Committee: Economic and Finance
Topic: Hydraulic Fracturing
Sponsoring Country: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
The General Assembly,
Recalling hydraulic fracturing as an alternative source of energy by recovering natural gas from
shale 730 meters below the surface,
Reaffirming hydraulic fracturing injects a pressurized mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into
cracks of deep rock formations,
Concerned companies using hydraulic fracturing are not required to disclose the chemicals used
in this process,
Recognizing the United Nations Academic Impact in partnership with the Council on Foreign
Relations will host a discussion on hydraulic fracturing in July of this year,
Bearing in mind groundwater can be contaminated by these chemicals tom fracturing spills and
hydraulic fracturing is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act of 2005,
Reaffirming hydraulic fracturing can cause earthquakes as seen with British corporation
Cuadrilla Resources,
Keeping in mind the methane acquired through hydraulic fracturing can escape into the
environment leading to possible explosions and contributing to faster climate change,
Noting further hydraulic fracturing uses 5 million gallons of fresh water for each recovery of
natural gas,
Deeply disturbed that less than 1/3 of the freshwater used for fracturing is recovered,
1. Requests the United Nations stalls further hydraulic fracturing development until it has
been investigated by the selected committee,
2. Proclaims the engineers and environmentalists from Saudi Environmental to form a
committee that will:
a. meet twice a year to review any fracturing developments such as new fracturing
processes or incidents,
b. investigate any fracturing incidents such as earthquakes or groundwater
contamination,
c. regulate any methane produced through fracturing including trade and
transportation;
3. Considers creating an annual discussion for reviewing hydraulic fracturing through the
United Nations Academic Impact;
4. Calls for annual inspections at current functioning hydraulic fracturing wells that will:
a. test methane leakage to assure to it is at most 1%,
b. test groundwater on facility site and in local areas;
5. Urges for the creation of legislation for safe drinking water to be revised to include
hydraulic fracturing accountable for any groundwater contamination;
6. Authorizes restrictions on the amount of fresh water that may be used by companies to 3
million gallons from 5 million;
7. Instructs hydraulic fracturing companies to revise their process to recover at least 1/2 of
their water used;
8. Welcomes funding for this committee and inspections to be provided by the Worldwatch
Institute;
9. Requests that companies using hydraulic fracturing disclose all chemicals used.