Fracking And Its Effects On The Economy

Hydraulic fracturing increases the growth of not only jobs, but the economy as well. Ever since the start of fracking in the 1990s,

“Fracking: the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc., so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas”(Google). Ten years ago no one would have thought hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” would have caused such environmental harm; infecting public and private water systems, cutting down national parks, and causing extraneous health problems.

This is even more important because so many Americans lost their jobs as oil and gas production, "with the number of employees in oil and gas with the number of employees in oil and gas extraction shrinking by over 50 percent to 118,400 in 2003" (Hassett and Mathur). Americans were losing jobs in gas production starting from the early twenty-first century due to the fact that "easily tapped oil reserves grew scarcer and domestic oil production declined", until improvements in fracking for shale gas created more jobs(Hassett and Mathur). The jobs fracking creates is much needed to boost the sagging American economy, but even more important to the economy is the gas produced.

In recent years, the subject of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking has been a constant subject of interest in the news media. The pros and cons of fracking are passionately debated. However, the public should become educated on the subject of fracking prior to choosing a side of the argument. In the scholarly article, “Super Fracking,” published in 2014, by Donald L. Trucotte, Eldridge M. Moores, and John B. Rundle, a detailed description of fracking is provided, followed by their analysis of current issues surrounding the controversy. According to Trucotte, Moores, and Rundle, fracking saves the consumer money. The wellhead cost to produce natural gas in January of 2000 was two dollars and sixty cents per one thousand cubic feet. At an alarming rate, the cost at the wellhead to produce natural gas had risen to eight dollars per one thousand cubic feet by January of 2006. Comfortingly, the wellhead cost dropped to two dollars and eighty-nine cents by the end of 2012. Impressively, gas production increase and price decrease over the time period are a result of fracking. In their article, Trucotte, Moores, and Rundle describe in great detail that hydraulic fracturing, most commonly referred to as fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth to fracture the layers of rock so that a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the oil or natural gas inside. This method of fracking has been used commercially for the last fifty years.

When most people think of Texas they think of the booming oil industry that the state has. According to our textbook, “Texas accounts for almost one-third of the country’s natural gas production and holds almost almost a quarter of the country’s natural gas reserves.” Texas has greatly invested in the recourses that are found within the state which makes gives the state a huge economic advantage. When fracking is used to help turn out even larger quantities of natural gas, the economic impact is huge. If the state greatly invested in fracking sites and the use of both traditional and horizontal fracking, the economic gain in the near future could be huge. The state could be turning out twice the amount of natural gas as it is

This pursuit toward a greener future and cleaner environment has encouraged many to research fracking and its potential consequences to America.

Over the past decade oil and gas producers have increasingly used hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking to extract oil and gas from the earth. Most people believe fracking is a new process but it has been around for over 100 years. Modern day fracking began in the 1990’s when George P Mitchell created a new technique by combining fracking with horizontal drilling. Since then, U.S. oil and gas production has skyrocketed. But the “new” perception of fracking leads people to incorrectly believe that fracking is temporary and that it somehow harms the environment. The truth is fracking is a reasonable energy solution if oversight and safeguards are used. In the last ten years fracking has improved conditions in the U.S. in three

“Fracking is the process of obtaining Natural Gas from below Earth’s surface by drilling 1000’s of feet 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.” (Jackson). Hydraulic Fracturing got its name due to the fact of how the rock is fractured apart by the high pressure mixture of a number of chemicals, sand, and water. Drilling companies first began Fracking in the early 1940’s, and starting in the 1990’s companies began “safer drilling” due to the amount of concerns that had arisen because early drillers had to detonate small explosions that eventually ended up killing many people. Fracking has been used for nearly 60 years and the number of concerns about it are rising every day. Due to the new technological advancements in drilling Fracking has changed greatly over the years. Before, the drilling would go on for weeks on end in order to extract only a small amount of natural gas. Now, due to the invention of higher powered drills, the drills get double the amount then they used to be able to get in more then half the time. Over 95,000 square miles of shale deposits have been found around the Appalachian Basin but the only way to reach these deposits of shale is through fracking. “Fracking is a technique designed to recover gas and oil from shale rock by drilling

Fracking in North Dakota alone went from 4,600 to 6,600 wells just from 2009-2012. Due to the increase in wells, natural gas extraction went from 7.5 million to 16.9 million barrels of oil (Loris 2). This increase in the oil and gas industry also provides jobs in several fields such as geology, engineering, rig working, truck driving, pipe welding, and many more, which means that the US unemployment will go down as long as this economic boom keeps up. However, fracking provides more than just jobs; it provides an economic boost to the communities where fracking occurs. States like Louisiana and Oklahoma practice fracking in more rural areas and it is seen as an economic boost more so in those places than in states like Colorado, where fracking

Therefore with resources becoming scarce humanity needs to extract the most from what the earth has. In fact from adding gasoline to your vehicle, to power plant facilities using natural gas instead of burning coal to power homes, to computes and cell phones, almost everything in our lives depend on an oil based product and fracking is the solution for the depletion of fossil fuels. Three controversial issues with hydraulic fracking are nearly everything people use daily has a petroleum based product, contamination of drinking water also the surrounding soil, and the financial impact on the economy. Many people in America do not realize the positives that comes with fracking. It is a great way to help the economy in the United States. Fracking decreases the price of all petroleum products including the price in gas. When gas prices decrease it allows other products such as food, plastics, and other petroleum goods to also go down in price. With these savings being passed down to the consumers it makes the cost of living in America much easier for many people who are living with a minimum wage budget. Minimum wage going up in Oregon and gas prices declining creates a stir in people making them spend more and builds consumer confidence on what is spent. In turn this rapid spending creates a boom in the American economy. With fracking producing nine million barrels a day and decreasing prices by forty five

The implementation of fracking has had a dramatic economic impact on the United States. The use of fracking in the last decade has increased the production of natural gas from shale formations by 10 times. (Issues) This has resulted in the United States moving more toward natural gas and away from coal to fulfill its energy power needs. In fact, one of the largest production growth areas of

In America poverty is a problem; fracking helped with this problem because it crated job opportunities. Although people in America have had a hard time finding good paying jobs, fracking has helped solve this problem. Ed Rendell confirms that “natural gas restores jobs for hardworking Americans”, and it created “thousands of solid jobs with good salaries”. While fracking helped people who are having troubles finding jobs, but it also creates new opportunities for other things like businesses. Ed Rendell points out that “It’s already creating new opportunities consumers and businesses and promoting economic growth”. Another thing that has benefitted from fracking is construction industries. Ed Rendell states that “steel, lumber, and construction

The global crisis surrounding energy needs grows in severity as time goes by and in order to solve it, scientists have created the innovative solution known as hydraulic fracturing (Source 5). Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking,” is a process that injects water, chemicals, sand, and other materials into layers of shale. The injected mixture cracks the layers of shale, releasing trapped natural gasses that can be collected (Source 1). Fracking occurs deep under the surface of the earth, miles below the groundwater that is accessed from drinking-water wells. In the mid-2000s, “fuel prices were rising rapidly” (Source 5). Hydraulic fracturing was a cheap solution that not only brought the world out of a state of emergency but made oil prices drop. The new method of gas collection grew the oil and gas industry, benefiting people all around the world. Fracking is a cheap, effective solution to global needs, but is under attack from skeptics who worry about environmental hazards. The claims against fracking not only have no real evidence but also risk destroying the jobs in the oil and gas industry as well as support for energy needs. Hydraulic fracturing is not only a cheap but a safe method that supports global needs surrounding both energy and jobs.

Techniques of the way normal drilling is done it does not produce the same results as fracking does when getting oil and gas out of the Earth. Fracking is important in the states because we are looking for more unconventional oil and natural gas resources and by drilling at those type of sites is less helpful than fracking due to fracking maximizes the return on the investment. While fracking has very good production in gathering the resources need not all things are good about fracking.

Fracking has actually changed out future as we know it, and has made it possible for many things. Fracking will make the world run on natural fossil fuels for much longer, which is also better for the environment and us. In 2015, the U.S. reached its all time high in oil production in 14 years and is only expected to continually rise. Oil production in the U.S. is one of the main sources of jobs for people living in the U.S. (Nunez, 2013). Fracking is a good way to employ U.S. citizens and is also a good way to get natural ways of oil production. As we all