The Harm Effects Of Oil Drilling

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers deep within the earth.The dangers of fracking are the chemicals that go into fracking and how much water is used and contamination of city water. Some dangers of fracking are water usage. They use 2 to 5 million gallons of water. Not all of the chemicals are recovered from the ground. We only know of 8 out of 600 chemicals. To many chemicals are used and some a harmful. Fracking water usage is too high for instance one well can use 144,000,000million gallons of water. 50%-70% of the fracking fluid is left in the ground and isn’t biodegradable. The waste fluid that is outside in the sunlight evaporates and releases volatile organic compounds(Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary room temperature. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate or sublimate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and enter the surrounding air.) Due to the VOCs acid rain, ground level ozone and contaminated air. Ground level ozone is bad, but ozone up high in the atmosphere protects the earth from the Sun’s harmful rays.

Many seafood companies prices fluctuate because a whole number of reasons. Have you ever thought why though? They even have to take some foods completely off their menus. A lot of the time this is because of an oil spill that kills so much of the environment that a lot of the sea animals die or even become endangered. The BP Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010 is a great example of this. It spilled 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 87 days. The area of the spill alone had over 8,000 species, which already had 39 endangered species and added 14 new species to the endangered list. Not only did we lose animals but “Eleven people died as a result of the accident and 17 others were injured”(BP Staff).

Environmentalists are one the biggest critics against the notion of increasing domestic oil drilling. By increasing the amount of drilling we do in the United States, we increase the risk of disasters like the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Disasters are hardly the only source of economic damage either, to find oil reserves under the ocean, seismic waves are generated into the ground. These waves bounce off the ground back up to the ship, where computers and scientist can use the results to make educated guesses on whether or not oil is located under the surface. These seismic waves can wreak havoc with marine animals like whales; where in one case over 100 whales beached themselves to get away from the painful experience (Nixon). Using seismic waves does not even guarantee that oil might be located underneath the surface, the only way to tell is to actually drill into the potential finds causing even more destruction for what might be for no gain. Once oil is found and drilling has begun, the amount of damage done to the environment can become unimaginable. The recent example is that of the Deepwater

"Hydraulic Fracturing: The Process." FracFocus.org. Frac Focus: Chemical Disclosure Registry, 2013. Web. 06 May 2013.

Americans have been drilling for oil for more than half of their existence. Before the 1850’s oil was of little use and had no market for commerce as there was not one overwhelming use for it. Until around the 1850’s, when technology advanced, with it sparking search for one of the most sought after natural resources that countries would later go to war over, petroleum oil. Early inventions like the kerosene lamp provided a new stable home necessity to live by, increasing the demand for crude oil. This would be met in part by Colonel Edwin Drake, who drilled the first successful oil well in 1858. While Drake’s invention for extracting crude oil from the ground would bring about a new era for industrialization, his “black gold” would bring about an even larger effect, the environmental disasters caused by man. For over one hundred and fifty years of drilling for oil, both on shore and offshore, has led to some of the worst catastrophes to both nature and mankind. While many of these catastrophes have led to the deaths of hundreds of crew members, they have also led to long lasting effects on the environment, local and national economies, legislation, regulations, and human morale. These following effects can be seen in the most recent and most contaminated marine oil spill in history. To the media and public it’s known as the British Petroleum offshore drilling oil spill in 2010.

Fracking is the process of drilling into the earth and injecting water, sand, and chemicals into the rock at intense pressure in order to release natural gas back into a well (“What is Fracking…” 1). In 2005, when the Environmental Protection Agency excluded fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, this really was the turning point for drillers (Stockton 2). While the resources of oil and gas and now more easily accessible due to recent fracking, this process has become an environmental issue that has negative effects (“What is Fracking…” 6). Water waste, increased release of methane, air pollution, and earthquakes are all examples of this (Loki 1-5).

Oil fracking may seem to be a harmless uprising invention to the standard peer. However, when looking into the concerns and damaging effects from oil fracking, this invention may be more of an issue rather than a solution to retrieving oil. Scientists and researchers began to discover that oil fracking could lead to the release of dangerous chemicals that can be threatening to human life and the environment. CEO’s are also not providing sufficient information and warnings surrounding the oil fracking industry. Articles by Thompson, Perez-Pena, Christopherson, and Gerken, all express the concerns and supporting evidence of the damaging effects caused by oil fracking. Ultimately, fracking is a dangerous method to getting oil because the chemicals

Drilling for oil in Alaska will make animals in danger. The United States shouldn’t drill in Alaska because of wilderness, environment, and economics. Americans weren’t concerned about protecting natural resources because they thought they had a lot of natural resources. In 1980 the United States was importing more than a third of its oil. Also in 1980 America found themselves in a major oil crisis.

I like the way you support your answers with real examples. But you didn’t expand your response to the question number 4. Utilitarian’s would view the consequences of permitting or prohibiting fracking on private lands. Most of the fracking in the U.S. is done on private land. Allowing property owners to use their property for the purpose of fracking gives benefits to the property owners, but it causes a lot of harm to the environment and neighborhood. Because fracking of oil and gas causes water pollution and increase the earthquake activity. (Reuters). In 2015 the largest earthquake scientifically linked to fracking operation occurred in British Columbia. (Prince George Citizen). If the government prohibit the property owners for using their

Some of the negative effects are health issues and earthquakes. While the fracking takes place poison gas, and chemicals get out and contaminates the nearby water. That same water is used for drinking, bathing, cleaning in the surrounding communities (Loki). "There have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination near fracking areas as well as cases of sensory, respiratory and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water"(Loki). The water used during the fracking process is taken out of the water cycle because most of the water will not be seen again. This is not good news for states that have droughts. Since people use water in the fracking process they are getting rid of the water causing water prices to go up

As there started, the massive expansion of gas drilling, the potential troubling discoveries associated with its byproducts are increasingly alarming. For instance, the wastewater created by the process is radioactive. Claiming that the information is proprietary, drilling companies have still not come out fully transparent in disclosing what exactly are fracking fluids made of and still a lot of ambiguity in its compositions and their detrimental effects, remain. But the most vital of all controversies that remains is, fracking is simply distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy, and encouraging continued reliance on fossil fuels. Thus, there remains a long list of heated controversies and discussions around fracking and its sustainability

Offshore oil drilling is a controversial topic because when oil spills, it does extensive amounts of damage to the environment. Countries capable of mining oil in the ocean reap the economic benefits in addition to reducing their dependency on external oil. While it is uncontroversial that offshore drilling is a massive boon for those countries, the environmental consequences of a spill also affect the economic welfare of nearby residents. Oil contaminates animals through a process called biomagnification, where chemicals progressively become more detrimental to the animals the higher they are on the food chain. When oil spills into the ocean, it impairs the growth of native species and deteriorates the ecosystem. As a result, the livelihood of people in the tourist industry, fisherman, and shrimpers is crippled and may take decades to recover.

Its 2016, which means everyone is aware that global warming is taking place currently in the world. After the booming in the coal industry, the Carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) highly risen due to the many coal power plants and cars being driven. In 2014, CO2 accounted for about 82% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Fracking is absolutely not clean or green method to use to form energy. Fracking truly does release large amounts of natural gas but when its extracted it also does consist both carbon dioxide and methane. Methane is a chemical compound which is consider to be a greenhouse gas that’s is 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. If the whole world were to run on hydraulic fracturing to produce energy, it

Fracking is the breaking of rocks in order to release oil gases stuck inside them. They do this by drilling down real deep and pump a mixture of water, sand and chemicals. The mixture causes rocks to crack and release oil gases and are pushed into a container. Of course there are benefits to fracking, but there are major negative effects of fracking. Mostly effects that affect our population.A primary example of negative effects is the contamination of drinking water for people (Source C). This is very bad because it affects a huge amount of the population the the United States if the water is contaminated. The contaminated water cannot be clean or purified through normal means making it nearly impossible to clean. “Water for fracking is typically

Since the past few decades, owning a car has become a necessity in order to commute from one place to another. However, cars do not work automatically, they require fuel. Since the past decade, the petroleum industry has become one of the leading industries impacting the nation’s economy. Oil has become an essential commodity as it is utilized in transportation vehicles, serves as a raw material for manufacturing plastics, and is utilized in homes for cooking. America’s economy is greatly dependent on petroleum as it is the “black gold” of the nation. The considerable significance of oil has led to the drilling of it, which is not only limited to land, but also the oceans. Offshore drilling is a method in which petroleum is extracted from underneath the seabed. It is one of the significant technological advancements in the past few decades. However, the ones who are involved in the process of offshore oil production are humans, and humans tend to make mistakes. In 1969, due to a human error, an oil spill occurred and natural gas, oil, and mud shot up the well and oozed into the ocean (“Offshore Drilling”). The oil spilled led to an environmental disaster which killed thousands of marine animals and distorted the environment. In order to prevent the same error, the government passed a moratorium in 1981, banning more than 85 percent of the country’s oil drilling sites (“Offshore Drilling”). The moratorium restricted the United States to mass-produce its natural resource.