Understanding the psychology of generalizations
During the recent 2024 presidential debate in Philadelphia, Vice President Kamala Harris declared that she wouldn't ban fracking, the controversial technique of extracting oil and gas from deep underground. Harris was once in favor of outlawing fracking, but now seemingly sees supporting the process as a potential vote winner. Fracking remains a contentious issue in the United States, and indeed around the world. But what does the operation actually involve, and why has it divided so much public opinion?
Click through and find out more about fracking.
Vice President Kamala Harris, once staunchly opposed to fracking, has now endorsed the controversial extraction process.
She did so during the recent presidential debate in Philadelphia, by declaring that she wouldn't ban fracking if she won the White House.
When she first ran for president in 2019, Harris had said she was firmly in favor of banning fracking. She later backtracked after joining President Biden's campaign as his running mate.
Facing the need to secure battleground Pennsylvania, the Democratic presidential nominee is acutely aware of just how important it is to win over voters in a state where the natural gas industry means jobs.
However, Harris' past call for a fracking ban is likely to raise doubts in the must-win, gas-producing state. Meanwhile, the debate surrounding this contentious subject continues. But what exactly is fracking?
Fracking, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is a technique for recovering oil and gas from shale rock.
The process involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and chemicals at a rock layer, to release petroleum or natural gas inside.
These pockets of fossil fuels are tightly trapped in hard shale rock formations. Shale is a brittle, fine-grained, and easily eroded sedimentary rock formed from mineral-rich silt, or mud.
Extraction of "tight oil" or "tight gas," identified as such because they are trapped in hard shale rock formations, has expanded petroleum and natural gas production in the United States.
Indeed, fracking has allowed oil and gas companies to tap into vast energy reservoirs that once seemed impossible to develop.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), only four countries across the world currently produce any commercially viable gas or oil that comes from fracking: Canada, China (pictured), Argentina, and the United States.
But while the fracking boom has lowered the price of oil and gas around the world and—significantly—cut US reliance on foreign oil production and provided much needed jobs, the technique remains the subject of heated debate.
Hydraulic fracturing is highly controversial because of its environmental and health impacts.
Scientists and environmentalists alike have long warned the world about the harmful effects of fossil fuels and the need to phase them out to preserve a sustainable climate.
The drilling technique can contaminate water. In its study 'Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources,' the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found scientific evidence that activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle can impact drinking water resources under some circumstances.
Similarly, a 2022 paper published by the Yale School of Public Health concluded that those living in close proximity to wells commonly reported health issues ranging from headaches and nosebleeds to low infant birth weights and endocrine disruption.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania researchers found that "children living close to active wells or near many wells had a higher risk for developing lymphoma, a kind of cancer," according to The Guardian.
And the high pressures required to blast liquid into the earth, which changes the stresses on any nearby existing geological faults and lubricates the fault surface, have been linked to earthquakes.
In one example, the town of Midland in Texas, the oil-drilling capital of America, is now on the cusp of becoming the earthquake capital of America, such is the frequency of seismic phenomena due to fracking activity.
While fracking has become a major issue in the 2024 presidential election, demonstrations against the practice have been taking place in the US and globally since 2011, when the town of Dryden in New York became one of the first communities in the state to ban fracking in their community.
In 2013, anti-fracking activists gathered outside the Cuadrilla site in West Sussex, England, to protest against oil and gas exploration. The British government eventually responded by banning fracking.
The idea of fracking is nothing new. In 1865, US Civil War veteran Col. Edward A. L. Roberts received a patent for an "exploding torpedo." He lowered this into an oil well, the detonation shattering surrounding rock.
Roberts quickly realized that when water was then pumped into the well, oil flows increased—in some cases by as much as 1,200%—and fracking was established as a way to increase a well's productive potential.
Since 2014, fracking by volume has quadrupled in the United States. In 2023 alone, the country's average daily oil production was 12.9 million barrels—a record high, according to the EIA—and almost two-thirds of that production was captured by fracking.
The nation's busiest fracking patch is the Permian region of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. It's home to more active rigs than all of the other 48 states combined.
Proponents of fracking point to the transformation of the American energy industry as justification for continued exploration using the controversial technique.
They also remind detractors of the rebalancing of oil and gas trade flows, greater US energy independence, and new revenues to the economy as additional reasons why they feel fracking is a legitimate and productive method of extracting petroleum and natural gas.
Fracking is nearly always on the ballot in Pennsylvania. But it's been years since the subject has enjoyed so much attention.
And while Kamala Harris insists she's now an advocate for fracking, Donald Trump is expected to try and convince voters that she isn't.
Sources: (BBC) (NPR) (Natural Resources Defense Council) (National Geographic) (Associated Press) (The Guardian) (EIA) (EPA) (Yale Environment)
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During the recent 2024 presidential debate in Philadelphia, Vice President Kamala Harris declared that she wouldn't ban fracking, the controversial technique of extracting oil and gas from deep underground. Harris was once in favor of outlawing fracking, but now seemingly sees supporting the process as a potential vote winner. Fracking remains a contentious issue in the United States, and indeed around the world. But what does the operation actually involve, and why has it divided so much public opinion?
Click through and find out more about fracking.