Good Essay On Effects Of Fracking (Natural Gas Drilling) On Our Environment

Fracking involves the process of drilling and injecting water laced with chemicals to obtain natural gases (usually methane, flammable gas used for generating energy) from gas bearing rocks. Fracking technique injects highly pressurised water mixed with sand and lethal chemicals to the wellbores, by fracturing the shale rocks underground. Fracking is also known as hydraulic fracturing as it involves huge amounts of water to fracture the shale rocks beneath the surface of earth. These shale rocks are basically the deposits of fossil fuels.
The process of Fracking has raised questions on the environmental front. The environmentalist all over the world has showed concerns for the degradation of environment due to Fracking or hydraulic fracturing. And have approached authorities for banning the technology to save the environment. They have enlisted certain factors which affect the natural phenomenon of our Environment and these are:-
Process of Fracking normally huge amount of water e.g. each gas well requires thousands of gallons of water to infuse into the earth’s surface and this is done at the environmental cost (1).
Almost 600 toxic chemicals, like Lead, Uranium, Mercury, Radium, Hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde etc. need to be added with water while injecting into the earth (10,000 ft.) are carcinogenic (cancer causing) and contaminates the water table of earth. This poisonous water is discharged in some location which further escalates the health issues of respiratory, sensory and neurological disorders.
Silica sand which is used in Fracking emanates dust like particles which can’t be seen with naked eyes and eventually enters into respiratory system of human beings.

Methane is an odourless gas and it can prove disastrous if it gets leaked from pipelines containing natural gases.

There have been reports that Fracking sometimes cause tremors on earth’s surface.
The technology of Fracking diverts the attention of Government from using renewable resources instead of utilising perishable fossil fuels.
As per recent studies the burning of hydro carbons like shale gas, recovered from Fracking, enhances CO2 and methane in the atmosphere and hence causes the hazardous Global warming (2).
The changes in the climate leads to catastrophic consequences like heat waves and melting of ice bergs and eventually flooding all across the continent which happened lately in many countries; India, China Australia and United States. And it has a link with burning natural gases which are fossil fuels with carbon trapped in, which radiates greenhouse gases.
When the technique of Fracking was introduced in 1950, it created boom in the industrial sector by providing natural gases in abundance but with the surge of usage Fracking became the concern for environmentalists for above mentioned reasons. There have been reported protests going in U.S for banning the Fracking as there 5, 00,000 gas wells in United States alone.
The technology of Fracking has no matter been able to produce efficient energy but at the cost of environmental degradation along with multitude of safety and health hazards.

References

Shukman, David. What is Fracking and Why is it contravercial? Bbc.com. 27 June 2013.
Retrieved on 02 April 2015. Retrieved from: www.bbc.com/news/uk-14432401.
Herme A. David. Shale gas fracking ‘will have disastrous consequences.’ Securing the Future.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved on 02 April 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.securingthefuture.co.uk/energy-news/17975-shale-gas-fracking-will-have-disastrous-consequences.