Fracking

Rameez Sultan

Prof Wedes

ENG 1302 TTH 11:30 AM

1st Dec 2012

Fracking: A Method You Can Trust

Fracking is an advanced, unconventional drilling technique that has made it possible to retrieve deposits of methane gas trapped in formations of shale rock thousands of feet below ground. This process made it possible to extract fossil fuels that weren’t considered accessible before this technology. The controversy to ban fracking due to environmental dangers has been increasing since the increase of the oil and gas production in the U.S almost twenty years ago. In the article "Methane Contamination of Drinking Water Accompanying Gas-Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing " Stephen G. Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel R. Warnerb, and Robert B. Jackson conducted research at Duke University that proved fracking is not harmful to our environment. Their arguments and research were based on facts and scientific formulas, which made it the most convincing article. The scholarly article "Frac Water Reuse" Scott Jenkins is not as convincing as Osborn et al's writing because of contradictory reasoning that didn't make a logical argument and can possibly confuse the reader. The other two articles "Ban Fracking Now" by Josh Fox published in USA Today and "American Rivers Must Be Protected from Fracking and Other Threats" by Mark Clayton, a staff writer for the Christian Science Monitor, an international news organization, are not as credible as the first article because they use emotional rather than logical appeals to block the reader from facts about fracking. Osborn et al's articles is the most convincing because it was written by scholars in the science field and the writing is based on scientific facts rather than an emotional appeal.

Stephen G. Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel R. Warnerb, and Robert B. Jackson wrote the most convincing article because their credibility is undoubted and trustworthy, also the logical explanation is unbiased and not one sided, and they do...