Yes to Hydraulic Fracturing!

In 1947, the Stanolind Oil Company in Kansas first introduced hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known today as “hydrofracking” or simply “fracking.” It is a process of obtaining natural gas from a mixture of large amounts of water and small amounts of sand and chemicals that are pumped into a drilled gas well under very high pressure. According to the Institute of Energy and Environmental Research, fracturing methods and its materials may vary from well to well, but each well is usually fractured from forty to eighty times. Hydrofracking has currently become a controversial issue due to many disagreements between the members of the government and environmental activists on its varying costs and benefits on the economy, the environment, and the state in general. Undoubtedly, hydrofracking remains as one of the best options for supplying energy throughout the country at the moment. A study discussed by Forbes.com stated that coal, which provides 40% of the world’s energy, and natural gas now compete in the same market. It is even slowly replacing coal completely. This is why hydrofracking as means of extracting natural gas and petroleum is extremely vital.

1. For my first point, I would like to address the concerns from the Affirmative side about the environmental effects of hydrofracking. It would be a lie to say that the process of hydrofracking will not cause any side effects on our environment. However, the fact still remains that the natural gas acquired from hydrofracking is a cheaper and cleaner energy resource than others currently being used. a. We must all be aware of the problems the different energy resources are facing; nuclear energy is being questioned about its safety due to the nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan, the exploration of oil is yet to be resumed due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, coal is continually contributing significantly to global warming, and many more. If we were to compare all of our energy resources, we