The Pros And Cons Of Fracking

The debate on the topic of Fracking is a very interesting one; however, the lack of understanding the risks and the exact environmental implications poses more questions than it offers solutions. Both sides make valid arguments. Fracking will prompt an economic growth in the state and make geopolitical position of the US a more favorable one. But the fact that fresh water supply is low is not only a problem for agricultural businesses in California but also a growing deficiency worldwide. So mercantile attitude ‘kill or drill’, as stated by one of the commentators in the film, resembles hamsters’ tendencies to pack food behind its checks for later. In this case people like that are packing their pockets with money. It’s also not fair to sweep the potential problems of underground water contamination under the rug. That’s what Amy Myers Jaffe seems to do by stating that the drawback are ‘manageable’. Or one of the commentators in the video neglects the importance of environmental issue by saying that oil and gas extractions ‘always’ have negative impact on the environment. By no means

The alternatives available at the moment are certainly unsatisfactory in many regards, nor are they well understood. So the issue is of high priority. Amy Jaffe also mentions that we are lowering the harm to the environment by ‘diversifying away from coal’. But ‘diversifying away’ implies alternatives, and she doesn’t provide any other than fracking. I intend to further research why countries like France banned fracking. Is their economy self-sufficient enough ? Or is their alternative power supply sufficient enough ? Is it the people that influenced the decision and was it a fair one ? Or perhaps the gas levels are potentially too low to face the risk of contaminating limited fresh