Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as fracking, refers to the process of injecting fracking fluid, water, soil and chemicals into the ground to extract oil and natural gas. With the use of hydraulics, the shale rock bed begins to crack. From there, many chemicals are pumped into the ground. Although many benefits can come out of this, there are many negative, life changing effects. Fracking should not seen as a revolutionary discovery but instead seen as an unnatural, harmful procedure.
Fig. 1. This is the illustration that shows the hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, process (How 1).
The process of fracking, in general, can be very harmful to the environment. Shale is a very fine-grain rock composed mostly of mud but also has some other sediments in it as well (ENERGY 20). An engineer wrote about the hazard of drilling into shale: “This is why shale gas is hard to get at. It's locked into hard rock under immense pressure, often deeper than conventional gas wells. Even if you drill into shale, the rock holds onto the deposits so tightly that it won't flow - hence its other name, 'tight gas'” (ENERGY 20). This means that, from the start of the process, it is not easy. The only way to get through the shale is to crack it. This can lead to a major concern: earthquakes. There are studies that connect hydraulic fracturing to earthquake growth in the United States:
A study headed by William Ellsworth of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo
Park, Calif., documents a dramatic increase in earthquakes in the Midwest coinciding with the start of the fracking boom. From 1970 to 2000, the region experienced about 20 quakes per year measuring at or above magnitude 3.0. Between 2001 and 2008, there were 29 such quakes per year. Then there were 50 in 2009, 87 in 2010 and 134 in 2011. (Ehrenburg 20)
Seeing as fracking makes the land unstable, this idea makes perfect sense. Earthquakes can cause large amounts of damage worth millions of dollars to repair. Looking at this, you are actually losing money in the long run and also losing stable land. Therefore, fracking causes more harm than benefits in the long run. It is hard to tell if the earthquakes are directly related to fracking, but evidence has shown hydraulic fracturing is most likely related to the increase in earthquakes.
There is, surprisingly, something even worse than the possibility of fracking causing earthquakes. At the end of the process, the fracking fluid is pumped back into the ground and sealed with concrete. Unfortunately, the chemicals do not always stay where it is supposed to. These chemicals can get into drinking water and contaminate it, making it toxic. According to the article “Drill, Maybe Drill?“ by Alex Halperin, these chemicals can have very harmful affects on people: “The Endocrine Disruption Exchange (TEDX) obtained data on 246 products used in natural-gas production in Colorado and found that more than 40 percent contain chemicals that disrupt hormonal processes” (16). Another thing to think about is the fact that contaminated water is almost impossible to clean. Some of the chemicals are not even able to be removed from the water. Even the chemicals that can be remove are extremely hard to get out of water. Since water flows, it is hard to contain chemicals enough to remove them. The contaminated water is not able to be drank, used for bathing, or used to wash appliances. If this was to happen to a place where someone is living, it would be very hard for them to sell their house and move to a new location that has not been contaminated. This is because no one will want to buy a home where they are not able to drink, bathe, or wash items in the water. A curiosity is how harmful these chemicals can truly be. Although contaminated drinking water is a serious problem, the effects get worse. Rachel Ehrenberg, the writer of “The Facts Behind the Frack” mentioned the effects of chemicals within fracturing fluid:
As the gas comes out of a fracked well, a lot of this fluid comes back as
waste. Until recently, many companies wouldn't reveal the exact chemical recipes of their fluids, citing trade secrets. A report released in April 2011 by the House Energy and Commerce Committee did provide some chemical data: From 2005 to 2009, 14 major gas and oil companies used 750 different chemicals in their fracking fluids. Twenty-five of these chemicals are listed as hazardous pollutants under the Clean Air Act, nine are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act and 14 are known or possible human carcinogens, including naphthalene and benzene. (20)
Something to keep in mind is that Hydraulic Fracturing is exempt from the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. This is a long list of very important laws that Hydraulic Fracturing is exempt from. This raises suspicion of what is happening in the fracking process that citizens do not even know, as well as possible effects of fracking that might not have been released to the public. There is fear in the lack of knowledge on this topic. Joyce Stone, a clean water advocate, realized the dangerous effects of fracking after working so hard to keep water clean:
‘The whole thing is unreal,’ she explained. ‘I've worked since I was twenty
to try to get clean water and clean air. So many people have. We've made such huge strides. Back in Connecticut, where I'm from, so many rivers have been cleaned up. And Pennsylvania. And it's like the gas industry is just exempt from everything. They are reversing everything and poisoning the rivers that have been so clean now for forty years.’ (Federman 34)
Sadly, contaminated water from fracking is not a foreign thing to people. There are many towns out there that have contaminated water. As stated before, it is extremely hard to remove chemicals from water. The irresponsibility of the drillers is unexplainable.
Contaminated water isn’t the only harmful effect to humans. There are also problems that are created from the tanks holding the fracking fluid as well as other chemicals. These fumes can lead to respiratory problems. Carter, whose water had been contaminated due to fracking, reported back on the effects of both the contaminated water and air:
The water in it is too poisonous for drinking, cooking, or bathing. The oil
company also built a storage tank about 100 meters (330 feet) from his
home. The tank holds chemicals that are by-products of drilling, and area residents say it is venting fumes into the air day and night. Carter and his wife now have respiratory problems. ‘We'll have guests out here on the porch, but most people can't take it,’ he says. ‘Their eyes get watery, throats gets scratchy. One young lady had to leave. She couldn't breathe with all the fumes.’ (Kors 10)
These effects are long lasting. They can’t be taken care of within a couple weeks. If these chemicals get in the water, it will stay there and effect the living environment of both people and animals. The storage tanks from the chemicals are just as hazardous, if not worse.
Some people like to argue that fracking contributes to so many benefits including a drastic decrease gas prices. This may be true; however, the cost for the fracking process is much more, especially with the hazards it causes. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove methane, found in fracturing fluid, from well water, at least $193,000 for replacement water, and about $6 billion dollars if water is contaminated in a large city. On top of contaminated water expenses, there are medical issue costs as well. Silicosis, caused by fracking, has imposed $50 million medical care costs in the United States in 2007. For an example of health issues from fracking, air pollution from gas drilling in Arkansas region imposed public health costs of more than $10 million in 2008. There are also cases of headaches, eye irritation, respiratory problems and nausea which adds on to the expenses (Report).
With all these effect, there are also social effects that come with it. Due to the toxins released into the drinking water and atmosphere, there have been devastating effects on the environment. These contribute to effects on business income. With the death of animals, taxidermies lose profit because of less animals to hunt. Wildlife watching industries lose money because there are less animals to view (Report).
As all of these expenses and hazards add up, it is easy to see that fracking does more harm than good. Fracking might have been a good idea at the beginning, but looking at the effects, it is clear to see Hydraulic Fracturing needs to come to an end. If it does not, earthquakes, contaminated water, and health issues will become an epidemic within the United States.
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