How many wells have been fracked

In some cases, wells can be fracked on one site, or pad. To keep groundwater safe, each well is encased in multiple layers of protective industrial-grade steel pipe called casing, which is surrounded by cement. After completion, a well can produce for as long as 20 to 40 years—providing energy and long-term revenue to governments and mineral owners and sustaining local jobs. The drilling rig and related equipment are only temporary and are removed when the well is finished.

Areas disturbed by this activity are reclaimed or restored. Recycled wastewater must also be appropriately treated for its intended end use, which can be challenging when companies do not fully disclose all the chemical contents. Air pollution from oil and natural gas production, including fracking activities, is a serious problem that threatens the health of nearby communities.

Flaring a controlled burn used for testing, safety, and waste-management purposes , venting the direct release of gas into the atmosphere , leaking, combustion, and release of contaminants throughout the production, processing, transmission, and distribution of oil and natural gas are significant sources of air pollution.

Natural gas is made up mostly of methane , a potent greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times as much heat as carbon dioxide. The oil and gas sector is the largest domestic industrial source of methane pollution. When gas is flared, vented, or accidentally leaked, it accelerates the costly health impacts of climate change. Oil and gas operations, such as hydraulic fracturing, also release numerous toxic air contaminants: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene; fine particulate matter PM2.

In rural northeastern Utah, researchers estimated that the amount of smog-forming compounds coming from oil and gas operations each year was equivalent to the emissions of million cars. A broad range of health effects are associated with exposure to these air pollutants, including mild to severe respiratory and neurological problems, cardiovascular damage, endocrine disruption, birth defects, cancer, and premature mortality.

Meanwhile, industry workers face even greater risks from on-site exposure to toxic chemicals and other airborne materials, including silica the main component of frac sand , which can lead to lung disease and cancer when inhaled. The hydraulic fracturing process itself is likely responsible for a very small number of induced earthquakes, according to the agency. The pressure exerted on a rock formation by the fluids injected into these disposal wells can cause faults to shift, resulting in human-induced earthquakes.

The central and eastern United States averaged just 25 annual earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher which is generally strong enough to feel between and but experienced more than 1, of these quakes in alone. Oklahoma and Ohio are among the states with dramatic upticks in quakes as a result of booming oil and gas production and the need to dispose of the accompanying waste.

Some of these man-made earthquakes have been large enough to cause property damage and injuries, but these states find themselves ill-equipped to deal with seismic activity, given how rare natural earthquakes are. A homeowner in Greenbrier, Arkansas, says a newly built addition on his house became unsafe to live in after an earthquake in February More than a dozen homeowners in central Arkansas claim the disposal of fracking wastewater triggered a swarm of more than 1, minor earthquakes in and that damaged their property.

Fracking, like other oil and gas operations, involves intense industrial development. Well pads, access roads, pipelines, and utility corridors are typically accompanied by intense, round-the-clock noise, lights, and truck traffic. In addition to potentially polluting local water and air resources, this vast web of infrastructure can fragment forests and rural landscapes and degrade important wildlife habitat.

Another study, analyzing the impact of fracking wastewater sprayed on forested land in West Virginia, found that more than half of the trees in the area had died within two years. Since , hydraulically fractured horizontal wells have accounted for the majority of new oil and natural gas wells developed in the United States, surpassing all other drilling techniques.

Texas is the top producer of crude oil and natural gas. North Dakota ranks second for crude oil and Pennsylvania second for natural gas. The most productive U. The fossil fuel industry has also set its sights on areas that offer much less potential output, such as in the Florida Everglades, including the Big Cypress National Preserve, despite tremendous environmental risks.

The state also serves as a cautionary tale for the many health and environmental consequences of fracking and other methods of fossil fuel extraction. Studies have found increased levels of harmful chemicals in water near fracking sites, suggesting that further monitoring is in order.

Meanwhile, a state regulation designed to protect the public from the health impacts of fossil fuel extraction may be only loosely enforced , according to a study by Dallas news station WFAA. Output is expected to continue to grow—though not everywhere.

In , New York became the first state with significant natural gas reserves its southern swath sits atop the Marcellus Shale play to prohibit fracking. However, as of , California was still the fourth-largest producer of oil in the nation due to significant ongoing conventional production, from the largely rural Central Valley to some of the densest urban drilling sites anywhere in the world in Los Angeles and surrounding municipalities. A analysis of oil and gas development in California showed that approximately 5.

When fracking does occur in California, it differs from elsewhere in the United States, as it often occurs at shallower depths and in closer proximity to drinking water sources, increasing the risk of water contamination.

Nevertheless, the Trump administration has made moves to open more than one million acres of public land in the state—much of which supplies water for agricultural and urban areas—to oil and gas drilling. This boom in production has come at a cost, however, particularly to land, air, and water resources. According to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, drilling and fracking operations in the Bakken oil and gas fields alone contributed as much as 3 percent of global emissions of ethane a greenhouse gas and precursor for ozone formation.

Although fracking is typically associated with big producers like Texas, states with far more limited oil and gas reserves are affected too. According to an expert report obtained by NRDC, both current production and the prospects for future expansion in Florida are minimal. This wastewater is stored on the fracking site in pits, injected into deep underground wells or disposed of off-site at a wastewater treatment facility.

Though fracking is used worldwide to extract gas and oil, a fracking boom has occurred recently in the United States, partly driven by concerns over the costs associated with imported oil and other fossil fuels as well as energy security — that is, having uninterrupted access to energy at affordable prices in ways that are preferably impervious to international disruptions, according to the Brookings Institution.

In , there were about , natural gas wells in the United States. But by , that number had almost doubled to ,, according to the U. Department of Energy DOE. And every year, about 13, new wells are drilled. According to a study, at least The areas where fracking is most profitable include the Great Plains from Canada south into Texas, the Great Lakes region and an area known as the Marcellus Shale, which reaches from central New York into Ohio and south to Virginia, according to the U. The Marcellus Shale region is particularly attractive to gas drillers because it's a rich supply of natural gas — some call it " the Saudi Arabia of natural gas " or " Frackistan " — and because many of the region's rural communities are economically depressed and eager to attract an energy industry that enjoys handsome profits.

Proponents of fracking claim that the drilling technique is a safe and clean method of securing essential sources of power that will meet U. But opponents say the industry is whitewashing fracking's real effects, a long list that includes air pollution, groundwater contamination, health problems and surface water pollution. Recent history supports some of their claims: A fracking well in Bradford County, Pa.

Researchers from Duke University tested drinking water at 60 sites throughout Pennsylvania and New York; their research was published in in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that drinking water near fracking wells had levels of methane that "fell squarely within a range that the U. Oil: Ever since the s, it has been illegal for companies to export crude oil abroad with a few exceptions. In the wake of the fracking boom, many oil companies want to revise these laws, claiming that these restrictions are depressing prices and hurting their business.

Opponents of exports argue, among other things, that this could raise gasoline prices for some drivers in the Midwest. Right now, the United States imports 40 percent of the oil that it consumes.

That number is expected to shrink to about 32 percent in the decades ahead, thanks to increased production and the fact that we're driving more efficient vehicles. But it still means plenty of imports :. Even if we could reduce our imports all the way to zero, however, the United States still wouldn't be totally independent of foreign countries. That's because oil prices are set on the global market. So instability in the Middle East or rapid growth in China would still drive up global oil prices — leading to price spikes here in the United States.

Natural gas is a fossil fuel, and when we burn it for electricity, we produce carbon-dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming. But natural gas is much cleaner on this score than coal is, producing just half the carbon dioxide per unit of energy. So when we replace coal with natural gas, we're contributing somewhat less to global warming. That's what's happening in the United States.

The glut of cheap shale gas has persuaded many electric utilities to switch from coal to natural gas. That was one reason why U. There's a catch, however: The whole process of fracking for and transporting natural gas can lead to emissions of methane, another potent greenhouse gas.

No one's quite sure how big those methane leaks are — there's a lot of disagreement among researchers. But those leaks could potentially undermine the climate benefits of natural gas, unless companies find ways to fix them.

Here 's a rundown of potential fixes. In the long run, however, natural gas is still a source of greenhouse-gas emissions, and efforts to avoid drastic global warming will likely require the world to sharply curtail its use of gas in the next few decades. So natural gas, by itself, isn't a solution for global warming. See here for more detail on this. A few countries have been using fracking for some time — particularly Canada. But shale fracking hasn't yet caught on anywhere the way it has in the United States.

Plenty of countries abroad have their own shale gas and shale oil resources. That includes China, which appears to have nearly twice as much shale gas underground as the United States does:. But fracking has been slow to spread overseas, for a variety of reasons. Some countries, like France and the Netherlands, have banned fracking for fear of water contamination.

Others, like Austria, have such strict regulations that drilling is uneconomical. Even countries in favor of fracking have seen sluggish progress, in part because working with shale can be extremely difficult and complicated.

In Poland, there's still plenty of work that has to be done to understand the region's geology. And, in China, the spread of fracking has been hampered by a variety of factors — complex geology, a dearth of water supplies in key regions, and a burdensome layer of regulations that hamper innovation.

This card stack is very much a work in progress. It will continue to be updated as events unfold, new research gets published, and fresh questions emerge. So if you have additional questions or comments or quibbles or complaints, send a note to Brad Plumer: brad vox. You can find the answer to most questions about production or consumption there. The International Energy Agency's report on "Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas" offers a comprehensive overview of fracking issues around the world, as well as a guide to questions about pollution and regulation.

Carl T. Montgomery and Michael B. Smith of NSI Technologies have written a nice, readable history of hydraulic fracturing. ProPublica has constant coverage of various pollution issues related to fracking in the United States. This is a running list of substantive updates, corrections, and additions to this card stack. These cards were last updated on April 10, Here is a summary of edits:. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.

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How does fracking work, exactly? Let's walk through a basic fracking operation for natural gas in, say, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania: ProPublica 1 First, a "wellbore," or hole, needs to be drilled all the way down to the layer of gas-rich shale. Where is fracking taking place in the United States? Much of the activity is concentrated in Texas, North Dakota, Louisiana, and the Marcellus Shale region in the East: Post Carbon Institute These aren't the only oil and gas wells in the United States shale represents about 29 percent of total oil production and 40 percent of gas.

How has fracking boosted US oil and gas production? Supplies are projected to grow further in the years ahead: Crude oil: By November , the United States was producing 7. Supplies are currently expected to grow until at least Note that these predictions are far from perfect — ten years ago, few were predicting the fracking boom. How has fracking affected the US economy? Here are a few of the big ones: More jobs in some states: More drilling means more jobs.