Natural Gas Is Less Polluting Than Coal or Other Fossil Fuels

Hydraulic Fracking Issues There has been a great deal of controversy over the technique called hydraulic fracking, which environmentalists and others have claimed it is a dangerous procedure to extract natural gas from the earth. The industry insists it is safe, and recently the Environmental Protection Agency issued research that indicates fracking can be safely done. What is hydraulic fracking? Fracking is a procedure in which water is injected under high pressure into a "bedrock formation," which in turn releases natural gas that has been trapped in rock formations (USGS).

This paper points out the benefits of hydraulic fracking Main Body of the Paper on Hydraulic Fracking Fracking involves a process where water is mixed with chemicals and "fine sands, then pumped at extremely high pressure into the shale rock," which fractures the rock, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Once the rock below the surface of the earth is fractured, it forms " .. pathways for the .. gas to reach the well"; the water is then recovered as well as the natural gas (USGS).

Why is natural gas a good solution to global climate change? The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) explains that burning natural gas for energy " .. results in fewer emissions of nearly all types of air pollutions and carbon dioxide" (EO2). Natural gas has less greenhouse gas emissions than coal or other petroleum products, in fact, for every million British thermal units (Btu) burned of natural gas about 117 pounds of carbon dioxide is produced (EIA).

And carbon dioxide is the main culprit in climate change, which is causing the earth to warm up and is melting the ice fields, which in turn causes oceans to rise to dangerous levels in many areas of the world. Other pollutants that are emitted from burning fossil fuels include: mercury, coal ash, arsenic. Comparing the 117 pounds of CO2 produced (per million Btu) by burning natural gas to other energy forms shows clearly the advantage of natural gas.

By burning a million Btu of coal, over 200 pounds of CO2 is produced (EIA). Over the past ten years, about 81% of the new electrical generation systems have been powered by natural gas (Grace Communications, 2015). Also, the increase in supplies of natural gas helps to lower its price on the market. In fact In July, 2008, natural gas cost over $12 per MMBtu; but by July, 2015, because of the increase in production of natural gas, prices were down under $3 per MMBtu (EIA).

What does the EPA say about fracking? Meanwhile, some claim that fracking pollutes groundwater and wells. This paper reports that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has concluded a long, four-year, deeply involved study on the safety and value of fracking. In that report, the EPA explains that there has been no sign of "widespread, systemic" pollution of drinking water.

The EPA Executive Summary of its research paper points out that fracturing activities have the "potential to impact drinking water resources," when there is a "below ground migration of liquids and gases" -- and when there had been an "inadequate treatment and discharge of wastewater" (EPA). However, even though the EPA's study found cases where drinking water wells were contaminated by fracking, the number was "small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells" (an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 new wells were drilled between 2001 and 2014 in the U.S.) (EPA).

The EPA explained that water used in fracturing usually comes from "surface water, ground water, or reused hydraulic fracturing wastewater," and in areas that are considered "semi-arid," or in areas that experience drought, it is.