Fracking Research Paper

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Costs
Some costs associated with fracking include the large amount of water required to crack a single well and the toxic chemicals that have to be pumped into the rock formations to crack the surface. Fracking also produces greenhouse gases which affects the environment negatively. There has been reported tectonic impact of the disposal wells that lead to minor earthquakes in the nearby settlements. This is disastrous as it may lead to loss of lives and destruction of buildings. Water contamination cannot be avoided because of fracking.
Benefits
Since the advent of fracking, gas prices have lowered comparatively because of the competitive nature of the natural gas. One of the benefits associated with natural gas is that it produces less carbon …show more content…
Some of the issues that affect the environment include the water usage, chemical usage, pollution, effect on the air among other effects.
According to a 2010 survey that was carried out by the US Environmental Protection Agency, it was estimated that between 70 and 140 billion gallons of water were used to fracture 35000 wells every year. This is equivalent to the annual water consumption of 40 – 80 cities whose population is 50,000. The extraction of such amount of water has ecological impact in that it affects the aquatic life as well as the aspect of dewatering the water aquifers. At the same time, the water transportation modes (trucks) affects the habitat by creating a localized air quality and road maintenance issues (Spellman, 2013). It should be noted that these gas and oil wells use large quantities of sand and proppants that leads top excess water consumption and air pollution. Health problems may also arise that relates to crystalline …show more content…
The more the water used, the more the toxic gas implying that the toxic fluid are a health hazard to human, animals and plants. Some of these chemicals cause incurable diseases including cancer (Spellman, 2013). These chemicals pollute the water underground, thus affecting the aquatic life as well as the air and drinking water. Any human being that get exposed to the fracking chemicals are likely to have health effects including skin, eye and sensory issues, respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, cardiovascular problems, kidney issues among many other health concerns (Howarth, Ingraffea& Engelder,
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