How Fracturing Is Supplying About 2.1 Million Jobs

Hydraulic fracking purportedly has been considered important to our nation’s expansion of natural gas as well as giving rise to our nation’s economy. Globally, the fracking industry has supported and created a large job market and has employed a vast number of unemployed workers. In 2012 alone, the industry created 2.1 million jobs across the United States (1). States such as Arkansas, Louisiana, Colorado, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Texas have successfully lead the charge within this ever growing business activity. The fracking industry in Arkansas, for example, employed 5.9% of the state’s overall employment of 92,500 jobs. The labor income from the fracking industry is $4.22 billion. Furthermore, the industry successfully supported Arkansas’s public schools during 2012-2013 saving $9.9 million paired with saving 144 teaching positions.

In today's global economy, energy is one of the most crucial and sought after commodities. Who supplies it and how much they supply determines how much influence they have over other countries as well as the global economy. This is why hydraulic fracturing is currently such an important and controversial topic in the United States. Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as "fracking" or hydrofracturing, is the process of using pressurized liquids to fracture rocks and release hydrocarbons such as shale gas, which burns more efficiently than coal. This booming process of energy production provides a much needed economic boost, creating jobs and providing gas energy for Americans. The efficiently burning shale gas reduces carbon

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 has brought the world’s energy supply from a crisis level to a stable supply that supports global energy demands. As energy prices rose and the energy supply slowly decreased, experts began to

In the past few decades America’s energy consumption has risen significantly, the majority of our energy comes from fossil fuels like natural gas, and coal, however recently there has been a lot of publicity around a relatively new method of obtaining natural gas called Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking has grown since the 1940s in America, natural gas prices are continuing to rise, as a result of its depleting number of natural resources (Heinberg). Therefore more complex, and expensive methods like fracking have become more popular, and cost-effective (Sanders). Fracking has already been used in the USA more than one million times, in fact more than 60% of gas wells in the United States are used for fracking (white). Fracking

Development of infrastructure and market for natural gas, a product of hydraulic fracking, has blossomed in recent years. Interestingly though, hydraulic fracturing, a process that’s been around since the early 1900s, has recently become a topic of significant controversy, especially through the expansion of large reservoirs throughout the United States, including the Barnett Shale, the Marcellus, and the Bakken. However, the unsustainable nature of hydraulic fracking demands that US attention be focused on expanding renewable infrastructure and bolstering actual sustainable development; hydraulic fracking is an economic distraction fueled by big business, and the benefits are grossly temporary. Simply stated, investment and expansion of the natural gas industry in the United States is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. First, the paper will provide an outline of exactly why investment and development of hydraulic fracturing in the US is not sustainable. This will be accomplished by looking at the economics of natural gas fracturing, as well as the environmental effects and the public health impacts. Then further evaluation will provide insight on the practicality and necessity of national investment in renewable infrastructure to catalyze the nation into a global future.

Fracking presents many benefits to the energy industry. The first benefit is that fracking provides an effective energy resource that is accessible today. The use of natural gas from fracking has displaced the use of coal as an energy source. Coal was the source of approximately 50% of the electricity production in the United States in 2008. By 2012, it was down to 37% (Wihbey, 2015). During that time, natural gas production rose, and the amount that came from fracking increased dramatically. In 2000, fracking provided 1% of the nation’s natural gas. By 2012, fracking produced over 30% of the natural gas for the United States, with that number expected to rise to about 50% by 2035 (McGlynn, 2011). With the development of hydraulic fracturing

In the world today one of the fundamental services that are required for daily living is energy. It therefore goes without saying that human beings have to engage themselves in whichever means possible to ensure that there is a sufficient and affordable energy necessary for supporting life most especially on the side of economic growth and development. Fossils forms a major source of energy, most especially oil, and this has been literally referred to as the motor of the world. In an effort to reduce dependence on Middle East and other countries for oil and gas, U.S has heavily invested in other forms of energy extraction from the core of the earth through a process that has come to be referred as fracking. Fracking is a short term that is used to refer to hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is a form of technology that is being used to unlock vast quantities of natural gas from shale beds. In America, shale gas covers a quarter of all gas production and it is projected that in coming decades, shale gas is most likely to have a market share of more than a half. The major advantage of fracking is that it is a cheaper way of mining natural gas and this therefore means a relatively cheap retail price (In Hester & In Harrison, 2015). Cheap energy has in turn boosted America’s petrochemical industry, provided job opportunities, created other energy intensive businesses, lowered electricity bills, and has significantly reduced the amount of carbon emission released to the

Pursuing hydraulic fracturing as a top manager of Chevron, I will describe the dilemmas that are associated with fracking. The first problem with this procedure is finding the appropriate land and leasing it from the landowners. With talk around the country, it can be difficult finding land because of landowners’ personal experience with the practice of hydraulic fracturing. In southwestern Pennsylvania there have been cases of animal birth defects, faucet erosion, stomach pains, and other health issues; in response, according to the New York Times, “Range Resources maintains that a D.E.P. study from 2010 indicates no air pollution of any kind” (Griswold, 2011). The country is torn in

A growing concern with meeting future resource demands has made energy a pivotal commodity in today’s global economy. The introduction of; methods that conserve exhaustible resources, as well as, the use of renewable resources, have sought to solve the impending energy crisis. In recent years, one technological advancement that has been beneficial in the search for an alternative a renewable energy source is, Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a method of drilling; which injects fluids; such as water and toxic chemicals; into wells deep underground, to extract oil and gas resources. Fracking allows for the obtainment of oil and natural gas from sources that would be otherwise inaccessible. However, the use of Hydraulic fracturing has been known to have adverse environmental impacts, making it a controversial topic in the United States.

Fracking can extract a large amount of resources compared to other methods of exploitation that we used before. Since 2013, production of natural gases in the United States has been climbing rapidly, especially in shale gas. Shale gas has driven U.S production to a record level. In 2010, it is recorded that 1 million of barrels of oil per day are produced. But in 2013, the year with booming application of fracking, the generated barrels of oil per day were tripled, approximating 3 million daily. It could be deduced that more drilling rigs had been installed during the 3-year interval. However, the increase in the number of rigs was not enough in explaining the leap in production of resources. It was the new technique, fracking, that expanded the oil and gas industry in the US. In addition, fracking might be a temporary method to solve the problem of soaring demand for energy. Depletion of resources is posting a great concern for many countries, including the US. Massive U.S industry nowadays is having a huge demand of energy. By using the modern Fracking techniques, oil and gas producers are now able to exploit resources from hard-rock formations deeply under the ground, which they could not do previously. This solidify our hope that by using Fracking, the energy industry of the U.S is no longer suffer from the lack of

Because of Hydraulic Fracturing the U.S. is now one of the world’s largest producers of oil. The people of the United States and the politicians on both sides of this debate want to see the U.S. become independent. This will allow the United States to not have to trade with countries that are allied or have trade with countries that are not on par with American values. In 2012 Fracturing supported up to 2.1 million jobs and is said to produce upwards of 3.9 million jobs by 2025. There is little record of any contamination by Hydraulic Fracturing besides the few occasions with a careless

Isn’t it a pleasure to wake up in the morning and have a nice refreshing glass of water to start your day? Or maybe water to start your coffee pot, and give you the energy you need? How about a hot shower to really wake you up and get you ready for the day? What a nightmare it would be to not have water in your own home. The kind of nightmare that you assume only wrecks the lives of the poor residents in third world countries. But what if I told you that there’s a place in the United States that didn’t have fresh water? A place that didn’t get the attention the residents of Flint did. Well there is. Everywhere there is Hydraulic Fracturing, there is a risk that your tap water will become polluted. Hydraulic Fracturing is risky and dangerous for the environment and not worth the benefits of natural gas.

Hydraulic fracturing has a down side due to the environmental impacts it causes while doing the process of drilling natural gas and oil production. Most of the population in the United States have concerns about hydraulic fracturing that affects the water quality of many residents. According to David J. Lampe, “Numerous complaints of drinking water quality degradation following the arrival of gas drilling activity exist in all states where hydrological fracturing occurs, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating suspected water contamination events in Wyoming and Pennsylvania.” The residents from those states are drinking water that is being contaminated due to the fact that companies from oil and gas production operate

One of the hottest new issues that has arisen to the forefront of the battle between environmentalists and the energy industry, where the health of future generations is set against our energy needs and economic growth, is the issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is colloquially called. America’s new-found energy independence has been made possible using technology that was only a pipe dream a mere decade ago, slashing the disparity between net imports versus exports of crude oil and petroleum products, with exports skyrocketing more than 400% since 2006 and the advent of hydraulic fracturing (1).