On Tuesday, February 11, 2014, workers at a fracking well were about to begin a safety meeting at a fracking well site. The three wells on the site were drilled and ready to produce fresh natural gas. The wells were owned and operated by Chevron Appalachia, in Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania, of southwest of Pittsburgh. One of the wells was making a hissing noise. The hissing noise was methane escaping from a damaged well. The well exploded while one of the workers, Ian McKee, was investigating the noise. McKee was a 27-year-old man soon to be married and expecting a baby with his fiancée, and was killed instantly by the explosion. The explosion was hot enough to ignite a neighboring well and caused a propane truck nearby to explode. The drilling
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It begins on a 6 acre piece of land as an oil rig, with other large machinery and generators. The process includes injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at a high pressure to break shale rocks and release the natural gas inside. Amongst many shale formations in the U.S., the shale area that spreads from eastern Ohio to western Pennsylvania is called Marcellus. The shale rocks are nearly 5,000 to 8,000 feet underground. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in more than one million U.S. wells. One to eight million gallons of water is used just to complete just one fracturing job (Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), n.d.). 80 to 330 tons of chemicals are used or much more, depending on the amount of water used (Earthworks, n.d.) Fracking is a recipe for environmental …show more content…
Many fracturing fluid chemicals are known to be toxic to humans and wildlife, and several are known to cause cancer. More than three-quarters of the chemicals used in fracking can harm skin, eyes, breathing, and digestion and liver functions. More than half can damage the nervous system. One-third are potential disruptors of the endocrine system which affects neurological and immune system function, reproduction, and fetal and child development (Inglis & Rumpler, 2015). The top three chemicals used in fracking – naphthalene, benzyl chloride and formaldehyde – are all carcinogens (Inglis &Rumpler, 2015). All of which are extremely toxic. Very small quantities of some fracking chemicals are capable of contaminating millions of gallons of water (Earthworks, n.d.). People who live in homes in close proximity to fracking wells can even light their tap water on fire due to the excessive amount of chemicals, and many people have to buy filtered water from other sources for drinking, as displayed in the fracking documentary Gasland (Fox,
It begins on a 6 acre piece of land as an oil rig, with other large machinery and generators. The process includes injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at a high pressure to break shale rocks and release the natural gas inside. Amongst many shale formations in the U.S., the shale area that spreads from eastern Ohio to western Pennsylvania is called Marcellus. The shale rocks are nearly 5,000 to 8,000 feet underground. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in more than one million U.S. wells. One to eight million gallons of water is used just to complete just one fracturing job (Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), n.d.). 80 to 330 tons of chemicals are used or much more, depending on the amount of water used (Earthworks, n.d.) Fracking is a recipe for environmental …show more content…
Many fracturing fluid chemicals are known to be toxic to humans and wildlife, and several are known to cause cancer. More than three-quarters of the chemicals used in fracking can harm skin, eyes, breathing, and digestion and liver functions. More than half can damage the nervous system. One-third are potential disruptors of the endocrine system which affects neurological and immune system function, reproduction, and fetal and child development (Inglis & Rumpler, 2015). The top three chemicals used in fracking – naphthalene, benzyl chloride and formaldehyde – are all carcinogens (Inglis &Rumpler, 2015). All of which are extremely toxic. Very small quantities of some fracking chemicals are capable of contaminating millions of gallons of water (Earthworks, n.d.). People who live in homes in close proximity to fracking wells can even light their tap water on fire due to the excessive amount of chemicals, and many people have to buy filtered water from other sources for drinking, as displayed in the fracking documentary Gasland (Fox,