What the "Frack"?

Few topics in modern chemistry and environmental science have been as polemical as fracking. Ask anyone well versed in drilling, environmental activism, or alternative energy, and you are sure to hear his or her passionate (read: loud) opinion. The rest of us, who are perhaps less literate in these topics, have certainly heard the buzzword before, and are familiar with the heated debate it prompts.

Whether you know what fracking is or not, you definitely know that people either love it or hate it. However, before newcomers can fully form their opinion, they often get lost in the chemical jargon.

So, what the “frack” is fracking anyway?

“Fracking” refers to hydraulic fracturing, a process of removing natural gas and oil from the ground. Fracking is often proposed as an alternative to traditional extraction methods, such as oilrigs. The process is as follows:

First, “fracturing fluids”, made of water and sand, are pushed into the ground at high pressures. The force fissures the ground, and frees the natural resources from the rocks below. This process takes place deep in the earth’s crust, no less than 7,000 feet below.

Once free, the resources travel horizontally, meet a deep vertical well, and move upwards to the surface casing, a large steel pipe. The surface casing preserves the groundwater from natural gas related contamination, and move the resources towards the purification center. At the purification center they are processed and prepared for distribution and consumption.

 Sounds great, right?

Well, not everyone thinks so. Much of the scrutiny of fracking, particularly from an environmental lens, points towards the possibility of contamination and the potentially dangerous repercussions on surrounding land.

For example, fracking plants have a tendency to increase downstream pollution, sometimes up to 200 times more radioactivity due to fracking by-products. Looking beyond surface water, contamination due to “fracturing liquids” exposure is a serious issue as well. The chemicals that make up “0.5-2.0 percent” of the solution used to fissure the ground can be very dangerous. If this mixture is not pressurized out of the ground properly, it can lead to serious ground water contamination and may alter crop growth.

However, do these issues nail the coffin for fracking completely?

No, and here’s why: Fracking is a great way to utilize otherwise inaccessible natural gas and resources to stabilize our energy consumption needs. For one, the streamlining of the gas flow from the rig to the well is highly economical. Instead of having to construct several heavy duty, expensive rigs in many places, fracking allows for a greater field of resources to be plucked from the ground, without superfluous construction.

Further, in terms of global energy issues, fracking may be the answer that the United States, and other severely petroleum dependent countries, needs to wean itself off of Middle-Eastern resource reliance. The increase in job availability and promotion of local fuel development might just be the economic push the US needs in these trying times, with a potential 1.6 million new jobs in the next 20 years.

Nor does fracking mean environmental ignorance in favor of economic stability. A recent study from the City Journal suggests that fracking may reap environmental benefits as well. For example, shale is significantly cleaner than coal, and emits fewer green house gases. In fact, the greater prevalence of natural gas use is most likely the source of the drop in America’s greenhouse gas emissions by “5.3 percent” from 2011 to 2012.

Sure, fracking is not perfect and should not be treated as such. However, through the current reality of quickly depleting energy sources and overt foreign dependency, fracking may be the only viable, consistent, and environmentally friendly alternative to oil at this time.

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Hi! I’m Sonia, a DCDS grad who will be attending UMich in the Fall.( Go Blue!) I love to travel, play soccer, and read at least 3 books simultaneously. Excited for the future, I hope to study biology and/or environmental science.