What the Frack

Fracking. It’s a term that most of you have probably heard thrown around in the media recently. You probably know that it has something to do with drilling for fossil fuels, or something along those lines. But do you know what exactly fracking entails?

Fracking is “the process of drilling down into the earth” in order to locate pockets of natural gas. These pockets can be large, but extremely thin, spanning only a few millimeters across. After locating these pockets, a high pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals are pumped through the pipe that has been drilled into the ground, which then forces the gas to exit the pockets and travel back through the pipe to the surface. Here’s a video that explains it a little better than me: video.

Of course, as is typical with any method of gathering resources from the earth, there are two opposing sides with very differing opinions on fracking.

One side of the argument supports the fracking industry. Fracking, being a fairly new method of extraction fossil fuels, has improved the United State’s energy independence. Dating as far back as the presidency of Richard Nixon, the United States was becoming more and more dependent on foreign oil to fulfill its energy needs. In 2005, the country hit an all-time high on dependence for foreign oil. More than half – 60 percent, to be exact – of energy consumption was reliant on oil imports (link to those stats). At this point, the United States was desperate to find a solution to their oil import crisis. Around this time, fracking was being implemented as a method of drilling for fossil fuel reserves. Fracking proved effective, and the United States was able to locate and extract more natural gas reserves than previous decades. As seen by the graph below, the United States was regaining energy independency following 2005.

The chart depicts energy independency constantly increasing into more recent years. This is because, as stated in the video, fracking is a technology that is constantly improving. The technology and processes involved in drilling for and extracting natural gas reserves is becoming more efficient, thus further increasing our independence on foreign fuel imports.

The supporters of hydraulic fracking (the more technical term for “fracking”) realize the economic benefits of this technology. One of the main economic pros of fracking is the fact that significantly drops the price of natural gas. Compared to the price of natural gas prior to 2013, the cost of natural gas has dropped 47 percent. That is a very appealing number for consumers of natural gas – a price drop of almost half. Not only are consumers experience economic benefits, so too are industries surrounding fracking. Commercial, industrial, and electric power consumers experience an economic benefit of about $74 billion yearly. These benefits are predicted to rise as fracking increases both in widespread use and productivity (fact check those numbers here).

Despite all of these economic benefits that experts rave about caused by fracking, there still remain those who distrust fracking. The advocates of the anti-fracking argument fear for environmental safety and damage that can result from hydraulic fracking. One of the obvious arguments is that the entire purpose of fracking puts more fossil fuels into circulation, when in fact these advocates want renewable energy to be a main source of fuel for America. This is unrealistic, however, since much of the energy in America is still reliant on fossil fuels. The actual process of fracking produces an abundance of methane gas. It was calculated that a group of wells in Weld County, Colorado, produced emissions equal to those of between 1 and 3 million cars.

Another fear of environmentalists is that fracking will contaminate ground water, or water reserves used for drinking. This was the case in Pavillion, Wyoming, as determined by the EPA. Other concerns include oil spills, and even threats of earthquakes triggered by drillings (link to environmental facts).

Recent government policy has revoked policies put into place by the Obama administration that restrain fracking from trespassing onto federal and Native American lands. It seems that our government is taking actions that suggest a future defined by an increased production of fossil fuels. The question is, is it worth repealing legislation that previously protected designated areas of land? Are the environmental costs worth the economic benefits? It is a topic with a strong debate on both sides, and probably one that will be debated for years to come. If fracking technology improves to the point where there is little chance of environmental harm, or renewable energy becomes the norm, then the debate would reach a natural conclusion. However, for now, only time will tell what the majority prefers in light of the ever-improving process of hydraulic fracking.