Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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“Green Energy Future with Fracking!” The United States should not include hydraulic fracturing as a part of their energy future because of environmental risks. Hydraulic fracturing is a new drilling technique that extracts hard to reach oil or gas from shale-rock (Whitten & Beinecke, 2013). Proponents of hydraulic fracturing argue that this process is not harmful to environment. Although some studies have shown that hydraulic fracturing may be safer than traditional oil drilling techniques, this new drilling technique poses danger to environment (Inglesby & Jenks & Nquist & Pinner, 2012). In fact, hydraulic fracturing causes air pollution. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) showed that hydraulic fracturing causes high methane (CH4) gas emissions that are 20 times more dangerous for climate change than carbon dioxide emissions. In other words, one pound of methane gas is equal to twenty-one pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) in terms of pollution…show more content…
According to “ The Risks of Hydrofracking”(n.d.), the process uses 8 million gallons of water for one single well. Since there are approximately 500.000 gas wells in America, this means that almost 4 billion gallons of water resources are being used in this process. Moreover, only 30% of the water can be recycled for reuse, which means that 2.8 billion gallons of water is gone (Inglesby & Jenks & Nyquist & Pinner, 2012). In addition, using huge amounts of water may cause a shortage near fracking areas. This issue is highly controversial issue in United States. For instance, in California, 97% of the state is experiencing a drought (Rice, 2013). The potential fracking activities in California will dramatically affect the water level. In conclusion, hydraulic fracturing causes air pollution, health problems and reduces the water supply, which are serious risks to environment. Therefore, it should not be a part of the United States energy
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