Bahri 1
Davina Bahri
English 1520
Arena, Celestine
10 September 2014
Paper A: The Debate over Fracking
How would you feel if you were able to set water on fire? Some states such as, New York and
Pennsylvania are figuratively able to set their faucet water on fire. This is called hydraulic
fracking, also known as “fracking”. According to Tamara Thompson, “hydrofracking, or simply,
fracking, the process involves drilling a deep hole in dense shale rock and then blasting a mixture
of water, sand, and chemicals down inside the hole to fracture the surrounding rock and release
natural gas into the water so it can be captured” (7). In another words, fracking injects a mixture
of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into dense rock formations- shale, tight,
sandstone or coal beds- to crack the rock and release natural gas. Fracking has been around for
decades, but the techniques, technologies and chemicals used to reach new, remote gas reserves
are more intensive and riskier than conventional gas drilling, rendering to Food and Water Watch
(22-23). Tamara Thompson is the book editor of the book called, At Issue: Fracking. There are
three major points of concern over the practice of fracking, including water contamination, air
pollution, and seismic activity.
The fracking industry uses approximately millions of gallons of water for every
fracturing job. Precisely about 1-8 million gallons are used. In my opinion, this is an extreme
waste of drinking water. It’s contaminated all of the water with toxic chemicals and gases making
it unsafe to drink. Another problem is the amount of chemicals it takes to complete a facturating
job. For example, it takes 40,000 gallons of a mixture of 600 different chemicals to mix with the
water to make the fracking fluid (Dangerous of Fracking). In a report from 2011, “Contaminates
Drinking Water” the EPA issued a report that for the first time scientifically linked fracking with
underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminates found in
Goal #1
Bahri 2
central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process (28). Regards to “Fracking
Contaminates Drinking Water” Abrahm Lustgarten and Nick Kusnetz describe that reporters
released on 2011 as well, said that pollution from 33 abandoned oil and gas waste pits- which are
the subject of a separate cleanup program- are indeed responsible for some degree of shallow
groundwater pollution in the area. Those pits may be the source of contamination affecting at
least 42 private water well in the Pavilion. But the pits could not be blamed for contamination
detected in the water monitoring wells 1,000 feet underground (30-31).
Critics of fracking note that the industry does not practice responsible water
management. “Hydraulic Fracturing Should Be Banned” Food and Water Watch report that over
the past 18 months (January 2011-June 2012), at least 10 studies by scientists, Congress,
investigative journalists, and public interest groups have documented environmental problems
Goal #2
