Pro-Con Exercise

Write your topic: Hydraulic Fracturing/Fracking

Write your tentative question:  Why isn’t the government doing more to put a band on or regulate the fracking process?

Write your tentative thesis (this should be a statement that is debatable, with which someone could disagree):

While fracking does prove to be able to provide a large quantity of natural gas and oil for our domestic use, the problems associated with it are clearly detrimental to the health of our society and more should be done to regulate this pressing issue.

Claims that support/strengthen your argument:

1.  In order to get the natural gas from beneath the ground, land must be cleared and forests are destroyed in numerous locations around the country that not only makes the surrounding area look unpleasing, but creates a quality of life for that’s unhealthy for the residents in the area.

2.  When the land is mined for these resources a water, sand, and chemical mixture is propelled into the ground at high pressures in order to break through the shale stone layer of the Earth’s crust.  Unfortunately, this mixture, and any residue that comes from it, are often not disposed of properly and tend to leak into local rivers and estuaries thus, polluting the environment for both the organisms and humans living there.

3.  There have been claims in which excess gas, or shafts that weren’t lined properly and allowed leaks, have formed pockets in the surrounding ground which have then mixed with local residents water systems and pipes and caused gas to leak into their houses when they had the water on.  In a few instances the gas that built up in the houses lead to greater troubles, such as, explosions.

4.  It is known that one of the results of fracking is methane leaking into the local area and surroundings.  Methane is extremely bad for the environment, being that it is believed to be one of the major components of ozone depletion and global warming, and is a great health hazard to those who are exposed to it directly.

Claims that undermine/weaken/challenge your argument:

1.  It proves to be a big boost for our economy and has the potential to provide and bring thousands of jobs here to the U.S..  With the current problem that unemployment is so high and there are so many individuals without jobs, this could be a true turn around for our economy.

2.  There are estimated values that the supply of natural gas that is “hidden” beneath us could last us for roughly 100 years.  This would mean that we could have less of a reliance on foreign countries and industries for oil and gas, and could turn into a major world exporter of fuel.  This too would provide a boost for our economy that is greatly needed.

3.  The EPA has yet to find any direct results or negative outcomes that fracking has had on its’ surrounding areas.  That any of the current reported problems or things that have happened are all due to other reasons and not solely to fracking.

4.  It solves a lot of the energy problems that we currently face here in the United States and seems to be liked by both democrats and republicans, although democrats are much quicker to shoot it down.