The Objective Look and Overview of the Fracking Risks

An unconventional oil and natural gas extraction enabled by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, has raised many questions and concerns about the public health and environment. Asking people about fracking is like asking them about politics, there is no middle ground. They are either all in or think it is the devil. The pro fracking group will point out that the economy is booming in a time of need and prices at the gas pump are lower. The anti-fracking side will claim that the water coming out of faucets can become a flame, and the fracking rigs are ugly and have terrible chemical like smells coming from them. I will be acting as the middle ground for fracking and only be presenting you with facts.

Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks and boreholes. The force opens existing fissures and extracts oil or gas. The fracking process starts with a well that is drilled vertically or at an angle from the surface to a depth of 1 to 2 miles. The vertical well is then encased in steel and/or cement to ensure the well doesn't run the risk of leaking into any groundwater. Once the vertical well reaches the deep layer of rock where natural gas or oil exists, the well curves about 90 degrees and begins drilling horizontally along that rock layer. Horizontal drilling can extend more than 1 mile from the vertical well bore. After the fracking well is fully drilled and encased, fracking fluid is pumped down into the well at extremely high pressure, in some cases exceeding 9,000 pounds per square inch. The pressure is powerful enough to fracture the surrounding rock, creating fissures and cracks through which oil and gas can flow. The fluid that is pumped into the well to fracture the rock is called slickwater. It is mostly water, though it also can contain a wide range of additives and chemicals that serve an engineering purpose. In addition to the water and chemical additives, the 'proppants' such as sand and ceramic particles are also pumped into the fracking well. These proppants are added to prop open the fractures that form under pressure, thereby ensuring that gas and oil can continue to flow freely out of rock fractures even after pumping pressure is released. Once the underground rock is shattered and proppants are pumped into place, trapped reservoirs of gas and oil are released and pumped back to the surface.

The new supply of natural gas by fracking is now changing the overall picture for U.S. electricity with consequences for air quality. Increasing reliance on natural gas, rather than coal, is indisputably creating widespread public health benefits. The burning of natural gas produces fewer harmful particles in the air compared to coal. With the extraction of natural gas through fracking, the use of coal is beginning to become obsolete. Coal made up about 50 percent of U.S. electricity generation in 2008, 37 percent by 2012. Natural gas went from about 20 percent to about 30 percent during that same period. Air quality around fracking operations are not fully understood, and the health impacts of fracking for nearby residents and workers remain unknown.

The extraction process results in some greenhouse gas emissions leakage. They know that natural gas produces only somewhere between 44 and 50 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions compared with burning of coal. They are developing technology to reduce these leaks. The acceptance of cheap natural gas may take away incentives to invest in solar, wind, and other renewable resources. This statement was stated by the anti-fracking groups and I do not believe it to be true. As humans we are always striving for new and innovative ways to make the world a better place.

Fracking may threaten human health by contaminating drinking water supplies. It is highly unlikely that drilling operations are creating cracks that allow chemicals to reach surface water supplies. Drinking water and oil and gas deposits are at very different levels in the ground. To the extent that there are problems, they must make sure companies pay more attention to the surface operations and the top 500 to 1,000 feet of piping. That is not the fracking, it is just a matter of making sure that the steel tubing, the casing, is not leaking and that the cement around it does not have cracks. As for the flammable water, there have only been a few minor problems, the water is not actually flammable. Well blowouts have happened, and they are a complete hazard to the environment when this event occurs. An uneasy fact of all of these companies is that roughly one in five chemicals involved in the fracking process are still classified as trade secrets, which is very inconspicuous.

Fracking operations are sometimes taking place near populated areas, with consequences for the local built and natural environments. For communities, the optics, aesthetics, and quality of life issues are real, but it’s worth remembering that drilling operations and rigs don’t go on forever. More than 15 million people have a fracking operation going on within a mile of their home. That means that these people share the burden and downsides, with no real compensation for this intrusive new industrial presence. With the fracking operation put within a reasonable distance of their homes there will be a significant job increase within the area. They heavy trucks doing constant trips to the site destroy roads in a very quick fashion. With a fracking site showing up in your town you can see the quality of life diminishing, and your town becoming more industrialized. Fracking wells, drilled thousands of feet down, may change geology in a potentially negative way, leading to earthquakes. Earthquakes caused by fracking is still unclear and no certain earthquake has been linked with any specific well. After 2001, when the fracking companies began to take off the rate of earthquakes also began to rise.

In conclusion, I believe that we should accept fracking to gather gas and oil. Fracking needs to be monitored very closely to keep the environment and public safe. We should also continue to strive for renewable resources as our main source of energy. The rise of earthquakes is concerning, but more research needs to be done to see what is causing them. Fracking is by no means the best option, but we will have to settle with non-renewable resources until we can figure out how to make renewable resources our main source of power.