Today America is facing record gas prices.  Domestic energy companies are coming up with ways to drill more natural gas in the U.S.  Although it is important to lessen our dependance on foreign energy, the government must be able to regulate drilling so it does not yield unpleasant consequences for citizens.  One practice of drilling that has come under much scrutiny recently is hydraulic fracturing or “hydrofracking.”  The idea dates back about 150 years but it would not been put into widespread use in America till the 1949 when Halliburton oil company received a patent for hydrofracking.  The process of hydrofracking is complex but basically it involves water and chemicals being used to get more natural gas from deep underground shale deposits.  The fractures in the shale get filled with water and chemicals while the drilling happens leading to more natural gas being collected.  This technology has yields around 14% of American natural gas, however effective it is there are questions being asked by skeptics.  Because this practice requires drilling past the underground water table there is a danger that the chemicals involved in hydrofracking may end up in public drinking water.  This is very concerning considering that many of the chemicals used in this process are extremely toxic even in small amounts.  Another unsettling study links extensive hydrofracking to a raise in seismic activity.  If this practice does indeed result in earthquakes and poisoned water then the risks seem to outweigh the benefits.  In new york hydrofracking has been put on hold, the public has demanded that extensive studies be done before proceeding, New York’s health commissioner plans to examine the possibility of water contamination as a result of excessive hydrofracking.  Both the oil companies and the public have agreed to these studies.  Once the results of these studies are unveiled the matter should be settled once and for all.

A Hydrofracking site in Lancaster Pennsylvania

Sources:

• http://energy.wilkes.edu/pages/203.asp

• http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/oil-and-gas/news-natural-gas-it-answer-and-what-cost?image=0

• http://www.hres.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78%3Ashale-gas-hydrofracking-and-man aging -risk-&catid=54%3Aopinion&Itemid=64

• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/nyregion/new-york-states-decision-on-hydrofracking-will -await-health-review.html