The Effects Of Hydraulic Fracturing. Are Natural Gas And

Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing, a type of drilling used by oil companies to tap the valuable oil veins located miles below the earth’s surface. Fracking has been the subject of discussion for some time now, not necessarily for its effectiveness, but for its effect on the environment. Fracking has been known to release methane gas into the atmosphere; methane gas is a greenhouse gas and along with gasses like CO2 is one of the gasses that contributes to the warming of the planet. In Louis W. Allstadt’s article “Fracking Contributes to Global Warming” he states that, “methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas in the short term-less

Hydraulic fracking isn 't all good though, there are many controversial things about it. First off, water contamination is a hazard. There are many ways that the water supply could be contaminated by fracking. One way is by groundwater entering through cracks that fracking has made. The water solution that 's pumped into the ground is a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals. Water and sand make up 98% of the mixture, while the remaining 2% is chemicals. Although fracking companies have never realised the chemicals used, scientists studying wastewater have found many harmful additives. A few of these are benzene, toluene, and many acids, all of which pose huge threats to humans. For each fracking well, more than 8 million liters of

The mismanagement of the practice has the potential to create environmental damage such as water contamination, radioactive spills, and increased seismic activity that could cost thousands in dollars in damage. Furthermore, the unintended consequences of fracking can have detrimental effects on the environmental. The potential for water contamination can pose both an immediate and long term risk to environmental stability, including landscape distortion, inhabitability and ecological displacement. This contamination of drinking water can also be detrimental to the human environment, limiting the amount of safe water available for both the residential and commercial human environment. With the increase of fracking, the level of disapproval for the practice has only mounted. Concerns including overconsumption of

Another aspect of one of the many impacts on the Environment was fracking. The fracking procedure has the involvement of drilling a well deep into the rock. Soon enough fracking liquid is drove into the well at a very high pressure which is made up of sand, water and deadly chemicals.

The most dangerous consequence of fracking is that hundreds of chemicals are blasted into the Earth’s crust, which creates cracks in the bedrock. Many times, these cracks lead to an aquifer, in which case, all of the water in the aquifer becomes contaminated with these chemicals (Jackson, 2014). Additionally, when the natural gas is being pumped out of the wells, methane is released into the atmosphere. A study conducted by NOAA found that approximately 4% of the methane is being released into the atmosphere. This same study found that methane pollution increases climate changes because it traps heat in the atmosphere 25 times more than carbon dioxide (Hoffman, 2016). Furthermore, fracking waste wells are the primary cause of the increase of earthquakes in the Central U.S. This is because these wells operate for a longer period of time, which means that they inject more “solid ‘cake’” into the Earth than the actual fracking process (USGS, n.d. and StateImpact, 2017). Finally, recent studies have found that people who live near a fracking site are at higher risk to develop respiratory problems, which is due to the increased levels of pollutants. These pollutants are not only affecting the people who live in close proximity to these sites, but to the workers, as well. The most common type of respiratory problem reported was lung

Researchers say they found elevated levels of these chemicals, known as endocrine disrupting chemicals, in surface water and groundwater samples collected in the state's Garfield County where more than 10,000 gas wells exist (Mosbergen, 2013). A single well requires up to 7 million gallons of water, plus an additional 400,000 gallons of additives. These additives include lubricants, biocides, scale and rust inhibitors, solvents, foaming and de-foaming agents, emulsifiers and de-emulsifiers, stabilizers and breakers (Royte, 2012). At almost every stage of developing and operating an oil or gas well, chemicals can be introduced into the environment. While many people get sick from drinking water that turns out to be contaminated by fracking, cancer has not been proven to be caused by this but people living near a fracking well have been more likely to get

In America, fracking has brought a fast development on oil and gas evolution. This development has introduced fracking closer to where people reside, which in return led to serious public health problems and affected the environment due to the extended exposure to contaminants and chemicals. New researches has also revealed the significant health impacts of fracking on humans and animals living closer to fracking operational sites. Hence, its negative effect outweighs the positive due to the associated imminent hazards on health and on the environment. Because it toxifies everything (living or non-living) in its surrounding and has a severe impact on public health, farm animals and

“DEC 's own review identified dozens of potential significant adverse impacts of (fracking)” (Krisberg 18). There are some potential impacts in the fracking process, it will bring a lot of health risks to people. The major constituents of produced water are salt content, oil and grease, various inorganic and organic chemicals, and naturally occurring radioactive material. Salt content in produced water makes the freshwater to salt levels up higher than seawater. Oil and grease makes freshwater is getting oily. Various inorganic and organic chemicals are found naturally in the formation or are chemical additives used during drilling and operation of the well, such as benzene and methane. “Many of the fracking additives are toxic, carcinogenic or mutagenic” (Howarth, Ingraffea 272). This quote tells us that why fracking is contaminating the drinking water. Benzene are one major concern. “The state of Texas reports benzene concentrations in air in the Barnett shale area that sometimes exceed acute toxicity standards” (Howarth, Ingraffea 273). It shows benzene makes drinking water is getting contaminated. “Methane contamination of drinking water reservoirs has been documented in fracking-rich areas of the US. Leading to dramatic videos of seemingly ignitable tap water” (Benusic, 238). This quote tells us that the drinking water is getting contaminated by Methane is proved already. Radioactive material in

Due to the toxic chemicals in the water based mixture, the water can no longer be recycled, depleting access to fresh water. With California in a drought, it is contradicting to permanently remove massive amounts of water to proceed with fracking when water, a precious resource, needs to be conserved. Furthermore, wastewater, excess fracking water dumped into pits, poses hazardous threats to the environment. These toxic chemicals may seep into clean groundwater or into the air, polluting inhabitants surrounding the fracking source. Exposure to the chemicals may cause detrimental health effects, such as cancer, within humans (No Fracking in California, 2015). Within the environment, these chemicals may bioaccumulate within the trophic levels, harming living organisms and risking disruption in the food web. Endangered species, such as the California condor and San Joaquin kit fox, are threatened due to air pollution and habitat loss by industrial development to continue fracking (“Fracking in California: Nine Questions and Concerns”). Environmentalists continue to fight against California’s decision to pursue fracking, as it clearly possesses damaging environmental

One of the most common arguments against fracking is that fracking should be banned being that it causes harmful effects on the human body. During the process of fracking, chemicals and methane gas are leaked out of the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the fact that their water has been contaminated so they end up drinking it and causes them to become ill. Due to people drinking this contaminated groundwater, “There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water” (“What Goes”). Exposure of fracking chemicals to humans can also causes reproductive issues. Out of the hundreds of chemicals used in fracking, “20 to 30% cause reproductive, mutagenic, or cancerous

In order to discuss the effects of fracking, it is helpful to first understand what fracking is. Hydraulic fracturing is a process by which natural gas is extracted from deep within the ground by “drilling horizontally to reach the deposit, then forcing through a high-pressure mixture of millions of gallons of water plus sand and (often unidentified) chemicals

Hydraulic fracturing, also referred to as fracking, remains a very controversial issue in the world today. Fracking, a widely debated technological innovation, involves drilling deep down into the Earth’s surface to obtain natural gas (Shuckman 1). Natural gas, a flammable substance produced deep within the Earth’s surface and exploited as fuel, is obtained by pumping water, sand and chemicals into open passages, which allows the natural gases to move into production wells (Shuckman 1). Hydraulic fracturing enables necessities such as heating, cooking and electricity for Americans; however, oppositionists claim that it harms the environment and the United State’s residents.

Fracking negatively impacts environmental health the most. By using the process of fracking to reach natural gas, fracking induced earthquakes have occurred in states such as Oklahoma. Also, scarred earth and rock are left behind from fracking companies and wells, damaging the earth. Finally, water pollution and waste is a common result of fracking. One example of water pollution, is methane gas, which is commonly used in fracking, has been found in tap water in areas near fracking wells. Moreover, chemical traces are left in underground water sources.

One effect and driving force behind the unemployment rate dropping is that Fracking create jobs. The Obama administration feel that fracking will create millions of jobs over the next fifteen-twenty years. Fracking a long with new technology economist predict there will be a boost in economic growth financially. With the abundance of natural gas and oil from Fracking households will benefit from low-cost energy supply, and help push gas prices down. Another benefit and ”With Global Warming being a hot topic today natural gas releases the least amount of co2 gases into the atmosphere because it’s a clean burning fossil fuel.” Which all sounds good and well, but some environmentalist see Fracking as a bad thing. They see fracking as contaminating our water supply, and causes earthquakes. Environmentalist are concerned with the process that oil companies use to extract natural gas from the ground. There’s a web site that I encourage you to view which shows the process of Fracking from start to finish.- dangers of fracking.com . From all the tanker trucks used to haul millions of gallons of water to the drilling site and the hundreds of chemicals pumped into the ground. Environmentalist are alarmed over the process and feel that it will have a deathly effect on humans, and animals. There’s over six hundred chemicals used in Fracking and studies find many of the chemicals to be toxic to humans and animals. One of the chemicals is methane which is seventy – one hundred times more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. Once the oil and gas is extracted from the ground these chemicals are left to dissipate. I leave you with several questions from these effects of Fracking. Do the chemicals really dissipate or they just left to contaminate our waters? What about the holes that are drilled thousands of feet into the ground are they weakening the rocks from earth’s core causing earthquakes? If there’s a hundred year supply of

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