Hydraulic Fracturing: Safe or Not In today’s society, one of the most controversial issue is Hydraulic fracturing. The process of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking”, is used in nine out of ten natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. This type of drilling has been used commercially for 65 years. The debate goes back and forth about whether fracking is safe or not. Natural gas Industry claims that fracking is completely safe because the shale formations lie far below the water table and pose no threat to groundwater which we use on daily bases: such as for drinking, showering, swimming, and a lot more. However,
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It has become a controversial issue across America, especially in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, states that sit on top of the Marcellus Shale, the largest known deposit of shale gas in America. There were more than 493,000 active natural-gas wells across 31 states in the United States in 2009, almost double the number in 1990. Once used rarely to extract oil from the deep conventional reservoir, now widely-used by many oil and gas companies. So why is fracking so …show more content…
Some say it dumps chemicals into the ground water supply and other argue it causes earthquakes, and still other think it can revolutionize American energy industry. Some part of fracking is considerably good. For example with fracking the U.S can access more gas and oil without depending on foreign oil. As the world’s supplies of these resources continue to dwindle, finding new methods to obtain additional oil and gas becomes more and more important. Improved air quality by using natural gas to generate electrically instead of using coal. Cheap gas will mean more consumption by building, industry, and perhaps for transportation. Job opportunity will be
It has become a controversial issue across America, especially in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, states that sit on top of the Marcellus Shale, the largest known deposit of shale gas in America. There were more than 493,000 active natural-gas wells across 31 states in the United States in 2009, almost double the number in 1990. Once used rarely to extract oil from the deep conventional reservoir, now widely-used by many oil and gas companies. So why is fracking so …show more content…
Some say it dumps chemicals into the ground water supply and other argue it causes earthquakes, and still other think it can revolutionize American energy industry. Some part of fracking is considerably good. For example with fracking the U.S can access more gas and oil without depending on foreign oil. As the world’s supplies of these resources continue to dwindle, finding new methods to obtain additional oil and gas becomes more and more important. Improved air quality by using natural gas to generate electrically instead of using coal. Cheap gas will mean more consumption by building, industry, and perhaps for transportation. Job opportunity will be