Final Project Background Information: Induced Hydraulic Fracturing

As my focus for my final project for Jour150 I will research and discuss a highly controversial topic in my major currently, hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is a process which can occur naturally underneath the Earth's surface due to weak rock layers, and the presence of pressure and water. The pressure and water cause the weak rock layers to break up and release several valuable resources, most notable natural gas. However, as the demand for natural gas has increased the process of induced hydraulic fracturing has increased, "induced" hydraulic fracturing is the process of manually pumping large quantities of pressurized water down into weak rock layers in order to break them up and release natural gas. This process of induced hydraulic fracturing has had several adverse side effects, as well as several benefits in certain sectors of the economy, so my project will focus on these pros and cons and the overall use of induced hydraulic fracturing today, and whether this practice is expected to continue.

My expert source which I interviewed is a highly respected professor in my field, Professor Howard Leathers, who is currently my Economics of Commodity Marketing Systems professor, and I have also taken his Agricultural Policy class. Although I had slight technical issues dealing with the YouTube Capture app freezing several times during the interview, I was able to obtain a useful clip for my final project. Which can be found below.

Due to the brief and introductory nature of the clip I will be emailing Prof. Leathers and possibly also interviewing another professor in my field in order to gain additional information and media.