Hydraulic Fracturing & Policy Actions in New York Research Paper

Hydraulic Fracturing & Policy Actions in New York - Research Paper Example The country has several potential sites for oil deposits which recently have been explored by oil-drilling companies. The latest innovation on oil drilling techniques has opened opportunities for the United States to become oil dependent, opening abundant supply of natural gases which the US didn’t have several years ago. One of the newest techniques being used for extracting high volume oil is called â€Å"Hydraulic Fracturing†. Even though this new technique would open up a big opportunity for the United States to become self-sufficient on oil, there is still manifold repudiation on the ratification of the proposal on several states as bunch of claims were raised that this type of gas extraction might come at the expense of the health of the public as well as the environment. Many government agencies proposed policies in order to regulate the natural gas explorations in various states in the country. This particular study focuses on the pathway of the states of New Yo rk alongside Pennsylvania in the writing of parametric policies that will regulate the oil-drilling operations and at the same time to protect the public safety by ensuring prevention of contaminating the water supplies and precluding some other side effects of Hydraulic Fracturing from taking place. What is Hydraulic Fracturing? â€Å"Hydraulic Fracturing is the propagation of fractures in a rock layer caused by the presence of a pressurized fluid. Hydraulic fractures may form naturally, as in the case of veins or dikes, or may be man-made in order to release petroleum, natural gas, coal seam gas, or other substances for extraction, where the technique is often called frackin or hydrofracking.†Ã‚  frackin  or  hydrofracking.† Since there are solid rock formations underneath the soil, hydraulic fracturing also uses chemicals and other substances in a form of highly-pressurized fluid that will fracture the rock formation paving the way towards the recovery of fossil fuels which are later to be converted into various petroleum products. In the United States, Hydraulic Fracturing is defined as â€Å"†¦is the process of utilizing pressurized water, chemical additives, and physical proppants to fracture rock layers and release petroleum, natural gas, or other substances so that they can be e xtracted.† Proppants are substances in forms of sand or fine coarse to prevent drilled holes from closing when operations are tentatively ceased. Hydraulic Fracturing is also common outside the United States. In Canada, though they have started the drilling operations by fracking in the 1990s, complaints about its safety as verbalized by the concerned and affected residents arose only after eleven years. In Australia, hydraulic fracturing is also very common; however, there were reported breakage or leaks on the pipes used for extraction which as per the report has contaminated the water supply in some parts of Australia. This has triggered the national and local governments in Australia to regulate the oil-drilling operations by potently prohibiting the inclusion of chemicals in the drilling process. Some other countries which use hydraulic fracturing are New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Further, France had also used the technique but was eventually sent to c losure after manifold public complaints. THE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING AND POLICY ACTION IN NEW YORK 4 The environmental and

Sociology Research Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sociology Research Literature Review - Essay Example There is no doubting that terrorism is a 'hot topic', in recent times it has come to dominate global media coverage almost to the point of socially damaging saturation. It has been a long held belief amongst academics of all persuasions that an individual's perception of social reality is often based on the information available to them. As a highly influential medium both print and electronic media is an important source of information within the global society. The individual factor of writer, reporter or journalist influences the presentation of ideas in the media. News provides information the reader, on the basis of his or her own knowledge, perception and level of analytical skill; help them form opinions or beliefs about a given set of circumstances. Many factors influence this process building a social construct of reality in the society, such as, the level of understanding that a reader has for the language, tone, pictures used, context and time of the appearance of the news . News published on terrorist activities during sensitive time like war is likely to have more impact than it might during peace. The use of words, language and pictures in that particular context impacts dramatically on the perception of the masses. A series of recent terrorist activities have been largely associated with religious militant organisations, in the name of faith, god, religion and religious responsibilities young minds are being trained to get involve in terrorist activity. Derrida suggests that deconstructive faith has to be distinguished from a particular order of messianic faith (a faith within a determinable horizon) (1998, 8). The September 11 attack and London 7/7 Bombings are current examples of Derrida's notion of destructive faith. This news has presented by media groups around the world as being the product of Islam, Islamic faith, terrorism and Al-Qaeda. Linking these ideas together creates an ideology in the mass media that automatically presumes that these individual variables are synonymous to each other; this ideology created by the media then becomes problematic. The role of ideology then, requires consideration; defining 'ideology' can be difficult in itself. Chomsky (2002) raises various issues on the way media represents various issues of war, trade union issues and terrorism. The issues ranged from the presentation of these events by media and control of powerful groups over these mediums to control thought process of mass. Various other issues are raised in Said (1996, 44) on his work "Covering Islam". These were related to the partial knowledge of the people in West about Islam and questioned the interpretation based on this partial knowledge. Crelinsten (1989, 167-198), Slone (2000, 450-520), Weimann and Winn (1994, 51-89) explained in their works the emotional effect of the media stories. According to them media stories are highly sensational and selective. This is apparent from the news appearing on various media sources. The stories about pain, killings and inhuman activities sell more than other constructive stories. The appetite of society for the bad stories has been largely commercialized by several media groups. (Altheide