With seven billion people living on earth, are we inevitably going to run out of some of our most necessary natural resources? Energy is something which we rely on all the time. Coal and petroleum are what produce the fossil fuels which allow us to live our life as we are used to it. These fossil fuels are however a limited resource. They do not reproduce at the rate we are consuming them - and they won’t for many millions of years. Renewable energy, sadly, is an expensive alternative and only 14% of the energy the US consumes is renewable. What if there was a way to gain access to more fossil fuels to give the world more time to adapt to its new circumstances? There actually is and it is called hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking.
The concept of fracking is quite simple. Rocks such as shale which are about 2.000 feet underneath us contain natural gasse. To get to them, a horizontal well-like construction is built to reach down to the rocks and a fluid is pumped down, causing the …show more content…
Shale can be found in the deep underground on every continent, so fracking can be done anywhere, where regulations allow it. In some locations, such as New York, it is banned. In June 2015 it was banned by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC commissioner had stated, “[Fracking] poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated.” That statement is true. The fluids which get pumped into the ground, contain 99% water and 1% of toxins such as biocide, gellant and acid to thicken the fluid. However the fracking companies are not required by law to provide the list of chemicals they will be adding to the water. Since there are toxins in the fluids it puts the groundwater at risk of contamination. Therefore it could cause harm to natural resources and to people who consume
The concept of fracking is quite simple. Rocks such as shale which are about 2.000 feet underneath us contain natural gasse. To get to them, a horizontal well-like construction is built to reach down to the rocks and a fluid is pumped down, causing the …show more content…
Shale can be found in the deep underground on every continent, so fracking can be done anywhere, where regulations allow it. In some locations, such as New York, it is banned. In June 2015 it was banned by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC commissioner had stated, “[Fracking] poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated.” That statement is true. The fluids which get pumped into the ground, contain 99% water and 1% of toxins such as biocide, gellant and acid to thicken the fluid. However the fracking companies are not required by law to provide the list of chemicals they will be adding to the water. Since there are toxins in the fluids it puts the groundwater at risk of contamination. Therefore it could cause harm to natural resources and to people who consume