Archive for the 'natural gas drilling' Category

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ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules

Published on 04/29/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

 

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“One of the key controversies about fracking is the chemical makeup of the fluid that is pumped deep into the ground to break apart rock and release natural gas. Some companies have been reluctant to disclose what’s in their fracking fluid. Scientists and environmental advocates argue that, without knowing its precise composition, they can’t thoroughly investigate complaints of contamination.

Disclosure requirements vary considerably from state to state, asProPublica recently charted. In many cases, the rules have been limited by a “trade secrets” provision under which companies can claim that a proprietary chemical doesn’t have to be disclosed to regulators or the public.”

Read more: AlterNet

 

lily victoria

Gas ‘fracking’ gets green light

Published on 04/25/2012 in fracking, natural gas drilling, peak water and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: The Guardian

“Ministers have been advised to allow the controversial practice of fracking for shale gas to be extended in Britain, despite it causing two earthquakes and the emergence of serious doubts over the safety of the wells that have already been drilled.

“The experts say hydraulic fracturing, whereby a well is drilled hundreds of metres deep and pumped full of water, sand and chemicals in order to release methane gas, should be allowed on a wide scale, although they accept that two small earthquakes in Blackpool last spring were caused by the first stages of fracking activities in the only British plants operating.

The government’s own data revealed serious questions around the safety of fracking in areas of known seismic activity, such as the two wells in Lancashire, because of evidence that the resulting earthquakes have damaged the integrity of at least one well. There is also apparent confusion over which government agencies should be overseeing the process to ensure its public safety, with the responsibility shared among several bodies that appear not to be co-ordinating.

“Environmental groups are worried not just about the potential dangers from earth tremors caused by fracking, but about the effects on the UK’s push to tackle climate change. Last month, the chancellor, George Osborne, and the new energy secretary, Ed Davey, launched a new “dash for gas” when they announced measures to encourage the building of new gas-fired power stations across the UK. Green groups argue this will put carbon-cutting targets out of reach, by locking in high-carbon emitting infrastructure and crowding out investment in renewables. “We should be developing the huge potential of clean British energy from the sun, wind and waves, not more dirty and dangerous fossil fuels,” said Atkins.”

Read more: The Guardian

Sami Oueida

Restrict shale gas fracking to 600m from water supplies, says study

Published on 04/25/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling and peak water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Retrieved from: The Guardian

“Controversial “fracking” for shale gas should only take place at least 600 metres down from aquifers used for water supplies, scientists said on Wednesday.

A new study revealed the process, which uses high-pressure liquid pumped deep underground to split shale rock and release gas, caused fractures running upwards and downwards through the ground of up to 588 metres from their source. The research, published in the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology, found the chance of a fracture extending more than 600 metres upwards was exceptionally low, and the probability of fractures of more than 350 metres was 1%.

Researchers said the study showed it was “incredibly unlikely” that fracking at depths of 2km to 3km below the surface would lead to the contamination of shallow aquifers which lie above the gas resources.

“The researchers from Durham University, Cardiff University and the University of Tromso, Norway, looked at thousands of natural and induced rock fractures in the US, Europe and Africa, and found none of the artificially caused ones were more than 600 metres.”

Read more: The Guardian

Sami Oueida

Shocking Conflict of Interest: Private Water Companies Partner With Fracking Lobby

Published on 04/22/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, greenwashing, natural gas drilling, policy, privatization and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

 

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The water companies – American Water and Aqua America — are leading drinking water suppliers in Pennsylvania, where drilling is booming. They also sell water to gas companies — which use a drilling technique that requires massive amounts of water — and have expressed interest in treating drilling wastewater, a potentially lucrative opportunity.

These investor-owned, publicly traded water utility companies are also dues-paying “associate members” of the gas industry’s powerful Marcellus Shale Coalition, a fact confirmed by coalition spokesman Travis Windle, who says associate members pay $15,000 annually in dues. “Our associate members are really the backbone of the industry,” adds Windle.

Both water companies serve millions of people across the country — Aqua America operates in 11 states and American Water in more than 30.”

Read more: Alternet

 

lily victoria

Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes?

Published on 04/16/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling, tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

 

Photo retrieved from: www.motherjones.com

“But the second one is a little more complicated. Though fracking does cause tiny tremors, the USGS scientists found no links between the process of fracking itself and the larger earthquakes that have been occurring more frequently. They did, however, notice that earthquakes have clustered around wastewater wells in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and neighboring states. Disposing of wastewater by pumping it deep into the ground is standard practice in many industries, including mining, chemical manufacturing, and oil and gas extraction, and the oil and gas industry alone operates tens of thousands of wastewater disposal wells. But the recent surge of fracking activity, which uses millions of gallons of water to crack rock deep in the ground and release natural gas, has boosted the volume of wastewater being injected into the ground.

Stresses are everywhere in the earth’s crust, Ellsworth explains, and drilling activity can affect them. Many wastewater wells actually go deeper than gas drilling wells, reaching an older layer of rock known as basement rock, where stresses and faults are more common. The high pressure used to pump water into waste wells can cause those faults to shift, and the water itself can lubricate already-stressed faults, easing their movement and making an earthquake-causing slip more likely.”

Read more: Mother Jones

 

lily victoria

Oil and Gas Boom in Indian Country! Tribal Leaders and EPA Meet in Denver

Published on 04/16/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, hydrology, natural gas drilling, oil, policy, privatization, tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: wwwictmn.com

“Protecting the Environment

With so much money pouring onto tribal lands, “it’s like trying to stop a freight train,” Stockbridge said, and “the environment may be steamrolled” without early planning. At Fort Berthold, they can’t get enough rigs in to drill rapidly enough, and the operations require “a phenomenal amount of water,” he said.

Environmental concerns will have to “get ahead of the game” because of the “astronomical” amounts of money involved, he said.

Gerald Wagner, Blackfeet Nation environmental service director and vice-chairperson of the ROC, said his tribe is looking for the “environmental protection component” although the tribe does have protection ordinance. Nevertheless, the tribe is looking for the “best protection of our resource” and said he is concerned about effects to the aquifer, which may be only 10 feet from drilling activity.”

Read more: ICTMN.com

lily victoria

Earthquake Outbreak in Central U.S. Tied to Drilling Wastewater

Published on 04/12/2012 in management, natural gas drilling, oil, uncategorized, wastewater and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Earthquake Outbreak in Central U.S. Tied to Drilling Wastewater “A spate of earthquakes across the middle of the U.S. is “almost certainly” manmade, and may coincide with wastewater from oil or gas drilling injected into the ground, U.S. government scientists said in a new study.

“Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey said that for the three decades until 2000, seismic events averaged 21 a year in a central U.S. region. They jumped to 50 in 2009, 87 in 2010 and 134 in 2011.

” ‘Our scientists cite a series of examples for which an uptick in seismic activity is observed in areas where the disposal of wastewater through deep-well injection increased significantly,’ David Hayes, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior, said in a blog post yesterday, describing research by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey.

“In hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — water, sand and chemicals are injected into deep shale formations to break apart underground rock and free natural gas trapped deep underground. Much of that water comes back up to the surface and must then be disposed of.

“The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to release rules on air pollution from gas wells and on the treatment of wastewater. Other state and federal rules could force more disclosure of the chemicals used by the drilling companies.”

Read More: Bloomberg

Chippie Kislik

Unregulated Fracking for Decades? Why California May Be a Disaster Waiting to Happen

Published on 04/10/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, natural gas drilling, policy and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The situation became less clear after a recent investigative report from DC-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group explained that California has experienced 60 unregulated years of widespread fracking, whose technical methods and geographical locations in the seismically active state exist outside of the public purview. It got darker after Governor Jerry Brown’s administration wiped the state government’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) Web site of fracking fact-sheets and documents. Good luck finding anything about fracking on the governor’s official site either.”

“Since our report came out, the Brown administration hasn’t been happy with it,” Bill Allayaud, EWG‘s California director of government affairs, told AlterNet by phone. “They said we quoted their meetings but left out important quotes. But I don’t know what we left out, or how we could shine a better light on the situation. We’ve been trying to work with them now for over a year.”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria

The Costs of Fracking

Published on 04/03/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling, policy and tap water. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.propublica.org

“As regulators weigh the benefits of drilling 40,000 gas wells across New York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation’s scant analysis of fracking’s potential costs overstates job benefits and omits state Transportation Department estimates of road maintenance costs exceeding $375 million.

Numerous studies show that drill-friendly communities underperform their neighbors in income, employment, education and investment. The D.E.C. now admits that its review was inadequate. Worse, the department completely ignores fracking’s health effects despite compelling evidence from Texas of asthma levels three times higher in areas affected by fracking.

Pennsylvanians are sick from arsenic, benzene and toluene from nearby fracking wells. Two hundred fifty medical professionals petitioned New York State last year for a health assessment and received no response. The director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Christopher Portier, recently urged, ““More research is needed for us to understand public health impacts from natural gas drilling and new gas drilling technologies.”

Read more: The New York Times

 

lily victoria

For Pennsylvania’s Doctors, a Gag Order on Fracking Chemicals

Published on 03/27/2012 in contaminated water, fracking, groundwater, natural gas drilling, policy, tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.motherjones.com

“Pennsylvania is at the forefront in the debate over “fracking,” the process by which a high-pressure mixture of chemicals, sand, and water are blasted into rock to tap into the gas. Recent discoveries of great reserves in the Marcellus Shale region of the state prompted a rush to development, as have advancements in fracking technologies. But with those changes have come a number of concerns from citizens about potential environmental and health impacts from natural gas drilling.

There is good reason to be curious about exactly what’s in those fluids. A 2010 congressional investigation revealed that Halliburton and other fracking companies had used 32 million gallons of diesel products, which include toxic chemicals like benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, in the fluids they inject into the ground. Low levels of exposure to those chemicals can trigger acute effects like headaches, dizziness, and drowsiness, while higher levels of exposure can cause cancer.”

Read more: Mother Jones

lily victoria