“FRACK OFF!” reads a flimsy yard sign as cars zoom along Peninsula road. The sign highlights a debate across Northern Michigan, the Midwest, the United States, and the rest of the world. Our world relies heavily on fossil fuels to power our everyday actions. Driving, cooking, heating homes.
Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing. A revolutionary advancement in the collection of natural gas. The best part about it, America is sitting on top of biggest untapped pockets of it in the world. Potentially giving America a new seat of power on the world stage. Although the process is new and untested, is it worth the risk? For the state of Michigan the answer is most definitely no. Hydraulic Fracturing must not be allowed to operate in the state of Michigan.
The process of fracking is relatively new process; with the first experimental wells being drilled in the late 1940’s ("What is Hydraulic Fracturing."). The process of fracking involves drilling thousands of feet deep into pockets of shale -- a rock that holds large quantities of natural gas-- where the drilling then turns horizontal for hundreds of feet ("Unconventional"). Once the hole is drilled it is pumped full of 2-8 Million gallons of fluid, consisting of water, sand, and chemicals ("Unconventional"). That fluid makes and cracks open shale releasing …show more content…
Along with several reports, the 2010 documentary Gasland highlighted some rather strange cases that the fracking companies would rather not comment on. All the residents living near the fracking operations experienced similar symptoms. Horses got sick and their hair started falling out. Dogs and cats died. Grass died and dried up. The people who drank the water became sick, and lost hair themselves. To top it all off, they could literally light their tap water on fire (McCready). You heard that right, turn the knob on your sink, the water coming out of it burns like gasoline. If that isn’t a red flag, what
Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing. A revolutionary advancement in the collection of natural gas. The best part about it, America is sitting on top of biggest untapped pockets of it in the world. Potentially giving America a new seat of power on the world stage. Although the process is new and untested, is it worth the risk? For the state of Michigan the answer is most definitely no. Hydraulic Fracturing must not be allowed to operate in the state of Michigan.
The process of fracking is relatively new process; with the first experimental wells being drilled in the late 1940’s ("What is Hydraulic Fracturing."). The process of fracking involves drilling thousands of feet deep into pockets of shale -- a rock that holds large quantities of natural gas-- where the drilling then turns horizontal for hundreds of feet ("Unconventional"). Once the hole is drilled it is pumped full of 2-8 Million gallons of fluid, consisting of water, sand, and chemicals ("Unconventional"). That fluid makes and cracks open shale releasing …show more content…
Along with several reports, the 2010 documentary Gasland highlighted some rather strange cases that the fracking companies would rather not comment on. All the residents living near the fracking operations experienced similar symptoms. Horses got sick and their hair started falling out. Dogs and cats died. Grass died and dried up. The people who drank the water became sick, and lost hair themselves. To top it all off, they could literally light their tap water on fire (McCready). You heard that right, turn the knob on your sink, the water coming out of it burns like gasoline. If that isn’t a red flag, what