The recent presidential election in the United States has been a popular topic of conversation for the past few months. While watching the second presidential debate, I heard republican candidate Mitt Romney propose fracking (hydraulic fracturing) as a way for the U.S. to increase oil and gas production on home soil. I had not heard of fracking prior to Romney’s mentioning of the practice, so Bart Kozdras’ blog post about the negative effects of hydraulic fracturing really caught my attention.
While reading Bart’s post, I thought back to our class about sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Companies are still attempting to get hydraulic fracturing regulated even though, as I discovered, the practice has devastating consequences on the environment. I was shocked as natural gas is often touted as a clean energy source and a great alternative to coal and oil. I find it very disheartening to hear that this method of natural gas extraction releases large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and results in a negative impact on the climate.
The hydraulic fracturing method pumps millions of gallons of water underground to release natural gas.
However, the United States isn’t the only country who uses fracking to extract natural gas. Bart’s blog post neglected to mention Canada’s use of hydraulic fracturing in almost every province, including Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and even our very own British Columbia. The Council of Canadians is calling for the elimination of fracking as water quality has been declining in the areas where the method has been used. Can Canadians come together to eliminate the unsafe practice of hydraulic fracturing? I hope so.
Sources:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/pictures/mitt-romneys-fracking-hit-list-20121102
http://www.pressoffice.cornell.edu/releases/release.cfm?r=56363
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/natural-gas-energy.htm
http://canadians.org/water/issues/fracking/index.html
http://8020vision.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/fracking.jpg (image)