Fracking, also known as Hydraulic Fracking, is a process designed to extract gas and oil from shale rock. The process begins by drilling down about 6,000 to 10,000 feet where most of the shale rock is found. Shale gas is natural gas that comes out of the shale rock formations. After drilling, they use a high-pressure pump to inject a mixture of water, sand and chemicals that fractures the rock allowing gas to flow out. The drilling is initially vertical but as soon as they hit the layer of shale rock they can drill horizontally in any direction to create more pathways to recover gas.

The innovation of fracking has not only boosted the oil and gas industry but also the economy. The innovation of this new processes has made extracting shale oil much easier and much more economical. Fracking has created millions of jobs, decreased gas prices, and improved our energy sector sending stocks soaring. The United States is said to have the largest shale oil reserve in the world consisting of about 2.6 trillion barrels of oil. Having assess to this much abundant gas we no longer have to rely on foreign countries for some of these fossil fuels easing tensions between several countries. Additionally, fracking has replaced many coal plants which is seen as a much cleaner substitute. Both coal and natural gas release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when they are burned but coal also releases dangerous compounds such as sulfur, nitrogen oxide, and many other hazardous substances. Fracking certainly has its short-term benefits but it cannot be sustained forever and has many environmental negatives.

For starters, a major problem with fracking is the threat that it can contaminate ground water. As the well pumps fracking fluid into the Earth it produces millions of gallons of toxic fluid. This fluid contains the added chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive material, brine water, and metals. As we stated above the wells are drilled thousands of feet through the layers of earth’s crust one of those being our ground water supply. If the walls of the pipe happened to seep or break and leak these harmful substances into our water supply millions would be infected not only harming humans but also the wildlife.

Not only does fracking contaminate our ground water it also poses the threat of causing droughts. On average about two to eight million gallons of water is used to frack a well. That’s millions of gallons of fresh water that would be drinking water. Much of our country already experiences droughts every year and we are using so much valuable water that others need for survival.

Fracking also causes air pollution. One of the main components of natural gas is methane. Methane is an extremely potent gas trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.  Methane is roughly thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide. The air contaminates are released throughout the drilling process during construction, operation, transportation of material, and the disposal of waste. They also burn off the extra gas which also releases carbon dioxide into Earth’s atmosphere. These gases continue to add to the amount of greenhouse gases in the air causing global warming.

Fracking has caused a few earthquakes throughout the central and eastern United States. Most of these earthquakes are rather small usually registering on the Richter scale as a one or two, although there has said to be a few bigger ones in areas such as Oklahoma. These small tremors are said to usually occur right after fracking and usually in a limited area. The main cause of these earth quakes is the disposal of the waste water. These earthquakes due to hydraulic fracking only make up about 2 percent while the rest is mainly due to waste water disposal wells that operate for long periods of time and inject much more fluid than the hydraulic fracking well.

Fracking causes noise and light pollution posing a problem to people and wildlife that live close to the fracking sites. The fracking site is a nonstop humming noise that is continuous throughout the day and night. Most of the noise comes from the compressing station which is an essential component to extracting the oil. Many people complain because the noise pushes home buyers away, decreasing home values in the areas. The noise has also affected wildlife destroying habitat and pushing animals away from the areas. There is nonstop light pollution as the excess gas is burned off creating a furious flame that lights up the sky. This extra light in the night sky not only bothers humans but gives predator animals an advantage at night when their prey tries to hide, changing wildlife patterns.

Fracking is a great replacement for mining coal in the short time coming. But we cannot rely on fracking for the rest of our lives because we are going to run out eventually. We need to continue to develop new technologies moving towards a clean sustainable future.

 

References

http://instituteforenergyresearch.org/topics/encyclopedia/oil-shale/

https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/hydrofracking_w.html

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/earthquakes-triggered-by-fracking

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/research/induced/myths.php

http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/after_the_frack_bright_lights_in_the_middle_of_nowhere/

https://geology.com/energy/shale-gas/

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401