Preview

Describe The Fracking Process

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
952 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Describe The Fracking Process
Down by Oil Industries Middle School there is a transfer student named Fracking who everyone loves for solving the low cookie crisis. What they did not know is that those cookies were way past their expiration date. The kids did not know this because the cookies simply tasted so great at the moment, for the rest of the week they were all sick from the spoiled cookies. This may seem as an “out there” analogy, but it was to simply put out there to depict how the populace is being blinded by the immediate reward that they do not see the long term effects of fracking. The oil industry has noticed that their oil reserves are low and they are looking for any quick answer to their upcoming problem that they are not seeing the consequences that will …show more content…
To know why fracking pollutes the environment, everyone must first understand the fracking process and what is left behind as a result. The fracking process can be summed up in five steps: the first step is to drill a hole, the second step is to pump the hole with a pressurized mixture of water, sand, and chemicals, the third step is to take out the mixture out of the hole, the fourth step is to reel in the natural gas that comes out of the hole, the final step is to insert the water mixture back into the hole and seal it back up (Huffman). The fresh water that has been used up in the Fracking process cannot be purified again through neither the water cycle nor the water treatment plants, as a result, the non-biodegradable water that is in the holes has been known to contaminate aquafer’s water which has led to radioactive and contaminated water being used for everyday use (“Fracking”). Not only does fracking affect the land and water, but it also affects our air by the escaping four percent of all the gas being collected which mainly consists of methane gas; methane gas is known as a greenhouse gas which is twenty-five times more dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide (Huffman). Fracking is a contributor to the rising temperatures around the globe through the effects done by the pollution of methane gas into the atmosphere. The …show more content…
After the fracking process, the fissures left behind have been known to cause earthquakes in communities with no past seismic occurrence (“Fracking”). The earthquakes can easily damage communities that are not well equipped to contain the damage done by earthquakes because of the fact that the communities that are being affected have dealt with occurrences such as tornadoes, but not seismic occurrences such as earthquakes. Oil spills have now become a daily occurrence in North Dakota with their “5100%” increase in oil spills which happen so frequently that they have even stopped reporting them (Huffman). Once a harmful occurrence has become the norm, the situation has now defiantly become a dilemma that needs to be addressed. The residence that allowed the oil industry to perform hydraulic fracking surely did not account for the damages that would ensue because of the ramification done by hydraulic

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Fracking occurs when “water wells become plugged up with sand and other minerals. A machine is brought in to inject water into the well at extreme pressure to blow out the tiny cracks and fissures in the rock through which the water flow.” (Fracking Threatens Everyone) Completely harmless. Or so it seemed at that time. Today dealing with increased pollution, it contaminated this ‘wonderful’ thing. “Fracking injects large quantities of water under great pressure with sand and many toxic chemicals mixed in. Many of these are can cause cancer…Unfortunately, when fracking goes wrong, sources of drinking water ca be ruined and all different types of pollution can happen in a second.” (Fracking Threatens Everyone) Just like that, in a blink of an eye, something wonderful was turned around and causes more problems than we can…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Too Frack or Not to Frack

    • 892 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at high pressures in order to release natural gas from shale rocks by fracturing them. It takes an abundance of resources to create just one fracking well. Each gas well needs on average four hundred tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to the site. Fracking uses a great deal of water. Each fracturing job requires one to eight million gallons of water to complete it. Hydraulic fracturing has a huge effect on the environment primarily due to all the harmful chemicals used in the process. Some people don't want to ban fracking because it reduces imports of natural gas to america and it creates jobs, but many of these workers are being injured from working on the fracking site. In addition to poisoning its workers and the environment fracking is actually more expensive than traditional drilling.…

    • 892 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Thesis: There is major debate both for and against using the fracking method to extract natural gas from the ground, but I propose that the federal government establish, monitor, and regulate environmental and health risks, and then create a minimum standard which the states are required to follow. Background: In the 1940’s the Halliburton Corporation developed a process to revitalize well production and prolong the life of wells nearing the end of their production cycle. The fracturing process, called “fracking”, pumps a mixture of water and sand, along with some chemical additives, at high pressures to create additional fractures in the sedimentary rock.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hydraulic Fracturing or fracking was first introduced in 1940s and has then been a key provider of natural gas and oil worldwide. Despite its expansion and customary use, fracking still poses many health and environmental concerns. During fracking, pressurized liquids are injected into drilled wells, which cause the surrounding rock to crack open allowing gas and oil flow through the fissures. Millions of gallons of water are used and a similarly large volume of waste water is generated. Most of the water is never restored and the stored waste water and fracking fluid can adversely affect the animals and vegetation around it. Along with the water, other chemicals are injected into the ground as far as 10,000 feet below the surface and enter groundwater, polluting drinking sources for many. Fracking may be a key provider of oil but this expensive, polluting, low energy-return process is not worth the loss of wildlife habitat, natural land and innumerable water resources.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Oil Fracking

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    My name is Santiago Arellano, and I am a resident of Broomfield Colorado. I would like to present my opinion on the North Park Hydraulic Fracturing. Hydraulic Fracturing is a very ingenious way of removing oil from the deep Shale, which we have been unable to reach. This method, also known as Fracking, is also very small. It starts out with a drill rig and a holding tank for the first 3 months, but then once the well is dug, it looks like another oil drill, and will continue to draw oil from the ground for the next 20-30 years. Fracking involves the use of radioactive materials, explosives, and hazardous chemicals. I believe that, as Fracking becomes more popular, and less scrutinized, the watch over it will become less strict, and these materials will leak into groundwater, or into our rivers and lakes.…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hydraulic Fracking

    • 2632 Words
    • 11 Pages

    This paper explores the hydraulic fracturing process, exactly what it is, what the fracturing process does to the earth and the surrounding environment in addition, to the consequences. Hydraulic fracturing is fracturing of rock by pressurization. This process by which oil and natural gas can be forced from the earth. The hydraulic fracturing process takes millions of gallons of clean water, sand, chemicals and pumps them underground at high pressure to break apart rock to release gas and or oil. My research has led me to the discovery that there are as many proponents for fracking as that are those that oppose the process. One thing no-one can deny or easily hide is that once the damage is done and something has gone wrong, the evidence usually speaks volumes that this is not something we should be doing to our planet or its people. The diagram on page 3 outlines the process defined as fracking for an easier understanding of how invasive the process is to the environment.…

    • 2632 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Fracking Pros And Cons

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Hydraulic fracturing, also termed hydrofracturing, hydrofracking, or simply fracking, is hotly debated for its economic and environmental impacts. Fracking is the process by which rock is fractured by a pressurized fluid containing water. chemicals and sand to access natural gas, petroleum and brine from great depths of the Earth’s surface. Fracking produces the economic benefit of more accessible hydrocarbons, not to mention the 2.5 million fracking related jobs that were recorded in 2012 worldwide, one million of which were in the United States alone (FracFocus: ECHO-EPA Violations). However, many fear the environmental effects. Risks include ground and surface water contamination, air and noise pollution, and an increase in seismic activity. Hazards to public health and the environment are yet to be discovered, because the first commercial application did not begin until the late 1940’s; however, hydraulic fractures have been recorded naturally throughout time (The Truth about…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Water injections, which is how the shale gets fractured, has caused many earthquakes in places that were not usually susceptible to them. According to the Scientific American, “In January, wastewater injection was blamed for earthquakes that had just occurred in Youngstown, Ohio, on Christmas Eve and again on New Year's Eve, measuring 2.7 and 4.0 on the Richter scale, respectively” (Fischetti, 2012). Before hydraulic drilling had come to Youngstown, there had never been this many earthquakes in such a short amount of time. Fracking is disrupting the seismic activity under the earth’s surface, which is also damaging water wells, further contributing to polluting the…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While fracking is detrimental to the earth, there are also some pros presented by the practice. Many of those advantages are centred around economic practices as the US has a large quantity of shale beneath its surface. The extraction of fossil fuels at home would make the US its source of fuel opposed to being reliant on other countries which is a theme presented in Source C. As well as providing jobs to those in the gas industry. The source also tells how despite the additional environmental risk posed by fracking, it releases fewer emissions than using coal as a primary source of energy.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fracking, when not carried out safely has been known to contaminate our groundwater due to leakages of the chemicals used in the procedure. Fracking has also been linked to cause small earthquakes in nearby areas where fracking is taking place. Some people also fear fracking because of the BP incident that happened back in April of 2010 where millions of barrels of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. In his chapter, “Ghost Ridin’ Grandpa,” Gold explains what the problem was for BP and how it could have been avoided The BP oil spill was the result of not performing the tests needed to make sure that the cement used for the well formed a solid seal. The cement did not form the proper barrier that was needed and as a result when BP’s drill bit arrived at the targeted site, combustible natural gas mixed with petroleum, and they ignited as they pushed up to the surface causing the well to spill an uncontrollable amount into the Gulf of Mexico. This accident could have been totally avoidable had the proper tests been taken and the proper tools for the well had been used. It is at this point when Dr. Claude E. Cooke Jr., otherwise known as a legend of hydraulic fracturing, invented a new tool for oil wells that will make drilling for oil safer. Cooke’s tool functions as a thermometer as it takes measurement of temperatures within a well and by looking at these temperatures companies can make sure that their wells are in a…

    • 1615 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While fracking accidents are mostly harming the animals, fracking also pollutes the water, consequently people are noticing a huge change in water quality. Fracking contaminates the water in a very obvious way. Fracking could had been done only using water and clean sand. However to make the job easier and cheaper, the process includes many other 596 or more chemicals, many were harmful and some were unknown. Even though the fluid used in the process is pumped out after doing its job, it's impossible to get it all out. People found black grease, odors, methane, a gassy taste, and black sediments in their drinking water after the…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A controversial new method of extracting natural gas from the earth has become a danger for Americans. This method is called Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking. This drilling has made it possible to retrieve methane gas trapped in the shale rock that lays thousands of feet below the ground. For some, fracking can be seen as a good thing for our country. Fracking is boosting the nation’s economy, creating jobs and energy export opportunities, and strengthening the energy independence of the United States. Although it may help in some aspects, it comes at a very high cost to the American people. Fracking is extremely harmful to the water supply, the environment, and the population.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Cooley, Heather, and Kristina Donnelly. " Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Resources: Separating the Frack from the Fiction" . Oakland: n.p., 2012. Print.…

    • 1435 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harm Of Fracking

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Alberta is mostly known for the production of oil and gas, besides agriculture, forestry, and manufacturing. Many people know that the oil industry is hurting us but probably not in the way it is killing us. Fracking causes cancer, organ damage, and death. In order to get a typically fracked well these companies are required to use between 55 Thousand and 220 Thousand litres of chemicals. The Government and companies are tricking us into thinking that the fracking process is a natural occurring inconvenience, and in no…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although this process is an affective way to produce the natural resources from the earth, there are repercussions that are being ignored by the well companies. For instance, there were several private wells in Dimock, Pennsylvania contaminated with methane caused by the fracking done by Cabot Oil and Gas. The people living off these wells were not able to use their water. Although the gas company denied any kind of fault, they compensated the residents financially and built a new pipeline to bring clean water in. In December, 2011 the EPA sent out letters to the residents telling them their water was safe to drink. But in January of 2012 the EPA retracted its position and told the gas company to immediately take care of the problem.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays