Oil Fracking & Enviromental changeBy Claire Pielak and DJ Pihajlic

What is Fracking?• Fracking (aka Hydraulic fracturing) is the process of

drilling into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas

• It's done by creating "veins" off a vertical well, then pumping the horizontal well full of water at high pressure

• causes fissures in the rock that branch off, releasing gas into the cracks created

• Been around for 65 years

What are the Pros?

• Fracking allows access to difficult-to-reach resources of oil and gas

• It has boosted oil production and driven down gas prices

• Estimated to provide gas to the US and Canada for about 100 years

• can generate electricity with half the CO2 emissions of coal

Why is it Controversial?• Wastes 40,000 gallons of water

per fracture• Methane gas and toxic

chemicals leak out and contaminate nearby groundwater

• Releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere

•  75% of the chemicals could affect the skin, eyes, and other sensory organs

Why is it Controversial?

Environmental Changes• Even with the record-breaking drought in California,

over 70 million gallons of water were used for fracking in the state

• California government has not included fracking in their water conservation efforts

• Causing an exponential increase of earthquakes in Oklahoma

• Ozone levels in Wyoming have well exceeded the healthy limit

Impacting the Future• By 2020, it will add $113 billion

to federal and state government revenues and will create 3 million new jobs

• Reduce the amount we pay for foreign oil

• Earthquakes will become more frequent

• Montana is expected to experience a 310% increase in nitrogen oxide pollution (smog)

• amount of chemically tainted soil from drilling waste increased nearly 5,100 percent in one decade

• University of Colorado has made a simple process to filter out chemicals and salts from fracking water. find out here

• Plasma Pulse Technology is an alternate method of extracting oil and gas with Vibrations- can save water& money

• Stricter regulations could be passed at the national level

Possible Solutions