Fracking Research Paper

Superior Essays
The Environmental Protection Agency defines frackings as “A well stimulation process used to maximize the extraction of underground resources; including oil, natural gas, geothermal energy, and even water”(Environmental Protection Agency). This process, employed to release natural gas involves drilling deep into the ground and shooting a high pressure water solution into rock formations in order to release the gas inside. Although the history of fracking can be traced back to the 1940’s, it wasn’t until 2003 that was incorporated commercially on a massive scale not only in the United States, but also across the world. This turning point in scale caused immediate backlash from environmentalists across the country. The controversy being: while fracking has completely revolutionised the energy industry, the environmental risks it poses cannot be overlooked.
On one side of this ongoing debate,
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For example, at Chevron headquarters, Greenpeace along with other campaigners from some of the hundreds of groups against fracking across the U.S, gathered with signs reading “Fracking is Environmental Rape” during a meeting regarding the expansion of drilling sites. One of the more major nonprofits against fracking is Americans Against Fracking. Thier goal is to ban fracking across all of America by supporting federal, state, and local bans to eliminate fracking and enact moratoriums. This movement to protect Americans from fracking has won many largely significant battles, such as halting plans to frack near the Delaware River, and passing over 250 municipal measures (Americans Against Fracking). On the other hand, citizen groups such as Natural Gas Now have taken up the pro fracking banner intend to “promote responsible natural gas development as a vehicle to achieve American independence, [and] promote rural and economic development”(Natural Gas

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