...Research Paper on Fracking Fracking has become a popular way to access petroleum and certain natural gases that were economically inaccessible before. The depth of these gases were at shale level (Shale Formation level is a layer of the Earth’s crust that has been previously too deep to access fully). Fracking is a development that can now easily reach that depth. Currently it is a popular method because the only alternative to Fracking is the Horizontal Drilling Method; though, fracking is the best method. Fracking is actually very similar to horizontal drilling, but on a much larger and far more complex scale. Fracking uses the same formation, with a bit more added to it. This addition is the result of a concoction contrived of water, sand, and chemicals. They, the hydraulic fracturing engineers, refer to this concoction as the Fracking Fluid. The main conflict behind the controversy of fracking’s existence is the Fracking Fluid. An estimated, more than 90% of this fluid that is injected into the ground to keep the fractures open, stays in the ground post extraction.(Earthworks) This causes...
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...Hydraulic fracturing -- otherwise known as fracking -- is a process which allows us to retrieve oil and natural gas from shale. The process consists of a mixture of water and sand -- with the addition of a few chemicals to help carry the sand, keep bacteria from forming, and for lubrication -- being pumped down the wellbore and into the deep underground reservoir formations. The wellbore is the hole drilled beforehand, implemented with steel casing vertically and horizontally, creating the well. Before the trucks are able to pump the mixture down the casing, a perforating gun -- with shaped explosive charges -- would be sent to the end of the casing -- where the target shale is at -- and set off; creating holes which connect the wellbore to the reservoir....
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...Fracking is the short term for hydraulic fracturing which involves drilling high pressure fluids such as chemicals or sand appended in water into the ground at a high pressure to fracture rock formations in order to gain natural gasses, brine and petroleum inside by increasing the flow rate. Fracking was founded in 1947 as an experiment and was commercially applied in 1949. This method is usually used in wells for shale gas, tight gas, coal seam gas and tight oil Within the past decade, the combination of hydraulic fracturing with horizontal drilling has uncovered many shale deposits across the country and brought large-scale natural gas drilling to a variety of areas. The operation of fracking occurs after a well has been drilled and steel...
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...CEOs and publicists of oil and gas corporations declare fracking as a minimal risk procedure; however, many inhabitants residing in fracking sites have voiced various detrimental by-products produced from the fracking process. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, has elicited substantial concerns in health, water availability, water contamination, air pollution, land pollution, and in causing earthquakes. Still, with dated federal regulations, oil and gas companies have meticulously maneuvered fracking procedures by releasing insufficient data to the public; and, appealing to them, and the government, with the possible benefits of generating jobs, economic stimulus, and energy independence. Thus, oil and gas companies blur the harmful impact of fracking with economic incentives....
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...What is Fracking you ask? Fracking is what companies such as BP and others use to retrieve oil and natural gas from very deep underground. These companies dig wells and they push millions of gallons of water and sand that is mixed in with dangerous chemicals. At such a high pressure, this water and the chemicals fracture the rock and allow the oil and natural gas to be accessed by the companies that need it (1). The danger and harm that fracking causes is crazy! The chemicals that seep into the ground and eventually into citizens in the areas wells. There have been multiple cases where people have been able to light their water from the faucet on fire. On a family farm in North Dakota the oil companies put it Flare Heads on their property, and at random times flames burst through the flare head and into the sky (2). Most workers who work at the wells are also at risk. Even when wearing the proper equipment they are still not protected from getting an almost inevitable case of lung disease (2). At a greater risk is the people who live by the fracking sites, even a low exposure to the harsh chemicals in the air and can cause a multitude of...
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...Fracking Fracking is a process used by drilling companies to release gas or recover oil found under the ground below the shale rock. The process involves drilling horizontally into the ground using a high pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals. The goal of the drilling is to release the gas or oil located in pockets under the ground. This process is known as fracking because the drilling process causes the rocks under the ground to fracture. Fracking is the current method used to release gas and oil from under the ground but the process creates many concerns due to its danger to human life and the environment. The use of fracking to release natural gas from the earth has created major concern. Currently the gas and oil industry are on a hunt for natural gas and oil...
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...Fracking is a growing contentious, political issue in the United States, but what is fracking? Hydraulic fracturing, or more commonly know by it’s infamous nickname fracking, is a process used for finding oil and natural gases. While advocates of this technique find it to be beneficial to society; however, many critics believe there are many repercussions because of this issue. Fracking has numerous causes, and if it is not solved, the effects could be drastic. Fracking starts by a well being drilled, vertically and horizontally, into the ground around one to two miles or more in order to obtain natural gases and oil (Lallanilla). Then, the well is drilled and is covered in steel or cement. After being drilled and covered, a water mixture is...
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...What is hydraulic fracturing, or more commonly known as “fracking?” Like many new technologies or those that have improved throughout the years, there will always be those that question its effectiveness. This technology has continued to improve over the years. An account or description of what fracking does is a process in which water, chemicals, and sand are pumped in to a well injection in order to receive the Earth’s natural gasses. Hydraulic fracturing has its negative and its positive, as well as many different perspectives such as social, health, environmental and economic issues. Although arguable, the process of which hydraulic fracturing takes place is an effective one. As mentioned, chemicals which are unknown to the public, mixed...
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...Fracking: What are the Specifics to Fracking Pollution. Nothing leaves a bigger carbon footprint than the act of fracking. But what exactly is fracking? According to BBC news, Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking for short is, “a technique designed to recover gas and oil from shale rock (Shukman).” To summarize, corporation’s drill deep down into the earth, forcefully releasing thousands of gallons of chemical-water mixtures at rocks exposed underground. This unleashes the gases and oils contained within these rocks. These gases and oils are generally used as the gas you put into your cars, or oils to start fires. When thinking about this subject, it is common to think: Why should we participate in the destroying our very own mother earth? -...
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...A new study of hundreds of thousands of hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) operations has found that the process has only caused earth tremors that could be felt on the surface in three cases. Hydraulic fracturing is the method by which sedimentary rock is deliberately cracked to recover oil and gas, including shale gas. The research, led by Durham University and entitled “Induced Seismicity and the Hydraulic Fracturing of Low Permeability Sedimentary Rocks” found that almost all of the resultant seismic activity was on such a small scale that only geoscientists would be able to detect it. Furthermore, it was discovered that the size and number of felt earthquakes caused by fracking is low compared to other manmade triggers such as mining, geothermal activity or reservoir water storage. But...
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...Environmental Ethics Essay The Problems with Fracking I. INTRODUCTION In the Real-Time Strategy Game Glest, players are required to gather resources in order to create their nations and win the game. These resources – stone, gold, and wood are very limited, and when a player consumes all of the resources in an area, he needs to relocate later in the game to survive. Glest represents the real world, as resources required for a high standard of living on Earth are limited. Oil, natural gas, minerals, metal ores, and fossil fuels are all non-renewable resources—like the resources in Glest—and are critical to society. These resources are used to power our cars, to manufacture goods, and to create electricity which is used for many other convenient...
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...Can Earthquakes Be Caused by Fracking? Paragraph 1: According to an article “WHATS THE FRACKING PROBLEM?” Fracking begins once a pre-drilled well that reaches the reservoir is cased with steel and cement (Bierstedt, 2015). Briersedt states that the cement and steel pipe are to protect any water supply around. The article states that after the pipe is finished water mixed with sand and chemicals are flowed through the pipe with pressure. The purpose is to restore fractures that are in the reservoir to ensure best outcomes of pumping the natural gas and oils. The chemicals are said to each have a specific purpose such as; protecting metal pipe, fixing mud damage, reducing mud damage, and stopping micro-organisms (Bierstedt, 2015). So essentially...
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...Research Paper Shannon Tyler RES/351 Date Larry Oslund Research Paper As the American energy crisis grows, we continue to look for domestic solutions. The United States contains large reserves of unconventional natural gas resources in coal beds, shale, and tight sands. Recent technological advances have led to a rapid increase in the development of these resources. The new advances have led to an average annual growth rate of 48% in shale gas alone and is expected to grow until 2035. This new technology has also increased the number of wells from 18,485 to 25,145 between the periods of 2004 to 2007 alone. One of the plausible advances’ is natural gas obtained through hydraulic fracking. A process commonly known as fracking. With the increase in production that fracking brings, it also brings some health hazards and presents danger to the environment. Though this process brings some hazards both health wise and environmentally, it has its benefits. The benefits it brings is a process that extracts clean fossil fuels that gives off less carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide. So even this process harms the environment it inadvertently helps the environment along with its ability to create jobs, influence energy cost and fix a growing energy crisis. Like any new process, both the benefits and the drawbacks need to be addressed. The problem...
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...found with large sores, streaks and lesions. When the scientist are looking at the coral and such under water, they are finding that many of it is still covered in oil. Even large animals such as dolphins are found affected. This article proves my argument for the affects of the deep sea drilling. This article shows my point and can provide evidence to show my audience, the oil companies, just how much the wildlife and animals are being affected. Piette carefully writes this article in hopes of maybe trying to show the oil field companies just what they are doing. That is why this article is going to help me prove my point and hopefully win over some oil field companies. If anything, this article makes me certain of the direction of the paper and what side I am on. I plan to pin point exact evidence such as lesions on fish and lung problems in dolphins. I plan to bring out the hard evidence and proof of just what is happening to these animals. Dragna, Lee. Interview Allie Dragna. 15 12 2012. In the interview with Lee Dragna, he shared personal experience about the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. His 9-year-old son saw the devastation on TV and wanted his father to fix it because he simply could “fix anything”. Dragna got to looking into it and realized maybe he could just fix this. Dragna builds and salvages barges for a living and realized he could put something together that would pick up oil, the Big Gulp. The Big Gulp is about the size of a football field. It picked up...
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...The demand of increasing energy resources has tormented the United States in the past few decades. The availability of these resources has become questionable for the future not knowing what can be done for the sustainability of the United States. The United States would like to develop a method to obtain renewable and environment-friendly energy sources for the future. In this paper, I will be elaborating on the process of increasing oil and gas production with the method of “fracking”. What is fracking? This is a question I asked myself when doing this research paper. The solution of hydraulic fracturing also knowing as “fracking” is a quite interesting method that was discovered many years ago but has it’s pro and cons. Fracking is defined...
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