Oilfield Research Paper

Fracking the Good and The Bad In the essay, “Hope It’s in Your Backyard,” by Neil deMause, he wrote about the positive and negative factors of fracking and its effect on the world. The ramifications of fracking could be devastating to the earth with regards to natural gas and oil. It is debated that fracking, in the United States, would stimulate economic growth, lower gas prices, create more jobs, and make our country independent for oil and natural gas. The effects of burning fossil fuels is negative to the earth’s climate and the cause of some pollution. Natural gas is cheaper, but its effect on our ecosystem may be devastating.

The article “When Cowboys Cry” was published by Sandra Steingraber in The Orion magazine around May/June 2011. Sandra is a breast cancer survivor, and won the first annual Altman Award for inspiring and educating the causes of cancer. She has also written an article about cancer that was later made into a documentary. Following those previous accomplishments, Sandra received the Hero Award by the Breast Cancer Fund in 2006.

Water contamination is one of the most well-known risks caused by hydrofracking, most likely because water is one of the key components of this process. “Each well uses between two and five million gallons of locally-sourced freshwater which will be permanently contaminated” by the toxic chemicals placed into the water during fracking (Fracking: The Dangers). Some of the water returns to earth’s surface and is stored above ground in steel casks. It is finally inserted deep into the ground into “waste wells” (Fracking: The Dangers). Unaccounted water that is not put into waste wells may stay underground; however, its chemicals can make their way into the water supply of the surrounding areas which causes contamination.

FRACKING AND ITS CRITICISM Since the mid-80s, The First Nations and their leaders have raised numerous concerns about the failure of the government and industries in Canada to properly consult them before developing any of their lands. Fracking is a technique used in stimulating the fracturing of rocks through the use of pressurized liquid. The fluid used comprises of hot water, sand, and proppants that are thickened using appropriate agents. The fluid enters the deep-rock and makes it possible to have natural gas, petroleum and brine flow up. If the pressure is removed, the grains in the proppants are capable of keeping the fractures while open.

"Hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting oil or gas by forcing fluids into the ground to fracture shale rocks, at the Eagle Ford Shale Play has produced more oil and natural gas but at the cost of environmental hazards and affect human health. The part of the process that creates the environmental hazards is the fracking fluids that are forced into the ground. For each fracking job, these fluids are comprised of 1 to 8 million gallons of water and 40,000 gallons of chemicals. Some of the 600 chemical carcinogens and toxins in the fracking fluids are lead, radium, uranium, mercury, methanol, hydrochloric acid, ethylene glycol, and formaldehyde. Once the fracking job is done, about 50 to 70 percent of fracking liquids are left in open

Fracking fluid not only contains chemicals that have been known to cause cancer, but it also contains a number of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs have been linked to sex changes in wildlife and contaminated water have also caused fish deaths. Over 100 are EDCs that have been linked to respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological, and reproductive conditions. These evidences are confirmed that fracking can cause species to die and to become sick with just touching the water or the air. You need to know that fracking can have a potential effect on our lovely planet.

There have been many recent studies viewing an increased number of earthquakes in areas affected by fracking. According to the article Introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing, the injected fluids can reach a critical point and can cause a shift in tectonic plates. The frack water injected into the shale has shown to have the ability to shift the earth above causing minor fractures in the rock around the drilled area, which can result in major increases in earthquakes in the fracked area. According to the article Natural Gas Drilling: Impacts of Fracking on Health, the high pressure used to fracture the shale below can continue the cracks, allowing the frack water to flow into the drinking water.

The hydraulic fracking industry began in 2003, only 12 years ago, so it's a relatively new process in the United States. Because it is so new, the long term effects it will have on the environment are unknown and can only be extrapolated by environmental scientists and researchers from observed short term effects. According to Rumpler from the tuftsnow article, nobody yet understands the implications that come from drilling a mile vertically down and another mile horizontally into shale formations. According to a U.S. Geological Survey taken in the vicinity of Youngstown, Ohio, seismic activity and earthquakes have increased since fracking has begun in this area.

Some people believe that the environment isn 't being harmed by everyday production, but one can argue that as people move closer to fracking industries, people become exposed to harmful gases and chemicals. Fracking a destructive force, is it safe, is it reasonable, is it right? As Chris Hedges explains in his article “Death By Fracking”, he says, “There are more than 15 million Americans, many of them children, who live within a mile of a fracking site. Most are being exposed daily to a deadly brew of toxins. Because the oil and gas industry is not required under law to disclose the chemicals used in

I am really neutral on the issue. I know there are benefits to fracking for natural gas. It is better for the climate than fossil fuels, and it is cheaper. What I do not know is the extent of the damages it can potentially cause. It is a relatively new practice, and enough time has not passed to cause justification or condemnation.

The article Gasland Debunked and the documentary “Gasland” discuss the very controversial topic of “fracking.” According to the beliefs of Josh Fox, fracking is extremely dangerous to the environment and the Earth’s groundwater supply. Contrary to this, the article Gasland Debunking claims that Fox is trying to portray untrue words as facts. In the article Gasland Debunked, there are many pros to how the article was written.

It involves high-pressure injections of water and chemicals into rock formations, which in turn release natural gas (Thompson, “Hydraulic Fracturing Should Be Banned”). However, fracking can result in many negative outcomes. For instance, scientists who conducted the earthquake study for Geology discovered that not only did fracking cause the biggest earthquake in Oklahoma, but it also caused more earthquakes in states that hardly experienced any seismic activity (“Wastewater Injection Spurred Biggest Earthquake Yet, Says Study,” The Earth Institute Columbia University). In fact, quakes have hit so frequently in Oklahoma, that state and oil regulators decided to shut down five disposal wells due to the increasing number of earthquakes in a city named Cushing (“Oil Regulators Shut Down Two Disposal Wells After Earthquakes Near Cushing”, State Impact: NPR).

1. Introduction In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform spit nearly five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, making it the largest oil spill in history. The 1989 oil spill surpassed Exxon Valdez's oil spill in 1989 as the largest oil spill ever seen in US-controlled waters and the Ixtoc I oil spill of 1979 as the largest oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon, an ultra-deepwater offshore rig, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico about 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 riggers and injuring 17 others.

The process of fracking allows humans to extract the colorless, shapeless and odorless gas and oil when it is in its original form, which is later on used for electric power, in industries, in vehicles and in other important worldwide makings. Finally, the significance of fracking in the United States has clearly become leading to macroeconomists to state that the country is changing from a “net importer” to a “net exporter” of oil and gas over the coming years. Table 1: " What Is Fracking and Why Is It Controversial? - BBC News.

People complain about pollution from factories, cars, global warming, and the melting of polar ice caps, yet many people disregard the dangerous that come with fracking. Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, and/or boreholes to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. Fracking is causing an epidemic economically and environmentally. Fracking is continuously destroying the earth day by day. From the endless fracking today’s economy is depleting.