What Is Hydraulic Fracturing

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Hydraulic Fracturing Since 1947, hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydrofracking, has been practiced globally to capture deposits of natural gas. Halliburton performed the first hydrofracking job in 1947 in limestone deposits. Halliburton is the world’s largest fracking services. It has operations in more than 70 countries and employs over 60,000 people. Significant research and development and technology demonstration were necessary before hydrofracking could be commercially applied to shale gas deposits, due to shale's high porosity and low permeability. In the 1970s the federal government initiated the Eastern Gas Shales Project, a set of dozens of public-private hydro-fracturing pilot demonstration projects, and the Gas Research…show more content…
In August, Dryden’s Town Board used its zoning laws to pass a drilling ban, which is the first step in the fight for landowner property rights. Justice Phillip R. Rumsey said that the state law does not preclude a municipality from using its power to regulate land use to ban oil and natural gas production. The ruling is the first in New York to affirm local powers in the controversy of fracking. This decision could set a national precedent for how local governments can regulate gas drilling. “The oil and gas provision gives the state the power to "regulate the development, production and utilization of natural resources of oil and gas. " The town proclaims that it was not trying to regulate fracking but just trying to protect its citizens and property. The town is following provisions that address groundwater contamination such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, Resource Conservation Act, and the Superfund Act. The government introduced legislation to both houses of the 11th United States Congress in 2009 called the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act. It aims to define fracking as a federally regulated activity under the SDWA. It would require the energy industry to disclose the chemicals it mixed with the water and sand it pumps underground in the process. The bill has adjourned in Congress and has yet been passed as of March 2012 Congress. The oil and gas industry contributes heavily to campaign funds. A federal guideline may have yet to been passed, but local fracking bans are continuing to grow. This gives precedence at the state level that can alone fight off

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