The Current State of Hydraulic Fracturing essay
Hydraulic fracturing is a relatively new approach to the extraction of natural resources, such as oil and natural gas. Many proponents (Gidley, 1989) of hydraulic fracturing argue that this process can facilitate the extraction of natural resources, which used to be unavailable in terms of conventional drilling. Hence, hydraulic fracturing can bring considerable economic benefits and to improve situation in the energy market preventing energy crises. On the other hand, skeptics (Laubach, et al, 2004) argue that hydraulic fracturing may have a negative impact on the environment and public health that puts under a question economic benefits of using hydraulic fracturing. Nevertheless, today, hydraulic fracturing is applied under the control of state agencies such as the US Environmental Protection Agency. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing is quite a controversial process because, in spite of possible benefits, it can have a negative impact on the environment and public health.
Hydraulic fracturing is a well stimulation process used in oil and natural gas industry as well as other industries to stimulate the extraction of underground resources. Hydraulic fracturing is used in oil and natural gas industry to enhance subsurface fracture systems to allow oil and gas to flow more freely from rock pores to production wells. Hydraulic fracturing begins with building the site infrastructure including well construction. The key point of hydraulic fracturing is the creation of wells, where extracted oil or natural gas may be stored and the use of hydraulic fracturing to facilitate the extraction of natural resources, such as oil and natural gas. Wells are constructed vertically or may be paired with horizontal or directional sections to up to 6000 feet away from the well.
As wells are built, fluids, which consist of water and chemical additives, are pumped into a geologic formation at high pressure during hydraulic fracturing (Banks, et al, 1996). Under the pressure, which exceeds the rock strength, the fluid opens or enlarges fractures that extend away from the well. After that, fractures are created and propping agent is pumped in to prevent the fractures from closing, when the pumping pressure is released (Miller, 2005). The created pathways are used for extraction of oil and natural gas as well as other natural resources as the internal pressure of the geologic formation cause the injected fracturing fluid to rise to the surface, where it may be stored in tanks prior to disposal or recycling (Laubach, et al, 2004). Recovered fracturing fluids are defined as flowback (Miller, 2005). Disposal options for flowback include discharge into surface water or underground injection.
Hydraulic fracturing was not considered to be harmful for the environment prior to 1997. Instead, hydraulic fracturing was viewed as a production process that involved a well stimulation technique. As hydraulic fracturing was viewed as a production process, it was not subject to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Underground Injection Control (UIC). In such a way, hydraulic fracturing remained without public or government control. At the same time, many researchers (Laubach, et al, 2004) pointed to possible risks and environmental threats associated with the use of hydraulic fracturing. In response to the growing public pressure, EPA and companies operating in the oil and natural gas industry conducted scientific studies to explore the possible impact of hydraulic fracturing on the natural environment and health of people.
In addition, the wide application of hydraulic fracturing faced legal challenges. Since hydraulic fracturing was relatively new approach to extraction of natural resources in 1990s, companies attempting to implement this approach confronted the public pressure and legal challenges. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the Legal Environmental Assistance Foundation (LEAF) that challenged EPA’s opinion on hydraulic fracturing regulation in 1994, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that hydraulic fracturing of coalbed methane wells was indeed subject to the SDWA and UIC regulations under Alabama’s UIC program in 1997 (Laubach, et al, 2004).
In such a way, hydraulic fracturing has been under EPA’s UIC control since 1997 in the US. The environmental control is essential taking into consideration potential risks associated with the application of hydraulic fracturing. At the same time, by the late 1990s, EPA still lacked effective means of control and accurate evidence of the negative impact of hydraulic fracturing on the environment. Hence, hydraulic fracturing has started to progress and companies operating in the oil and natural gas industry has started to implement this approach for the extraction of oil and natural gas. The similar trend could be traced in other industries as well where companies attempted to facilitate the extraction of natural resources and to improve the quality of extraction.
At the same time, EPA has begun the study of hydraulic fracturing since 1999 and this process needs further studies to understand the actual impact of hydraulic fracturing on the environment. At this point, it is worth mentioning the study conducted by EPA in 2004, which though did not reveal any great risks and threats associated with hydraulic fracturing to natural environment, namely surface water. However, specialists (Miller, 2005) argue that EPA study has underestimated risks associated with hydraulic fracturing and this process may have negative impact not only on the surface water but on the environment and public health at large.
At the moment, specialists (Banks, et al, 1996) distinguish both positive and negative effects of hydraulic fracturing. First of all, hydraulic fracturing brings considerable economic benefits. This process allows extracting oil and natural gas from areas, which are not available for conventional extraction. Hence, economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing are obvious because companies can extract more natural resources, such as oil and natural gas without substantial investments into drilling. Moreover, companies got an opportunity to extract natural resources from areas, where they could not extract natural resources before.
The costs of hydraulic fracturing are relatively low, compared to conventional drilling, while economic benefits are substantial. Today, costs of extraction of natural resources are very important because they affect the price of natural resources. The price of natural resources is particularly important in the energy market because of the lack of fossil fuels, which are the major source of energy today.
Hydraulic fracturing allows extracting natural resources more effectively since due to hydraulic fracturing more oil and natural gas may be extracted.
On the other hand, hydraulic fracturing may have negative effects on the environment. First, the flowback may be discharged into the surface water or underground injection. Hence, potable water and underground water may be polluted. In addition, hydraulic fracturing raises the problem of the impact on geothermal structures since hydraulic fracturing affects rock structures. Hence, substantial geological changes caused by hydraulic fracturing can cause the change of geothermal structures that may lead to the decline of geothermal sources. Opponents of hydraulic fracturing point to the risk to air quality and the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface.
At the moment, surface water discharges of the flowback of hydraulic fracturing are regulated by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program which requires flowback to be treated prior to discharge into surface water or underground injection prior to discharge. Treatment is typically performed by wastewater treatment facilities (Laubach, et al, 2004). Underground injection of flowback is regulated by either EPA UIC program or a state with primary UIC enforcement authority (Laubach, et al, 2004).
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that hydraulic fracturing is still quite a controversial process. On the one hand, hydraulic fracturing brings considerable economic benefits and opens the way to extract natural resources from areas, where they could have never been extracted before. On the other hand, hydraulic fracturing can have negative effects on the environment and threaten to the public health. Hence, the strict regulation and control over hydraulic fracturing is needed.
