Fracking Essay

Hydraulic fracturing, otherwise known as fracking, is a technique used to stimulate the production of oil or gas. While fracking has aided in the plumpting of gas prices across the United States, it unfortunately causes serious health and environmental issues. Contaminated water, contaminated soil, polluted air, exposure to toxic chemicals and long term health effects. Fracking brings more harm than good. Fracking is accomplished when a well with veins (small branching off pathways), is drilled. This pathway altogether tends to be over a mile long. Shale containing gas or oil is fractured by a highly pressurized concoction, composed of: water, sand, and an array of toxic chemicals, including but not limited to, hydrochloric acid and ethanol glycol. The fracturing creates fissures, long narrow openings of breakage. The gas or oil is discharged from the fissures, into the well. The gas or oil slowly works it way up to the surface and is collected. Fracking came into common use when the world's oil and gas deposits became extremely lacking in substance creating a gas and oil crisis of sorts. Fracking is used when traditional techniques to collect gas and oil is no longer effective. Fracking causes water and soil contamination. Every fracking job requires 1 to 8 million gallons of water. With this massive requirement of resources comes a
Methane is a major component of the natural gas that fracking companies collect. Our atmosphere has an excess of carbon dioxide causing the current problem we have today with global warming. However, methane is over 25% more effective at trapping heat. In other words, the methane being released by fracking will dramatically worsen global warming. According to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the Methane being released by fracking in Colorado alone is equivalent to the emissions from 1-3 million cars. In addition to methane, benzene, toluene, carbon monoxide, and nitrous