Is Hydraulic Fracturing Environmentally Safe?

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

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

Hydraulic Fracturing is a process where high-pressure fracking fluids are forced into rich shale to extract natural resources. These fracking fluids are a mixture of proppants and “chemical additives such as surfactants, biocides, fiction reducers and other compounds meant to help in the process of freeing the trapped gas”. In addition, the million gallons of water injected along with the fracking fluids return as flowback water and this produced water have the “potential to mix with nearby aquifers and surface water”. As a result, there is a considerable amount of public concern about water contamination due to this process of hydrofracking (Thurman, Ferrer, Biotevogel & Borch, 2014).

Safe natural gas fracturing or “fracking” is on the rise and our country is benefiting from in on several levels. From meeting energy needs to creating jobs and helping the economy, natural gas is an invisible miracle. Many precautions are taken during the fracking process in order to ensure it is safe as possible. Natural gas is something I work around every day due to the fact I work in the oilfield and the work I do is carried out during a “frac.” Many environmentalist and various people from different scientific fields argue that the benefits are not worth the risk.

Fracking is a process in which water, sand, and chemicals are injected into the ground to extract natural resources such as oil and natural gas (Boone and Robinson, 2015, p.69). The process of fracking is the vertical

The issue of whether we should continue fracking without research has been widely debated around the world. The issue is important because it has fundamental environmental concerns and economic questions about the process of hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking” is the process of penetrating down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is absorbed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand, and chemicals are then inserted into the rock with compression which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. Fracking fluid, which can be polluted with heavy metals like arsenic, known human carcinogens, has seeped into local waterways and polluted groundwater. People who live near fracking wells have a heightened danger of developing cancer, asthma, and other serious ailments associated with inhaling or ingesting the toxic chemicals involved in the fracking process. Countries approach fracking and researching much differently from each other. The injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure to extract petroleum resources has been happening across the United States of America at rapid pace. By 2003, a gigantic public relations campaign was launched to lobby Congress to pass what is

To environmental advocates and opponents of fracking, the process is more than dollars and cents. On a rudimentary level, the oil and natural gas produced via hydraulic fracturing are fossil fuels, and thus harmful to the environment in comparison to renewable, clean sources of energy such as solar and wind power. These renewable energy fields are likewise capable of bolstering American energy production and independence and creating high paying careers. Moreover, research suggests that fracking practices could cause serious methane leaks, canceling out the supposed reduction in greenhouse gas

Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking) is the process of drilling into the ground and pumping sand, water, and fracking fluid at high pressures in order to extract natural shale gas that was previously unattainable. This process comes with environmental issues: the chemicals from the fracking fluid can contaminate nearby drinking water wells and harm the citizens of that area. Despite the fact that there have been several contaminated drinking water cases reported, there is little being done about this matter. This paper analyzes the available research that asserts why fracking is a dangerous process that should be banned immediately. The intended audience is my peers and instructor, as well as anyone interested in the debacle of fracking-caused water contamination that may come across this piece. As you are reading, I ask that you keep in mind that this is a very perplexing issue that has not been given much of an opportunity for true research and investigation. Therefore, the data discussed has not been officially proven or disproven to be directly related in every way to local fracking. However, the research gathered on the proposed danger of the Hydraulic Fracturing process is solely based on science that has already been proven as well as documented illnesses and symptoms from residents and contractors around or near fracking operation sites.

During the process of fracking, water is first taken to the fracking site and is then mixed with chemicals and sand to make a fracking fluid. After the water mixture is created, “The fracking fluid is then pressure injected into the ground through a drilled pipeline” (“What Goes”). Once the fluid reaches the end of the well, “high pressure causes the nearby shale rock to crack, creating fissures where natural gas flows into the well” (“What Goes”). Due to the process of fracking, many effects occur, some positive and some negative.

These environmental and social harms develop because the oil and gas industries and the Native nations' governments externalize costs of environmental and social protections onto the public in order to reap the benefits of saved costs” all the harm to our water is real and only we the consumers can stop it..The U.S is a high user of fracking methods as it is the cheaper version to achieve natural gas . According to Shale gas and fracking: The Science Behind the Controversy, that number almost doubled to 510,000, by 2010. Each year about 13,000 new wells are drilled near safe drinking water and a study released in 2011 by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency that some drinking water that comes up from shallow wells near hydrofracking drilling sites in Pennsylvania had about 17 times as methane as those far away from drilling. Imagine the danger that this water can cause to people, one always thinks that natural water is good for use and that the government will not let companies contaminate our limited water

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.

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.

Unfortunately, the extent of the environmental risks that are associated with hydraulic fracturing are largely unknown. According to a number of studies and publications GAO reviewed, fracking may pose risks to air quality. This ‘wishy washy’ finding was because the studies that were reviewed were not taking into account the long-term, cumulative effects of this extractive process (“Oil and Gas” 2012). The increase in air pollutants, the reports found, were more likely a result of engine exhaust, emissions from diesel-powered pumps, gas that was vented or flared for operational reasons, and unintentional emissions from faulty equipment or storage areas for waste (“Oil and Gas” 2012). Not surprisingly, a number of studies and publications GAO reviewed also indicated that fracking only might put our water quality at risk. Fracking can cause the contamination of surface water and groundwater as a result of erosion, spills and releases of chemicals, or the underground migration of chemicals (“Oil and Gas” 2012). So we have oversight agencies that release reports siting cases that are understudied, yet in the meantime permits are still being

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

Another problem that we know exists with hydraulic fracturing is the contamination of the water, the ground, and the air around the sites (Goldman pg. 2). It has been shown that “…residents living near the hydraulic fracturing sites are increasingly worried that the drilling process might be contaminating their well water, polluting streams, and releasing toxic gases into the air (Hobson).” Water sources, as well as the soil, are often polluted from flowback fluid and from production brine (Hydro-Fracking pg.4). Flowback fluid is “the contaminated fluid that returns to the surface during the drilling process, and is estimated to be between 9% - 35% of the fluids injected during