Argument Essay: The Ethicality Of Fracking

In order to supply today’s large demand for energy, industries utilize different resource-gathering methods, including natural gas and oil drilling also known as “fracking.” Scientists and many others define fracking as a way of extracting natural gas, which is mostly methane, from shale rock formations that are often deep underground. It involves pumping water, chemicals and usually sand underground at high pressure to fracture shale and release the gas trapped within to be collected back at the surface. The ethicality of fracking comes into question when research has shown high amounts of pollution and environmental destruction around fracking sites that endangers fauna, human health, drinking water and building structures. Independent studies show that since fracking has been introduced, …show more content…
Unnatural earthquakes have occurred over the last 16 years in Oklahoma due to fracking causing seismic instability in the earth; because Oklahoma’s geography does not normally experience earthquakes, the unnatural disasters are particularly devastating to their buildings which lack the foundation to withstand them. From 1975 to 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey measured, on average, 1 to 3 earthquakes annually in Oklahoma. Once the current fracking boom began in 2009 in Oklahoma, that number spiked to an average 40 earthquakes annually from 2009 to 2013 and they’ve been worsening since. In 2014, Oklahoma experienced over 580 earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater. And to make it worse, a news report by the Chicago Tribune during the month of November 2016, reported that a range between 40 to 50 buildings had been affected by a 5.0 magnitude earthquake during the month of November, which is the third in Oklahoma this year with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater. There had not