Behan 1

Jess Behan
Mrs. Whitney
Comp 2 period 2
22 October, 2013
Hydraulic Fracturing: The Inside
Hydraulic Fracturing is important to us, even though many disagree we need this in
everyday life. Hydraulic fracturing is also known as fracking. This process happens after the
drilling of the well is complete. Fracking is when millions of gallons of water, sand, and
chemicals are injected at a high pressure across and is horizontally drilled below the surface.
This mixture causes a layer of rock (Marcellus Shale) to break. The cracks are held open by the
sand. When that happens the natural gas can flow up and into the well. This happens as far as
10,000 feet below surface. The Marcellus Shale formation is believed to be the largest
unconventional natural gas reservoir in America, and its exploration has been coined a modern-
day gold rush (http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/). Even though fracking started in 1859,
1956 was the start to the regulated period. Throughout my paper I will discuss regulations, jobs,
EPA, jobs in Pennsylvania, studies, MIT fracking study, and some positive feedback.
In Pennsylvania, fracking is the main thing. It is very huge here and very important to
mostly everyone. More than 350,000 oil and natural gas wells have been drilled for
Pennsylvania since 1859. The average amount someone would make in Pennsylvania for
fracking is $62,000 a year. The Marcellus Shale has made jobs for 211,000 people. The natural
gas producers have invested more than 4 billion dollars into leases and land acquisition. It
comes down to employment. Shale gas has created hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
Behan 2

thousands of jobs in the last five years in the United States. Its brought $1 billion of revenue
into the state government of Pennsylvania, Yergin says. It does have a transformative impact.
Daniel Yergin on natural gas development. The quote said just talks about how many jobs there
really is and theres a lot.
There are many regulations that have to be followed while being in the fracking industry.
In addition to the mandatory regulations that the United States has on fracking, the individual
states have regulations also. Drilling is regulated at a number of levels, including state and local
government (http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/). The states are the best-suited regulators
because they know about the leases that are being drilled on in their state. All states are different
so there has to be different regulations that apply to that state. The states have adopted
comprehensive laws and regulations to provide safety to, protect drinking water, and provide
well trained workers to effectively regulate oil and gas study and production. Because of the
positions of the states, their matters concerning the oil and gas industry, regulations of fracking
should remain in the hands of the states. The drinking water regulations are very stick. There are
many acts to protect them including Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and Clean Water Act
(CWA). The EPAs main act towards protecting drinking water is the SDWA. Presently,
drilling regulations in Pennsylvania are among the strictest in the nation
(http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/). To try and keep this process as safe and clean as possible
these regulations are made. After the fracking process is over, the wells and then layered with
cement and steel to prevent the natural gas from leaking in to the groundwater. If hydraulic
fracturing does result in land or water pollution, current laws and regulations would not only fine
the responsible party, but also would hold it responsible for remediation and restoration
(http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/). There is also regulations within the company. Natural
Behan 3

gas drillers must comply with eight federal and eleven state acts and laws, and are subject to
frequent inspections by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)
(http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/). In addition to that by law, the land with vegetation has to
be restored within 9 months after the will is completed.
The EPA stands for Environmental Protection Agency. They work with states and
stakeholders to ensure that natural gas does not come to the cost of public health and the
environment. The Agency's focus and obligations under the law are to provide oversight,
guidance and, where appropriate, rulemaking that achieve the best possible protections for the
air, water and land where Americans live, work and play (epa.gov). The EPA is doing a national
study of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water. The study will include a review of published
literature, analysis of existing data, scenario evaluation and modeling, laboratory studies, and
case studies (epa.gov.). This study released a progress report in 2012 and this year (2014) the
final copy is due to be published. The progress report was released December of 2012. Included
in the progress report were the five main questions that they focused on:
Water Acquisition: What are the possible impacts of large volume water withdraws from
ground and surface waters on drinking water resources?
Chemical mixing: What are the possible impacts of hydraulic fracturing fluid surface
spills on or near well pads on drinking water resources?
Well injection: What are the possible impacts of the injection and fracturing process on
drinking water resources?
Flow back and produced water: What are the possible impacts of flow back and
produced water (collectively referred to as hydraulic fracturing wastewater) surface
spills on or near well pads on drinking water resources?
Behan 4

Wastewater treatment and waste disposal: What are the possible impacts of inadequate
information of hydraulic fracturing waste water or drinking water resources?
The EPA pulled samples from many different oil and gas industries in the states with the highest
levels of oil and gas. The analysis of existing data so far is from what chemicals that were used,
wastewater, gas and liquids used before, during, after. The review also talked about scenario
evaluations, laboratory studies, toxicity assessments, and case studies.
Behan 5

Citations
http://www.pennsylvaniafracking.com/
Daniel Yergin on natural gas development

http://energyfactspa.com/natural-gas/

http://www2.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing

http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy/study-potential-impacts-hydraulic-fracturing-drinking-water-
resources-progress-report