The Fracking Controversy: Can Environmental Concerns be Resolved?
Kurt Stanberry, Camille Stanberry

Abstract
To satisfy long-term global demand for energy from fossil fuels, the energy industry continues to develop better and more efficient drilling techniques to enhance oil and gas production. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves a combination of technologies that are very effective at capturing oil and gas trapped in shale formations, not possible with traditional vertical drilling methods. Fracking has enjoyed a boom across the US and other energy-producing nations over the last decade, but has simultaneously created an emerging environmental controversy involving a wide range of issues such as ground water contamination, surface chemical spills, and the excessive use of scarce water supplies, as well as earthquakes and methane gas releases. This paper examines the public health and environmental science aspects of fracking, as well as potential solutions to the emerging problems.

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