Summary: Benefits Of Shale Gas Fracking

Hydraulic Fracturing: Benefits of Shale Gas Fracking
Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is a sixty-year-old industry; however, in recent years availability and innovative fracking processes have created a boom, rendering the U.S. economy less vulnerable to alarming oil prices. “In 2009, the United States finally outpaced Russia to become the world’s top natural gas producer” (Walker). And now the nation enjoys many benefits inclusive but not limited to lower fuel prices. When done well, fracking provides energy security for the United States, a friendlier environmental footprint than many other fossil fuels, and much needed economic development; however, not done well, it leaves a plethora of economic, environmental, and health concerns which
Professor and litigator, Hilary Goldberg, no fan of hydraulic fracturing, admits that there are many groups who see fossil fuels produced by fracking as a clean and plentiful energy source (Goldberg, Williams and Cours). Director of Energy Technology, Sovacool, confirms the benefits of shale gas carbon emissions by comparing the emissions of sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and mercury from shale gas to other fossil fuels, corroborating lower emissions and confirming that shale gas leaves a much “cleaner environmental footprint” (Sovacool 253) than fuels like oil and coal. When asked if fracking is environmentally conservative, Robert Howarth of Cornell University
In 2000, one small town’s landowners in Pennsylvania began receiving anywhere from $1,500 to $500,000 in royalties for mineral rights and access to surface land, a substantial increase from their usual per capita annual income of $18,285 (Fisher). Twelve years later, Pennsylvanians reported earnings of $1.2 billion in fracking royalties (Sovacool 249-250). Similarly, fracking has impacted the U.S. job market. Recently six states with fracking facilities reported unemployment rates below 4 percent, and as low as 2.6 percent in North Dakota (Brandau); rates is far below the national 5.1 percent average. This expanse of job opportunities is astounding. One study shows the generation of 57,000 jobs by the Marcellus Shale in 2009 and another shows the generation of 100,000 jobs by the Barnett Shale in 2011 (Sovacool 254). And the numbers multiply, because every job in the oil and gas industry reportedly supports 6.9 jobs elsewhere (Triplett). Amanda Woodrum, a researcher for Policy Matters Ohio says, “We have seen in communities across all five states increased retail and food consumption, higher educational enrollment rates and larger tax revenues via severance and property taxes in the first couple years of drilling” (Remington). However, as lucrative as the benefits of fracking are, there are serious issues plaguing hydraulic fracturing that cannot be