Benzene has been known to be a carcinogen, while the rest of the chemicals are unknown what long term damage it could cause. Another danger of fracking are spills. Spills occur during the adding of the fluids as well as during the results of the flow back. Drill operators will eventually have spills throughout this process. Hoses can be undone, gaskets can fail, pits leak and liquids always hit the ground, repeatedly in large quantities.
When we refine or even dig up oil sands we produce harmful chemicals. Since Alberta oil sands are located near major rivers some of those chemicals end up in the rivers. The most famous case is with the Athabasca River, where the water is contaminated by many harmful chemicals. The Athabasca water ecosystem is slowly being poisoned and so are the people that use the water for their water supply. The oil sands maybe a large part of our social and economic structure, but they are slowly ruining our environment.
Furthermore, the influx of chemicals brought deep into the ground for extraction purposes have mixed with ground water, leading to lethal contamination of local drinking water. Amongst these results, fracking often yields high amounts of methane gases to the atmosphere. If fracking continues at high rates it will evidently threaten local habitats while also contaminating ground waters and while polluting
Conversely, Chemical plants can contaminate the pure water or create harmful diseases to humans and the Earth. The West Virginia chemical spill demonstrates the dangers chemical plants pose to our environment, and it is important to understand the devastating
Hydraulic fracturing or more commonly known as “fracking” is an extreme water-intensive process. Fracking uses millions of gallons of water that is mixed with sand and harmful chemicals that is injected into the ground at a high pressure to fracture the surrounding rock. This process was started in the 1860s. It was mainly popular in places like Pennsylvania, New York, Wyoming, and Kentucky. They used liquid and solidified nitroglycerin but later applied the same methods with water and gas to achieve a greater outcome.
It is called liquefied petroleum gel; propane gas compressed into a thick fluid. This new substance converts back into gas while underground. It is then sucked back out as natural gas when the gases are extracted, doing away with the highly toxic wastewater. With fracking being on the minds of more environmentalists, companies have started to look for more environmentally friendly solutions on their own. Many state Environmental Protection Agencies, are taking a closer look at what fracking is doing to the environment in their specific states.
136). The implications for this are staggering with obvious increases in oil spills, GHG emissions, land and water usage. The oil sands have devastating ecological impacts which which must be addressed to fully comprehend the lasting effects of uninhibited industrialization in Canada. These ecological impacts have a direct and quantifiable relationship to human communities locally and across the
The procedure consists of injecting a special fluid made up of chemicals and sand into the ground at high pressures to squeeze the natural gas back up through the rocks. By injecting this certain fluid we are leaving mercury, lead, hydrochloric acid, methane, and other poisonous chemicals left to rest in our earth’s crust. Studies show that more than 90% of fracking fluids are left underground. Because we are permanently polluting our land we are putting our environment at high risks of becoming destroyed and it is effecting human health. One resource that is at high risk of being contaminated due to fracking is water.
Each of these compounds is known to be poisonous, cancerous, or cause birth defects. The EPA fears that the drinking water will compromised due to runoff of the surface water discharge. Additionally, contamination of underground sources of drinking water and inadequate treatment of the waste water are possible. The threat of contaminated water supplies can cause a fearful population, largely due to the propaganda spread by anti-fracking initiatives. Although there are potential economical disadvantages to fracking, there are also enormous positives.
It is very corrosive and causes severe burns. It is very harmful by skin contact or by inhalation of dust. This cocktail together is used for getting into the ground and then it contributes to global climate change creating air pollution. They argue that fracking harms the environment and can hurt other living species such as bird, and fish. All of this is true; however, natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel and it has other advantages.