Fracking sites, Northeastern PA [Natural gas]

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Physical and cultural impacts:

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, extracts natural gas from deep beneath the earth’s surface. Wells are drilled as deep as 2-3 miles to layers of shale and gas. The wells then bend and continue horizontally for another 1-3 miles through the shale layer. The wells are cased in steel and concrete, and a water and sand mixture is blasted into the shale in the tracking process. The sand particles hold the shale apart, allowing natural gas to flow more easily to the wells.

The drill sites are modest in size, and after fracking, the well pads are quite small, often an acre or smaller. Pipelines are often buried underground, leaving an open swath of land in the right of way that can interrupt ecological patches and corridors.

There is concern about the integrity of the wells, and the possibility of natural gas leaching into aquifers. There is also concern about the disposal of the fracking liquid, which contains lubricants and other chemicals. In some states (although not Pennsylvania), the liquid is disposed of in deep injection wells, causing concern that those wells could leak to aquifers, and also that deep injection of liquid has caused earthquakes in some areas.

From top:

Two views of a well pad; a drilling site; students touring the well site.