Fracking, better known as hydraulic fracking has been around since 1949 (Global Energy Affairs), and has helped our economy in many different ways; such as, providing economic benefits, supporting the U.S. with more natural resources, and using safer drilling and production practices, and it is better for our environment. However, fracking can also be extremely terrible for our economy, such as; water droughts, health effects, and noise pollution. There are two sides to hydraulic fracking, and through resource I will form my opinion (Occupy Theory). People know fracking as an extreme and unsafe method of extracting fossil fuels from the ground that harms our drinking water, our health, our environment and climate, and that it has linked to earthquakes many different times (BBC News). What many don’t know is, fracking can help our environment as well, such as; giving economic benefits. Everyday, …show more content…
It sent one person to the hospital and many others injured. This explosion didn’t happen because of a drilling process, it happened because a propane-holding truck was on the well pad and exploded. This just shows that fracking is extremely dangerous and that anything can happen during the process, even just a spark or a little error can lead to a potentially deadly well fire that burns out of control and causes multiple injuries. Noise pollution is another negative effect by fracking. Many people don’t enjoy the sound of the machines used for fracking; in fact, they don’t enjoy the workers doing it near their areas. Many residents of areas are concerned about the effects that the heavy vehicles and loud machines have on their daily lives. All of these heavy vehicles have turned a lot of residential areas into work zones, and many are against that. Fracking takes place both day and night, therefore this cause anxiety and stress for many who are affected by both the light and the
Hydraulic fracking is not only harmful to people but also toxic for the environment around the site. Extracting gasses deep in the earth's crust is not natural, neither is sucking 5-8 million gallons of water out of lakes. Eight million gallons might not seem like a lot because of how much the earth’s surface is covered in water, but there are over a million wells being fracked around the United States. Even if the fracking site is located in water deficient regions the companies will still pump out a large quantity of water from the local sources. For now, we have enough water for drinking and domestic use, but if the process doesn't stop or slow down we will affect the ecosystem. The composition of some fracking chemicals remains protected and disclosure through various "trade secret" exemptions under state or federal law, scientists analyzing fracked fluid have identified dangerous compounds to humans and the environment. For each frack, 70-300 tons of chemicals may be used, selected from a menu of up to 500 different chemicals. When the workers are down with the fracking mixture it is then stored on site in tanks and get reused until the fluid is be disposed of. When disposing of the flowback fluids, it's injected back into the ground deeper than the wellbore and left. In a recent report, USGS science for a changing world made stated “Wastewater disposal wells typically
There are many positive arguments that support the concept of Fracking. Fracking helps out the economy and our energy in many ways. Today, natural gas and oil is needed all over the globe because it makes up most of our energy consumption. (US Dept. of Energy) This is why many support Fracking. Fracking is also needed today because it seems to be the most profitable and attractive way to obtain oil and natural gas. Many places around the globe today are being exhausted of natural gas and oil reserves, which urges the push for fracking. Fracking also has many positive economic effects. The main thing fracking does is create jobs, which greatly strengthens the economy. In addition, fracking has recently been shown to provide jobs for millions of people. A recent report done by Tamara Thompson showed that Fracking has accounted for 385 billion dollars in economic activity in the United States. Fracking is also very profitable. Extracting natural gas and oil today is very expensive, but because of fracking, there is an alternative form to recover natural gas resources that
Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing, a type of drilling used by oil companies to tap the valuable oil veins located miles below the earth’s surface. Fracking has been the subject of discussion for some time now, not necessarily for its effectiveness, but for its effect on the environment. Fracking has been known to release methane gas into the atmosphere; methane gas is a greenhouse gas and along with gasses like CO2 is one of the gasses that contributes to the warming of the planet. In Louis W. Allstadt’s article “Fracking Contributes to Global Warming” he states that, “methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas in the short term-less
“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 has become a highly controversial and publicized topic in recent years due to rising concerns into the potential benefits and consequences of using hydraulic fracturing to retrieve natural gas and oil reserves. With concerns over water pollution, mismanagement of toxic waste and irreversible environmental damage mounting, the practice of fracking has
While this process is happening the chemicals and toxins tend to reach out towards the nearby groundwater and eventually contaminate oceans and drinking water wells. By this time both animals and humans are being affected. It can get into our systems and make us sick. These toxins reach out to both land animals and sea animals. If these animals get enough toxins in their systems, they will eventually get sick and die off. Fracking affects both the land around, humans, animals and plants. While on the subject of potentially hurting human life, there have been known videos of people holding a lighter next to their tap water and it setting on fire due to the methane gas
The most dangerous consequence of fracking is that hundreds of chemicals are blasted into the Earth’s crust, which creates cracks in the bedrock. Many times, these cracks lead to an aquifer, in which case, all of the water in the aquifer becomes contaminated with these chemicals (Jackson, 2014). Additionally, when the natural gas is being pumped out of the wells, methane is released into the atmosphere. A study conducted by NOAA found that approximately 4% of the methane is being released into the atmosphere. This same study found that methane pollution increases climate changes because it traps heat in the atmosphere 25 times more than carbon dioxide (Hoffman, 2016). Furthermore, fracking waste wells are the primary cause of the increase of earthquakes in the Central U.S. This is because these wells operate for a longer period of time, which means that they inject more “solid ‘cake’” into the Earth than the actual fracking process (USGS, n.d. and StateImpact, 2017). Finally, recent studies have found that people who live near a fracking site are at higher risk to develop respiratory problems, which is due to the increased levels of pollutants. These pollutants are not only affecting the people who live in close proximity to these sites, but to the workers, as well. The most common type of respiratory problem reported was lung
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
Although the process of Fracking seems reasonable because it is something we use in our daily lives for cooking food, heating homes, and amongst other things, the question remains whether it is an actual positive or negative to not only us (not even a question) but to the environment? When looking at the pro side one main reason would be the additional access to gas and oil fracking would give us since “many scientists believe we only had a few years left to use fossil fuels before they ran out” (2015). The second positive effect for us would be the lowering of taxes. With more accessibility to gas and oil it wouldn't be such a demand allowing gas for cooking to lower as well as petroleum for cars. Lastly, it can create a
While fracking has provided a cleaner fuel, there are many negative effects to the environment, the beef industry, human health and little positive effects. Some of these effects include; ground water being polluted with harmful chemicals, this polluted water can cause extreme sickness in humans. Fracking disrupts the habitats of animals and they have to leave the area to find clean water and a better food supply. Also it has been taking an effect on the beef industry in how farmers raise and sell their cattle. Fracking can have negative long term effects on the people living in the local area and make that area inhabitable.
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.
he fracking truth! Everybody acknowledges the bad side of fracking, but nobody gives credit to the beneficial side. Fracking is our best option in certain circumstances. It is way better and releases less fossil fuel than coal. Europe was actually thinking about using coal instead of fracking. By doing they are ruining the Earth at a faster rate. Fracking is also safe because it won’t affect the water as much. The natural gas industry says that fracking gives less effect on ruining our water. Therefore, fracking is more beneficial than the other resources, like coal. Many countries have shale which help with fracking and it’s cheaper. We might as well use the resources that are given to us rather than wasting time and money by trying to use other resources.
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 the leading case in people getting sick or maybe worse. I think that fracking is good for lighting and heating are home but can really hurt the economy. Fracking can lead to earthquakes and it my let you light your tap water on fire and may cause death.
Some of the issues raised by people who argue against fracking argue that it uses huge amounts of water that has to be moved to the site, which greatly impacts the environment. There is also a concern that dangerous chemical from the fracking site may leak into the ground water which can certainly affect the health of the people who live near the site. There are also concerns with the fact that fracking can cause tremors, or small