By Richard Garibay
Assistant Opinion Editor

For the laymen, “fracking” is short for hydraulic fracturing which is a method of oil and natural gas production that pumps water, sand and chemicals at very high pressure into the ground in order to break rock formations and release the resources.
As with all things that benefit oil production this method has drawn a great amount of criticism from certain groups.
One of the more dramatic fears of fracking is an unfounded belief that it causes earthquakes so large that they will cast the entire state of California into the Pacific Ocean.
It is true that fracking does cause earthquakes, like the much cited magnitude three in Ohio not only are these rare they are also quite harmless. According to the United States Geological Survey’s website, “Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as ‘fracking’ does not appear to be linked to the increased rate of magnitude 3 and larger earthquakes.”
To put this into perspective the USGS goes on to state that earthquakes between magnitude 1.0 and 3.0 are, “Not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions,” and produce “vibrations similar to the passing of a truck.”
The second criticism is the fear of pollution whether it is water or air. Many people who disagree with fracking cite usage of water in a drought-ridden United States. Granted, this water becomes unusable, but, scientific-alliance.org states that, “a considerable proportion of the water used is recovered and reused for subsequent fracking purposes.”
This means this water is not dumped into the ground wells of orphanages as many opponents would have you believe.
Also true is the fact that fracking releases some chemicals into the air, but because this method has made it easier and more cost effective to drill for oil coal is no longer the preferred option for electricity production.
Because of this the Scientific Alliance’s website goes on to argue that, “the evidence in America is that gas has displaced coal and given real benefits in terms of air pollution as well as reducing carbon dioxide output.”
Producing electricity by using coal defeats the purpose of using electric vehicles to reduce pollution because it inadvertently causes more.
So, fracking is a great benefit as it produces clean electricity.
One of the greatest benefits can be seen in its effects on the US economy.
According to a Yale study found on the California Independent Petroleum Association’s website, “Had drillers not cracked the code on shale gas with horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing, the United States would have been forced to do what experts expected five years ago: import massive of quantities of gas in the form of LNG from countries like Qatar, Australia, even Russia.”
Fracking has created an energy independent United States.
No longer does the country have to fear the overseas political climates and their effects on oil production.