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The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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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

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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.

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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.

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The fracking fluid used to break up the shale rock in the earth is composed of lead, mercury, uranium, formaldehyde, and a variety of other harmful chemicals. This chemical cocktail contaminates ground water and often runs into city supply water that is used for drinking. According to the dangers of fracking website, the contaminated water has been related to cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage. Not only does fracking cause damage to our bodies but it also causes damage to the environment. Fracking causes the contamination of groundwater, methane pollution (and impacts climate change), air pollution, waste disposal and many other

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