Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is the process that extracts oil and natural gas from under the ground. Today, it is a controversial issue that requires a lot of attention. It is a very important topic that has both its positives and its negatives. As Fracking grows and expands, people should start to consider the advantages and disadvantages of fracking and what it really means. Now I will introduce how fracking actually works. A shaft is drilled several hundred meters into the earth. Then, a horizontal hole enters gas bearing layer of rock. After this, fracking fluid enters using high performance pumps. This fracking fluid consists of water, sand, and chemicals. Then, this mixture goes into the gas layer and produces a ton of tiny …show more content…
Finally, the drill is shut, and the fracking fluid is pumped into the underground layers and sealed there. There are many positive arguments that support the concept of Fracking. Fracking helps out the economy and our energy in many ways. Today, natural gas and oil is needed all over the globe because it makes up most of our energy consumption. (US Dept. of Energy) This is why many support Fracking. Fracking is also needed today because it seems to be the most profitable and attractive way to obtain oil and natural gas. Many places around the globe today are being exhausted of natural gas and oil reserves, which urges the push for fracking. Fracking also has many positive economic effects. The main thing fracking does is create jobs, which greatly strengthens the economy. In addition, fracking has recently been shown to provide jobs for millions of people. A recent report done by Tamara Thompson showed that Fracking has accounted for 385 billion dollars in economic activity in the United States. Fracking is also very profitable. Extracting natural gas and oil today is very expensive, but because of fracking, there is an alternative form to recover natural gas resources that
After it has drilled a while deeper another casing is placed to further protect the groundwater from the natural gas and oil which is to be soon produced. Vertically the drill may dig as deep as 4,500 to 7,500 feet.
Therefore with resources becoming scarce humanity needs to extract the most from what the earth has. In fact from adding gasoline to your vehicle, to power plant facilities using natural gas instead of burning coal to power homes, to computes and cell phones, almost everything in our lives depend on an oil based product and fracking is the solution for the depletion of fossil fuels. Three controversial issues with hydraulic fracking are nearly everything people use daily has a petroleum based product, contamination of drinking water also the surrounding soil, and the financial impact on the economy. Many people in America do not realize the positives that comes with fracking. It is a great way to help the economy in the United States. Fracking decreases the price of all petroleum products including the price in gas. When gas prices decrease it allows other products such as food, plastics, and other petroleum goods to also go down in price. With these savings being passed down to the consumers it makes the cost of living in America much easier for many people who are living with a minimum wage budget. Minimum wage going up in Oregon and gas prices declining creates a stir in people making them spend more and builds consumer confidence on what is spent. In turn this rapid spending creates a boom in the American economy. With fracking producing nine million barrels a day and decreasing prices by forty five
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking” is a cost-efficient and innovative process to obtain natural gases from underground. Greengarbageblog.org describes
The dictionary states that fracking is a method used for getting oil and gas from underground rocks by injecting liquid into the rocks so that they can break apart (Merriam-Webster). Fracking can be a controversial topic in numerous people’s eyes due to the side effects that coincide with this procedure. Fracking has evolved over the years and made a comeback around 2010. Lately, the United States has heard tremendous news regarding this procedure and the drawbacks from fracking natural gases and oil. Fracking can be beneficial; sadly, the side effects greatly outweigh the benefits. The environmental risks, pollution, and the overall risk factors prove to not worth the risk of fracking.
“Fracking is the process of obtaining Natural Gas from below Earth’s surface by drilling 1000’s of feet into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.” Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well.” (Jackson). Hydraulic Fracturing got its name due to the fact of how the rock is fractured apart by the high pressure mixture of a number of chemicals, sand, and water. Drilling companies first began Fracking in the early 1940’s, and starting in the 1990’s companies began “safer drilling” due to the amount of concerns that had arisen because early drillers had to detonate small explosions that eventually ended up killing many people. Fracking has been used for nearly 60 years and the number of concerns about it are rising every day. Due to the new technological advancements in drilling Fracking has changed greatly over the years. Before, the drilling would go on for weeks on end in order to extract only a small amount of natural gas. Now, due to the invention of higher powered drills, the drills get double the amount then they used to be able to get in more then half the time. Over 95,000 square miles of shale deposits have been found around the Appalachian Basin but the only way to reach these deposits of shale is through fracking. “Fracking is a technique designed to recover gas and oil from shale rock by drilling
Fracking is a technique designed to get gas and oil out of shale rock in the earth. Natural gas has been used for light and heat for more than 100 years, natural gas is considered one of the cleanest fossil fuel but since it is a fossil fuel it is also a finite resource. Natural gas industry developed a new drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking . fracking is a means of extracting natural gases from shale. Tons of chemicals some toxic are mixed with large amounts of water and sand and pumped up to 8,000 feet under ground. The pressure fractures the shale and allows the gas to freely move.
The benefits of hydraulic fracking are: carbon dioxide emission has gone down and natural gas could replace coal as the main source of energy. This could help the environment by lowering the greenhouse gases that impact climate change. Another benefit is the fact that these companies are using natural gas from the United States and do not have to rely on foreign countries for energy sources, which provides jobs for people in Texas. The fracking industry has brought many jobs to the state of Texas, which is good for the people as well as the economy. Although the benefits may sound good, there are many consequences that are seen as worse than any benefit. Hydraulic fracking can cause many toxic
It is then mixed with between 1 and 8 million gallons of water and sand. This is called Fracking fluid. In the US right now there are around 500,000 active gas wells. A well can be fracked around 18 times, so altogether to run all the wells in the US, it would take 360 billion gallons of chemicals along with 72 trillion gallons of water. Of the fracking fluid used 50 -70% of it is left in the ground and the fluid is non bio degradable causing contamination to nearby groundwater and evaporating which releases volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere contaminating the air. One of the biggest arguments that people who are for fracking say that it is better as there are less Co2 emissions. Although this is true, during the fracturing process methane gas is used and if they don’t cap the wells properly, which although quite rare can happen, the methane gas can be released into the air causing multiple environmental hazards. So although they can argue that their Co2 emissions are lower, they use methane a gas that is much worse for the environment. The methane gas is also contaminating the water near the wells with water sources near the wells reportedly having 17 times higher methane concentrations than water sources not near the wells.
Fracking is the nickname for Hydraulic fracturing and a type of drilling that has been used since 1950. Today, fracking is the United States most reliable source of natural gas and oils. Fracking consists of safely tapping shale rock and other tight-rock formations by drilling 1-2 kilometres or more below the surface before slowly turning horizontal and then continuing several thousand feet more. One fracking site can have a number of wells. Once the well is drilled, the drill is removed and the well hole is made solid.
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
Fracking is a highly controversial practice that utilizes the injection of water, chemicals and abrasives to extract relatively inaccessible pockets of natural resources. Although fracking has the potential to benefit the domestic economy, the practice of hydraulic fracturing, if left unregulated and mismanaged poses significant risks to the environment, the ecosystem and safety.
Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, is the process of removing oil and natural gas from in between layers of shale and other low-permeability rocks. This is done by drilling both a well and a horizontal tunnel. Sand and chemicals are shot through the tunnel with incredible pressure, which cracks the shale allowing the oil and natural gas to travel up the well (Jackson, 2014). Fracking has caused a breadth of controversy due to the economic benefits and the geological consequences.
Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is the process of horizontal drilling past the water table into shale rock about 5,000 to 9,000 feet vertically and up to 10,000 feet horizontally. Then pressurized fracking fluid is pumped into the ground to bring the oil and natural to the surface. In the United States, there are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells.
Fracking or “hydraulic fracturing”, is a method used for acquiring oil and natural gas in tight compact geological formations. These natural gases are known as shale gas or tight gas. In the fracking process a well is drilled vertically to
Hydraulic Fracturing or “Fracking” is a new innovated way to get fossil fuels out of the ground. Companies use fracking when there is shale gas or tight gas and oil trapped in the ground below. The crews of these wells drill down into the earth and pump a mixture of water and a cocktail of chemicals in order to release this gas. The solution fractures the ground below releasing gasses and oil back up through the pipe where the fossil fuel product is stored and shipped across the country. Recently fracking companies have been coming under fire for contaminating aquifers in the areas they operate. They may say that fracking is a tried and true way to gain natural gas but I am skeptical.