Natural Gas Fracking

Fracking for Natural Gas In today’s global fight for the growing demand of energy and promotion of saving energy, fracking has become very controversial. The dangers to our society and health are at the forefront in conducting safer practices. To obtain the natural gas, fracking or hydraulic fracking must be conducted. Hoffman (2015) explained, “Hydrofracking is a controversial oil and gas extraction technique developed in the late 1940s to gain access to fossil energy deposits previously inaccessible to drilling operations”. The process of fracking is defined as blasting high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals deep underground, and allowing the formations to fracture. This practice releases the natural gas out of the formations and is
used for power. As this seems to be economically great, there are concerns about the construction, upkeep, and containment of the facility. The pollution rate is also a concern towards the people living around the facilities. With the issues towards fracking, groups have been created, and are fighting back against the organizations that conduct this practice. Construction must occur before a facility can become fully operational. The process is piloted across multiple levels and inspected for proper well placement. Fracking occurs by vertical bores that are drilled thousands of feet into the earth, advancing through the sedimentary layers and water table, before it reaches the shale formations. Once completed, horizontal drilling can commence. The next step is installing cement casings; which serves a conduit for the immense amounts of water, fracking fluid, chemicals, and sand that is needed to fracture the shale rock. In some cases, they have to use explosives just to open the bedrock where the impervious rock formations are stronger than the drilling can withstand. Once fractures are created, the procurement (oil and gas) can begin. Although, it has been in existence for decades, this new form of deep drilling, first used in the Barnett Shale of Texas, in 1999 (Hoffman, 2016). Once built, the facility requires proper and efficient maintenance. If personnel, inadequately manages the facility, the wells will become unstable and damaged causing devastating effects. If a well is at the point of being shut down, it is “supposed to be sealed shut with cement” (Lustgarten, 2012, Para. 59). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts an integrity test once every five years of the wells, and this testing aids the facility in properly maintaining their wells. If the well(s) are found inoperable, they will issue the facility with multiple citations, before terminating indefinitely. Many facilities do not properly seal or maintain their wells once deemed untreatable, which may lead to hefty fines and possible legal action against the company. If well maintenance is not performed, the gasses can escape polluting the air, soil, and water. Although, there are individuals that state there is no concern regarding water pollution, the residents and other groups still have strong speculations on polluted drinking water from the use of the same water utilized during the fracking process. Shrope (2012), stated, “Methane can make its way into drinking water through a variety of paths apart from fracking, such as from abandoned wells, because it exists throughout various subsurface layers." The impacts of these pollutants are devastating. The air pollution from methane, is the main component of natural gas, traps heat in the atmosphere 25 percent more than carbon dioxide (Hoffman, 2016). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) monitored these pollutants and projected that about 4 percent escapes into the atmosphere. Hoffman (2016) goes on to discuss other pollutants expelled during these drillings, such as, “benzene, toluene, xylene and ethyl benzene (BTEX), particulate matter and dust, ground-level ozone, or smog, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and metals contained in diesel fuel combustion” which cause disturbing health defects and even death. These same pollutants cause destructive hazards to water, soil and have even caused earthquakes.
Discussion
In the summer of 2009, a well was leaking oil and gas waste in Louisiana.
There were oil and other pollutants found on the surface of the Earth and were traced back to an abandoned well, which triggered an investigation. During the inspection, the investigators discovered yet another hole in the damaged well. The well was 600 feet deep located next to an aquifer used for drinking water, and contaminated supply, slated to be distributed to most of the southern state. Methane gasses released into the air are more potent than carbon dioxide. A study of the gasses released into the air found “in 31% of samples, silica concentrations exceeded the NIOSH exposure limit by a factor of 10, which means that even if workers were wearing proper respiratory equipment, they would not be adequately protected” (Hoffman, 2016, Para. 13). In 2014 the state of New York banned the use of fracking, “until there is a plan to adequately manage potential risks, high-volume hydraulic fracturing should not proceed in New York” per Finkel and Hays (2015). They went on to say, New York’s governors “decision reflects that of the majority of Americans across the country who are very concerned about high-volume hydraulic fracturing's impact on the environment, as well as on human health.” There is a need for additional methodologically sound research that quantifies the connections between the risk factors for health outcomes, especially among inhabitants living closely to fracking operations, and the
risks on the future of our environment. Anti-fracking groups are protesting to shut down the fracking. These powerful groups have attempted several times to stop the fracking. In Olympia Washington, there was a protest to block the railroad from shipping their supplies to the North Dakota site for fracking. These brave people came for the support for the protest in North Dakota. The police and security continuously terrorize the North Dakota protesters, and the protesters have come from all around the country to help aid the neighboring Native American tribes who are in danger of losing their sacred land. The hydrologic fracturing process drills deep within the Earth’s crust and uses water, sand, and other chemicals. At times, is has caused explosions so massive that people felt earthquakes by attempting to gain this natural gas. Water and air pollution are being a created through this process; however, natural gas is utilized for energy around the world. Although methane gas burns cleaner than oil and coal, the process to obtain the gas is more dangerous and harmful. The natural gas that is accessible to drillers in the United States has dramatically increased by fracking.
Conclusion
Hydraulic fracturing has allowed the United States to become a super power in the role of producing energy.
Shrope (2015) stated, “The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that by 2035 electricity production using natural gas will roughly double to meet about half the country’s electricity needs”. Do the dangers outweigh the risks when it comes to the health and safety of our environment? Researchers, the CDC, and the global environmentalist need to explore other ways of obtaining this energy. Although this innovative technology is a revolution and allowing additional energy transformations to occur, we also need to protect the health of the public and the Earth. We must closely examine policies and the risk versus benefits around fracking. Further research is suggested to analyze how we are conserving energy and the devastating effects it is leaving on our environment and our health. Finkel and Hays (2015) concluded, “There are significant uncertainties about adverse health outcomes that may be associated with high-volume hydraulic fracturing, and that should give us cause for
concern.”