Fracking: Overview

Introduction

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," is a mechanical process that uses fluid pressure to release quantities of petroleum or natural gas from deep below the earth’s surface. During conventional drilling, industrial systems extract oil and gas from accessible belowground reservoirs and collect it at the surface. Fracking involves the high-pressure injection of chemically treated water and sand into shale rock, which breaks up the shale and releases quantities of oil and gas that are not accessible by conventional drilling methods. The sand displaces the oil or gas, which is pumped back to the wellhead at the surface and separated from the water. The process of fracking has been in use since the late 1940s, but the addition of horizontal drilling in addition to vertical drilling in the early twenty-first century has improved the capabilities and efficiency of the technique, while at the same time increasing its risks. For this and other reasons, fracking is controversial. While proponents of fracking argue that it allows access to otherwise unreachable energy sources, creates jobs, and keeps energy prices low, critics posit that the technique pollutes the environment, causes serious health effects to humans, and subverts the public interest in favor of energy industry profits.

Despite its controversial nature, fracking has led the United States to become the top producer of both natural gas and crude oil in the world. In 2016, about 70 percent of the country's oil and natural gas wells were hydraulically fractured wells. By 2021, fracking produced an estimated $30 billion worth of oil and gas resources. In the United States, the largest fracking operations exist in Pennsylvania, North Dakota, California, Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. Known reservoirs of shale oil and shale gas are present throughout the country, particularly in eastern states like West Virginia, Ohio, and New York.

Understanding the Discussion

Fracking: Hydraulic fracturing, the use of a pressurized, chemically treated mixture of water and sand to release and extract quantities of natural gas and petroleum from shale rock.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG): Natural gas that has been turned into a liquid for transport or storage.

Shale: A type of sedimentary rock consisting of highly compacted—but easily fractured—clay, silt, or mud.

Shale gas: Natural gas existing within shale; accessible by fracking.

Shale oil: Unrefined petroleum existing within shale; accessible by fracking.

Wellhead: The component that sits at the surface of an oil or gas well; used to apply pressure to the well and to facilitate the process of drilling or hydraulic fracturing.

History

Oil producers began experimenting with water and explosive material during the late nineteenth century in the effort to access hard-to-reach, shale-embedded sources of natural gas and petroleum. According to the American Oil and Gas Historical Society, Civil War veteran Lt. Col. Edward A. L. Roberts filed the first patents for techniques using controlled nitroglycerin explosions to obtain shale oil in 1865. Although the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company was commercially successful, the use of nitroglycerin in mining was extremely dangerous. Instead, oil companies developed the use of nonexplosive fluids to stimulate shale rock and force out locked-in resources of gas and petroleum. Improvements in industrial technology, and the development of the American railroad system, helped to maintain the growth of US domestic energy production during the early twentieth century.

In 1947, the Stanolind Oil and Gas Corporation began experimental fracking operations at a natural gas reserve in Hugoton, Kansas. The first commercial fracking operations in the United States began in Oklahoma and Texas in 1949 under the auspices of the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, US energy companies focused the majority of their extraction efforts on petroleum reserves in the Middle East and Latin America. The energy crises of the 1970s—resulting from the market effects of geopolitical tensions between the United States and Iran—as well as petroleum production shortages helped renew focus on natural gas and shale oil. The federal government collaborated with a consortium of energy businesses to explore the use of hydraulic fracturing at a mass of sedimentary rock near Marcellus, New York, also known as the Marcellus Shale. According to the University of Texas Energy Institute, the Marcellus Shale has since provided over 60 percent of US shale gas and shale oil. Examples of large shale well operations that began in the United States during the 1980s include the Barnett Shale in Wise County, Texas, and the Antrim Shale, which extends through Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

Beginning in the 2000s, technological advancements in fracking technology and the discovery of new shale oil and shale gas reserves led to a substantial increase in domestic energy production in the United States. Shale gas production in the United States increased 20 percent between 2005 and 2012. For instance, the number of gas wells at the Woodford Shale in Oklahoma increased from 24 in 2004 to over 750 in 2008. In June 2012 the Economist reported that American energy companies had begun revamping facilities originally meant to re-gasify (allow liquid gas to transform to its gaseous state) imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) into new facilities that could liquefy domestically produced supplies of natural gas. Existing oil industry infrastructure in the United States aided energy companies in their efforts to take full advantage of newly discovered shale gas and shale oil deposits.

Although shale gas and shale oil production in the United States has resulted in large profits for the energy industry, high energy-sector employment, and lower domestic energy prices, fracking has also incurred significant challenges and criticism. Opponents of fracking argue that the process of breaking up shale belowground results in oil deposits that pollute groundwater reservoirs and causes poisonous natural gases to leach into the air near the wellhead. They also argue that the use and storage of fracking chemicals adversely affect the health of surrounding communities and have environmental consequences. The 2010 documentary film Gasland, which featured residents living near drilling operations setting the methane gas present in their tap water on fire, helped popularize criticisms of fracking in the United States.

American oil production reached a forty-year high in 2011, averaging 10.9 million barrels per day, and observers began speculating that the United States would soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer. Criticisms continued to mount, however. In October 2012, the Washington, DC–based environmental advocacy group Earthworks published a report detailing sinus, respiratory, skin, and psychological problems in families living near fracking operations in Butler County, Pennsylvania. According to the report, exposure to the region’s water led to skin rashes, headaches, and the death of family pets. The report was rejected by a spokesperson for the Natural Gas Alliance, who asserted that the industry’s operations in Butler County are in compliance with existing federal and state drilling and public safety regulations. Affiliates of the energy industry conducted separate investigations into the environmental viability of fracking and published reports that have determined the procedure to be safe for neighboring communities and groundwater supplies. In addition, politicians looking to improve the economy and create jobs in light of the global economic slump that began in 2008 used the concept of increased reliance on domestic energy sources for political advantage. Interest in and support for domestic energy initiatives also resonated during that period with a public still disillusioned from the US-led military campaign in Iraq, which many believe was undertaken for the benefit of US oil interests in the Middle East. However, a drop in global oil prices in 2014 and 2015—due in part to increased domestic US production—made shale oil less profitable, as fracking is a costlier proposition than traditional oil drilling.

As fracking became a more pervasive practice, additional environmental safety concerns surfaced. Earthquakes have shaken high-fracking areas not previously known for high-magnitude seismic activity, as with a 5.7-magnitude quake in Oklahoma in 2011, leading US Geological Survey (USGS) scientists to attribute the historic events to the injection of wastewater from fracking. In addition, methane leaks are common to natural gas and oil wells, including those that rely on fracking for extraction. Environmentalists are concerned that the escaping methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas, may be contributing to climate change; consequently, in August 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) introduced stricter standards for methane emissions for any new or modified oil and gas wells. Some environmentalist groups believed the proposed standards fell short of their goal since they did not address existing wells, while industry representatives argued that their methods have already improved and that new regulations would harm businesses.

In June 2016, a federal judge halted another proposed regulation that would have required government safety inspections and the disclosure of fracking chemicals and spent chemical storage for wells built on public lands. The court stated that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had insufficient regulatory authority to create such rules. The BLM moved to appeal the decision to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Those who agreed with the decision felt that such regulation is best left to the individual states, while the rule's supporters feared a major setback in federal oversight of the controversial process.

President Donald Trump was a staunch supporter of fracking. During his administration, he attempted to open up additional public land to use for oil and gas drilling and to repeal fracking regulations imposed during Barack Obama's administration that provided protection to water supplies on federal lands. In 2018, the US surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the world's largest extractor of oil, with fracking production levels at record highs. The debate around fracking became a central issue during the 2020 US presidential campaign. While Trump tried to appeal to voters in states such as Pennsylvania that economically benefited from fracking, his opponent, Joe Biden, pledged to ban new fracking operations on federal land if elected, but also said he would not ban fracking technology. In January 2021, President Biden imposed a moratorium on new fracking on federal lands and new leases, but a federal judge blocked the ban that June to allow lease sales to proceed, though the sale was rescinded by another judge for not considering climate impacts. In 2022, the Department of the Interior announced it was offering leases for drilling on 144,000 federal acres. During the 2024 US presidential election between Trump and the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, the fracking debate was a focus of the candidates' campaigns as they courted voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, where natural gas was still a big industry. Trump vowed to increase drilling and asserted that Harris wanted to ban fracking. While Harris had said in 2019 that she favored banning fracking, her position changed after she joined Biden's campaign and administration. She adopted Biden's stance against a general fracking ban and maintained it while she campaigned in 2024; that November, she lost the election to Trump.

Fracking Today

The US fracking industry continued to grow significantly in the 2020s. With little federal regulation, fracking wells spread rapidly throughout the country, often built near homes, schools, and other residential areas. By 2022, productivity of many wells reached record levels as new technology and increased demand allowed companies to boost production; in August 2024, the US produced a record high of 13.4 million barrels per day. The Russia-Ukraine War, which broke out in February 2022, led to extremely high oil prices and a US ban on Russian oil imports, causing calls for domestic drilling to increase even more. Companies continued to benefit from several loopholes in federal legislation that exempted fracking from environmental laws designed to protect Americans from pollution, contaminated water, and other environmental threats. For instance, the Safe Drinking Water Act exempted fracking from regulation unless diesel is included in the fracking fluid. While some states enacted laws to better regulate fracking or, in the case of New York, ban it altogether, critics continued to push for stricter federal oversight. Thus, as fracking continues, the debates around whether and how it is done will continue to take on greater dimensions during the twenty-first century.

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