Julian Parish-Katz Fracking; The Scourge of The Environment 5/15/2013 Red Group

Hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking or industrial gas drilling, is a method of drilling that uses a high pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals into a well to fracture rock and gain access to the shale rock gas beneath it. Fracking contributes to global warming exponentially more than coal or oil, releases harmful chemicals into the water used, and negatively affects the health of humans and the surrounding environment. Because of these drastic effects that fracking has on the environment, the Federal government as well as individual state legislatures should suspend fracking while an in depth study is carried out in order to document all of the adverse environmental impacts. Fracking is by no means a new technology or invention. As a matter a fact, fracking was invented by Floyd Farris and J.B. Clark in 1947, who were working for the Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation. Fracking was first used commercially in 1949 in the same capacity as it is today. Even though fracking has been around for six and a half decades, it has until recently remained an alternative and obscure method of drilling. Today fracking is most commonly thought of as a method to break through shale rock and reach the gas underneath; but there are many other uses for which it can, and is, being used. Fracking can be used to dig through the ground to get to get to naturally made deposits of petroleum, and other types of gas besides shale, such as tight gas, coal seam gas and any other number of gases and non-renewable natural resources. The use of fracking to get to reserves of natural gas was, until recently, more commonly used by smaller energy companies. The times have changed, however because as of 2010, enormous pockets of shale gas have been found underneath subterranean rock formations in both Pennsylvania and New York State. This discovery of such a huge and

concentrated amount of gas has triggered some of the super powers of the energy business, for example ExxonMobil and Chevron/Texaco, to come rushing to the scene. As soon as they heard about the discoveries of these large amounts of gas, these companies and a few others collectively signed a huge 34 state contract that allowed them to frack, because fracking is exempt from the Safe Water Drinking Act. This makes it seem as if the U.S. government is giving fracking a seal of approval, but in fact the government gave the exemption with no research or studies carried out. In fact, fracking is a dirty technology, and has many adverse impacts on the environment and human health. During the process of fracking, an uber-high pressure hose is attached to several water mains, and while the water is passing through, sand and chemicals are mixed with the water so as to increase the digging efficiency. During this process, the chemicals are absorbed into the soil or rocks. The contaminated material then runs off into nearby streams and lakes, where these harmful chemicals are deposited and stay. Even when the water used in fracking goes through filters, the filters are unable to remove all of those super harmful chemicals from the water table, which is also being depleted by the fracking. Then people end up drinking that water, and drinking those chemicals with it. Almost of the chemicals commonly used in fracking such as methanol, hydrochloric acid, boric acid, acetic acid, isopropanol, and glutaraldehyde are known to be deadly, and can be the cause of terminal varieties of cancer. Fracking is being billed as a way to produce clean energy, but in reality, when the impacts of all of the production processes are factored in it is far from being so. Fracking

has many harmful impacts on the environment, one of the most damaging being that it contributes 20-50 times more to global warming than both coal and oil combined (Citizens.org). Although the natural gas itself is half as harmful to the environment as coal or petroleum, the method of drilling is at fault, the method of obtaining the cleaner energy is what is harming the environment more than the new energy source. In addition to that, fracking uses huge amounts of fresh water, both depleting the water table and releasing harmful carcinogens into the remaining water. Although it is fairly well known that fracking uses chemicals in its injections, most people do not know which chemicals are being mixed in with the water and sand. There are also comprehensive studies that show that fracking causes shifts in the tectonic plates, which can lead to high magnitude earthquakes. Already, with our use of oil and coal at the present high volume, the polar ice caps are melting at a terrifying rate, with the estimated date of disappearance being around 2050. But if fracking continues, with its carbon footprint being 20-50 times bigger than that of coal and oil combined, the time of complete melting could be brought down to 2037-40. That is just not a risk worth taking. There are plenty of reasons that fracking should be avoided besides those already stated. If fracking were stopped and the shale gas were not available, the energy needs would provide more incentive for energy companies to invest into renewable energy sources, which wont run out, and have no carbon emissions and no pollution. If those alternative methods arent embraced, and if fracking continues, the U.S. will continue to rely on fossil fuels while at the same time speeding up climate change, and when all the nonrenewable fossil fuels have finally run out there

will be less time for the conversion to be made to renewable resources. This means that fracking is not only bad for human health and the environment; it is also bad for the countries - and the worlds - energy needs. The final and most compelling piece of evidence against fracking is frankly the most shocking. This is the evidence that fracking has in some cases caused shifts in the tectonic plates, leading to earthquakes. This happens when the company injects water between two tectonic plates, slowly pushing the plates apart, causing an earthquake. This could also happen if the dirty water was injected on a fault line, increasing pressure between the plates and causing a subtle change in the positioning of the plates, thus making it easier for the fault to rupture and cause an earthquake. The best example of this incident is an ongoing series of earthquakes in New Mexico and Colorado, including the largest earthquake in Colorado since 1967 (USGS). Experts from the USGS say that the number of earthquakes from 2001-11 is twenty times larger than the number of them between 1970-01 (Justin Rubenstein). Justin Rubenstein, one of these experts, believes that this rapid increase in the number of earthquakes is due to the fracking that started in the area in 1999 (USGS). This is a huge discovery, because it shows how drastic an effect fracking has on the environment, and the most discernible because it is a physical effect that everyone in a certain radius can feel. These three impacts, the huge carbon footprint of fracking, the chemicals fracking releases into the environment, and the fact that fracking causes earthquakes all show how dangerous this drilling method is. Its costs outweigh its benefits.

Fracking is such a harmful activity that it must be stopped. It damages not only the environment, but also directly hurts humans and affects how we live. It would, however, be difficult to just stop it immediately and outright, and so other steps should be completed first. The first step should be a Federal in-depth and comprehensive study into the environmental and health impacts of fracking, so that there is scientific evidence that will demonstrate clearly its damaging impacts on the environment, and on people who live in proximity to fracking sites. Congress must pass a bill that says that the U.S. Department of Health and Safety will conduct a thorough investigation into the full environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. . This remedy is similar to a moratorium that is in effect in the State of New York, and has been proposed locally in the Maryland House of Delegates by state delegate Heather Mizeur. Fracking has a twenty to fifty times bigger carbon footprint than both coal and oil combined, it drains the water table in the surrounding areas and pollutes the remaining water with super harmful chemicals, and it causes earthquakes. Because of these drastic effects that fracking has on the environment, the Federal government as well as individual state legislatures should suspend fracking while an in depth study is carried out in order to document all of the adverse environmental impacts. This is important so that the nation will have the scientific evidence needed on fracking, so that we can begin to take measures needed to tightly regulate or completely halt this dirty method of fossil fuel extraction.

Works Cited "Fracking Gone Wrong: finding a better way." EarthJustice. The Sierra Club Legal Defense, n.d. Web. 11 May 2013. <http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/fracking-gone-wrong-finding-abetter-way>. Gao, George. "Across U.S., Health Concerns Vie with Fracking Profits." IPS News. Interpress service, n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/03/across-us-health-concerns-vie-with-fracking-profits/>. "Hydraulic Fracturing- Unsafe, Unregulated." Public Citizen. Public Citizen Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=4704>. Oskin, Becky. "New Mexico Earthquakes Linked to Waste Water Injection." Yahoo News. Yahoo, n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. "Park Rangers Rally against Drilling near National Parks." The Wilderness Society. Wilderness Society, n.d. Web. 12 May 2013. <http://wilderness.org/blog/parkrangers-rally-against-drilling-near-national-parks>. Rubinstein, Justin L., William L. Ellsworth, Art McGarr. US Geological Survey (USGS). "Signicant (Induced?) Earthquakes in the Central and Eastern US Since 2008." n.d. Web 22 Feb 2012. <http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/about/workshops/CEUSWORKSHP/2.22.2012/Rubinstein2012InducedEqs.pdf.>