Summary: Hydraulic Fracturing

anomaly and stated to be caused by radiation. We discontinued selling calves for two years.” Due to Alvarado being largely an agricultural community, many resident’s livelihoods were impacts due to their inability to grow crops or raise cattle without the fear of contamination or radioactivity. Additionally, when David went to confront the oil companies about the cancerous side effects undoubtedly due to their fracking operations, he was told that, “The fracking ingredients/chemicals were proprietary and they could not be released. I also unfortunately fought cancer through the statute of limitations and could not sue them to make them stop drilling”. These enormous gas companies lie, deceive, and take advantage of residents all to increase

‘Hydraulic fracturing/fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas’ (Oxford dictionaries, 2015).

Hydraulic fracturing also called fracking has been around for many years despite the recent events of controversy to continue fracturing or not. With the earth’s resources depleting rapidly every year and no sufficient replacement for energy humanity needs fracking. The process of fracking has been around for more than six decades. Fracking has been around since the 1940s and was created to increase the removal flow of oil and natural gas. In the words of chemical engineer Robert Rapier “Fracking involves pumping water, chemicals, and a proppant down an oil or gas well under high pressure to break open channels in the rock holding the oil or gas (Rapier).” A proppant can be different materials,

For more than sixty years, oil and gas companies have been fracturing shale rock far below the earth’s surface in order to release pockets of natural gas. The extraction of shale gas from wells dates back to 1821; but the revolutionary procedure of hydraulic fracturing—injecting pressurized fluid into shale rock to create fissures—was commercialized in the 1950s. New drilling techniques, created in the 1970s, reach previously inaccessible shale gas by allowing the use of horizontal piping within the wells. While the United States is currently dependent on foreign countries for natural resources, a hope for independence has led companies to further explore hydraulic fracturing, redefining the way that natural resources are

Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is an oil and gas drilling process that is used to extract oil and natural gas from deep underground. Fracking is the cheapest route for oil and gas companies to make billions of dollars. The majority of the time the cheapest way is not always the best way of doing things. Hydraulic fracturing is not a good thing just because it makes money for--at times--everyone involved, as it causes our air and water to be polluted. There should be more regulations and laws to prevent contamination and protect our air and water from fracking pollution.

Stephen holditch of the department of petroleum engineering, Texas A&M University believe that hydraulic fracking does not cause pollution and has not contaminated any water in any known cases when fracking was used in wells; however there have been many cases of this and could cause a more serious problem if it continues. ‘The oil and natural gas industry support more than 2.1 million jobs according to IHS. Economics” (source 8). ‘Other policy experts say hydraulic fracturing could supply more than half of U.S. natural-gas production by 2030” (source 5). With this being said if we stop hydraulic fracturing we could have millions of people lose jobs and would have a great energy shortage. Though if Hydraulic fracturing continues, climate change could speed up, lots of ground water sources could be polluted and some of the ‘650 chemicals that can cause cancer” (source 3) could spread and there could be a cancer epidemic. Going back to loosing ground water sources, it was found that ‘scientist discovered methane in 115 out of 141 shallow drinking-water wells. It [was also] found the closer the water source was to the natural gas well, the more methane it contained.” (source 4) taking this information in there are also other ways to generate power such as solar farms and hydraulic

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.

Hydraulic fracturing is a divisive issue in the United States. One side argues that hydraulic fracturing has the potential to create jobs and prop up the economy while the other side argues that the resulting environmental damage from hydraulic fracturing greatly outweighs any potential benefits. A lot of evidence seems to support the opponents of hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing should be banned because it can cause great harm to the environment; it can lead to geological disasters and has the potential to negatively affect the health of those in surrounding areas.

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 has been used commercially since 1949, and by the 21st century, the number of fracking wells in this country has grown to around 1 million (Thompson 2012). Numerous articles and television spots continue to call fracking a ‘new drilling technique’, creating a narrative that hydraulic fracturing is an emerging industry. In 2006, the New York Times said hydraulic fracturing was invented in the late 1990s, even though the same paper reported on the ‘new technology’ earlier in 1986 (Thompson 2012). This is just one example of how the framing of our language has led to the ‘Lords of Yesterday’ mining laws remaining on the books, regardless of being completely outdated policy when dealing with fracking. As a nation it is

The process of hydraulic fracturing – shooting water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure into underground wells to release natural gas – is a divisive issue: Some say it dumps chemicals into ground water supplies, others argue it causes earthquakes, and still others think it can revolutionize America’s energy industry.

This paper explores the hydraulic fracturing process, exactly what it is, what the fracturing process does to the earth and the surrounding environment in addition, to the consequences. Hydraulic fracturing is fracturing of rock by pressurization. This process by which oil and natural gas can be forced from the earth. The hydraulic fracturing process takes millions of gallons of clean water, sand, chemicals and pumps them underground at high pressure to break apart rock to release gas and or oil. My research has led me to the discovery that there are as many proponents for fracking as that are those that oppose the process. One thing

Unlike traditional oil or gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing uses a combination of chemically treated water and salt to break shale rock; this releases oil or gas that would not be accessible with traditional drilling methods. The oil or gas is then displaced by the water and salt and eventually collected

Hydraulic Fracturing has a large percent of the people concerned due to risks of hydro fracturing which include contamination of groundwater, methane pollution and its impact on climate change, air pollution impacts, exposure to toxic chemicals, blowouts due to gas explosion, waste disposal, large volume water use in water-deficient regions, fracking-induced earthquakes, workplace safety, and infrastructure degradation. In order to be able to hydrofrack a specific area of construction, it requires an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to and from the site. A number of other air contaminants are released through the various drilling procedures, including construction and operation of the well site. Chemicals are used in drilling mud and fluids for the fracking process.

Around the world, countries are dependent on oil and more often than not, foreign oil. The U.S. is at a time where they believe buying foreign oil supports terrorism and hurts our economy. Shale formations deep underground that spread all over the U.S. have been found to contain natural gas. This includes the Marcellus Shale formation and the Utica Shale formation, which can be found all throughout New York State and down the East Coast (Hydro-Fracking pg.1). To get at this abundance of gas underground, hydraulic fracturing was invented, but this new method of gas extraction safe for the environment and for the people around it?