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Environmental Effects of Drilling for Natural Gas

Natural gas use is rising rapidly, largely because since the 1990s power generators are increasingly being run by natural gas to make electricity. Many see this as a positive trend in that natural gas use emits 23 percent less carbon dioxide than burning oil and is the country's second-largest domestic energy resource, following coal. Estimates show that approximately one-fifth of America's electricity is generated from natural gas power plants, and that number is rising.

  1. Extracting Natural Gas

    • Alongside the rise in natural gas usage has been the continued development of an extraction technique, known as hydraulic fracking, that has made it possible to extract natural gas from shale gas deposits. Traditional drilling of deep vertical wells does not work in these shale formations. Major reserves of natural gas of this type are known to exist throughout the country. Since 2000 there has been an increase of 30 percent in the number of wells drilled using hydraulic fracking, and it is estimated that by 2012, 32,000 new wells a year could be drilled.

    Basics of Fracking

    • Fracking differs from traditional vertical gas drilling. With fracking, vertical drilling takes place, but once the gas source is reached in the shale layers, drilling is done horizontally. A mixture of water and chemicals is then forced at high pressure, creating fractures in the shale layer above, thereby freeing the natural gas to surface.

    Environmental Concerns

    • A primary complaint about fracking has been contamination of aquifers, well water and groundwater. Industry leaders have countered these complaints, maintaining many of the chemicals in question were not introduced by fracking but were naturally present. Interestingly, industry lobbyists pushed to have fracking exempt from the Federal Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts, but increasingly the Environmental Protection Agency has been investigating the complaints. Environmentalists have actively opposed fracking, calling for safer methods of extraction.

    Future Precautions

    • Oil and gas industry companies have been asked to reveal the chemical compounds used in fracking, with hopes of minimizing health risks. Companies are also beginning to use steel containment tanks for storing runoff waste, rather than the open pits that have been involved in numerous environmental accidents. Environmentalists are asking for greater government regulation of fracking, including other associated environmental hazards such as the triggering of earthquakes in surrounding areas and air pollution from the drilling spray. The movie "Gaslands" documented many of their concerns, at the same time raising considerable objections from industry representatives. Solutions for more sustainable technology continue to be researched.

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