Fracking 

Fracking involves drilling deep into large swaths of dense rock where oil and gas are trapped. To crack the rocks and allow the oil or gas to flow out, energy companies inject millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, at high pressure 

Fewer than 2,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in the past couple of years in South Texas. The industry expects that number to climb to as many as 25,000 over the next couple of decades.

 

fracking diagram

Fresh water or Fuel????

methane contaminated water

  Imagine you go away on vacation and come home to oil wells all over your property! They contaminate your well water and any creeks or ponds near by. Is this real? can it be allowed? In Tennessee it is actually legal that this could happen if enough neighbors around you agree to it.how would you like random spots stagnant black and gray chemical ponds

listen in here.............http://npr.vo.llnwd.net/kip0/kip0/_pxn=0+_pxK=17273+_pxE=mp3/anon.npr-mp3/npr/me/2012/05/20120514_me_17.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1007&dl=1

Positives

• Mr. Brownlow, who has a Ph.D. in geochemistry, says it takes 407 million gallons to irrigate 640 acres and grow about $200,000 worth of corn on the arid land. The same amount of water, he says, could be used to frack enough wells to generate $2.5 billion worth of oil.
• Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has revived prospects for oil-and-gas production in the U.S. and provided a welcome jolt to many local economies. Less than three years after its discovery, the Eagle Ford oil field here already accounts for 6% of South Texas's economic output and supports 12,000 full-time jobs
• 2020, shale oil fields could allow us to cut our imports of foreign oil by 60%
• With this method, new fields are being opened, such as the Leonard formation (which straddles New Mexico and Texas), and the Niobrara formation (which underlies Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas).

Negatives 

• The ecologist Sandra Steingraber, for example, notes that in the year 2012, 100 billion gallons of water will be diverted from aquifers and fresh water sources and converted through fracking into toxic wastes that cannot be safely returned to the natural water cycle
• The sheer volume of wastewater creates numerous pollution hazards, and no long-term plan has been put in place to deal with the continuing problem of millions of gallons of poisonous flow-back water from fracked wells.
• Explosions have taken place in some water wells and basement plumbing due to methane infiltration.
• such as air pollution from the fumes and vapors caused by gas drilling. These pollutants react with sunlight to form ground-level ozone; one rural county in Wyoming, sparsely populated but dense with gas wells, reported ozone levels higher than those in smog-ridden cities such as Los Angeles.
• Ohio’s state Department of Natural Resources verified in March 2012 that fracking fluids disposed into a deep injection well were responsible for a series of earthquakes, the first ever recorded with epicenters near Youngstown.
• Rural residents complain that fracking converts pastoral landscapes into industrial zones, with constant noise from compressor stations and other machinery along with frequent drilling. A wider problem is heavy truck traffic. A single hydraulic fracturing event may require hundreds of tanker truck trips to transport fresh water to the site and waste water away, degrading back roads and straining rural infrastructure.

other sites information was found at:

Jason, Gary. "Domestic Oil Resources Will Reduce Foreign Dependence." Foreign Oil Dependence. Ed. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "Green Dreams, Green Nightmares." 2011. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.

"Fracking." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Gale, Cengage Learning, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 15 Oct. 2012

      Gold, Russell. "Oil's Growing Thirst for Water." Wall Street Journal. 06 Dec 2011: A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Oct 2012.