Pros And Cons Of Fracking

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Fracking: Pro and Con Hydraulic fracturing, often referred to as “fracking,” is method of extracting natural gas from shale deposits several thousand feet underground. Although it’s led to a natural gas boom in the U.S. that’s resulted in cheap energy, fracking has been the cause of much controversy. Proponents of fracking like Bruce McKenzie Everett, an international business professor, cite how much Americans have benefitted from the explosive growth of the fracking industry. It’s dropped energy costs, added jobs to the economy, and has reduced some of the U.S.’s dependency on foreign oil. Opponents of continued fracking like John Rumpler, senior attorney at Environment America, believe fracking is too risky an endeavor. Rumpler says water contamination, air pollution, hazardous health implications and significant global warming emissions are some of the patent threats to environmental and human well-being caused by fracking (Bambrick). …show more content…
Although, as Everett points out, fracking has dropped natural gas prices from $10-11 per thousand cubic feet to $3.77 in the span of a decade, this drop in pricing doesn’t account for externalities. Rumpler details some of these externalities in his fall Cost of Fracking report which include property damage, health-care costs, and ruined public infrastructure; he also shares the $5 billion bill that Pennsylvania was left with for pollution cleanup needed for abandoned mines in the state (Bambrick). These externalities absolutely increase the true cost of fracked natural gas and, if accounted for through some taxing mechanism, can make clean-energy alternatives more