This is the Game Changer we need.
The Jury is still out on Many aspects of Fracking, but on balance it's arguably even been good for the environment due to 42% lower emissions of NG than coal.
Fracking: It’s Good for the Economy…AND the Environment
Yahoo Daily Ticker Vid
6 mins
Fracking: It
…and yet it is harder to do, overall. Which is part of why the US BOE stockpiles of NG compared to monthly usage is roughly 1/10 of storage to usage ratio for liquid hydrocarbons.In this area, SWNY, it is very common to store it in played out NG fields. Storage wells. This is done with huge compressor stations. It's been done for decades.
Obama's steady balanced approach leads to good result again.
Note that fracking was developed by the Energy Department, with decades of pubic investment. If conservatives had their debt fetish antigummit ways, it would never have been developed.
Fracking Developed With Decades Of Government Investment
Obama's steady balanced approach leads to good result again.
Note that fracking was developed by the Energy Department, with decades of pubic investment. If conservatives had their debt fetish antigummit ways, it would never have been developed.
Fracking Developed With Decades Of Government Investment
The work wasn't all industry or all government, but both.
More recently, the natural gas and petroleum industries altogether accounted for about $2.8 billion in federal energy subsidies in the 2010 fiscal year and about $14.7 billion went to renewable energies, the Department of Energy found. The figures include both direct expenditures and tax credits.
Congress passed a huge tax break in 1980 specifically to encourage unconventional natural gas drilling, noted Alex Trembath, a researcher at the Breakthrough Institute, a California nonprofit that supports new ways of thinking about energy and the environment. Trembath said that the Department of Energy invested about $137 million in gas research over three decades, and that the federal tax credit for drillers amounted to $10 billion between 1980 and 2002.
Cool.. granted there will be more earthquakes and your water supply will be toxic and flammable and you wont be able to breath because we wont have switched away from oil... but we will have oil!
Eco alarmist bull****. If you cant begin to prove what you say, maybe you should start with what you can prove.
Eco alarmist bull****. If you cant begin to prove what you say, maybe you should start with what you can prove.
Natural biological processes can break down toxic chemicals into harmless byproducts given enough time. It would depend upon what the chemicals are and how long it would take them to migrate into groundwater supplies. If the chemicals being used cannot be broken down by nature in sufficient time before intrusion into groundwater, then certainly all the chemicals need to be recovered, or never be pumped in to the ground in the first place.
There's [part of] the rub. The fracking fluids are patented and held highly secret. At one time a congressional panel tried to compel one of the manufacturers to reveal, and after some doing they did get a list. However, a good part of that list is still not public information. And that was just one flavor of fracking fluid.
They pump million of gallons of water mixed with these fluids into the ground and estimates I've seen are that up to 70% of it is left in the ground.
We do know this, get those fracking fluids anywhere near a well or an aquifer and the people using that water can light their taps with a match and the water itself becomes a toxic nightmare. That's documented and filmed.
Myth No. 1: Fracking could contaminate aquifers that supply drinking water. Hydraulic fracturing has been done for decades and on more than 1 million wells in the U.S. since the late 1940s. Combining fracking with horizontal drilling lets drillers extract oil and gas from geologic areas that were practically inaccessible in the past.
Some mistakenly say the practice can pollute water tables which lie just a few hundred feet or less below the surface. Fracking is done well below 7,000 feet, and solid rock separates the oil and gas deposits from shallow groundwater aquifers. This rock buffer makes contamination from fracking virtually impossible.
In addition, wells are built with at least four layers of steel casing and concrete and are cemented in place, creating a solid divider between gas production and any fresh-water aquifers. Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently asserted: “We believe it’s possible to extract shale gas in a way that protects the water, that protects people’s health. We can do this safely.”
Myth No. 2: A huge amount of water is used in fracking. Extracting natural gas from shale formations with fracking uses less water than that needed to produce other sources of energy such as coal and nuclear. In 2010, the 3,500 shale-gas wells drilled in the U.S. accounted for about 0.02% of the country’s total water usage. Companies drilling in major shale formations are quickly adopting recycling methods that treat 70 to 100% of the returned fracking fluids for reuse in another well.
Myth No. 3: Fracking can make tap water flammable. There are places where methane appears to have leaked into the water supply making it flammable. But the consensus among state environmental officials is that this problem was not caused by fracking. Instead, these officials blame water wells drilled in areas with high natural levels of methane. Also, some small oil and gas companies over the years didn’t take proper care in cementing their wells or in plugging old wells.
Today companies use better well casings and improved cementing to ensure no shallow formations (aquifers) are contaminated. Concurrently, state agencies have established regulations regarding well construction and water management designed to prevent methane migration and protect water supplies.
Myth No. 4: Fracking can cause earthquakes. Federal officials and geologists have confirmed that fracking itself — as distinct from wastewater disposal — is not responsible for recent tremors felt in Ohio and several other states where fracking takes place. William Leith, senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey, told National Public Radio recently: “Fracking itself probably does not put enough energy into the ground to trigger an earthquake. That’s really not something that we should be concerned about.”
Oil and gas waste water disposal wells, on the other hand, do have a history of causing tremors, most recently in Youngstown, Ohio. However, by reducing the volume of water injected, the depth of wastewater injection wells, and avoiding earthquake-prone areas, the risk of inducing tremors, however small, can be reduced.
Myth No. 5: The public cannot afford to rely on state regulation of fracking. Just about all of the states, including Ohio, insist that fracking and getting rid of wastewater be done properly. In the decades since fracking was first used in Oklahoma in the 1940s, there have been more than a million oil and gas wells drilled across the country. The instances of water contamination have been miniscule compared to the number of wells drilled. And not one of those contaminated wells was caused by fracking. Much of the credit for this safety record goes to rigorous state regulation.
“States are stepping up and doing a good job,” says federal EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
On the positive side: According to a study by IHS Global Insight, in 2010, U.S. shale gas production due to fracking generated $76 billion toward GDP, accounted for $33 billion in capital investments, was responsible for $18 billion in tax and federal royalty revenues, and supported 600,000 jobs. Experts estimate that nearly $2 trillion in capital investments will be created into the U.S. shale-gas industry through 2035. The benefits of such large investments will spread through communities, businesses, and governments.
Debunking fracking myths
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42461.pdfThere's [part of] the rub. The fracking fluids are patented and held highly secret. At one time a congressional panel tried to compel one of the manufacturers to reveal, and after some doing they did get a list. However, a good part of that list is still not public information.
The regulations vary, state to state.For example, Colorado requires parties to identify each chemical ingredient in the overall fracturing fluid by its Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number36 and to provide the maximum concentration of each ingredient within the fluid…
…in geological formations that had been, and to some extent even after production is complete still are hydrocarbon aquifers. Meaning any water you would find there naturally is not something a sane person would put into their body, or even pour on their body generally speaking. Especially if you do not like the taste of brine.They pump million of gallons of water mixed with these fluids into the ground and estimates I’ve seen are that up to 70% of it is left in the ground.
That is nonsense. Taps that “light on fire” (more a pop, usually meaning quite dangerous) have to do with the natural gas, the hydrocarbons that are the target of the drilling. What is the cause of that can be “naturally occurring” (yes, that does happen, drill for water and get natural gas, remember these wells are being drilled in areas with hydrocarbons including coal as a common feature of the geology), related to the drilling process of the well itself (geological formation disturbance), a poorly engineered completed well that is leaking from the production zone into a surface aquifer, or the fracking as possible causes. The fracking being at or near the bottom of the list, probability-wise.We do know this, get those fracking fluids anywhere near a well or an aquifer and the people using that water can light their taps with a match and the water itself becomes a toxic nightmare. That's documented and filmed.
LOL try googling it and avoid Fox News. European countries are thinking of banning fracking.. well not the UK, because of the risks to the ground water. Not to mention fracking in the UK has caused minor earthquakes in areas there should be no earthquakes..
Not my fault you believe right wing and industry hype over scientific fact. Hell on youtube there are many videos from the US, where tap water is flammable.
Not my fault you arent proving jack or ****.
Fracking causes earthquakes, studies confirm - Technology & Science - CBC News
and
Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking - ProPublica
two of many many articles and studies on the subject.
And no, linking to a right wing blog or rag that attempts to debunk the above is not needed.. I have seen them, and they cant be taken seriously.. it is the same arguments used by cigarette makes when they claim that cigarettes are not addictive and dont cause cancer.
They didnt? Ok, well then...The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.
It might be this but it cant be this. Sounds certain to me.The geology in Pennsylvania and New York, they said, is tectonically active with faults and other pathways through the rock. They noted that leaky well casings were the most likely cause of the contamination but couldn’t rule out long-range underground migration, which they said “might be possible due to both the extensive fracture systems reported for these formations and the many older, uncased wells drilled and abandoned.”
It should be noted Benzene is a high percentage cancer agent and is immediately detectable and easily. If people were drinking it, they would develop cancers within weeks.The water was also analyzed for signs that dangerous fluids from inside the gas wells might have escaped into water supplies. The group tested for salts, radium and other chemicals that, if detected, would have signaled that the produced water or natural fluids in the well’s target zone were making it to the aquifers. But those types of fluids were not found. The group did not test for fracking chemicals or hydrocarbons like benzene, relying instead on the saline or radioactive compounds like radium as indicators.
The consultants' report, commissioned by the U.K. government and published on Tuesday recommends that fracking should be halted temporarily if there is a tremor greater than magnitude 0.5 on the Richter scale. Cuadrilla Resources, a company that halted its fracking activities in northwestern England following tremors of magnitudes 2.3 and 1.5 in April and May last year, has said that is acceptable.
If you take the time to skim past the BS headline…
The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.
If it is regulated because fracking is truly untenable.. so be it.
But that isn't the case now.
GAS PRICES FACT: Domestic Oil Production Has Soared Under President Obama | ThinkProgress
Here in NY we haven't allowed fracking yet, despite the boom in PA next door, as the Gov/Govt is concerned about the NYC watershed.
There may be some areas like that where it is more problematic, but overall, probably not. To be seen.
France has outlawed Fracking.
Fracking causes earthquakes, studies confirm - Technology & Science - CBC News
and
Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking - ProPublica
two of many many articles and studies on the subject.
And no, linking to a right wing blog or rag that attempts to debunk the above is not needed.. I have seen them, and they cant be taken seriously.. it is the same arguments used by cigarette makes when they claim that cigarettes are not addictive and dont cause cancer.
It hasn’t occurred to you that the new areas of development are in parts of the country with a much higher percentage of private lands than prior?Did that article just give Obama credit for Fracking ?
Hillarious. Theyr'e doing most of their oil explorarion on private lands because Obama's done everything in his power to stop oil exploration.
Even Natural gas exploration .
Hey Pete, did you bother reading through any of your articles ?
It hasn’t occurred to you that the new areas of development are in
parts of the country with a much higher percentage of private lands than prior?
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