Hydraulic Fracturing Case Study

Words: 1964
Pages: 8

1. Gas companies are beginning to reduce the percentage of proprietary fluids in the fracking fluids cocktail. The percentage has gone from 2 percent down to 0.5 percent, and several chemicals such as diesel oil have been deleted from some company’s fluids.
2. Multi-well drilling pads can be used for multiple fracking operations. Several production casings can be run from a single site which keeps from clearing another 5 acres for additional extraction.
3. Companies have made improvements (Proprietary Information) with the cementing of the production pipe.
4. Reclamation of land used by the hydraulic fracturing process; once the gas production is complete the surrounding land up to the production valve is reclaimed to return to near original state.
5. Additional research and development are ongoing to lessen the hydraulic fracturing impact upon humans, animals, and our environment.
Ethical Analysis
Hydraulic fracturing for the harvesting of natural gas in shale deposits is irrevocable and all of the stakeholders are aware of this fact. The government including the legislators, regulators, and legal system are looking not only for remedies for any catastrophe but prevention before the
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These include the noise, and the visual sightings of pollutants rising from the drilling location, to the effects from possible runoffs of fracturing fluids to possible failures in cement casings. In addition to regulations for the protection of homeowners, the companies in this industry are required to list all hazardous chemicals in the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This is aimed at alleviating potential harm to workers, given that they are handling tubes and containers of fracking fluid, gas, and other chemicals during the whole extraction