fracking

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Fracking Really Isn’t So Bad

Conca, J. (2016, August 28). Fracking Really Isn’t So Bad. Retrieved August 29, 2016, from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2016/08/28/fracking-really-isnt-so-bad/#5690ff5

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Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, for natural gas is a process that uses pressurized, chemically treated water to access stores of natural gas in shale rock formations.  The gases produced by the process have led to concern over the environmental and public safety hazards caused by fracking.  This article addresses many of these concerns and argues that the process is safe when done properly.  Conca argues that fracking for gas is the more environmentally friendly than extracting coal or oil and that much of the emissions from fracking sites are due to mechanical inefficiencies and not the fracking process itself.  
This article shows that the use of fracking is still controversial.  The environmental concerns could mean restrictions on the process, limiting our use of natural gas.  The EPA has reduced its estimates of emissions from fracking processes.  Natural gas has is set to become the backup energy source to renewable energy and its environmental effects and restrictions placed on it could shift where we get our energy from.  If the EPA finds it is less damaging to the environment than other processes, I think fracking seems to be a better way to get our energy when renewables aren’t enough.  

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U.S. fracking boom adds 725,000 jobs

Valdmanis, R. (2015, November 6). U.S. fracking boom added 725,000 jobs -study. Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/06/usa-fracking-employment-study-idUSL8N13159X20151106

A study by the Natural Bureau of economic Research found that Fracking has created over 725,000 jobs between 2005 and 2012. The Boom in the use of Hydraulic Fracturing caused an increase in the amount of jobs created in the U.S.. These massive gains in jobs account for reducing the unemployment rate by .5% which doesn’t sound that large but is massive when you consider how many people are in the U.S. The study also researched the effect of the fracking boom on crime and found no significant correlation.

I think this finding supports the arguments of many people who are for fracking because the jobs it provides are vital for many people. I wonder what would happen to the economy if fracking were illegal nationwide and what people who were employed by the fracking industry would do if fracking were illegal. I think it is a complicated issue that must be dealt with differently in different areas.

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Can Fracking Pollute Drinking Water? Don’t ask the EPA.

The Environmental Protection Agency still does not have a clear answer to if fracking could contaminate drinking water. The EPA has been unsuccessful in collecting the data the need to dully address the issue. There was a study that was supposed to be “definitive” in 2010 but the answer still looms today.

This is relevant to our APES class because we just learned about fracking and how it could potentially help supply energy during this energy boom. If fracking could pollute drinking water, then we should be working on a way, if possible, to make it enviormentally friendly as possible and have it not damage our drinking water. I hope the EPA continues their investigation as the answer to this question “could prove critical to future U.S. regulation of the multibillion-dollar fossil fuel sector and to ensuring water safety for millions of Americans.”

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Fracking in China

U.S. takes a crack at China’s tough shale

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/U-S-fracturing-takes-a-crack-at-China-s-tough-5691345.php#/0 August 16, 2014

It seems that the rest of the world will soon catch up with the U.S., as more and more nations seek to copy American success in the natural gas and oil development. Poland is taking the lead in Europe, producing mass amounts of shale gas through the process of hydraulic fracturing. The largest producer of natural gas in South America is Argentina and they plan on adopting American methods of fracking, “the use of water, sand and chemicals to bread underground shale formations and release fuel.”

Many specialized hydraulic fracturing corporations from the United States have entered the Chinese market.  There must be more policies against fracking and we must ban it in specific areas. Drilling in the mountains where Asia and India meet, could definitely increase the number of tremors in the highly-sensitive area. Even through fracking has negative effects on the environment, it is very profitable and therefore popular.

While this process still takes a toll on the environment, it has caused several economic revivals in areas around the U.S. Even Saudi Arabia is going to reexamine their methods and implement American oil production practices. Even when done successfully, hydraulic fracturing poses several threats to the surrounding areas.