Fracking

Reilly Pelow

Position Paper

10/24/16

How can something that has a bigger carbon footprint than coal and has been known to cause earthquakes be the answer to our energy needs? “If the well is in the right place next to a fault and the fault is oriented the right way, a little change in stress could cause (an earthquake) to occur,” (George Choy, 1, October 26). The negative aspects of fracking outweigh the positives by large. Living in constant fear of man-made earthquakes because we are pumping unsafe chemicals into the earth is not worth the energy. Not only does fracking cause natural disasters; it results in extreme water contamination. “ For the first time, Pennsylvania has made public 243 cases of contamination of private drinking wells from oil and gas drilling operations.” (Katie Valentine, 2, Aug. 29, 2014). There are also other negatives such as droughts and climate change. As you can see, there are a ton of risky negatives, the real question is fracking worth it?

Earthquakes have been proven to be caused by fracking. One prime example of this is Oklahoma. “So far this year, Oklahoma has had more than twice the number of earthquakes as California, making it the most seismically active state in the continental U.S. As recently as 2003, Oklahoma was ranked 17th for earthquakes. That shift has given rise to concern among communities and environmentalists that injecting vast amounts of wastewater back into the ground is contributing to the rise in Oklahoma’s quakes. The state pumps about 350,000 barrels of oil a day, making it the fifth largest producer in the U.S.”(Zain Shauk,1, July 7,2014). This rapid increase in earthquakes is putting the people of the United States at risk every single day we drill these holes and pump chemicals into our home (earth). Oklahoma had only three earthquakes per year that registered at 3.0 or more on the Richter scale. In 2013, Oklahoma had 109 earthquakes. That number has increased to 238 as of June 2014. One quake caused by drilling destroyed 14 homes in Oklahoma City, injured two people and buckled pavement. The argument the people try to fight this with is that some scientists say that the earthquakes are usually smaller, and often times the smaller earthquakes release pressure and decrease the chances of a bigger earthquake to happen. Even though that might be true, it still increases the amount of earthquakes that happen. Which also increasing the chances of the people of getting hurt and losing homes. Earthquakes are the earth reacting to the thousands of chemicals we are pumping in it. These chemicals that we are pumping into the earth at extremely high pressures are not only causing natural disasters but it is contaminating our limited water supply.

Extreme water contamination is another