Fossil fuels are used everyday, but can pose large hazards to the environment. T

Question

Fossil fuels are used everyday, but can pose large hazards to the environment. The means for getting to some of these fossil fuels can also cause great harm to the environment. One issue that has been in the news for Virginia (and other parts of the country) is “fracing”. In your own words, explain what “fracing” is, and explain why this is such an issue in VA. Parties on both sides of the issue have arguments for and against “fracing”. Pick either for or against “fracing” and argue your point. Take care to lay out the points of your argument, and fully explain yourself. This may be one of your longer module questions.
A great place to start: http://www.dmme.virginia.gov/dgo/HydraulicFracturing.shtml. You will likely need to go to other websites to round out your arguments.

Explanation / Answer

Fracing

Hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as Fracing, has been invented in early 1949, only recently in 2015, controversies started moving round it. Fracing is a technique of extracting fossil fuel resources trapped inside shale beds, which is a different rock from the conventional oil yielding sedimentary rocks like sandstone or limestone. A high-pressure mixture of water (more than a million gallon), sand and certain chemicals are injected into the rock layers, due to high pressure, rocks are fractured, broken apart. Gases trapped inside the rock then comes out of vertical wells.

Fracing technology has proved to be a breakthrough in energy consumption in US, other continents are yet to explore shale for oil and gas. But like, most developments in technology, there comes some unavoidable problems. Some serious concerns are associated with this exploration. I believe every technological advancement must come with sustainable development and environmental conservation. Fracing is not taking considerations for both. The following points are the reasons for controversy regarding fracing -

Despite these major concerns, I believe we still invest on fracing, but priority should always be on exploring the renewable source of energy. Those create least pollution, abundant on our planet. As shale is one of the most common sedimentary rock found all over the world, we know that there is a huge resource of oil in our planet, but we should not overexploit them.     

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