Fracking in Canada: Environmental, Political, and Economic Impacts

Running head: FRACKING IN CANADA
FRACKING IN CANADA
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2FRACKING IN CANADA
Fracking in Canada: Backdrop
Fracking refers to the process of hydraulic fracturing of rock strata to extract oil and gas by the
process of deep core drilling of wells and creating cracks or fissures in the rock strata by high
pressure injection of fluid in the fractures. The history of fracking dates back to the 18th century
but was commercialized and made effective only in the late 20th century with technological
advancements in drilling and extraction methods. The fracking method was patented by the
Haliburton Oil well Cementing Company. With the new millennium, there have been increased
fracking activities in Canada and the major extraction of oil and gas resources are through
fracking methods (Burton et al., 2014). Hydraulic Fracturing or fracking has been used to
basically increase productivity of the wells. Fracking has been encouraged due to its cost
effectiveness and productive output over from a single time investment in boring. Due to its
horizontal drilling capacity the penetration rate of fracking is high which reduces the need of
multiple boring in close proximity.
Social, economic, political, and ecological issues:
The impact of fracking in the environment has been a long debated issue and controversies have
been driving the activity lately. The arguments of the anti fracking and the pro fracking parties
are yet to be validated, since the technology and its impact has been less studied and researched.
However, though fracking might me cost effective and environment friendly as proposed by the
organisations involved in fracking, there are adverse effects which have been reported lately. The
major environmental concerns include the following
 Huge quantity of fresh water for fracking
 Contamination of ground water and aquifers