Much Ado about Fracking

Once again, there is debate over a revolutionary change facing the United States, and once again, cooperation is the best way to reach a compromise-however challenging that may be.

The debate this time is about hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, a process of fracturing rock deep below the earth’s surface with pressurized liquid to extract natural gas and oil. Many supporters of fracking believe its expansion in the U.S. will boost the economy, add domestic jobs and lessen our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Opponents, meanwhile, find that fracking will destroy our environment, decimate our fresh water and only create tension in the Middle East.

So who is right? As with most debates, both sides have valid arguments. But with cooperation, there is a way to produce incredible amounts of natural gas and domestic oil while not ignoring the environmental aspect.

The U.S. runs on energy. While this statement is not revolutionary, it is important to remember in the fracking debate. Before opponents eliminate fracking completely because it has potential negative effects, we need to remember that, as of today, natural gas is still a vital part of our infrastructure. As such, until there is a 100 percent efficient, sustainable energy source, the U.S. still depends on drilling and extracting gas.


Producing oil in-house as opposed to having to buy it from other countries is a transformational development. It boosts our domestic economy, while increasing jobs and lowering import costs. It could also turn the U.S. from a global oil buyer to a seller, increasing international revenue.

What needs to be monitored is the environmental impact of moving the way we obtain oil to inside our borders. This task has already begun with cooperation between The Environmental Defense Fund, the Clean Air Task Force, other green advocates alongside Chevron, Shell and other energy companies. Together, they have developed the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, an independent source to monitor fracking based on their own standards and rules. Some examples already in place include demands that drillers recycle as much fluid as possible and not discharge the excess into waterways, that engines operating rigs and transport material meet high emissions standards, as well as obligations that firms study and monitor the local environment before and during drilling.

The biggest regulation is preventing methane from escaping into the air during fracking. So far, a University of Texas study has shown that companies using the best available technology—which will be mandated by the federal government by 2015— produced a methane leakage of only .42 percent, a manageable figure according to scientists on both sides of the fracking debate.

An interesting aspect of fracking is the shift of U.S. dependence on Middle Eastern oil. While it is true that the U.S. will no longer be forced to buy from countries such as Saudi Arabia, it is narrow-minded to envision a U.S. without foreign oil as a U.S. not involved in the Middle East. Several factors will still be in play; the threat of terrorism growing in some Middle Eastern countries, as well as a surge of nuclear proliferation in the region, with the extra oil being sold by someone else, such as Iran.

Not to mention the American public mindset of why we are in the Middle East at all. The federal government has rested on our dependence on Middle Eastern oil for decades. With increased domestic fracking and less need for oil in such a tumultuous area, U.S. officials will need to tread carefully when explaining why we are still heavily involved in the region.

If the U.S. can diplomatically show why an eye on the Middle East is vital to our safety, and if regulations can monitor natural gas drilling independently, then we need to move forward with our developments in fracking. In the meantime, we need to keep our minds open to a future that doesn’t require oil as a primary energy source, but it is too big of an opportunity to ignore fracking at this stage of our technological prowess.