When considering the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, people often recall the striking scene from the Oscar nominated documentary, “GasLand,” in which a Colorado homeowner ignites the water coming from his faucet. This combustion was supposedly the result of methane that entered the local groundwater due to surrounding fracking operations. 

However, officials later discovered that fracking was not the culprit. Instead, the homeowner’s water well was mistakenly drilled into a naturally occurring methane reserve. 

As University of Houston engineering professor, Michael Economides stated in a Forbes magazine article, “The clip, though attention-getting, is wildly inaccurate and irresponsible.”  

It’s really unfair that fracking still carries such a negative connotation. 

For the uninitiated, hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) refers to the high pressure injection of water mixed with sand and chemicals into rock to cause fractures, enabling hydrocarbon resources (particularly methane) to be released and recovered.   

The Energy Information Administration estimates the U.S. has 2,552 trillion cubic feet of potential natural gas resources. Thanks to fracking, the U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of natural gas from shale formations, enabling greater energy independence and creating jobs in related industries. 

According to a study by PwC, the increase of commercialization of shale gas could lower energy prices such that U.S. manufacturers would be able to employ 1 million new workers by 2025. Additionally, the lower energy costs would reduce manufacturers’ natural gas expenses by $11.6 billion through the same time period.  

Fracking is now legal in Illinois and promises to provide thousands of jobs throughout the southern part of the state. However, this is much to the dismay of many environmentalist groups. 

Earlier in the month there was a protest outside the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) led by Chicagoland Against Fracking and the Chicago Youth Climate Coalition. One protester stated her disgust of the process by saying, “It’s actually shooting chemicals [into the ground] that are toxic for the environment and for people.” 

That statement perfectly represents what is wrong with the common perception of fracking. The truth is, many environmental concerns are simply not justified and stem from greater misconceptions.

The main concern about fracking is water contamination. 

People often fail to realize that the geology of fracking makes the risk of groundwater pollution extremely small. The water table is very close to the surface compared to the thousands of feet below surface where fracking takes place. For any contamination to occur, chemicals would need to somehow traverse thousands of feet of impermeable rock. Also, while fracking does involve the use of some chemicals, they typically only make up 0.5 percent of all the fluids injected into the well.

Another critique of fracking is the large amount of water usage required. While it’s true that fracking uses a lot of water (up to 7 million gallons in a single well), this pales in comparison with other water consuming activities. 

In Pennsylvania, for example, natural gas production accounts for just 1.9 million gallons per day compared to the 770 million gallons per day used by other industries.  

The seismic effects of fracking are also commonly overstated. Out of the thousands of deep injection wells used throughout the U.S., only eight locations have experienced injection-induced earthquakes. In each case, the resulting “earthquake” was no more severe than the vibration you feel when a bus drives past you on the street. 

Another common concern is the impact on global warming that the increased release of methane would have on the environment. 

This has been countered by recent methane capture technologies that, according to a 2013 study by the University of Texas-Austin, have been shown to reduce these emissions by 99 percent, making the carbon footprint of natural gas production still significantly less than coal. 

Finally, in regard to Illinois, while the new law enables fracking to commence, it is important to remember that the practice is still highly regulated. Specifically, tight standards regarding well construction and waste water disposal are set in place to promote safe shale exploration for the foreseeable future.

Ultimately, the natural gas resources available in North America are a blessing, and the U.S. needs to understand that the economic potential far outweighs the environmental risk. 

While environmental concerns should certainly be addressed, the debate on fracking needs to be driven more by facts and not by emotion.

Andrew is a junior in Engineering. He can be reached at [email protected].