Hydraulic Fracturing Is Not The Only Cause For Ethical Concern

Hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”)1 is already beginning to change the nature of how we approach future energy needs. The processes of fracking also carry environmental risks. This paper is aimed at exploring the ethical, social, and legal issues related to “fracking’. In order to accomplish these tasks, it will 1st be necessary to describe the processes involved in fracking. The technical problems with fracking create a number of ethical, social, and legal problems related to the environment. Some of these issues include land clearing for digging the wells, the impact on freshwater aquifers, and the well bore. Once the well bore is created, around 1-5 million gallons of water is inserted into the shale along with proprietary fluids. It is

In recent years there has been great concern over the growing demand for energy, and the lack of non-renewable energy resources to meet the demand in the future. In addition, the question of “sustainability”—the ability to balance social, economic, and environmental needs in energy production to meet both current and long-term requirements—has come to the fore. It is clear that America must expand energy production quickly, and that we must develop renewable, sustainable energy sources to meet long-term demand and protect our future. There are many proposed solutions, such as wind and solar power. But the technology for these resources is not yet fully developed, making them, at best, low-output alternatives. Because renewable sources are

From an ethical lens, fracking has both advantages and disadvantages. It raises the question of what is more important; the oil or the water. Fracking provides jobs and oil leads to economic growth. From an ethical point of view, people need to know about any danger that they might face as a result of fracking (Schultz, P.

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is an oil and gas drilling process that is used to extract oil and natural gas from deep underground. Fracking is the cheapest route for oil and gas companies to make billions of dollars. The majority of the time the cheapest way is not always the best way of doing things. Hydraulic fracturing is not a good thing just because it makes money for--at times--everyone involved, as it causes our air and water to be polluted. There should be more regulations and laws to prevent contamination and protect our air and water from fracking pollution.

I became interested in hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking”, after watching the documentary Gasland II. It chronicled the experiences of those who inhabit areas in proximity to active fracking wells in Pennsylvania. Detailing how their lives had been affected by the drilling. Focusing primarily on water contamination and illnesses that potentially could be linked to the chemicals used in the drilling process. By the end, I had questions about the actual process and what chemicals were used. I was also left wondering about the existence of environment laws and monitoring, if any, which would have ensured the use of only substances safe for humans as well as the environment. Why would this process have been allowed if it

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking, which it is more commonly known by, is a method used to retrieve oil and gas out of shale rock. This is a very effective way to retrieve oil and is now a very commonly used method to retrieve oil. This method is responsible for about a quarter of the United States oil production. The problem is that there are possible health concerns to this method but this technique is used all over the United States and has opened doors to retrieving oil that was not possible almost a decade ago. So should the U.S. continue hydraulic fracturing even though there are environmental and health concerns? Fracking is worth the risk because if the U.S. stopped fracking they would have to become more dependent on another country,

After analyzing the benefits and drawbacks of fracking, this paper attempts to address this ethical issue by using the act-utilitarianism approach. The first reason for using this approach, instead of Respect for Persons and Virtue Ethics, is because utilitarianism strongly supports the impartiality feature. Impartiality is paramount in this fracking case because there are lots of both direct and indirect stakeholders at stake. Local residents around fracking sites suffer from increasing health risk, while other people live very far away around the U.S. benefit from the cheaper natural gas price. Engineers desperately try to deliver the clean energy more safely and responsibly, while oil and gas industry prioritizes efficiency in all sectors. Health-care workers around the fracking sites should be better educated about the negative impacts of fracking to handle public health issues. The U.S. government thus has to spend more money to support continuous research on the effects of fracking, although they gain much revenue from the operations. Animals may also be endangered since they breathe the same air and drink water from the same spring, which was claimed to be contaminated, as humans do. Given the complex and multiple stakeholders, impartiality prevents any special preference on what the ethical solution should be. Public, who counts for the biggest portion of the stakeholders, is not allowed to spread prejudice, given the impartiality feature. From all

Hydraulic fracturing is an increasingly common practice used to access otherwise unobtainable oil or natural gas reserves. While it shows promise as both a valuable economic resource as well as a source of energy independence, many oppose the practice due to alleged environmental dangers. In order to foster a greater understanding of the issues at hand, the following topics are discussed: what hydraulic fracturing is, how it is performed, and where it is located in the United States and abroad; how it has benefited the United States’ economy and how it can support the United States’ energy needs; legal and environmental issues; domestic and overseas regulations; and last but not least, what President Obama had to say about the practice in his 2012 Executive Order. The paper concludes with the author’s personal opinion regarding regulation of the practice here in the United States.

Hydraulic fracturing in combination with advancement in directional drilling has made it possible to economically extract oil and gas from unconventional resources. The growth in U.S. oil and gas exploration and production made possible by the increase in use of hydraulic fracturing, has raised concerns about its potential to impact human health and the environment. Concerns have been raised by the public about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on quality and quantity of drinking water resources. The hydraulic fracturing water cycle includes five main activities: the withdrawal of ground or surface water needed for hydraulic fracturing fluids; the mixing of water, chemicals, and proppant on the well pad to create the hydraulic fracturing fluid; the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the well to fracture the formation, the return of injected fluid and water produced from the formation to the surface; and the reuse, treatment and disposal of wastewater generated at the well pad, including produced water (U.S. EPA, 2015). With the water cycle being so massive and prolonged, the presence of potential negative impacts is greatly increased.

Ultimately Hydraulic fracturing has no real advantage and why should we continue with something that has no benefit and causes so much damage,

Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial practice commonly used by oil and natural gas producers. This practice, better known as “fracking”, is used to stimulate the production of oil by fracturing shale to release natural gas. The birth modern day hydraulic fracturing began as early as the 1940s and today it is widely practiced across the United States, from new york, to Oklahoma, even all the way to California. The process of fracking is fairly simple, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) involves tapping shale and other tight-rock formations by drilling a mile or more below the surface before turning horizontal and continuing to drill several thousand feet more (Energy from Shale 2016). is drilled water is injected at an extremely high rate

Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking for short is the process of pumping water, sand, and numbers of chemicals into deposits of Marcellus Shale to release the natural gas that is trapped under ground. Fracking is a process that is the center of debate between well companies and environmentalists. Pennsylvania is a huge center of Hydraulic Fracturing so much that there is a town called Frackville. These small mountain towns are few and far in between. The rest of the area is untouched wilderness besides the Hydraulic Fracking wells that intrude on this pristine land. Hydraulic Fracturing needs to be highly monitored and regulated and the people affected by it firsthand should be aware of what exactly is being pumped into their backyards. Natural

We should not use hydraulic fracturing, because it may pollute water, cause accidents, and contribute to climate change. Well, what is hydraulic fracturing ? Hydraulic fracturing is also known as “fracking” it means technology used to get natural gas from deep underground. The process is that it injects water mixed with chemicals, sand, and other material into layers of shale, a type of rock. It cracks the shale and releases natural gas trapped there so it can be extracted.

Natural gasses are one of the most desirable and needed resources in the world today. As the population and technology continue to get larger the need for natural gasses continues to steadily increase. With the need for natural gasses increasing the industry continues to expand their techniques and means to acquire natural gas. The use of hydraulic fracking is receiving most of the attention of today’s natural gas industry much of which is negative. This paper not only discusses the process of fracking but the benefits and disadvantages that come along with its use. Its main purpose is not how fracking works but looking into what follows the fracking process and challenging your stance on the issue by using ethical theories to support and negate issues that are brought up by the use of fracking. While challenging your position on fracking I will explain why we should find an alternative to fracking due to our ethical obligations.

I will investigate the moral issue of hydraulic fracture. Fracturing procedure involves injecting large quantities of sand, chemical, and water into the ground. This mixture will reach the shale, fracture the rock and release the oil and natural gas. The problem with this procedure is that it will possibly contaminate the water. The pipelines and drills go through the aquifers to crack below the water table. If the pipelines or drills leak or break the water source will be unusable. This will impact human health from nosebleed and rashes to mutations and death. This also will kill wildlife and destroy the environment. Despite these issues, Hydraulic fracture can help engineers gather more of the natural gas. This will result in a drop of gas