Week 6 Course Project Legal Issues in Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial drilling process that uses highly pressurized water, sand and chemicals to extract natural gas and oil deeply buried in the earth. Hydraulic fracturing takes place throughout the United States and Canada. While differences exist among drilling locations, investor concerns are the same: Hydraulic fracturing fluids are known to include toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. There are numerous documented cases of environmental and public health impacts as a result of fracturing. Companies involved in this process do not disclose the chemical constituents of their fracturing fluids.
Most of the impact of this was experienced by the marine species. Eight U.S. national parks were threatened and more than 400 species that live in the Gulf islands were at risk, including the endangered Kemp's Ridley turtle. The clean up of this travesty cost the government and companies billions to clear. As a result of the spill deep sea drilling in the Gulf was suspended until new safety measures had been put in place, costing governments and companies further millions, whilst the price of oil continued to rise. A spill in other deep sea areas such as the Arctic could accelerate damage in a very sensitive environment, which is already dangerously close to its
Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster happened on February 1st, 2003, which broke on the way back to the Earth. All the astronauts, including two women died in this disaster. The reason why this disaster happened was a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank which damaged the left wing of the shuttle. Even though some engineers of NASA had doubted that the left wing of shuttle had been damaged, the administration staffs restricted to do advanced research. The engineers of NASA found that the foam shedding and debris strikes could not be avoided and solved, even though the previous design of space shuttle required that the external tank was not to shed foam or other debris.
To add to this these methods need vast amounts of energy for extraction, causing the high extraction cost and with this also pollute greatly as the oil is extracted and so raise CO2 and other GHG emissions before the fuel is even burnt. Some of the environmental cost in these areas would be evident. The Canadian Tar Sands, Arctic and the marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico are rich in biodiversity and pristine areas of wildlife and any spills of oil in these areas could be disastrous. The Arctic tundra is very sensitive to human interference and the Canadian Tar Sands is home to thousands of species of animals and is one of the largest bird migration centres in the world, millions of birds use this areas every year and groundwater depletion is another major problem as groundwater needs to be pumped out during mining operations otherwise flooding will occur. Reducing ground water levels will have consequences on the wider ecosystem and it will affect wetlands.
The pay deals also drew fire. With unemployment near 10%, "to be handing out $6 million bonuses to essentially federal employees is unreasonable," said a Texas
Methanex had become the world’s largest producer of methanol, with production and trade all around the world. It became successful in large part due to its cost leadership by continually seeking remote locations where natural gas was stranded, and also due to its reliable delivery by developing its own Waterfront Shipping Company. By 2012, Methanex produced roughly 7 million tonnes of methanol, taking about 16% of the global market share. However, Methanex was faced with strategic issues at this moment from both demand and supply sides. In the demand side, Methanex’s revenue was exposed to the fluctuation of the demand for methanol, since Methanex only produced methanol.
How Hurricane Katrina effect gas prices Outrageous gasoline prices is something that all American face at the pump in today economy. Many American wonder what is the cause of the high rates at the pump. There are many factors involved in the answer to the question on what causes gasoline prices to increase suddenly. In 2005, Labor Day Weekend gas prices rose dramatically after hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States. The devastation of hurricane Katrina damaged many of the United States oil refineries, causing a decrease in crude oil supply, which caused a decrease in gasoline supply.
Darwin Mushrush Am. st. 100 Prof. Smythe December 15th, 2011 The War in Iraq: What Did It Really Cost? The war on terror in Iraq was one of the most controversial periods of conflict in U.S. History, overshadowed only by Vietnam. The United States got involved in Iraq in March of 2003 because President Bush and Prime Minister Blair claimed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and also had relations with Al- Queda, the terrorist group responsible for the September 11th attacks. The U.N. sent personel into Iraq to investigate for weapons, but came up empty.
Name: Fayaz Shaikh Prof: Leo Zwischenberger Subject: English 114 “Ethics of Fracking” Fracking is actually drilling for gas, it’s not a normal drilling. It uses very harmful chemicals that are injected deep in earth, almost five to eight thousand meters. Those chemicals crack to rocks to obtain natural gas. As this provide so much gas to United States, it’s been used here for sixty years. It also have some very harmful effects on humans and nature.
The release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon also known as an oil spill has a large negative effect on the ocean. Oil is commonly used by individuals however often oil can be a problem to organisms and their inhabitants. Oils spills are a form of pollution and there are various sources of oil in bodies of water. There are several scientific solutions for oil spills, as well as possible ways to prevent this harmful pollution. In 2010 ,172 million gallons of oil spilled from a whole on the ocean bed in the Gulf of Mexico.