reaches multiple counties and even the state as a whole. Fracking is also relatively green in comparison to coal and other forms of energy since is uses less water and natural gas emits less CO2.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

1147 Words | 5 Pages

Economic gains associated with fracking are outweighed by the human and environmental damages caused. The extraction and utilization of fossil fuels comes with environmental concerns, and fracking is no exception. The fracking process involves drilling deep wells and injecting a mix of water, chemicals, and sand at a high pressure to release natural gas. Fracking can pollute freshwater and is linked to earthquakes in surrounding areas.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

632 Words | 3 Pages

Fracking is a process in which fractures in rocks below the earth’s surface are opened and widened by injecting chemicals and liquids at high pressure, used especially to extract natural gas and oil.(Webster Dictionary) While researching information on fracking, I have come to realize that there are pros and cons to this particular process and why it is important to the world. In addition, I learned that during the drilling process, it is always vertical and not so much horizontal (BBC.com). With this method, new pathways are created for reuse. Finally, when the shale rock is fractured, oil and gas are extracted and releasing of natural gas.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

666 Words | 3 Pages

A controversial engineering issues that has people on both sides fighting for and against it is fracking. Fracking or by its actual name “hydraulic fracturing is a type or drilling that involces safely tapping shale and other tight-rock formations by drilling a mile or more below the surface before gradually turning horizontal and continuing several thousand feet more using high pressured water, sand and chemicals” (BBC UK). The high pressure of the mixture will create small cracks on the surface of the material that they are trying to mine, and the purpose of the sand is to keep the cracks from closing back in so that the pressure of the mixture can bring the material up. The material that is mined through fracking is gas and oil. Fracking on one side of the battle is very important to the US energy because it is allowing us to produce our oil fuel supplies

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

975 Words | 4 Pages

“The process happens naturally: high-pressure magma, water, petroleum and gases deep inside the Earth can crack rock, helping to drive plate tectonics, rock metamorphism and the recycling of carbon dioxide between the mantle and the atmosphere” (pg 275). Engelder also delves into the argument of the emissions of methane gas. He concludes that the methane argument is highly overrated since the majority of methane gas (96%), other gases, and oil has been previously released from their original form. He also argues that methane is a non-toxic gas that should not be fretted over. To counter the argument made by Howarth and Ingraffea detailing larger scale fracking compared to historical fracking, Engelder says that larger scale decreases the amount of wells needed and the amount of equipment, roads, and piping that are required of small-scale fracking.

Read More

Cons Of Fracking Essay

329 Words | 2 Pages

The main way that oil and natural gas reserves are acquired are through the means of Fracking. Also known as hydrofracking, this method utilizes a drill that drills down thousands of feet underground, which is then flushed with millions of gallons of water along with additive chemicals at high pressures to break the rocks sheltering the reserves. This method of attainment is quite risky as it comes with many unfavorable consequences that are quite unbeneficial. Like fossil fuel plants, fracking also releases greenhouse gasses like methane(Potential Health and Environmental Effects of Hydrofracking in the Williston Basin, Montana), which is worse than carbon dioxide and causes air pollution. Alongside that, pollutants like Benzene and Xylene also leak out during the fracking process, which is known to cause serious health conditions and even death in some cases due to the long exposure to the pollutants(Potential Health and

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Hydraulic Fracking

1221 Words | 5 Pages

The hydraulic fracking industry began in 2003, only 12 years ago, so it's a relatively new process in the United States. Because it is so new, the long term effects it will have on the environment are unknown and can only be extrapolated by environmental scientists and researchers from observed short term effects. According to Rumpler from the tuftsnow article, nobody yet understands the implications that come from drilling a mile vertically down and another mile horizontally into shale formations. According to a U.S. Geological Survey taken in the vicinity of Youngstown, Ohio, seismic activity and earthquakes have increased since fracking has begun in this area.

Read More

How Does Fracking Affect The Environment

1763 Words | 8 Pages

Fracking is a useful way to provide energy, however it affects the environment in many ways. Hydraulic Fracturing is a procedure used to extract oil and natural gas by inserting water, sand, and liquids such as chemicals in the subsurface, which indicates that this process can lead to dangerous risks (Weible 232). That method involves drilling feet underground through layers of stones, which indicates that the drilling fractures the rocks (Newton 23). Furthermore, fracking has some benefits that last a brief period, but it is not worth the risk. In fact, fracking is a political and environmental issue that has impacted the world and people’s lives.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

1206 Words | 5 Pages

While our research of fracking is still in its beginning phases we have already collected significant amounts of data that have shown its destructiveness. One of the flaws in the fracking process is that the cementing processes used to seal the wells are often rather faulty and tend to leak and release pollutants into the environment. When the seals fail the chemicals from the slickwater are introduced into the ground water of the surrounding areas, a leaky well also releases greenhouse gasses like methane into the air. To be honest, the pollution caused by fracking is not even its worst side effect. The areas that are near the fracking sites are also suffering from the effects of fracking.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

392 Words | 2 Pages

This is water that could be used for drinking or farming, things that are necessary to human life. There is a reason, however, for why some people support fracking. According to what-is-fracking.com, the fracking industry “supports 9.8 million jobs or 5.6 percent of total U.S. employment,” (“What is Fracking?”). It is an alternative to other oil extraction methods. Another reason why fracking supporters support fracking is because they believe that it will boost the economy.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

443 Words | 2 Pages

There has been a big debate whether or not fracking is good for the environment; however, scientifically it has been proven fracking is harmful to our ecosystem. Fracking has gone on for several decades, just to collect fossil fuels. Fracking is a process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand, and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. From what I read from the article “Fracking Fuels Energy Debate” is that fracking has caused several environmental issues on our planet.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

1945 Words | 8 Pages

The life we live today was built on the foundation of oil and it is the centerpiece of our society. Today, more than ninety percent of all oil and natural gas wells are fracked at some point during the life of the well. Fracking is nice on the energy consumers billfold, considering it on averages saves each household nine hundred dollars per year. In Colorado alone, fracking generated 30 billion dollars for its economy. As well as it generates a lot of jobs for people in the oil

Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

Related Topics

Open Document