Hydraulic Fracturing -- A Risk-benefit Analysis

Fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing) 

Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking as you might hear it called on the news, is a process in which fresh water is mixed into a proprietary mix of chemicals then injected into a natural gas or petroleum well in order to stimulate the well to fracture around the preexisting well and release more of the possible contents surrounding the setup.

Fracking Benefits

There are some substantial benefits surrounding the use of Hydraulic Fracturing. These benefits mainly have to do with the interplay between supply and demand. The more fracking that happens in the U.S. the more natural gas and petroleum we have to sell around the world and the better off we are, financially, as a nation as well as the possibility of reduced energy costs around the globe.

"The boost that this would give to gas supply would bring a number of benefits in the form of greater energy diversity and more secure supply in those countries that rely on imports to meet their gas needs, as well as global benefits in the form of reduced energy costs."

- World Energy Outlook

Fracking Downsides

However, there are some truly scary downsides to Fracking. 

Proprietary mixes of the chemicals injected into the wells contain known and unknown levels of chemicals, hundreds of which are known carcinogens. Unfortunately, since these companies have not produced patents on their "slurry", as it's called, they can not be forced to disclose these chemicals to the public with respect to their need to keep the chemicals undisclosed to their competition.

Another issue with fracking plays into the first issue quite well, because unfortunately the chemicals involved with fracking can, and have been known to, penetrate into ground water aquifers and contaminate the entire drinking supply of cities. There have been reports of people in contaminated water areas having severe health problems including: adrenal and pituitary tumors, headaches, nausea, joint pain and respiratory problems. As well as the movie 'Gasland' where water, straight from the tap, has been made made flammable enough to catch on fire.

There is also the issue of the release of the very gasses that are trying to be collected can majorly pollute the atmosphere of their own accord and also cause health problems.

My Fracking Conclusion

I do not believe that fracking, at the level we are producing today, is worth the continued risk. My research has shown me that there is considerable risk involved and that the EPA is only now starting an investigation into whether or not these health claims are valid even while new fracking sites are going up.

There is also the economic issue that we're faced with -- we produce much, much more natural gas now and the price bottoms out but what happens when the wells dry up? Prices would then sky rocket back to, or past, the initial price and when we could have been drilling it sparingly we decided it would be much better to go every man for himself and make a quick buck.

All in all, there needs to have been more research done in the subject before the complains of cancer started to occur and the cocktail that makes up the slurry needs to be disclosed to that people can really know what they're signing up for when they allow fracking to occur around their town.

Photo Source: Wikipedia