Picture: This picture shows a hydraulic fracturing (fracking)
spot in Susquehanna County, in Pennsylvania. As you can see there is a farmhouse
not too far from the Site.
Summary: Due
to the new regulations regarding air quality, gas and oil companies will have
to remove toxic gasses from wells, pipelines, and storage sites. This toxic gas
can cause cancer. The new standards were planned in the summer of 2011 to respond
to complaints from many angry citizens and environmental groups. They knew that
the gasses were causing health problems and that they were polluting the air.
In case you do not know, fracking is a term for hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking
refers to the procedure of creating fractures in rocks and rock formations by
injecting fluid into cracks to force them further open. The larger fissures
allow more oil and gas to flow out of the formation and into the wellbore, from
where it can be extracted” (Definition from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fracking.asp#axzz1tng6gg57).
The new rules and regulations will not be in
order until January of 2015. The fracking industries will have to save about $11
million to $19 million a year to fix all the damages and prevent new ones. Many
of the companies are very upset with the new rules and regulations and state
they are not flexible and unfair. Unlike the gas, companies the environmental
groups are overjoyed. They stated it felt like we are taking a step in the
right direction and that it was a leap forward.
Reflection:
Wow, this is
a bittersweet situation! Bitter, because of all the health problems the gas can
cause. Sweet, because the new rules and regulations are helping the environment
and the citizen living near a fracking site. I was surprised to see the photo
taking in Susquehanna pa. I was not too happy to hear that these new rules and
regulations will be in effect until 2015. That is kind of a long time and the
more gas they fracking now will build up even more. They should just make the
rules in effect now instead of wait 3 years. Or even just wait 1 year but 3
years is too long.
Expansion:
1. Should the pollution
be the responsibility of the government or an individual? Explain your answer.
2. Should companies
and industries be held accountable for the pollution they cause? Explain.
3. Can technological advances solve global pollution problems
or is technology making the problem worse? Explain.
Reflection:I agree with Nasrine that this is a rather bittersweet situation. I'm glad that there are at least new laws in place that would help the enviornment a little more. After watching that video on lighting fire on tap water, I was bit horrified of the pollution that not much was done about. Though it is a little dumb that it is at full affect only after 2015. It is ironic to say that people that live in those area will have better health if they were to drink bottled water, not tap water.
ReplyDeleteAnswer question 3: I think that technological developement can cause both improvement in the enviornment and destruction of it. Many times, development of new technology requires different source of energy (ex.gasoline, electricity) and obtaining these kind of resources takes enrgy and enviornmental sacrefices in order to large quantity of them. This obviously causes pollution. Yet, as the substance gets to be used more and more, people start realize the enviornmental problem the resource poses, thus use technology to try creating more enviornmentally friendly resource. Thus advanced technology could mean more polluttion but the same technology can be used to reduce pollution.
I agree with Nasrine that the laws should go into effect much sooner than 2015. I think at that point, there will have already been too much damage done. But at least they are trying to do good for the environment. Now whenever I think about fracking, it reminds me of the trailer for the movie Gasland. I really hope that doesn't end up happening to our water. I thought it was also really surprising that the photo Nasrine used was taken in Pennsylvania. I didn't even know that they used fracking here and that just made me even more worried for the future of our water. Even if it doesn't go into effect until 2015, it is still important that some form of action is being taken.
ReplyDeleteAnswering Question 1, I think that it is mainly the government's responsibility. The government is mostly responsible because they can tell the people who do the fracking to stop and they can do things like pass laws (like they are starting to do), but this is the first I've heard of any laws being passed against fracking.
I’m really glad to hear that there is being a step taken to help the environment and knock the oil companies down a peg. I feel like with the wars that have been fought and the obsession over oil has gone way out of proportion, and I think that this was a good start in making better priorities. But just like Nasrine and Alex said, I feel the law should be effective sooner than 2015. I guess this is to give time for the companies to save up money to remove the toxins, now that I think of it. At the same time, though, the oil companies should have so much wealth right now making gas $3-4 a gallon; you would think there wouldn’t be much trouble in paying to fix, and those communities really need their water clean and safe.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.networkforphl.org/network_resources/network_products/fracking_products/?gclid=CIL73YH57K8CFUdN4AodpRB51A
This website, called The Network for Public Health Law, has a variety of links to documents about the fracking in Pennsylvania, including a summary of the state laws on hydraulic fracking, a Q&A session on fracking, and the environmental impacts associated with it. If anyone wanted to learn more about the laws being made on fracking or just on the environmental impacts, this is a great site to consider checking out.