Hydraulic Fracturing, known by its much cooler name of “hydro-fracking,” is a process used to tap into reserves of different resources, but for the purpose of this post we will be discussing hydro-fracking’s use in the acquisition of natural gas. While humans have been utilizing fracturing techniques based in hydraulics since the 1950s, using it to acquire large quantities of natural gas is a relatively new endeavor for the United States, and was jump-started largely by current President Barrack Obama.
The physical process of hydro-fracking is slightly complicated but I’ll give a brief summary. The main goal of hydro-fracking is to locate resources like natural gas that is trapped in between rock layers and forcing it out of the ground by using a fracturing fluid to create a channel for the gas to flow up and be collected. The process of hydraulic fracturing will, according to the National Petroleum Council, “account for nearly 70% of natural gas development in the future.” Hydraulic fracturing also puts a significant number of Americans to work, accounting for about 600,000 jobs in the country according to IHS Global Insight. Hydro-fracking is the only method known that makes drilling for the vast resources of natural gas available to the U.S. truly viable.
Positive aspects of utilizing hydraulic fracturing to access natural gas includes lessening our dependence on foreign oil and environmentally crippling coal. Natural gas is much cleaner burning than the latter two and it is located within our borders. It gives us better energy independence and can put hundreds of thousands of people to work.
The potentially negative consequences of hydro-fracking are definitely concerning considering the fact that it will become the primary method of fossil fuel extraction in the United States in the coming years. The primary concern with hydro-fracking is that the chemicals used to make fracturing fluid are potentially hazardous to humans should they seep accidentally into ground water/drinking water reservoirs. According to one environmental watchdog, “The drilling boom in Colorado’s Garfield County has triggered a rash of citizen complaints that petrochemical pollution has caused adrenal and pituitary tumors, headaches, nausea, joint pain, respiratory problems, and other symptoms.” These issues can arise from air pollution stemming from the hydro-fracking sites and not just ground-water contamination.
So the facts are laid out on the table. Hydraulic fracturing is easily one of the most important technologies we possess when it comes to securing a cleaner source of energy, and it lessens our need for oil from unstable parts of the world like Kuwait or Saudi Arabia. However the environmental risks associated with hydro-fracking are very real and can be deadly if energy companies aren’t careful or held accountable enough.
Sources:
National Petroleum Council, Prudent Development: Realizing the Potential of North America’s Abundant Natural Gas and Oil Resources, September 15, 2011
IHS Global Insight, The Economic and Employment Contributions of Shale Gas in the United States, December 2011.
Valerie J. Brown – “Industry Issues: Putting the Heat on Gas” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817691/
Amy Mall – “Incidents where hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause of drinking water contamination” http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amall/incidents_where_hydraulic_frac.html
Excellent blog post! You lay out the information very well, stating the facts of the process while weighing the positives and negatives. You have a lot of the same information I used for my blog post and you lay it out in a very clear and concise manner. You’re quote and information regarding Colorado’s drilling were great additions to the blog and help reinforce the complexity of the issue.
This was a very very well written post. What I really appreciated was that throughout the blog you kept illustrating that this was just a brief description or for this blog you would only be discussing hydro fracking in terms of acquiring natural gas. I loved it because you were providing us with very clear and easy to understand information but at the same time telling us that this issue is even bigger than what is discussed here, which helps inspire us to do our own research. Great job!
I like how you lay out both the pros and cons of this and leave it to the reader to decide. Plus, its a very complicated process and I think that you did a good job of explaining how it works.
I am afraid I am not in total agreement with your final conclusion; as I wrote in my own blog a fortnight ago. Take for example the results of the possible legislation that is going on to determine if New York state would start fracking or not I in my blog took a look at both sides of the arguments being presented for and against fracking in the state and finally concluded that, it is a make or break decision that can swing either ways. Yes, fracking is dangerous to the environment and there are health hazards but there is also a lot of clean energy to be gotten as well as jobs and prosperity to be brought to an already dying economy.