Study
| EST. READ TIME 2 MIN.Despite alarmist claims, hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—is generally safe, and risks are manageable
Hydraulic Fracturing: Risks and Management
- Hydraulic fracturing, a technique used in oil and gas production, has faced strong opposition from environmental groups in the several decades since the practice came into widespread use.
- Opponents of hydraulic fracturing assert that the process poses innumerable risks to the environment and human health—and have lobbied governments to impose moratoria and outright ban hydraulic fracturing entirely.
- Since 2014 Fraser Institute researchers have conducted periodic surveys of the literature assessing the environmental and health risks of hydraulic fracturing. Generally, they found that while the risks posited by opponents of hydraulic fracturing are real, they are neither high nor overly frequent and could be mitigated with various technological changes and changes to the hydraulic fracturing practice.
- In 2014, we reviewed nine high-profile studies and reviews of the impacts of hydraulic fracturing; an additional five studies were added in 2015; and nine additional studies were incorporated in 2020. Again, we concluded that hydraulic fracturing should continue as we improve the current system of governmental and industry self-regulation (Green, 2014: iii–iv).
- In this update, six high-level reviews or summary publications shedding additional light on the risks of hydraulic fracturing have been included—particularly pertaining to seismicity and water overuse/contamination, but also several studies examining direct effects on human health.
- As with previous reviews, this one finds increased knowledge about the risks of hydraulic fracturing continues to accumulate, with indications that some of the risks—increased seismicity and impacts to groundwater—may warrant greater mitigation efforts than previously thought necessary.
- Monitoring of air and water quality as well as induced seismicity in areas engaging in hydraulic fracturing may need to be increased, and exposure notification systems strengthened to ensure that nearby populations are enabled to manage their risk exposures from hydraulic fracturing operations.
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Kenneth P. Green
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute
Kenneth P. Green is a Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of over 800 essays and articles on public policy,published by think tanks, major newspapers, and technical and trade journals in North America. Mr. Green holds a doctoral degree in environmental science and engineering from UCLA, a master’s degree in molecular genetics from San Diego State University, and a bachelors degree in general biology from UCLA.Mr. Green’s policy analysis has centered on evaluating the pros and cons of government management of environmental, health, and safety risk. More often than not, his research has shown that governments are poor managers of risk, promulgating policies that often do more harm than good both socially and individually, are wasteful of limited regulatory resources, often benefit special interests (in government and industry) at the expense of the general public, and are almost universally violative of individual rights and personal autonomy. Mr. Green has also focused on government’s misuse of probabilistic risk models in the defining and regulating of EHS risks, ranging from air pollution to chemical exposure, to climate change, and most recently, to biological threats such as COVID-19.Mr. Green's longer publications include two supplementary text books on environmental science issues, numerous studies of environment, health, and safety policies and regulations across North America, as well as a broad range of derivative articles and opinion columns. Mr. Green has appeared frequently in major media and has testified before legislative bodies in both the United States and Canada.… Read more