Hydraulic fracturing is revolutionizing oil and gas drilling, but it can pose major environmental and human health risks if not performed appropriately.
Fremont, CA: Hydraulic fracturing is a well-stimulation process used to improve oil and/or gas flow to a well from petroleum-bearing rock formations in low-permeability rocks such as tight sandstone, shale, and some coal beds. Improved permeability in subsurface geothermal reservoirs is achieved using a similar technique. In low permeability sediments and other tight subsurface formations, a type of hydraulic fracturing is also employed to improve the efficacy of soil vapor extraction and other technologies used in polluted site remediation.
Environmental impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing's environmental impact has been a source of public concern, with water and air pollution posing the greatest hazards to human health.
Fracking is merely a minor portion of the whole process of drilling, completion, and production of an oil and gas well. Fracking, on the other hand, requires injecting a chemical solution into the ground to release oil and gas resources, therefore there are some potential environmental consequences. Spills of chemicals on the surface, degradation of surface water quality due to waste fluid disposal, pollution of groundwater, and generated seismicity due to the injection of waste fluids into deep disposal wells are all examples.
Hydraulic fracturing may have an impact on groundwater or surface water quality. Hydraulic fracturing, when done correctly, has a low risk of polluting water supplies. Drilling fluids, hydraulic fracturing fluids, deep saline formation waters, and oil and gas are all prevented from entering aquifers by properly designed wells. Well sites that have been carefully constructed and operated have the ability to limit possible spills and reduce runoff into surface waters. Accidents can happen in any industrial operation. Improperly designed wells, for example, can allow fluids to move up from deep formations and into shallow aquifers, while poorly contained surface spills can contaminate surface water.
Hydraulic fracturing is just one phase of the whole process of drilling, finishing, and producing an oil and gas well. Spills of chemicals at the surface, impacts of sand mining for use in the hydraulic fracturing process, surface water quality degradation from fluid waste disposal, groundwater quality degradation, and induced seismicity from the injection of waste fluids into deep disposal wells are all issues that are specifically related to hydraulic fracturing.
