The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

In the past several months, a somewhat concerning topic in the news has been reports of a large number of earthquakes in Oklahoma. In a region that normally has very little fault activity, this recent rise in seismic action has raised some eyebrows to an increasingly-common practice across our nation: hydraulic fracking. Currently, many people believe that the process of hydraulic fracturing (more commonly referred to as "fracking") is a major problem that needs to be stopped, causing hazards to health and the environment. Other people believe that fracking is the key to maintaining an edge in the oil industry and an economic boost, as well as providing an ample supply of fossil fuels from the deep deposits within our country. While both sides …show more content…
Much of the United States lies over these shale beds. There are 29 separate gas shales that extend over 20 states, providing ample nationwide opportunities for gas fracking (Brantley 2014). The first step in the fracking process is drilling a vertical well several thousand feet deep until the specific layer of shale is reached. The well then extends horizontally for another several miles (Dobb 2013). After the well is completed, hundreds of thousands of gallons of water infused with a mixture of chemicals (such as ethanol and sodium hydroxide) and particulates are forces at high pressures down the well, which fractures the shale (Brantley 2014). Once the shale fractures, the natural gases and oil are released and are able to be extracted. As oil and natural gases are less dense than water, they float up to the top of the well. In the lifetime of a single well, two million gallons of water may be used to fracture the shale (Dobb …show more content…
As fracking requires very large amounts of water,this is a large turnoff for potential advocates as much of the country is in a drought (Golden 2014). Fracking is also not the most efficient example of water usage - for instance, in North Dakota, only about 20% of the used water is recycled while the rest is moved to designated waste wells that lie below the groundwater level (Dobb 2013). While the water is stored away from the groundwater there, the same can not be said for the other states that utilize fracking. According to author Christina Nunez, fracking, "poses risks to water quality from contamination of surface water and groundwater as a result of ... releases of chemicals." There is also additional evidence that, however unlikely, fracking liquids and waste will migrate upwards to groundwater, due to the so-called "impermeable" rock layers being "surprisingly permeable" and "fractures in the rock can be interlinked in unexpected ways" (Dobb 2013). Additionally, oil is a finite resource and any well drilled runs dry within only a few years (Dimick