Hydraulic Fracturing: A Safe Way to Extract Oil, Natural GasPosted by Chemplex on February 17th, 2016 As hydraulic fracturing becomes a more popular and accepted practice for extracting oil and natural gas from the ground in states across the country, concerns about its safety persist. After all, it’s only right for people to want to protect their natural environment and make sure efforts to obtain much-needed fuels don’t harm the water supply, lands and wildlife. The bottom line is that hydraulic fracturing does alter the land on which operations occur, especially in the underground areas. Today’s modern practices and advances in the process, however, make hydraulic fracturing minimally invasive to an operation’s surroundings. The end result is a safe way for people to extract the fuel they need to power vehicles, heat homes and more. Hydraulic fracturing is a little different than a straight-down drilling process people might be used to seeing in places like Texas and Oklahoma. In this case, drills are used to bore into shale formations deep within the earth. The shale itself often contains rich deposits of natural fuels that drive American homes and the country’s economy. The process involves drilling into the shale and essentially “fracturing” the rock formations to access the fuels. That’s where the name of the process comes from. The fracturing is performed by pumping water, sand some a small amount of chemicals in the earth to create fissures that oil and gas can be drawn up from. Courtesy of advancements in fracturing technology and the oilfield chemicals used in the process, it’s feasible to protect nearby resources, including ground water. The overall impact on the environment, by design, is made as low as possible. Hydraulic fracturing is, bottom line, a safe way to access the resources humans rely on daily. When the process is handled with care, environmental impacts are low and nearby resources are protected from intrusion. About Author Like it? Share it! More by this author |