Hydraulic Fracturing Of Natural Gas

For the past twenty to thirty years, hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking, has been the number one source of natural gas, oil, and energy in the United States. The process of fracking is that a well is built above the ground and then a drill digs several thousand feet deep into the ground to extract the oil and natural gas that is trapped inside of rock formations. Fracking is very controversial because of the cost of the process and the environmental “threats” that it poses. From methane emissions to earthquakes, fracking has been accused to be linked with several environmental issues. To prevent any environmental dangers, states place regulations and boundaries that energy companies have to follow in order to build a well and keep it up and running. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) also works with states to help regulate these wells. More importantly, fracking in the United States is very important and acts as a bridge to the future. While it may be argued that hydraulic fracturing is not beneficial to the economy and harmful to the environment, fracking in the United States should not be banned because fracking is not only imperative to the growth of jobs and the economy, but it also does not put the surrounding environment in danger.

Over the past decade oil and gas producers have increasingly used hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking to extract oil and gas from the earth. Most people believe fracking is a new process but it has been around for over 100 years. Modern day fracking began in the 1990’s when George P Mitchell created a new technique by combining fracking with horizontal drilling. Since then, U.S. oil and gas production has skyrocketed. But the “new” perception of fracking leads people to incorrectly believe that fracking is temporary and that it somehow harms the environment. The truth is fracking is a reasonable energy solution if oversight and safeguards are used. In the last ten years fracking has improved conditions in the U.S. in three

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 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

Did you know that at one point, the United States (U.S.) had a fear that they would run out of natural gas? Roughly a decade ago, government officials and industry analysts predicted that the U.S. would have a shortage in natural gas, the main source of energy in the states. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, would shortly be the answer to the problem. Hydraulic fracturing was developed sixty years ago by George P. Mitchell, who combined hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling as a process to extract natural gas from within the ground. Fracking is the process of pumping millions of gallons of chemically treated water, sand, and various chemicals into deep shale formations at pressures of nine thousand pounds per square inch or more.

America has one of the highest energy consumption rates in the world. This demand has led to the popularization of the hydraulic fracturing industry. First introduced in the 1940s, hydraulic fracturing is method by which a well is drilled one to two miles below the Earth’s surface. The well then injects water and chemicals in the Earth that create fractures through which gas can flow through. Hydraulic fracturing, which is also known as fracking, became popular because of horizontal drilling in fracking is more efficient at extracting gas. As a result, a fracking boom ensued in which over a million wells were drilled in the United States in the past decade. However,

Documentaries are created to challenge or endorse social and cultural values; this is done through the director’s use of film language. Josh Fox, founder and artistic director of the International WOW Company, attempts to influence the audience’s view on the effects hydraulic fracturing has on health and environment through a variety of codes and conventions in his expository documentary Gasland.

The global crisis surrounding energy needs grows in severity as time goes by and in order to solve it, scientists have created the innovative solution known as hydraulic fracturing (Source 5). Hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracking,” is a process that injects water, chemicals, sand, and other materials into layers of shale. The injected mixture cracks the layers of shale, releasing trapped natural gasses that can be collected (Source 1). Fracking occurs deep under the surface of the earth, miles below the groundwater that is accessed from drinking-water wells. In the mid-2000s, “fuel prices were rising rapidly” (Source 5). Hydraulic fracturing was a cheap solution that not only brought the world out of a state of emergency but made oil prices drop. The new method of gas collection grew the oil and gas industry, benefiting people all around the world. Fracking is a cheap, effective solution to global needs, but is under attack from skeptics who worry about environmental hazards. The claims against fracking not only have no real evidence but also risk destroying the jobs in the oil and gas industry as well as support for energy needs. Hydraulic fracturing is not only a cheap but a safe method that supports global needs surrounding both energy and jobs.

The practice of Hydraulic fracturing, or releasing a mixture of water, sand, and various chemicals into wells dug beneath the earth to unlock its natural gas has become a very controversial issue (Earthworks ). For some, the practice means new forms of energy in the U.S. and thousands of new jobs. While others have pointed to the connections between the release of chemicals into the environment and the contamination of water supplies. Other studies have linked this new technology to air pollutants and an increase in earthquakes due to disturbances in the earth’s shell. All of these issues and concerns point to a need for further regulations to diminish these negative effects on the environment.

hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is widely used by the oil and gas companies in Texas and Oklahoma to produce oil and natural gas. Although hydraulic fracturing technology successfully reduces the price of energy, the scientific evidences show that it relates to frequent earthquake and water pollutions. According to a report from Newsweek Global, the Oklahoma Geological Survey states that Oklahoma only has one and a half earthquakes over 3 magnitudes per year before 2008, the year of the oil and gas companies begin to use hydraulic fracturing technology, compare to two and a half per day in 2015(MCGRATH). The United States Geological Survey (USGS) also indicates that hydraulic fracturing induce earthquakes on March 28, 2015 (MCGRATH). In addition, United States Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that the hydraulic fracturing relates to the water pollution (Banerjee).

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, which is more commonly known as “fracking”, is a term that many people may have heard about, but actually have very little knowledge on. Fracking is a topic that is highly controversial between people who work in the industry, scientists, and environmental professionals. Fracking has been around for a long time, but it’s only been in the past thirty years that it’s really taken off in what is known as the shale gas boom. As our sources of energy dwindle down it becomes important to consider our future and look into new sources of affordable and sustainable energy. People in the fracking industry praise the many benefits of hydraulic fracking, saying that is already being used to offset much of our current energy costs, and many consider it to be the future of all of our energy needs.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface. The natural gas industry defends hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, as safe and efficient. Thomas J. Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-industry non-profit organization, claims fracking has been “a widely deployed as safe extraction technique,” dating back to 1949. What he doesn’t say is that until recently energy

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" as it’s commonly called, is a drilling technique utilized for extracting natural gas or oil within deep underground. The process generally combines hazardous chemicals with abundant amounts of water at high rates of pressure into rock formations to crack nearby material to extract gas and oil. Prompted environmental concerns have arose due to the substantial use of fracking in the US, which has modernized the energy industry. Although hydraulic fracturing can be beneficial, it is harmful to our planet because of the gases and chemicals it releases that causes contamination of water, air pollution, and hazards to communities and its people health.

While it is true “fracking”, a procedure to obtain natural gas removal from shale formations, it is also true there have been infrastructure security issues associated with this practice. Furthermore, there have been ecological considerations from fracking brought to the forefront by countless environmentalists. Indeed, hydraulic fracturing, as it is referred to, is a process by which shale gas and oil is uprooted from a depth far below the earth’s exterior. The process of extracting shale gas and oil is employed aggressively while water is forced deep beneath the earth surface through a geological arrangement. From this arrangement, oil and gas is exerted back to the earth’s surface. Moreover, once the hydraulic fracturing process is