If you want to stir up strong emotions, try mentioning fracking to a group of people from different lifestyles and political viewpoints. Fracking, a simple method used for oil drilling, gets a lot of heat these days, but a lot of people simply do not know the facts that go along with this suddenly controversial practice.
As a frac water heating service in Duchesne County, the team here at Willies Hot Oil Service Inc. knows our fair share about fracking, and we are happy to help distribute the information. With that in mind, here are six interesting facts you might not know about fracking:
- It’s older than you think: With all the noise being made about fracking these days, you might think it was a brand new innovation. In fact, fracking has been in use for at least 70 years! The first fracking experiment was conducted in Kansas in 1947, and Halliburton became the first licensed company to use it in 1949. Since then, around 90 percent of all wells in the United States have been made using fracking.
- Water and sand: When some people hear “fracking,” they think of dangerous chemicals. It’s ironic, then, that over 99 percent of fracking fluid is nothing but water and sand. The other one percent is comprised of mostly harmless chemicals, including guar gum. Speaking of which…
- The ice cream connection: Did you know that one of the chemicals used in fracking is also used to make ice cream? Guar gum is a natural product made from the guar bean, and is a key component in both fracking and ice cream production. In fact, since 2000 (when fracking became more prevalent in the U.S.) and now, guar gum prices have increased dramatically, which might be why ice cream seems more expensive than it used to be!
- Not just for oil: Beyond oil and gas drilling, fracking also serves a number of other purposes. It is used for water well drilling, as well as geothermal energy production. In some cases, the Environmental Protection Agency even uses it to clean up sites.
- Heavy regulation: Many folks worry that fracking leaves their land and drinking water vulnerable. It is of course understandable that people would want the very best for their land and resources. But fracking, just like any other component of the oil industry, faces very strict regulations, meaning we must go to great lengths to protect the land and water.
- Earthquakes? Some antifracking activists will go so far as to say that fracking causes earthquakes. This is true to an extent—studies have shown that fracking could potentially cause minor tremors, akin to the vibrating you feel when a subway train passes underfoot. But to this date, no earthquake, much less a major one, has ever been scientifically linked to fracking.
For help with all your fracking needs, please get in touch with Willies Hot Oil Service Inc., your local provider of frac water heating service in Duchesne County.