The Controversial Technique Of Hydraulic Fracturing

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.

As the pace of shale gas drilling has accelerated in recent years, so have environmental concerns. Incidents such as a 2007 home explosion in Bainbridge, OH, the 2008 groundwater contamination on Wind River Indian Reservation in Pavilion, WY, and the 2008 chemical poisoning of an emergency room nurse in Durango, CO, have intensified the debate over regulation of fracking.10 As a result, new laws regulating fracking activities have

When most people think of Texas they think of the booming oil industry that the state has. According to our textbook, “Texas accounts for almost one-third of the country’s natural gas production and holds almost almost a quarter of the country’s natural gas reserves.” Texas has greatly invested in the recourses that are found within the state which makes gives the state a huge economic advantage. When fracking is used to help turn out even larger quantities of natural gas, the economic impact is huge. If the state greatly invested in fracking sites and the use of both traditional and horizontal fracking, the economic gain in the near future could be huge. The state could be turning out twice the amount of natural gas as it is

Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. (wiki 2011). This occurs naturally in nature, but the Hydraulic fracturing that I will speak of in this paper is a process being used by gas companies nationwide. Fracking is currently regulated by the EPA under the clean water act of 2005 (EPA.gov). However, this only partially governs the methods of injecting fluids and the retrieval of such fluids into the earth. It does not govern the types of chemicals that

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

Fracking promoters say safe hydraulic fracking doesn’t threaten drinking water. They also disprove that the water used in hydraulic fracturing ends up as surface spills. There are three ways reported for waste water disposal including “injecting in permitted disposal wells in accordance with Underground Injection Control Regulations, delivered to water treatment facilities depending on permitting, and reused/recycled” (“Pioneering America’s Energy Future”). These three types of disposals are considered safe as long as agencies are regulating hydraulic fracturing companies carefully. The Oil and Gas Conservation Act makes oil and gas a state priority, allowing companies the legal right to fracture. It is harder to judge whether regulations are actually set in place when government wants to favor the creation of jobs and economic boost rather than worrying about the health of communities affected by

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 drive to satisfy the nation's insatiable appetite for energy has driven over 31 states to adopt a process of natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing. "Used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells," fracking entails pumping "millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals"¦to break apart the rock and release the gas" (What is hydraulic fracking, 2013, Pro Publica). The chemicals are necessary to transform the water "into a frictionless mass that works its way deep into the earth, prying open tiny cracks that can extend thousands of feet. The particles of sand or silicon wedge inside those cracks, holding the earth open just enough to allow the gas to slip by" (What is hydraulic fracking, 2013, Pro Publica). Cash-strapped states have embraced fracking with a vengeance: it often brings jobs to rural areas with extremely high levels of unemployment.

Fracking is a mining approach in which a well in drilled thousands of feet deep into the Earth for the express purpose of gathering oil and gas from fuel reserves deep within its crust. Essentially, drill teams pierce through the planets sediment layers, water table and shale rock formations before placing a casing of cement as a sort of access valve to the raw fuel. This casing also acts as a channel for colossal amounts of water, sand and 50,000 gallons of fracking fluid used to extract the fuel from its location in the Earth. Fracking fluid, an unregulated chemical cocktail consisting of Naphthenic Acidethoxylate or Poly (Oxy-`1,2-Ethanediyl), Alpha-(4-Nonylphenyl)- Omega-Hydroxy-, Branched and other undisclosed chemicals, is maybe the most controversial element of the fracking process. When these fluids are dispensed into a well, a plethora of chemical reactions occur allowing oil and gas to be separated from shale in the earth and collected in its raw forms, before being transported to facilities for refining. In many instances, explosives such as TNT are set off before these solutions are poured as a means of rupturing and clearing bedrock.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process of collecting natural gas by pressurizing shale beds. Fracking consists of two components: a drill and fracturing fluids [4]. Well shafts are drilled into a bed of shale less than two thousand feet deep to form a horizontal fracture because less force is required to make the rock strata buckle perpendicularly to the drill [2]. After the primary shaft has been drilled, cement is poured into the surrounding area to keep the fracturing fluids from backtracking up the shaft [2]. Once the drill is placed into the pay zone, where the reservoir of oil is located, fracturing fluids are forced into the surrounding

According to an article in The New York Times, hydraulic fracturing is best described as the technique used to drill down into the earth using a high pressure water mixture to fracture the rocks and extract the natural gas and oil. Approximately one million wells have been fracked since the 1940’s, most of these are vertical wells that drill into porous sandstone or limestone. New technology has allowed for horizontal drilling to capture gas from shale rock. Water, sand and other chemicals are injected into the rock at a high pressure to create the fractures that release the gas. The chemicals added to the water dissolve minerals, kill bacteria that may plug up the well and

Hydraulic Fracturing is the process in which a borehole is made on earth, and the Shale

* Even fluid get into aquifer, it is not as toxic as other wastewater discarded from other daily activities. EPA claimed the fracking process is safe.

Organizations also ensure the safety of the natural gas industry by creating the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. This organization allows corporations to publicize the chemicals used of the gas production process. In 2012, there were 17,000 disclosures reported from about 135 companies, (Pliss, p.2). In 2011, the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act was proposed in Congress (Palliser, 23). This act would mandate hydrofracturing companies to disclose all chemicals used in the process. Passing this act would allow the Drinking Water Act to set standards to corporations. However, the Drinking Water Act is exempted by the fracturing industry. Hydraulic fracturing impacts the environment and human health, regulated by the EPA. The EPA oversees the hydraulic fracturing by making sure the companies have the required permit. Additionally, this organization ensures the safety of wastewater from hydraulic fracturing by correct disposal. Also, they provide ways to reduce the air emission especially from methane, commonly distributed during the fracturing process. Furthermore, Senate Fran Pavley, introduced a bill that would notify land owners about the process of hydraulic fracturing, and a ground water testing for any contamination present (Palliser, 23). Senate Pavley stated that this bill would ease some tension for some people, those concerned about the environmental status of their community. Some states think that fracking should be avoided

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