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Hydraulic Fracturing

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Hydraulic Fracturing
Rough Draft Since the start of the 1950s, hydraulic fracturing has directly affected employment opportunities. In recent years, fracturing has created nearly 72,000 new jobs (“Hydrofracking: Is Hydraulic Fracturing, or Hydrofracking, a Safe Way to Extract Natural Gas”). However, it has been making living conditions worse because of the detrimental effects it has on local water supplies. Hydraulic fracturing has been a widely debated issue in terms of sustainability for our environment, inspiring both supporters and critics to find a solution for our changing fuel economy. Natural resources, such as oil is a crucial part in the American economy for over 6 decades. Its impact has greatly influenced the job market. Through the oil industry, …show more content…
For example, if you acknowledge the capital growth of the oil industry, you would see why abandoning such practices not only be destructive to our economy, but to the world’s economy as well. Mr. Priest, a professor at the University of Iowa said, “We still require lots of oil for a long time... Given these realities, we should not abandon the quest to determine the extent of our offshore oil resources and how much can be recovered in a responsible manner.” (“Energy Policy: Should the United States Increase Domestic Production of Oil and Natural Gas?”). That means if you shut down oil wells around the country, it will lead to consumers cutting back on production, thus negatively stimulating the world economy. Another example why hydraulic fracturing is a key component in our economy is because it encourages job growth and supply. Such outcomes have been observed in the United States and the Middle East where both areas have seen an increase in jobs by over 117% (“Hydrofracking: Is Hydraulic Fracturing, or Hydrofracking, a Safe Way to Extract Natural Gas”). Additionally, fracturing has made us less reliant on foreign oils and has allowed us to invest in significant projects, like education or protection. The reason we cannot invest as much money in such projects is because we are paying more to extract a resource that we can easily extract in our own country. Due to the high prices of these foreign oils, our debt crisis is only getting worse. However, if we cut back on foreign oils, not only will we see lower gas prices, but an abundance of job as well (“Hydrofracking: Is Hydraulic Fracturing, or Hydrofracking, a Safe Way to Extract Natural Gas”). Asides from the detrimental effects the OPEC Embargo of 1973 has done to the economy, government regulation of natural resources could cause greater problems like unemployment and deeper debt. For example, if we considered todays EPA regulations, not

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