Fracking: what and why

What is fracking? Why is it such a hot topic in the media today? Is it a good thing? Do the risks outweigh the rewards? My name is Seth Trammell. I'm a freshman student at Kansas State University, and I am majoring in chemistry. I currently hope to work in the energy business after I graduate, hopefully in the oil and natural gas industry.
Naturally, I would like to know if the industry I hope to work in is hurting the environment. In this blog, I will try and answer a few questions about fracking and the oil industry in general. I am not completely sure where I'll end up, but I hope that by the end of the journey I will have reached at least a few conclusions. I hope to remain unbiased as well, but that might be difficult because I am currently in favor of fracking. In this post, I will try to give a basic overview on what fracking is and why it is a controversial topic right now.
Okay, so what is fracking? Thankfully, there are not any arguments about this question! Fracking is a shorthand of “hydraulic fracturing.” It is a method of drilling into tight rock formations, especially shale, in order to harvest the oil and natural gas located there. Shale is a mud that is composed of clay and small portions of minerals such as quarts and calcite, and it is usually at least a mile below the surface. The process begins by drilling a well straight down into the shale and then continuing to drill for several thousand feet at a nearly horizontal angle. After the drilling is complete, a mixture of water, sand, and a small amount of additives is pumped into the well at a high pressure. This causes tiny fractures in the rock (hence the name), which causes the oil and natural gas inside the rock to be released and flood into the well. It usually takes between one million and eight million gallons of water to complete a fracturing job.
It is not too complicated of an idea to understand, but you might still be wondering why fracking is so popular. What are the benefits? Fracking lets oil companies reach oil and natural gas reserves that are difficult to reach, and it allows each well to be more productive. It is estimated that as high as eighty percent of the oil and natural gas reserves in the United States can only be reached using hydraulic fracturing. Most energy companies claim that fracking will offer around one hundred years of oil and natural gas security for the United States and Canada. Since it allows energy companies to tap large reserves of oil and natural gas, hydraulic fracturing also helps keep the price of domestic oil and natural gas low.
Obviously, you can see that there are benefits to hydraulic fracturing. So what is all the fuss about? Well here is where it gets a little bit more complicated. Very little unbiased research has been done into what the environmental repercussions of fracking actually are, so I'll give a few claims from both sides of the argument. Most oil and natural gas companies agree that there are a few ways that fracking impact the environment negatively. However, they would also claim that hydraulic fracturing does not cause any more damage than regular oil and gas drilling, which does not seem to be an issue for most people. The opposition to fracking might point out that it takes about 72 trillion gallons of water to run all the wells currently in the United States and Canada. They also claim that the chemical additives used in the fracking fluid are extremely harmful to the environment. Some studies have shown that methane concentrations in wells near fracking sites contain up to seventeen times the usual concentration of methane. They might also say that known carcinogens such as uranium, mercury, and lead are used in the fracking fluid.
The problem that I've found so far is that both sides of the argument are extremely biased. The oil and gas companies have studies they can point to that claim to prove that hydraulic fracturing is no more harmful to the environment than regular drilling. The activists against hydraulic fracturing, however, also have studies they can point to that claim to prove exactly the opposite. My goal in this blog is to provide a window into both sides of the argument and at least come up with an unbiased conclusion.