Fracking Research Paper

Hydraulic Fracturing

So many people these days are stuck in the ways of their own opinions. They believe the first thing they hear on a topic and stick with it. So close-minded that they won’t even listen to someone else’s opinion before they begin to argue. A popular topic that people are stuck on is hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Either people think it’s great or they hate it. Before you have an opinion on it, what exactly is this “fracking?”

“Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers from deep within the earth… Horizontal drilling (along with traditional vertical drilling) allows for the injection of highly pressurized fracking fluids into the shale
Before fracking came about, it was very difficult to get to the natural gas and oil hiding in the layers of shale over a mile below the Earth’s surface. Now we have the technology making it possible to retrieve the gas and oil that we value so much. Because we can now get to these layers, it has increased employment on our homeland, and our domestic energy companies don’t have to resort to off-shore drilling. Jobs are booming in these fields as more and more wells are drilled. Somewhere around 600,000 jobs have been created since 2002. They expect another 209,000 or so to be created by the year of 2015 (Williams). For every job created in drilling, more than three are created in supplies and service. Williston, North Dakota is a great example of this. So many people are rushing over there to find work that there aren’t enough places for people to live. This has helped in so many ways, new houses are being built so more construction workers and engineers are need. As well as construction, people need food and entertainment so more business need built or remodeled to keep up with the rising demand. Many of the people with fracking jobs are expected to work sometimes up to 70 or 80 hours a week (Williams). That’s two full-time jobs! Because of extensive hours, some companies pay a daily bonus and well over minimum wage. Even making $8.00 an hour for 70 hours with a $50.00 daily bonus, you will
One of the biggest issues with fracking is the amount of freshwater wasted. We mix millions and billions of gallons of water with sand and chemicals to shatter the shale. When some of the water resurfaces, it has been contaminated with chemicals and metals; so it’s no longer usable (Disadvantages). In Pennsylvania over the past three years, over 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater have been produced, that’s enough to cover Manhattan in 3 inches of water (Disadvantages). There is also the issue that the air is being polluted. In 2010, Texas found a 25 percent increase of asthma in young children (Disadvantages). In 2013, California’s Mojave Desert became home to The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility. It is the largest solar thermal power plant in the world. The plant can generate enough power for over 140,000 houses during the peak hours of the day. It’s also believed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons per year (Ivanpah). It’s not just the environmental concerns that are causing problems,