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Natural Gas Paper

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Natural Gas
Natural gas is a flammable gas that consists of methane and other hydrocarbons. This gas is found underground and is also used as fuel. Natural gas is produced when trapped gas is released above ground. That release creates unusual spouts of heat and fire. Scientists realized that under the ground lay an energy producing gas waiting to be extracted. Today when a company is looking for natural gas, they seek out a particular type of rock formation above ground. Tests are run that can measure sound waves and gravitational pulls in a particular area. If the tests appear promising, the drilling begins.
Drilling only returns natural gas half of the time. In order to tap into the underground reserve, the drilling team must dig about 6000 feet into the ground. Once the gas is extracted from the ground it is sent to power plants and processing plants. It is then cleaned, separated and converted into fuel that is usable for homes and businesses. There are times that the gas is compressed, then transported to various rural areas where pipeline aren’t available. It is then placed in small metal tanks. The USA produces about a quarter of the earth’s natural gas. The five best sources for fossil fuel are Louisiana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Natural gas can be found in several other places within the Northern Hemisphere. Qatar is the world’s largest natural gas field. The Persian Gulf is the second largest.
Natural gas impacts the quality of water greatly. One type of drilling called hydraulic fracturing has been cited in many spills of processing chemicals into ground and other water sources of local communities. This type of drilling is also exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act. The same extraction process aids in contaminating soil as well.
Natural gas is the cleanest of all other fossil fuels. It is composed primarily of methane. The main

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