Fact Sheets: Fracking

The oil and gas industry argues that the potential economic benefits of fracking justify the risks and costs to public health and the environment. But the industry has grossly overestimated the number of jobs that fracking would create, and has either ignored or dismissed the public costs of the practice.

Drilling and fracking a single shale well can produce millions of gallons of toxic wastewater and hundreds of tons of potentially radioactive solid waste. Disposal of these wastes poses serious environmental and public health risks.

Europe Fact Sheet: New drilling and fracking techniques have been a boon for the oil and gas industry in the United States, making it possible for companies to extract large quantities of oil and gas from shales and other “tight” rock formations. However, shale development has been a nightmare for those exposed to the resulting pollution.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have enabled the oil and gas industry to extract natural gas from rock formations deep below ground, called shales. Fracking entails injecting a large amount of water, sand and toxic chemicals at a pressure high enough to fracture the shale and release the natural gas. The oil and gas industry now wants access to natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations underlying large regions of the State of New York.

Gas drillers use a water-intensive process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas from shale. The process injects millions of gallons of water, mixed with sand and chemicals, under high pressure to crack the rock formation to release natural gas. Much of that water returns to the surface, along with water from underground, contaminated fracking fluids and other, possibly radioactive, substances. Private water players can make money on both ends by selling water to drillers and then treating the wastewater.

Billionaire oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens has invested millions of dollars in natural gas, which he promotes as a promising “bridge fuel” that could help the United States transition from dirty fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy. This idea has gained traction as new drilling methods using hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” appear able to extract gas from rock sources that were previously uneconomical to access — especially shale. Shale gas has become one of the “hottest investments in the energy sector.” Unfortunately, the promise of natural gas has been a nightmare for the neighbors of fracking gas wells.

The New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act (NAT GAS Act) would funnel $5 billion in subsidies to the natural gas industry while making the United States dependent on dirty shale gas drilling for generations to come.

After witnessing BP’s devastating Deepwater Horizon’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, some industry analysts are suggesting that domestic natural gas is a good onshore alternative. Even before the spill, some said natural gas could be a “game changer” if new technology allowed drillers to tap into shale rock formations on a large scale. But because the same technology poses threats to water, accelerating this natural gas drilling could be our next energy disaster.