What the Frak??

Hydraulic Fracturing has been a trending topic in recent months, especially here in the Athens community. There is a debate on whether we should allow this to happen or send the companies away. In order for us to form an opinion we researched exactly what Hydraulic Fracturing is.

         Hydraulic Fracturing is a proven technological advancement that allows producers to safely recover natural gas and oil from deep shale formations. This technology has the potential to not only dramatically reduce our reliance on foreign fuel imports, but also to significantly reduce our national carbon dioxide emissions and accelerate our transition to a carbon-light environment and it will immediately provide not only work, it will also put much needed money into pockets. Simply put, deep shale gas and oil formation development is critical to America's energy needs and economic renewal.

After researching Hydraulic Fracturing we found many pros and cons with the cons being it has the possibility to create ozone plumes, it requires an immense amount of water to frack a well and up to 300 tons of volatile chemicals can be used for just one well. My partner and I believe that we should support and encourage companies to come to our community, which is one of the poorest in Ohio, and recover the natural gas and oil from our land so we can end the hardships and help Athens get back on it’s feet economically.

Below is a video that depicts and explains the entire Hydraulic Fracturing process.

 Now we leave you with this simple question. Hey, you want to Frack??

By: Zach Robbins and Doug Sidwell