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The Benefits of Natural Gas That Will Help the United States Prosper

By , denver, CO
To whom it may concern,

My name is Milad, and I am a senior in high school. I am going to inform you on the benefits of hydraulic fracking. Hydraulic fracking seems to be an issue that is brought up in today's world, as one of the examples is that it seems to harm the environment. Besides the environmental issues that seem to come out of hydraulic fracking, the issue of its effects on foreign countries who depend on us to import their oil comes out, as well as the fact that it will be not be financially beneficial to make natural gas a top industry in the United States. Despite these claims, hydraulic fracking is indeed beneficial because it gives us the opportunity to make a large sum of profit that would cut the deficit, it would help reduce the unemployment rate in the United States by creating jobs, and the natural gas that comes out of hydraulic fracking does not affect the ozone layer as bad as oil and coal do, as well as the fact that it would help save American families money.

Hydraulic fracking is beneficial because it presents us with the opportunity to make profit and reduce our national deficit. The United States of America produce 619,000,000 of the world's natural gas per year, second behind China (CIA factbook). With the United States being second in the world in producing natural gas, it is giving the opportunity for us to dominate an industry. With that dominance, we could help reduce the national deficit. According to the Washington Post, we are currently 18 trillion dollars in debt. This deficit can be erased if we charge the standard $3.50 for natural gas. If you multiply $3.50 by the amount of natural gas we produce (619,000,000 a year), we could reduce $2.1 trillion dollars from the national deficit each year. In a period of 9 years, this deficit can be erased. After 9 years, we would be able to utilize that $2.1 trillion dollars into profit. If we are not to switch to natural gas, we will continue to add to our national deficit by continuously buying oil from foreign countries. Despite many say that we are helping fund these country's economies, we are hurting our own economy when Saudi Arabia, is charging us $100 a barrel, and we buy 1.45 million barrels from them (nytimes). If you are to then multiply the $100 a barrel by 1.45 million barrels a day we buy from them, and them multiply that by 365 days, we get a total spending cost of $529 billion and $25 million a year. As a result, this is simply adding to our national deficit, which is exactly why the preferable 2.1 trillion dollars in profit if we sell our natural gas is more preferable.

Besides switching to natural gas to decrease the deficit, switching to natural gas also helps create more jobs in this country. According to, 12.3 million Americans are unemployed. This statistic is valid seeing as to how adding to our national deficit, is causing companies to lay off workers to help contribute more to paying off this deficit. Although all the 12.3 Americans cannot be employed by the natural gas industry, a strong number of them will. The natural gas industry is supposed to support 2.4 million jobs in 48 states ( By switching to natural gas, 2.4 million new jobs will be created. In addition to creating the new jobs, if we are to switch to natural gas and begin exporting it, we will not only reduce the national deficit through profit, but we will later allow the other 9.9 million Americans to be employed again as companies will no longer be pressured heavily in paying their company taxes to help reduce a national deficit that no longer exists.

Lastly, switching to natural gas gives us a source of energy that emits fewer pollutants than oil. Many claim that oil and coal are the most effective source of energy. However, at environments with high altitudes, 50 % of the ozone layer has been depleted ( The majority of this depletion cannot be contributed to natural gas. This is because natural gas accounts for only 24 % of the carbon dioxide that is breaking down the ozone layer, as opposed to 76 % of the carbon dioxide contributed from oil and coal ( Natural gas must become our primary source of energy. If the 76 % of carbon dioxide is contributed from oil and coal, our ozone layer will simply break down. The ozone layer, which protects us from the sun’s rays, if broken down, will increase the risk for skin cancer if we continue to burn more coal and oil ( If we are to simply isolate the effects of oil, not coal, it is still a big contributor to our environmental issues. Oil is known to produce 34 % of the carbon dioxide in our environment ( This may seem insignificant as this is only 10 % more than the amount of carbon dioxide that natural gas produces. But according to autopsies, the average American owns 2.28 cars per household. Seeing as to how most Americans use cars that are not fuel efficient, the amount of air pollutants caused by the oil burned in the 2.28 cars per household is simply breaking our ozone layer down even more. That is why natural gas would be more efficient for our cars as it would not break down our ozone layer as fast as we would use 75.3 million less gallons of oil nationwide, and we’d emit 730,000 fewer metric tons of global warming pollution (environemntalamerica) . Furthermore, switching to cars that are fuel efficient also would save Americans money. Switching to natural gas is estimated to save families nearly $260 million at the gas pump, and save $15 per family at the pump (environmentalamerica). Natural gas as a source of energy for our cars is emitting less pollutants that harm our environment compared to oil, and it is helping to make families more financially secure. Hydraulic fracking is beneficial because it gives us the opportunity to make a large sum of profit that would cut the deficit, it would help reduce the unemployment rate in the United States by creating jobs, and the natural gas that comes out of hydraulic fracking does not affect the ozone layer as bad as oil and coal do, as well as the fact that it would help save American families money. Is it worth to continue to add to our deficit, make us less dependent on other countries, and not help create jobs for Americans, harm our environment, and charge families more money at the pump? We need to switch to an industry that is financially and environmentally friendly. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I am ensured that you will fight for the progress that our country needs to move towards.



Works Cited
Brown, Paul. "Ozone Layer Most Fragile on Record." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 26 Apr. 2005. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. <>.
"Central Intelligence Agency." CIA. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <>.
Gilbert, Dan. "Natural Gas Glut Pushes Exports." Online/ N.p., 04 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <>.
July., NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A Recent Drop in Claims for Unemployment Benefits Was Just Too Good to Be True. Initial Jobless Claims Rose Sharply Last Week after Falling to a Four-year Low Earlier in. "Jobless Claims up Sharply." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 19 July 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <>.
Kessler, Glenn. "Is Obama Responsible for a $5 Trillion Increase in the Debt?" Washington Post. The Washington Post, 17 May 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <>.
Krauss, Clifford. "U.S. Reliance On Saudi Oil Goes Back Up." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <>.
Varghese, Romy. "Pittsburgh Rebound Sparked by Spurned Gas Frackers." Bloomberg. Bloomberg, 08 Aug. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <>.
"Where The US Gets Its Oil From." Consumer Energy Report. Energy Information Administration, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <>.
Wilcox, Nathan. "News Releases." Environment America. N.p., 21 Nov. 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. < website address or keywords to cite.>.

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luke said...
Nov. 28, 2012 at 12:47 pm:
Take into account the money it would take to switch to Natual Gas from only stated gross profit not net.  
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