If the question: “what hydraulic fracturing or fracking is?” was asked to the average person, depending on their location their answer could vary. Most likely though most or many people would not know what Fracking truly is but most would say that they have heard at least a little about it from the news. Hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking is a process that occurs after well has been drilled or bored, and the process through use of a perforated casing that injects fracking fluid which travels through the holes and to target zones and soon when the target zones can’t absorb the fluid and pressure is created causing natural gas or oil to flow up to the surface (Hydraulic Fracturing 101). “Hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) stimulates wells drilled into these formations, making profitable otherwise prohibitively expensive extraction; geological formations may contain large quantities of oil or gas” (Hydraulic Fracturing 101). Hydraulic fracturing though profitable is impacting the environment in negative ways but the U.
S. government and fuel companies choose to deny that it is. It uses massive amounts of water, causes water pollution, and if we become dependent on its economic gains we could end up like countries such as Saudi Arabia.Hydraulic fracturing as stated before uses fracking fluid. An info graphic on “Average Fluid Composition for US Shale Plays” shows that 99.2% of the fluid is water and the other .
79% are chemicals (Chemical Use in Hydraulic Fracturing).The other chemicals are Acid, Corrosion Inhibitor, friction reducer, Clay Control, cross linker, Scale Inhibitor, Breaker, Iron Control, Biocide, and Gellant.Now even though these chemicals are less than 1% of the fluid mixture they are still very harsh and toxic. .on.org.
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Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission/GroundWater Protection Council, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2013.Left Picture-Contamination from Fracking in Many Areas Sets Water Faucets on Fire.
2010. Photograph. The Film,”Gasland” The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation. Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 14 Sept. 2013. Web.
12 Dec. 2013.Right Picture-Thiessen, Mark. N.d. Photograph.
Granville Summit, PA. National Geographic. By Katherine Hobson. National Geographic Society, 01 Apr. 2013. Web.
12 Dec. 2013.
