STK-M3A2 Excelsior College Hydro-fracking

For this assignment, we will drill down (pun intended) on the controversies that surround hydraulic fracturing, typically shortened to “hydro-fracking”, for natural gas. This process is not new, but technological innovations in recent years have made it a much more practical and widespread technique to obtain natural gas. Fracking has supporters and detractors, but many states are now allowing fracking, and the practice is so widespread and effective that the prices for natural gas have fallen precipitously in recent years. However, there have been a host of environmental concerns with the rapid increase in the use of fracking. These include health issues created by water and air pollutants, damage to once wild and pristine environments that cannot be undone, and also earthquakes.

This assignment asks you to analyze an article from a Houston newspaper by A. Kuchment that reviews recent research on the increase in the number of earthquakes in Texas. This increase has apparently been linked to the increased use of fracking techniques. The US Geologic Survey has also published information on this issue. Learn more from the following reading and viewing opportunities before you begin the assignment.

Participating in this activity will enable you to demonstrate mastery of Module Level Outcome 2.

First:

Carefully read the news article:

Next, for your comparison to the news article, your information from the “scientific community”:

Finally, submit the following:

You are also encouraged to do your own research through our library on the topic. Do not forget to include in-text citations and complete APAstyle references for all sources. The Excelsior Library Citation Tip Sheets and Resources (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. will be a helpful guide. You may also wish to use a citation generator – you just insert the information, and it creates the citation in the format you indicate (MLA or APA, for example). Here are 3 citation generators to choose from: