Contamination In Gasland

One of the major drawbacks with fracking is due to the cause of widespread hazardous pollution within waterways surrounding the sites. The steel casings cannot guarantee prevention of chemical leakage dispersing into the adjacent soil holding tons of ground water. This is the same water that makes its way into our wells, and finally into our mouths. Furthermore, more than half of the wastewater used in the fracking process is flowed directly into a ready-made reservoir pits that sit in wait for evaporation. This wastewater gradually sinks into the ground, for the evaporation takes quite some time. The health risks posed by this dangerously hazardous output of pollution into our drinking water and nearby waterways is widely felt. Water quickly turns to metallic mush, goes black, and even becomes flammable in other cases. Fracking is upsetting the way of life for so many out there and yet they still refuse to answer for these wrongdoings. Mike Markham is forced to venture into town to buy his water supply due to his well water being deemed unfit for consumption (“GasLand”). Jeff and Wranda Locker’s washer was flooded with black water not soon after a fracking site began drilling. They placed faith in the energy company when they supplied them with a reverse osmosis water treatment system that was supposed to filter out the chemicals. However, later they found out that the system didn’t remove glycol ethers which damages brain cells and may well be the cause of Wranda’s fading

Few issues have recently gotten as much attention as the energy extraction activities involving a controversial procedure called "fracking." As reports of drinking water becoming tainted with fracking fluid flood the news, both oil and gas companies as well as environmental groups are presenting competing "facts" about the effects of drilling on ground water.

It is confirmed that “chemicals released from fracking have a tendency of hormone disturbance on people who live very close to operational areas” (Finkel 2). As per the researchers’ discovery from Missouri University, “the process of hydraulic fracturing uses 11 chemicals that can disrupt the body's hormones”. It is revealed that the possibility to encounter different health hazardous due to an increased exposure rate to endocrine-disrupting chemical is significantly very high for those who reside closer to operational

Fracking promoters say safe hydraulic fracking doesn’t threaten drinking water. They also disprove that the water used in hydraulic fracturing ends up as surface spills. There are three ways reported for waste water disposal including “injecting in permitted disposal wells in accordance with Underground Injection Control Regulations, delivered to water treatment facilities depending on permitting, and reused/recycled” (“Pioneering America’s Energy Future”). These three types of disposals are considered safe as long as agencies are regulating hydraulic fracturing companies carefully. The Oil and Gas Conservation Act makes oil and gas a state priority, allowing companies the legal right to fracture. It is harder to judge whether regulations are actually set in place when government wants to favor the creation of jobs and economic boost rather than worrying about the health of communities affected by

Last year alone, oil and gas companies put hundreds of millions of gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the earth. Many of these fluids were found to contain harmful chemicals such as carcinogens- substances that directly cause cancer. This is why hydraulic fracking has been the topic of heated debate over the past few years. This process of drilling for natural gas has become increasingly popular over the past decade, and has in turn produced many questions about the safety of its wells and the chemicals that are used in drilling. Under current regulations, hydraulic fracking is permitted to be conducted at drilling sites that are located very close to residential areas. The chemicals used in the drilling process have been leaking out of wells, and have contaminated drinking water for some communities. In addition, it pollutes the air by putting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Concerned about the safety of fracking, cities such as Longmont have shown great opposition to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA)’s regulations. In fact, Longmont citizens voted to put a ban on fracking within city limits in 2012. This ban has been met with retaliation from COGA, who sued the city because of the ban. If fracking isn’t allowed to be banned by cities that don’t want it, then the regulations need to change in order to make the practice both prosperous and safe for the community.

Hydraulic fracturing, or also known as fracking, is a technique that is used to recover oil and gases directing coming from rocks that we have lost. The process, which tends to be successful in recovering these resources, can be controversial against many citizens. Since fracking consists of water, sand, and other chemicals being injected into the deep rocks underground, the high pressure of drilling down into the earth with this mixture allows the gas to flow out. This technique is rather effective and useful for the industry; its results making it possible for businesses to use the sources we’ve wasted and used. However, what gets many people riling against the procedure is that fracking can also result in water contamination. Recognizing that water contamination is already a national issue that all governments have a desire to resolve, the population is skeptical towards why industries are allowing such method of regaining oils and gases to pollute their water.With the help of the several sources, it was made easier to come to a conclusion in agreeing or disagreeing if fracking should be used to release oil and gas or not.

Fracking fluid consists of 99.5% of water and sand, and 0.5% chemicals. Many people are worried about the chemicals that go into the ground which might contaminate the ground water. Having reliable data that can be disclosed will be able to win public trust. Industrial transparency should be encouraged in the aspects of air emissions, tracking and reporting the usage of water and chemical compositions of the waste materials. The governor of Ohio John Kasich suggested that regulators should require, and companies should embrace, disclosure policies that mandate reporting of not only the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, but also chemicals used in drilling and operating wells[7]. This could also bring out some statistics and also answer some concerns of the stake holders regarding managing water, environment and health. This is even more beneficial if

The nation is shifting towards electricity generated by natural gas- over the past ten years 81 percent of new electricity capacity has been gas fired- and state governments are playing regulatory catch-up with the drilling technology’s rapid expansion to meet this burgeoning demand”. (http://www.gracelinks.org/191/natural-gas-fracking-introduction) However; to meet this demand, gas and oil companies have ignored some rather important harmful effects of hydraulic fracturing. These harmful effects include; water droughts, increased pollution, the spread of toxins, and possible negative influence on local economies. Water droughts because of the fracking process are caused by using up to approximately one-hundred times more water than previous drilling methods. This means that gradually less and less of the world where drilling is active or was active will have the ability to attain non chemical induced water. The article, “List of Pros and Cons of Fracking” published by Occupy Theory states that, “Anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of fracking waste water flows back to the original drilling surface” (http://occupytheory.org/list-of-pros-and-cons-of-fracking/) Hydraulic fracturing causes pollution in several different aspects. Oil and gas companies are not required to provide a list of chemicals used in the process which causes those in the areas where drilling is present to not be able to adapt correctly to these toxins. According to research, a few of the chemicals that have been found present in fracking include; benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene. These three chemicals are known to the scientific community to cause harmful effects on the health of people. Also, the article, “Pros and Cons of Fracking: 5 Key Issues” explains that because of the dropping gas prices, drilling use will

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, a potentially dangerous practice, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside. Fracking involves pumping pressurized water, sand, and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil and gas to the surface. The process is used to improve productivity in gas reserves over the U.S., but it causes radioactive wastewater, radon exposure, smog, chemical contamination of drinking water, air pollution, and seismic activity in areas including a potential for danger from it in District 8: Navarro, Freestone, and the Hill Country that are designated as a “Priority Groundwater Management Area” and also semi-protected from fracking in Texas.

Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is a mine stimulation technique that is taking the country by storm. It is a multi-billion dollar industry and in some parts of the country there are so many wells clustered together that they can be seen from space. The commodity being mined is natural gas. Natural gas has earned itself many new names depending on who is asked. According to big gas companies like Haiburton, it’s America’s solution to the energy crisis and a fuel for the 21st century. They claim this current period of economic and energy prosperity is due to increased fracking. However, this prosperity does not come without a cost. Many landowners, environmentalists, and scientists claim the process is poisoning the air, ground, water,

Oil fracking may seem to be a harmless uprising invention to the standard peer. However, when looking into the concerns and damaging effects from oil fracking, this invention may be more of an issue rather than a solution to retrieving oil. Scientists and researchers began to discover that oil fracking could lead to the release of dangerous chemicals that can be threatening to human life and the environment. CEO’s are also not providing sufficient information and warnings surrounding the oil fracking industry. Articles by Thompson, Perez-Pena, Christopherson, and Gerken, all express the concerns and supporting evidence of the damaging effects caused by oil fracking. Ultimately, fracking is a dangerous method to getting oil because the chemicals

Bob Weinhold, a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, has been investigating environmental health issues since 1996. He continues to expose the public to the consequences of environmental abuse. His article “The Future of Fracking,” analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their efforts made to regulate and improve the current state of toxic air emissions produced by hydraulic fracturing sites in the United States. Weinhold successfully presents technological and economic benefits of oil and natural gas drilling but counters these successes by considering the damage that current fracking sites and future fracking sites have on human and environmental health. The information he

In the process of fracking, problems can occur and there can be a possibility of water contamination. During fracking underground water supplies can be exposed to shale gas and contaminate the water or there could be a cement failures and infiltration from soil or even water transportation incidents (Beaver 127; Penning et al. 1156). This can happen very easily and can cause the water to get contaminated. In one case, “EPA found evidence of groundwater contamination with benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel range organics, and total volatile hydrocarbons in shallow wells that lie above 169 gas-producing wells that were hydro fractured.”(Penning et al. 1156). Most of these chemicals found in the water are harmful to the body, can

In December 2011, the federal Environmental Protection Agency concluded that fracking operations could be responsible for groundwater pollution.“Today’s methods make gas drilling a filthy business. You know it’s bad when nearby residents can light the water coming out of their tap on fire,” says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. What’s causing the fire is the methane from the drilling operations. A ProPublica investigation in 2009 revealed methane contamination was widespread in drinking water in areas around fracking operations in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania. The presence of methane in drinking water in Dimock, Pa., had become the focal point for Josh Fox’s investigative documentary, Gasland, which received an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Documentary; Fox also received an Emmy for non-fiction directing. Fox’s interest in fracking intensified when a natural gas company offered $100,000 for mineral rights on property his family owned in Milanville, in the extreme northeast part of Pennsylvania, about 60 miles east of Dimock.

When additives are pumped into the ground at high volumes and pressures, alterations in aquifers and water reservoirs take place, which could detrimentally affect those who consume such water. Recently, civil and environmental engineers studied these additives which allow this method of fracturing to take place and found that “An average of 20 million liters of water are forced under pressure into each well, combined with large volumes of sand or other materials to help keep the fissures open, and 200,000 liters of acids, biocides, scale inhibitors, friction reducers and surfactants [as well]” and that many of the other additional additives remain secrets (Howarth et al.). This means that as more wells are drilled to extract natural gas and oil using the high-volume slick-water hydraulic fracturing, more additives will be pumped into the ground, only contaminating more water sources (Howarth et al.). The fact that there is a dearth of information pertaining to the names of additives used should raise several red flags of concern. As water contamination accumulates over time, the safety of consuming water becomes depleted, and if this continues, the safety of human life will become threatened. This especially applies to those who live within moderate proximity to