Fracking: America's Best Friend

Hydraulic fracturing newly enhances an outdated way to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations deep within the earth thanks to technological advances that allow horizontal drilling. The process uses a highly scrutinized mixture containing water, sand and chemicals that become pressurized and forced through the horizontal well in order to release the pent up resources within the shale. The controversy regarding fracking is whether risking environmental damage outweighs the

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economic reward. This fuss creates a heavyweight political battle with the liberal agenda supporting anti-fracking groups and the more conservative followers lending their support to the refined industry. The article Uncertain Dash for Gas in the weekly journal Nature gives facts and predictions over the vastly expanding fracking industry that raises questions about the morals behind fracking. Many questions over the chemical processes and refinement regarding the used water have arisen that need truthful answers but we need to realize all the ways it has helped our economy such as providing more than 2 million jobs and stimulating the economy, gaining us independence from Middle Eastern oil and providing us with an environmentally safer and less carbon producing energy that is all around more efficient than the alternatives.

Astonishing facts linking fracking to the sudden rise in America’s energy industry have arose in the last decade. Recently, the U.S’s ever increasing energy industry has become a major factor in the overall U.S. economy. These numbers have a direct link to every person’s life countrywide as gas prices are the common factor. Thanks to the new boom we hit, gas prices fell to below $2.00 for the first time since 2009 (and the price that year can mostly be attributed to the fact that it was right after and election so it soon soared back well over $2.00). Not only have American’s wallets saved a little extra cash but fracking affects many individuals on a more personal level; helping them turn their life around. One man, Ryan Renzi, changed his whole outlook on life with fracking. He graduated college intending on a finance career but soon realized he could not support his ambitious lifestyle. He now makes plenty of money being a manager for a fracking company by overseeing the well sights surrounding Pittsburgh. This one man’s encouraging story of the benefits of our new found energy business and it is affecting many more across the nation. Our current oil and natural gas industry shows signs peaking to an all time high in employment records with reports showing as many as 2.1 million individuals currently employed according to the article Shale Economy. The article also predicts that by 2020 more than 3.3 million jobs will be directly linked to the U.S’s ever expanding energy programs. Hydraulic fracturing influences America as seen across the nation through personal stories going from failure to success or just the countless facts showing how many people have benefited from our new found energy resources.

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For years since the Middle East and Russia uncovered their bountiful energy resources to the world, the United States imports more than a million gallons of crude oil and natural gas by the day. Thanks to fracking, America has slowly become more self sustaining. Hydraulic fracturing increases daily oil production by 3.3 million barrels while net imports of oil from the likes of Saudi Arabia decreased a massive 44%. Some experts such as Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, says that this landmark achievement for the U.S. more heavily impacts us in the last 50 years than the nuclear energy revolution. Fracking creates a cleaner shift in energy that convinces

experts such as historian and author Andrew Bacevich who was quoted in the same article above saying “What the new energy regime could do would be to make it clear that the United States does have choices and one of those choices will be to lower our profile in the Middle East more broadly and in the Persian Gulf specifically.” This, more than anything, proves a point that we can be independent, in our woeful energy crisis. Hydro-fracking gives us the ability to begin to think about other nations that are in need of such oil. President Obama says he wants to use the oil that we no longer require and put it towards other developing nations. Outcomes such as these provide the facts that environmentalists fail to recognize which makes me ask if they actually fight for the people or just for their personal benefits. Giving us freedom from the clutches of oil giants lets us expand our horizon on new energy sources, such as natural gas, that will more efficiently provide American’s with reliable energy for years to come.

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Environmentalists and liberals criticize fracking hand in hand with their statements that it damages the lives of families through polluted air and water. To disregard the polluted air argument that the liberal media use, the United States has reduced carbon emissions by 5.2 billion metric tons, a level not seen since 1992. In addition, I would like to ask the adversaries to fracking what their solution to our energy demands would be? Solar and wind power are far less efficient along with a high start up cost and hydro-power proves to be geographically limited for obvious reasons. Will they then try to support nuclear power? Sure that solves the problem for commercial and residential infrastructure but does not begin touching the transportation industry. Left wing opponents of fracking argue that large scale companies and their rigs use too much water without a proper refining process. According to a Time Magazine article, we will most likely save water by switching from a coal powered plants to natural gas plants because it takes more water to run a coal fired plant than one with the heat of natural gas. In the state of Texas, hydro-fracking accounts for only 1% of the total water use by the state while it covers more than 10% of their total economy. The polluted water argument proves to be false according to an article written by Daniel Simmons. He explains that on multiple occasions, government and environmental agencies alike perform studies regarding the contamination of the water table. These studies prove that no substantial evidence links fracking to the tarnishing of ground water. With that being said, methane leakage is a severe risk for fracking as it traps up to 20 times more infrared radiation than carbon dioxide. The University of Texas performed a study about the methane leakage in fracking rigs and the numbers show that far less methane is being released than previously predicted by the EPA. This not only means that we are doing less harm for the environment, but we also have proven that the current regulations are helping curve environmental risks. The Environment Defense Fund currently supports 16 separate operations committed to lowering these numbers as much as possible. The facts show that on multiple accounts the environmental risks referenced with fracking are a lot less worrying than what its made out to be and that the risks related with it aren't just being left untouched.

Hydraulic fracturing is the present and future of our nation’s energy and economy and the center of attention in today's press. Environmentalists use petty arguments and outdated research to support their claims that have no precedence over the economic and foreign benefits obtained. The media also misinforms us over the effects on the environment of fracking as it indeed helps us with reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Fortunately, an all time low of carbon output emerged for the first time since the early nineties. This being said, America needs to focus on the extraction of natural gas and oil by way of fracking because it demonstrates on countless occasions how beneficial it is for our great nation.



"Shale Economy." Bulk Transporter 76.4 (2013): 32. Business Source Complete. Web. 2 Feb.

2015."Nature." Editorial. Nature.com. Nature Publishing Group, 03 Dec. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.