...View this multiplication of laws and requirements differences from one state to another, The EPA recently proposed rules that would apply to fracking operations, in hopes of achieving a 95% reduction in VOC emissions from fracked gas wells. These regulations neither require individual permits nor impose a technology-based emissions standard. Instead, they impose operational performance standards—specified procedures designed to minimize emissions, including standards governing well completion"' following fracking operations. For example, the rules require "green" well completion, a series of measures that separate salable natural gas from liquids and provide combustion of gas that would otherwise be vented. The rules also specify leak control...
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...What is more important, the cost of oil and gas, or the health of the human race? Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing, more commonly known as “fracking” remains a relatively uncommon drilling technology. There was only one in fourteen wells drilled in the United States and Canada horizontally in 2002 (Gold). In 2012, six of every ten wells were horizontal. It is a process in which sand, water, and chemicals are used to blast open shale rock to release the gases that are trapped inside. After the vertical depth of the well is achieved, the drilling continues horizontally. Unfortunately, fracking is proven to cause environmental and health problems in humans and animals. It is also a risk to nearby plant life. The risks of fracking do not out way...
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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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...Perceptions of Science As Influenced By the Media Task 1 Public concerns about science in the media * Climate Change * Stem Cells * Gmos * Recreation of The Big Bang * End of the World * Pesticides Task 2 Concerns of Climate change raised in the media and justification * Global temperatures would continue to rise for decades. IPCC states, "the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time” – concerns are raised as the extent of climate change effects on individual regions will vary over time and with the ability of different environmental systems to adapt to change. * Due to climate change getter worse, a global concern has been raised as this would affect sea levels rising and consists of longer and intense heat waves. “This increase in heat waves creates serious health risks, and can lead to heat exhaustion, deadly heat stroke, and aggravate existing medical conditions” – scientists around the world have come together and discussed possibilities to the raised concerns of climate change that affects the environment and human beings. “Global warming is now accelerating the rate of sea level rise, increasing coastal flooding risks to low-lying communities and high-risk coastal properties” – scientists have revealed since 1880 sea levels have risen 8 inches and is expected to rise more over upcoming years due to climate change. * Over the next century...
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...Is Natural Gas Worth It? Fracking, what is it? Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is the fracturing the shale rock to release the natural gas inside by drilling or injecting fluid into the ground at high pressure. According to thedangersoffracking.com each job uses from 1 to 8 million gallons of water mixed with chemicals to make fracking fluid. The fracking fluid contains up to six hundred chemicals including numerous carcinogens and toxins. In this essay I will be explaining why fracking should be stopped. First, the air quality around the fracking sites has become dangerous. The emissions are leaking from wells; the most notable offender being methane which is a greenhouse gas commonly is linked to being a component of global warming. The air has contained chemicals like benzene, sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. These chemicals have been known to cause lung related issues as well as several types of cancer. In high enough doses these chemicals could cause death, in humans and livestock alike. Volatile organic compounds are released into the atmosphere from the waste fluid produced during fracking. These waste fluids are unsafely left in open air pits to evaporate creating acid rain, ground level ozone and contaminated air. All of these unnatural occurrences are devastating to surrounding communities, and ecological systems. The once pristine fields in Wyoming now have an ozone count higher than LA on its worse days (Jackson 3). The amount of children with asthma has risen...
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...Demand for fossil fuels in America has led to a flurry of unorthodox methods for the extraction of natural gas. Fracking or hydrofracking in the U.S.A has proven to be an efficient way of extracting natural gas from permeable rock. A new large scale hydrofracking operation has been proposed in the eastern states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. This method of extraction is highly controversial, and is thought to have severe environmental and potential health consequences. This essay will provide further insight into the practice of Fracking in an area of shale known as Marcellus shale, and help to expose the environmental and human implications. What is Hydrofracking? Hydraulic Fracturing is an un-conventional process used in the extraction of gas in permeable rock (David 1973). A horizontal well is drilled into permeable rock such as shale and is injected with millions of gallons a high pressure fluid known as frac-fluid, this fluid is a mixture of sand, water, and an array of lubricating chemicals (Deutch 2011). The high pressure frac-fluid forces open fishers (cracks) within the rock which are kept open with sand granules; this allows pockets of gas to flow more easily from the shale (David 1973). Once the well is depleted all fluid that can be recycled is extracted, and the well is capped to stop any unused gas escaping (David 1973). The process of fracking is expensive and requires a lot of resources including millions of gallons of water that is sourced from local reservoirs...
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...Fracking and its major implications it has on the earth In today’s day and age, societies are a lot more aware of the environment and furthermore, concerned for the Earths sustainability. Although this is the case for most, Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) often target developing countries that are rich in resources and therefore take them for all they’ve got. One such example is fracking the earth, in order to extract natural gases that could potentially benefit corporations and contribute to their bottom line dramatically. Although this has it’s positives, the implications of fracking could have incredibly serious repercussions, particularly the preservation of the earth and it’s current resources. “Fracking” is the process in which one would drill thousands of meters below the earth’s surface and inject fluid that is then pumped into the shale at an incredibly high pressure, which then shatters the rocks in order to release shale gas. This particular natural gas is trapped within sedimentary shale rock formations and is found richly in many areas of the world. Fracking breaks most of the regulations in the sustainable environments handbook, and as you can imagine, this causes a massive up brawl in the societies that are pro-environment and sustainability. Although this point of view is prominent and relevant, the opposing side has an equally compelling argument. Global thoughts on the idea of fracking Globally, the topic is thought to be both “one of the best...
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...Fracking is something heard about regularly on the news, is a topic of discussion many may not completely understand. “Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside,” (BBC, 2015). The way fracking works is: water, sand, and chemicals are injected into the rock (many times, shale) at high pressure which allows the gas to flow to the top of the well. Fracking can be carried out vertically or, by drilling horizontally into the rock layer which can create new pathways to release gas or can be used to extend existing channels. (BBC, 2015). Hydraulic fracking is unique compared to more common means of drilling due to it being based on finding a large...
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...Fracking is defined as "the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc., so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas". This means that fracking is one of the methods used to gain access to the fossil fuels that help run our everyday lives. If you think about what you actually do on a daily basis practically everyone makes use of these fossil fuels routinely. Think about how it, many people drive to school or work, catch the bus, travel by train or airplane? Practically everyone across the globe definitely uses electricity to light and maintain and cool in their homes. In air traffic alone, today there are 5,000 airplanes flying through the sky at any given time and throughout the whole of 2016 alone there were 26,527 flights per day on average across the world! Now add all of the personal vehicles across the world and other means of transportation that all run on fossil fuel. Over the...
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...Dangers of Fracking Hydraulic Fracturing, also known as fracking, is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface. Extracting gas from shale increases the availability of this resource, but the health and environmental risks are, in my opinion, too high. Before I get rolling on the impacts of fracking, let me first present you with a little history behind it. Hydraulic fracturing of wells was first introduced in 1947 by Stanolind Oil. 1,000 gallons of naphthenic-acid and-palm-oil-thickened gasoline was injected, followed by a gel breaker, to stimulate a gas producing limestone form at 2,400 ft. Although there wasn’t a tremendous increase in production, this was a start. In 1974, Congress passed the safe drinking water act to protect underground sources of drinking water and the Environmental Protection Agency required Underground Injection Control permits under the SDWA for any injection of a fluid. The Environmental Protection Agency also banned the injection of most hazardous materials and mandated regulation for all injected materials. However, hydraulic fracturing was unhindered by these new regulations because, the same year, the Environmental Protection Agency...
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...air outside is no longer breathable? This is a frightening prospect which has led to one solution, the process of hydraulic fracturing should be banned to avoid many significant environmental risks. Research has shown hydraulic fracturing has been the cause of numerous environmentally damaging incidents, the most significantly documented is the ground water contamination specifically the detrimental chemicals. “Drinking water sources have been contaminated with explosive methane, as well as other dangerous substances, such as benzene and arsenic, that can cause cancer and other serious illnesses.” (Thompson 2013). The fact that these chemicals are leeching into the public’s drinking water and private wells shows the severity of the impact that fracking is having on the environment. "We don't know if they're connecting to another natural seam in the formation that lets gas or possibly toxic fluids migrate into water supplies," he said. "We do know from a study by Duke University in Marcellus Shale that 68 water wells in New York and 51 in Pennsylvania have been contaminated with hazardous levels of methane, where the risk of explosion in the water supply is very real." (McClatchy 2012). This proves we have documentation of the contamination to ground water wells and this has caused grounds to begin discussions to ban this type of drilling. Another alarming environmental ramification is the increase in seismic activity around drilling sites and the increase in the amount of wells...
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...usage on motor vehicles has been reduced and the usage of train has been increased, therefore, BP will be facing threat on low demand on oil. 1.4 Technological Factors A new technology called fracking has been introduced in extracting gas by breaking underground rock. By using this new technology, it will increase the supply of gas and double the amount. However, the threat with this new technology is the price of gas may reduce, due to more supply. BP can take this opportunity to invest this new technology in order to compete with the other industries but the down side is, they need to employ new high skilled workers to use this new technology. Besides that, BP can invest to a greener technology such as of biofuels and wind power. 1.5 Ecological Factors In the United Kingdom (UK) the number of usage of motor vehicles have been drop and more usage on train. This shows that UK may imposed a high tax on carbon dioxide emission usage in order to stabilize the climate. As for the fracking technology, the set back of this technology is, it will cause disaster to the nature as it can pollute local water and may erupt small earthquake. In the process of fracking, it develops an atmosphere of major global warming. The opportunity for BP would be, their competitor will be unable to use fracking technology as nations may imposed new environmental law in order to protect the nature and climate change. BP may take the chance to develop on greener technology and may has an opportunity to...
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...Assignment 2: Global Warming: Cause and Mitigation Introduction to Physical Science xxxxxxxxxxxx December 6, 2015 Strayer University Professor xxxx xxxx One of the most all time debated and controversial topics to date in science is global warming. Over the last few decades climate change have lead scientist to develop a theories that human beings are the major contributors to the global warming crisis. Many theories suggest that different types of issues contribute to the warming of the planet but the mitigation strategies to slow this process down vary as well. When speaking of this topic there are two basic types of climate change, natural and anthropogenic. Main contributor in the climate change or global warming can be referred to as greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are derived from water vapor, Methane, Chlorofluorocarbons, and Carbon dioxide. Anthropogenic theory state that the development and consumption of fossil fuels for human life has generated and released a large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. According to this theory the excess carbon dioxide is the main cause of climate change around the world. This process prevents heat from earth to escape naturally into space and hence cool the earth. The theory known as the natural theory states that the earth is going through one of the many peaks and valleys of changes. This of course being a peak of...
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...the national news at least twice a week about contamination or droughts to some extent. Climate patterns that are related to a warming world are threatening lakes, rivers, and aquifers which we use for drinking water are being overdrawn, run dry, or tainted with pollution. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure we protect this vital lifesaving resource and decrease the amount of water waste. The warning signs are out there of threatening water supplies. “Bottle water cost more than gas or milk?” (n.d., 2016). Undrinkable water is not just a local or national problem that possess the largest health risk, and continues to threaten everyone’s quality of life and public health risk in the United States. The more areas that are developed and the removal of the landscape keeps the natural process of percolation which keeps our water somewhat clean. The more areas that are urbanized the more water becomes tainted. When there is water runoff from the weather it picks up toxic chemicals, dirt, and disease-borne organisms as it makes its way through the percolation process along the way. Even though the Clean Water Act is supposed to protect our water, it still get polluted with some accountability. Many of our water assets lacks suitable protections, making them vulnerable to contamination from farms, industrial plants, and drilling for oil like fracking. 2. The Issue A billion people around the world don't have access to Drinkable or potable water. Industrialized countries have...
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...the outside. Im the same manner as the current administration proposes to fight for human rights, I will reshape the current policy to focus on the homeland and not abroad. America is committed to agenda that eradicates poverty, homelessness by 2020. We will do our part to help people feed themselves, enrich their lives, and care for the sick. “If we, together, can work and support our fellow Americans, we can make sure that all of our children enjoy lives of opportunity and dignity.” (Obama 2014) Thirdly, Conservation of the Environment; if we continue to trash the planet then we will surely leave it no better than we found it for future generations to enjoy. This topic can cover many aspects of a foreign policy from oil shaking (Fracking), oil rigs/terminals in the ocean pumping oil out from the earth, and...
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