To understand natural gas hydraulic fracturing, you must first know that hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. It stimulates the production of natural gas and oil. Veins and dikes are natural examples. This process is used to increase or restore the rate at which fluids, like natural gas, can be produced from natural reservoirs.
Hydraulic fracturing is also called fracking. Reports have shown that fracking uses hazardous chemicals and could threaten the quality of water. Fluids are injected underground and a lot of those fluids remain there and are dangerous. They contaminate water supplies by staying underground. We could be drinking contaminated water and we wouldn’t know because there is a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act, in which the drilling industry can continue to keep this a secret. People are drinking this contaminated water every day.
Although this process is pretty contraversial, it has produced 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas for the United States.
Here is a video that explains the process of the drilling:
Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing
- http://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/detail/hydraulic_fracturing
- http://www.api.org/policy-and-issues/policy-items/hf/drilling_video.aspx
