FRACKING
Robeca Parvez
Geography 3340
Hydraulic Fracturing
How would you feel if you were able to set water on fire? Well some people in New York and Pennsylvania are literally able to set their faucet water on fire. Fracking is a system utilized to extract natural gases from the earth. First, we must understand how hydraulic fracking works. Fracking is a process in which millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals get injected underground at a high pressure. The pressure acts as mini earthquakes to fracture the ground allowing the gas to flow more freely (Ehrenberg, 2012). These wells being drilled are in locations that were previously inaccessible to conventional drilling. Fracking is controversial because while there are many economic benefits to it, there are also many environmental concerns and human health concerns that come along with it. I believe the environmental concerns and concerns for our health outweigh the economic benefits and fracking should not be allowed to take place anywhere in the country. We have enough environmental problems without having to worry about the affects fracking has. Fracking uses a mixture of 750 different chemicals, and at least twenty-five of them are listed hazardous under the Clean Air Act (Ehrenberg, 2012). The long-term negative environmental and human health effects of the waste water from fracking can kill vegetation and can cause cancer in humans. The waste water contains carcinogens such as arsenic, mercury, and lead (Shariq, 2013). The economic benefits of fracking include being less dependent on foreign countries for oil and creating jobs that come with fracking (Ehrenberg, 2012). While these benefits seem extremely promising, the negative issues that fracking causes are far more devastating for it to be continued in this country. Environmental effects of fracking are contaminated water, increased air pollution, trillions of gallons of water wasted used in the process of fracking, and radioactivity in
Geography 3340
Hydraulic Fracturing
How would you feel if you were able to set water on fire? Well some people in New York and Pennsylvania are literally able to set their faucet water on fire. Fracking is a system utilized to extract natural gases from the earth. First, we must understand how hydraulic fracking works. Fracking is a process in which millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals get injected underground at a high pressure. The pressure acts as mini earthquakes to fracture the ground allowing the gas to flow more freely (Ehrenberg, 2012). These wells being drilled are in locations that were previously inaccessible to conventional drilling. Fracking is controversial because while there are many economic benefits to it, there are also many environmental concerns and human health concerns that come along with it. I believe the environmental concerns and concerns for our health outweigh the economic benefits and fracking should not be allowed to take place anywhere in the country. We have enough environmental problems without having to worry about the affects fracking has. Fracking uses a mixture of 750 different chemicals, and at least twenty-five of them are listed hazardous under the Clean Air Act (Ehrenberg, 2012). The long-term negative environmental and human health effects of the waste water from fracking can kill vegetation and can cause cancer in humans. The waste water contains carcinogens such as arsenic, mercury, and lead (Shariq, 2013). The economic benefits of fracking include being less dependent on foreign countries for oil and creating jobs that come with fracking (Ehrenberg, 2012). While these benefits seem extremely promising, the negative issues that fracking causes are far more devastating for it to be continued in this country. Environmental effects of fracking are contaminated water, increased air pollution, trillions of gallons of water wasted used in the process of fracking, and radioactivity in