Hydraulic Fracturing Pros/Cons Position

Write a fracking pro/con position statement (250-400 words, must cite 3 pieces of evidence from the website and the video that support your opinion).

After consulting evidence from the Yale article and the excerpt from 60 Minutes, I have come to the conclusion that while hydraulic fracturing has many important benefits, its detrimental impacts to the environment and the quality of American life outweighs its relative convenience and short term profits. In other words, I do not support fracking because its long-term consequences will prove to be more impactful to our country than the streak of success it is earning in the American economy and society. One major issue surrounding hydraulic fracturing is the large amount of greenhouse gases it releases into the atmosphere. According to the Yale article, the amount of methane released from this practice completely outweighs the greenhouse gas benefits of the natural gas from fracking. This is very worrying, and the statement from a CEO on 60 Minutes that the United States contains "two Saudi Arabias" worth of natural gas only increases my concern about the leakage of methane. I also believe that this practice endangers the livelihoods of Americans by contaminating water supplies with chemicals; rendering them completely unusable. Although fracking companies may claim that drilling for natural gas poses little danger to the quality of drinking wells, as mentioned in the Yale article, the dozens of reported incidents of water contamination across the country say otherwise. The problem remains that although extraction techniques are "improving", many Americans are still being denied the ability to take showers or cook without the fear of getting sick. Finally, it is not surprising that the drilling of holes deep into Earth's surface has created concern regarding seismic activity. The Yale article takes note of how those who are pro-fracking claim that the "few instances" in which fracking may have contributed to earthquakes were minor and nothing to get too concerned about. However, I believe that the simple admittance that this practice is essentially making the foundation planet less stable is definitely something that should be worrying not only to the American public, but  also to the rest of the people around the world. In conclusion, I admit that hydraulic fracking can be considered in many respects a game-changing innovation in our global "energy crisis". However, we first must consider whether or not the benefits it presents outweigh the potential issues that it could cause for our future generations.

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