The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

“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.

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.

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.

“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

Natural gas is a fossil fuel that plays a critical role in the demand and supply of energy in the United States. It is considered to be a clean burning transition fuel. Compared to coal and oil, natural gas combustion does not generate as much pollution and is therefore considered an ideal partner for renewable energy resources. Natural gas is extracted from shale formations underground that require horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing – “hydrofracking” or “fracking”. This drilling and extraction method is currently considered a global widespread issue due to the rapid increase in the amount of new gas wells that threatens the quality of water around the source (Entriken, Evans-White, Johnson & Hagenbuch, 2011).

Fracking is a shorter form of Hydraulic Fracturing which is the extraction process of both natural gas and oil. The process involves drilling deep into the Earth’s surface. Fractures are then created by “pumping large quantities of fluids at high pressure down a welfare and into the target rock formation” (EPA, 2016). After making these openings for the gas or oil to come up (known as “flowback”) the materials can be stored. The reason the fracking process occurs is because “more usual methods of extraction may not be able to fully reach the deposits of shale gas and oil” (2015).

Human health and environmental integrity are both at risk from fracking. However, it allows America to be self-sufficient in an energy driven world. In the end, the debate comes down to whether or not the risks outweigh the benefits. In his interview, Josh Fox brings up firsthand accounts of what fracking does to humans, animals, and the environment. Fox tells the story of Debbie May, a land owner who allowed oil companies to frack on her land. May owns serval cats and a horse, all of whom started losing hair and weight since the fracking started (Fox). This is on top of the fact that in several homeowners in various areas found that their water would light on fire after fracking started (Fox). Lastly, in Colorado, benzene is found in

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.

What is fracking? Fracking, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is to force water, sand, and chemical fluids into a crack or seam in a subterranean level of rock so that natural gas or oil may be harvested as it escapes through the crack. Fracking causes many harmful effects to the environment, but it does help the economy in a tremendous way. Fracking can cause loads of chemicals out into the air and into the water supply and it can also cause small earthquakes and tremors. It is useful for the economy because there is a lot of money to be made in this new industry and it provides an extreme amount of jobs and opportunity for the public. Although it is very helpful, fracking is more wrong because the damage done to our planet is much more important and concerning compared to the notion of quick cash.

Texas the great lone star state, full of natural beauty that ranges from the majestic big bend national park in the Brewster County on the refreshing shores of the South Padre Island, Texas owns a plentiful quantity of natural resources, nevertheless the process of hydraulic fracturing commonly known as “fracking” taking place in Texas, will destroy our natural resources, turning our vast land of splendor into a methane ridden wasteland. However this is the time to unite against these companies that value money over sustainability. In the first place, fracking consist on drilling using a pressurized water, sand, plus a mix of chemicals to release gas from the rocks beneath the earth, this usually happens at 10,000 feet of depth, although this

When you look at the title of this paper you ask yourself, what is fracking, and you probably try to learn the definition so that you’ll actually understand what I am writing about. However, I am going to tell you what fracking is. What is fracking? Fracking is the injection of fluid into the ground in order to get natural fossil fuels to come to the surface, in order to use them for gas and other things (Fracking). How does fracking work? Water and sand are pushed into the ground horizontally and small explosives are inserted in order to push out oil and gas from the natural rocks that are there. Fracking has been going on for decades but there is a new type of fracking, deep fracking, that was first used in Texas in 1999 (MacDonald, 2004). There are good and bad effects of using fracking to get natural gas, many different things are effected on the Earth either way.

Fracking is the process of drilling a well ten thousand feet into the ground and putting chemicals in water and shooting the high pressure water into the rockbed, which extracts the gases.

Oil was first found in Texas in July 1543 by the Spanish explorer Luis de Moscoso of the Desoto expedition. Luis de Moscoso first saw the oil in the Galveston Bay between High Island and the Sabine Pass by Arthur Texas, was were Luis Moscoso saw oil floating on the water. Texas first economically significant oil discovery didn’t happen until another 300 years. Texas has been the main leading producer of crude oil in the United States. Based on an article online earthjustice.org, “Since 2005, more than 12,000 wells have been fracked in the Fort Worth area alone Fracking is a type of drilling that has been used over sixty five years. Hydraulic fracturing is a different process it includes a safely tapping shale as other tight- rock formations. By drilling a mile or more below the surface before turning horizontal and continuing thousand several feet more. Fracking is an important topic in Texas whether it benefits the economy in a positive way or affects us in a negative way. Therefore, fracking has its pros and

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling deep underground to collect hydrocarbons. Although you don’t even have to drill straight down. It can go out horizontally, like the spokes on a bicycle wheel. There can be up to fifteen of these “bicycle spokes” each time. This allows even more hydrocarbons to be collected. Even though fracking is a good way to collect oil and natural gas, there are many components that are harmful to the environment. One of these is the harm that fracking is doing to the water. When the mixture of water, sand, and added chemicals is injected into the steel pipe, only 15%-50% of it is recovered and brought back to the surface. The rest of the water stays underground and is

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.