Slate. (2022, April 11). The Enduring Myth of America’s “Molecules of Freedom”. Retrieved August 17. 2022 from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/04/ukraine-war-american-fracking-natural-gas-exports-russia.html 

 

This article is about how the war in Ukraine has led to demand heavily increasing world wide, as Russia is one of the world’s biggest fuel providers. Many European countries that previously relied on Russian oil are now coming to the US for help. Unfortunately, the US is not producing oil fast enough. Many fracking companies nearly went bankrupt due to low profits, and when the pandemic hit, they were able to lay off workers and cut costs due to the heavily decreased demand for oil. Now, just 2 years after the pandemic hit, demand has skyrocketed and this is causing US gas prices to go up. This has started a debate over whether fracking is really the answer to America’s desire to become truly energy independent. Many people argue against fracking because it is very costly, and is essentially just as harmful to the environment as burning coal.

 

My opinion is that fracking should continue, and these high prices are just temporary. When the war ends and Russia goes back to supplying other countries with fuel, gas prices will go back down. I believe fracking is a good bridge to finding a renewable energy source, but by no means is it sustainable. This relates to environmental science because it brings up the discussion of the impact of fracking on the environment. It brings up the good point that while fracking has helped our country’s push for energy independence, we need to prioritize finding renewable energy sources, because fracking is not sustainable.