Hello, I am entirely sure that you do not know who I am, where I live, or whom I aspire to be but I do know that we have more in common than you may think. I come from Northeast Pennsylvania, a terribly underrated and beautiful place that has changed and grown as I have changed and grown up throughout my eighteen years of habitation just like you. I have seen the wonders of four seasons change from dazzling summers, to crisp autumns, to harsh winters, and to fresh springs just like you. I have seen the water trucks come up and down my road, then stopping to fill their tanks at a water station from the Susquehanna River, just minutes from my house just like you. I have fallen in love with where I have come from, but some believe that our …show more content…
But with every situation there are always negative side effects.
Fracking, I’m sure as you already know, begins with contact from a gas drilling company that wishes to buy the mineral rights to your land. This has been a very complicated process for many people before, during, and after the rights have been signed. The property owner must take into account that the rights are only for Marcellus Shale, the duration of the lease, and that the company should be held for any damages done amongst many other variables of the process. Once that has been completed, the drilling process may begin.
Unfortunately, the drill cannot simply be poked in the ground with natural gas spewing out of the hole that has been created, fracking is much more complex than that as I am sure that you know already. Decades of research, triumphs and failures have gone into the creation, management and use of drilling rigs that, as a result, has left us with the standard fracking procedure we know today.
The first step of the fracking process is to find land that will be suitable for fracturing. It must be an area that contains natural gas and is easily accessible to the gas company. Geologists survey the land long before hand and have exact calculations and measurements upon where natural gas is located. After buying the mineral rights from the land-owners a drilling rig is built in a few days along with the well pad. Then, layers of steel pipes are lowered about 1,000
Now I will introduce how fracking actually works. A shaft is drilled several hundred meters into the earth. Then, a horizontal hole enters gas bearing layer of rock. After this, fracking fluid enters using high performance pumps. This fracking fluid consists of water, sand, and chemicals. Then, this mixture goes into the gas layer and produces a ton of tiny
Once the well reaches the right depth, it turns right or left and becomes horizontal. This is called the kick off point. The horizontal section can span anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 feet. The drill is removed but the surrounding steel casing remains. These steel casings are meant to protect the groundwater and the surrounding area from any potential leakage during the fracking process. Down at the horizontal section of the well, little holes are punctured through the steel in thousands of spots. Then, a water solution is pumped at a extremely high pressure down the well. This causes tons of cracks and fissures in the rock. Additives and sand in the water mixture hold the cracks open, allowing oil to escape and be brought up to the surface.
“Fracking” isn’t a word that most people are familiar with unless they are well informed or active in local government or natural gas extraction. “Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves extracting natural gas from shale formations underground” (Collier, Galatas, Harrelson-Stephens, 2008). During the process known as fracking, millions of gallons of water are shot underground into shale formations to help bring the natural gas trapped inside the formations to be released so that it can surface and become available for extraction. This is the technique that is used for traditional fracking methods. Although fracking increases the states natural gas production, it also carries some negative side effects that are affecting the state and its people.
Fracking is a highly controversial practice that utilizes the injection of water, chemicals and abrasives to extract relatively inaccessible pockets of natural resources. Although fracking has the potential to benefit the domestic economy, the practice of hydraulic fracturing, if left unregulated and mismanaged poses significant risks to the environment, the ecosystem and safety.
Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, is the process of removing oil and natural gas from in between layers of shale and other low-permeability rocks. This is done by drilling both a well and a horizontal tunnel. Sand and chemicals are shot through the tunnel with incredible pressure, which cracks the shale allowing the oil and natural gas to travel up the well (Jackson, 2014). Fracking has caused a breadth of controversy due to the economic benefits and the geological consequences.
“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
In the article, “The truth about fracking,” Chris Mooney analyzes the effects of fracking by big companies looking to extract natural gas. Fracking is done by drilling deep underground, even 5000 feet at times, and shooting high pressure water loaded with chemicals to extract gases that serve as energy. The U.S. has been fracking for about 65 years and there is enough gas in U.S. soil to last many decades to come but there are many setbacks.
Fracking is a technique designed to get gas and oil out of shale rock in the earth. Natural gas has been used for light and heat for more than 100 years, natural gas is considered one of the cleanest fossil fuel but since it is a fossil fuel it is also a finite resource. Natural gas industry developed a new drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking . fracking is a means of extracting natural gases from shale. Tons of chemicals some toxic are mixed with large amounts of water and sand and pumped up to 8,000 feet under ground. The pressure fractures the shale and allows the gas to freely move.
With the age of constant industrial and technological growth has come the necessity for not only cost effective and efficient methods for industry, but also the need for obtaining fuel for the machines that make the modern world possible. Oil has become as precious a commodity as gold, if not more so; its attainments constantly driving the world's largest businesses and governments across the world into action. Naturally, a "quick-fix" solution to this problem is constantly sought after by oil companies wishing to provide oil on a massive scale. One of these drilling methods is known as induced hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking).
“Fracking is the 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.” (Megan Caponetto and Tom Schierlitz, BBC UK, What is fracking and why is it controversial?, 12/16/15). I went with this BBC quote because it’s challenging to find a proper definition without bias. From what I’ve seen and heard, to frack they drive multiple tanker trucks into the area filled with a mixture of water and
Fracking is the nickname for Hydraulic fracturing and a type of drilling that has been used since 1950. Today, fracking is the United States most reliable source of natural gas and oils. Fracking consists of safely tapping shale rock and other tight-rock formations by drilling 1-2 kilometres or more below the surface before slowly turning horizontal and then continuing several thousand feet more. One fracking site can have a number of wells. Once the well is drilled, the drill is removed and the well hole is made solid.
Fracking has always been a problem, but seems to become more of a problem as time goes on. Although gas, oil, and coal are necessities for living, there is a better way to obtain these substances instead of 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
Fracking is a way of drilling into the earth to find resources such as petroleum, gasoline, and others. It is done by drilling into the earth with a mixture of water and sand too. Dechert states that “break up
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing involves the extraction of natural gas from deep below the ground. A shaft is drilled into the ground followed by a horizontal well hole that flows to the gas layer of the earth. The well is divided into smaller sections and these sections are fractured in sections. Fracking fluid (7 million litres of water is used, several thousand tonnes of sand and 200,000 tonnes of chemicals (de Rijke, 2013)) is then pumped into the ground at high velocity. Cracks are produced in the rocks, the sand in the mixture prevents cracks from closing again. The water is then pumped out and natural gas is now easily obtained. (BBC News, 2016). The first well was constructed in 1949 and as a result of a technology