The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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

Fracking uses a mixture of water and chemicals to release natural gas from the ground. It is sprayed at high pressure into the ground where it collects in a well. Sometimes these wells leak and the chemicals get into our water supply. Some homeowners claim that they can light their tap water on fire as it comes out of the faucet (Foster,

One of the major drawbacks with fracking is due to the cause of widespread hazardous pollution within waterways surrounding the sites. The steel casings cannot guarantee prevention of chemical leakage dispersing into the adjacent soil holding tons of ground water. This is the same water that makes its way into our wells, and finally into our mouths. Furthermore, more than half of the wastewater used in the fracking process is flowed directly into a ready-made reservoir pits that sit in wait for evaporation. This wastewater gradually sinks into the ground, for the evaporation takes quite some time. The health risks posed by this dangerously hazardous output of pollution into our drinking water and nearby waterways is widely felt. Water quickly turns to metallic mush, goes black, and even becomes flammable in other cases. Fracking is upsetting the way of life for so many out there and yet they still refuse to answer for these wrongdoings. Mike Markham is forced to venture into town to buy his water supply due to his well water being deemed unfit for consumption (“GasLand”). Jeff and Wranda Locker’s washer was flooded with black water not soon after a fracking site began drilling. They placed faith in the energy company when they supplied them with a reverse osmosis water treatment system that was supposed to filter out the chemicals. However, later they found out that the system didn’t remove glycol ethers which damages brain cells and may well be the cause of Wranda’s fading

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as "Fracking", is drilling into the ground for gas. This process injects over 500 chemicals into the ground which sometimes reaches peoples water supply. When the water becomes polluted it can harm not only humans, but animals. In Gasland ,Josh Fox talks to people about their problems with Fracking and goes in depth about the damage it is doing.

Few issues have recently gotten as much attention as the energy extraction activities involving a controversial procedure called "fracking." As reports of drinking water becoming tainted with fracking fluid flood the news, both oil and gas companies as well as environmental groups are presenting competing "facts" about the effects of drilling on ground water.

As this fluid holds the “underground fissures open, oil and gas flow up the well to the surface where they can be recovered”(good idea?). When fracking, companies use up to 8 million liters of water, that is the daily consumption of 65,000 people and uses several thousand tons of sand. Congressional Democrat reported in April they identified about 750 chemicals that were used to frack and 29 of them are carcinogens. It is said by “fracking explained” that companies use up to 2,000 liters of chemicals. The chemicals compress the water, kill Bacteria, or dissolve minerals, but they also infect everyday water that can't be filtered clean. Also a variable amount of fracking fluid remains in the ground after a well has run dry and the “EPA has recently targeted this pollution and plans to set strict guidelines to reduce it” (good idea?). Even though fracking has some cons it also has tons of pros.

McGraw describes several of the numerous incidents of air and water pollution that occurred directly from the fracking. Methane, a colorless and odorless greenhouse gas that is known to trap radiation, leaked several times in Susquehanna. Not only were water supplies contaminated by chemicals, but fracking can often lead to droughts as the oil companies draw water for the hydraulic fracturing. Some people have found so much gas in their water that it could be set on fire. Methane can have harmful long-term effects from

In the process of fracking, problems can occur and there can be a possibility of water contamination. During fracking underground water supplies can be exposed to shale gas and contaminate the water or there could be a cement failures and infiltration from soil or even water transportation incidents (Beaver 127; Penning et al. 1156). This can happen very easily and can cause the water to get contaminated. In one case, “EPA found evidence of groundwater contamination with benzene, xylenes, gasoline range organics, diesel range organics, and total volatile hydrocarbons in shallow wells that lie above 169 gas-producing wells that were hydro fractured.”(Penning et al. 1156). Most of these chemicals found in the water are harmful to the body, can

Fourthly, fracking creates real environmental concerns (Lieberman, 2016). Fracking is a process that unearths large amounts of oil and natural gas. “During fracking, a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals are injected into a well at high pressures, fracturing rock far beneath the surface and releasing the gas trapped inside. The gas then flows up toward the surface and out of the head of a well.” One of the causes of concern are due to the huge amounts of water used in the process, which must usually be transported to remote locations. The chemicals used in the process create another area of concern as they could potentially contaminate underground water supplies. To make matters worse, “the fossil fuel industry has been reluctant to

Hydraulic Fracturing (also commonly known as fracking) is a process used to extract natural gasses deep within the earth. This is done by drilling vertically into the ground until the desired depth; then drilling horizontally; and pumping millions of gallons of water, sand, and other chemicals into the drill at a high pressure to create fissures through which the gas can escape. Currently, hydraulic fracturing is extensively used in the United States in order to access fossil fuel energy deposits which were previously inaccessible. Although fossil fuels can now be accessed easily through this process, there are many health and environmental risks associated with fracking that may make it less than ideal. For instance, fracking can contaminate drinking water, increase air pollution, and leave workers and near-by residents open to many health risks. Although there have been laws and regulations passed to help minimize the risks involved with fracking, an in-depth analysis of the opinions of supporters of fracking and the research behind it will show how fracking needs to be further regulated in order to be safe and effective for everyone. While we do not have to completely stop the use of fracking, improving the fracking process or reforming the current laws and regulations can allow us to receive the economic benefits of fracking, while also being environmentally and health conscious.

Each fracking job requires 1 to 8 million gallons of water to complete. When such large amounts of water are required to complete a fracking job, it places undue stress on water supplies especially in areas experiencing drought. Another concern among environmentalists is that contamination of drinking water has the potential to invade groundwater drinking wells near drilling areas, or old oil and gas wells, where the new operations could blow out their seals or create a vertical conduit to upward aquifers or the surface. With the recent rollback of regulation requiring fracking companies to disclose the chemicals they use, there is concern that some companies are possibly using hazardous chemicals. Finally, there is some trepidation that a rise in earthquakes in the United States is because of fracking.

There are many pros and cons to hydraulic fracturing which has made it a very controversial topic in the United States Government the past few years. What is now commonly known as “fracking” is the use of chemically infused water that is pressurized and used along with drilling into the earth’s bedrock to create an earthquake that releases natural gases from pockets thousands of yards below the Earth’s surface. Fracking causes these earthquakes when releasing the gas, and is concerned to be the cause of water pollution due to the chemicals used all over the U.S. There have been many congressional hearings regarding the 34 states affected by fracking including one held on July 24th, 2013. Lessons Learned: EPA’s Investigations of Hydraulic Fracturing

Fracking is better for the environment because it releases less carbon dioxide into the air. “In the past five years there have been at least 75 scientific studies, concluding that methane emissions are falling despite a huge increase in the level of natural gas.” In fact “it has been reduced by 20%.” (Bre Payton pg.1). Also fracking has

Fracking can cause people to be threatened by the dangers and past experiences that have been caused by fracking wells. Per fracking well 750 chemicals used 29 of which are either likely or known carcinogens. Carcinogenesis are substances, radionuclide, or radiation that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer damaging and disrupting the cellular metabolic process (source 4). While fracking the chemicals being forced into the ground can drain out of the well and contaminate water. Methane concentrations found in the chemicals are 17x higher in drinking-water wells near fracturing sites than in normal wells (source 4). More fracturing causes an increase in pollution and contaminated water and recently there has been a high increase in

Balance in an ecosystem is important because it keeps a certain species from being over populated or hunted excessively. The impact that fracking has on water causes the water to contaminate which then results in wildlife dying out or migrating to an unnatural habitat. Various test done on water near fracking areas may suggest that fracking does not affect water in any toxic way. But, an environmental scientist at the EPA research facility conducted a study that shows a great deal of the chemicals used in fracking does not show up in lab test results. The chemicals used are said to be easily soluble in water, the study shows:Having easily soluble substances mixed in with the water people drink could lead to a numerous amount of people becoming sick without knowing how and unable to find a cure.