FRACKING
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Hydraulic fracturing – also known as fracking – is the process of pumping water and chemicals underground to fracture rocks and release natural gas. In the United States, there is a heated debate over the safety of these practices and whether they are hazardous to the environment and public health.
America's fracking problem
Hydraulic fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer by a pressurized fluid. Some hydraulic fractures form naturally—certain veins or dikes are examples—and can create conduits along which gas and petroleum from source rocks may migrate to reservoir rocks . Induced hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracturing , commonly known as fracing , fraccing , or fracking , is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas (including shale gas , tight gas , and coal seam gas ), or other substances for extraction. [ 1 ] This type of fracturing creates fractures from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations.
Hydraulic fracturing
BIBLE HILL — Tony Ingraffea has done research and development work in the oil and gas industry for 25 years, but on Saturday the Cornell University engineering professor from New York was in Bible Hill speaking about the risks of hydraulic fracturing. The drilling method, also known as fracking, is one of Ingraffea’s areas of expertise. Although fracking, a technique that forces water and chemicals into rock to release gas, has been a part of the oil and gas industry for many years, Ingraffea said the methods companies use to extract natural gas are really quite new and lack the necessary research to answer critical health and environmental questions.