Environmental Protection Agency Link Water Contamination to Fracking For The First Time

A small step in the right direction I suppose, this bit caught my eye though.

A spokesman for EnCana, Doug Hock, denied that the company’s actions were to blame for the pollution and suggested it was naturally caused.

“Nothing EPA presented suggests anything has changed since August of last year– the science remains inconclusive in terms of data, impact, and source,”

The science remains inconclusive, the same way it remains inconclusive for global warming, the age of the earth, evolution, and whether or not, Jesus rode on dinosaurs. Oh, and that coal dust and black lung are unrelated,(1) we might as well throw that one in for good measure.

The science remains inconclusive, Yes indeed, tell that to the poor schmucks of Eastern Appalachia, or anybody that ever watched Gaslands,(2) or any other program on fracking for that matter.


Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time

The agency's findings could be a turning point in the heated national debate about fracking.
December 11, 2011

In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process.

The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources. more

(1) Watch trailer for Harlan County USA.

(2) Watch trailer for Gaslands

Fracking From San Francisco to Blackpool

The San Francisco Chronicle is hardly the place where I might expect the name of my old home town to crop up. I say home town, but now as then I live in the environs. And it is in those environs that the gas companies are trying their damnedest to store zillions of cubic metres of gas in the old salt mines. In other words, right under me arse. Bastards!

'Fracking': Rock fracturing's relation to quakes
David R. Baker
August 28, 2011

The earthquakes that rattled Blackpool, England, in April and May wouldn't have attracted much notice in California. The strongest rated a mere 2.3 in magnitude.

But their possible connection to "fracking" raised eyebrows on both sides of the Atlantic.

The epicenter of one of the quakes lay less than 500 meters from a well used for hydro-fracturing, the process of pumping pressurized water and chemicals deep underground to crack rocks and release oil or natural gas. The company fracking the well halted operations and started studying the possible link.

As fracking has spread, most complaints have focused on the threat of groundwater contamination. But some opponents have also asked whether the process - which, after all, involves breaking subterranean rocks - could cause earthquakes as well.

The question is particularly pertinent in seismically active California, where the use of fracking appears to be growing. Fracking projects have been reported in Santa Barbara County and the Sacramento Valley.

Last week's 5.8 temblor in Virginia even prompted a round of speculation in the blogosphere that fracking could be to blame. There are, however, no fracking wells near the quake's epicenter or in any of the surrounding counties, according to the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy.

Mild tremors

Scientists say fracking does cause tiny earthquakes, but they're too small to be felt on the Earth's surface. The process can also cause quakes large enough to be noticed on the surface, but only if done near a fault line. And even then, the resulting tremors are likely to be mild.

"You're not going to get a really big earthquake," said Mark Zoback, a Stanford University geophysics professor who has studied the issue. "To get a big earthquake, you'd need a really big fault. When these oil fields are being developed, the companies are very aware of where the faults are. They don't want to do something stupid."

Some of the quakes that critics have blamed on fracking may have been caused by a related process - the disposal of the water used in fracking.

Similarity to air hockey

Many, but not all, fracking operations inject the wastewater deep underground. As the quantity of water builds up over time, it can change the pressure along a fault line, making the fault more likely to move.

"It's a little bit like an air hockey table," said Cliff Frohlich, associate director of the Institute for Geophysics at the University of Texas, Austin. "You pump air into an air hockey table so that when you push something, it will slip."

Frohlich was part of a team of researchers who studied a series of small quakes that struck near Dallas in 2008 and 2009, in an area where natural gas companies had used fracking. The epicenter turned out to be within a kilometer of a water disposal well, under the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The largest quake measured 3.3.

"These earthquakes were not cases where frack jobs got out of hand," he said. "In a way, it was good news for the companies. If it's disposal that causes the quakes, you've got lots of options."

Those options include treating the water on the surface or shipping the water to a disposal well that isn't near a fault.

In July, Arkansas officials placed a moratorium on new disposal wells in a portion of the state shaken by hundreds of quakes, the largest of which reached magnitude 4.7. Four wells that had been used to dispose of water from fracking operations were shut down.

As fracking becomes more common in California, environmentalists want state officials to keep a close eye on any link to tremors.

Locating faults

A state bill that would force companies to disclose the chemicals they use in fracking originally contained a clause that would have required the companies to report whether the wells they planned to frack were near known fault lines. The clause, however, was taken out as a compromise with the oil and gas industry, said Renee Sharp, California director for the Environmental Working Group. She'd still like to see the state adopt that requirement.

"At least we'd know what was going on, so there'd be the possibility of really studying this issue," Sharp said.

Zoback says seismicity related to fracking and disposal wells is a manageable problem, one that shouldn't derail the growing production of gas from shale rock formations. Oil and gas companies need to identify faults near potential well sites, stay away from the faults, monitor for quakes during operations and stop work if quakes occur.

"I think we can replace coal with natural gas - I'm kind of militant about this," said Zoback, who recently served on a U.S. Department of Energy committee that recommended ways to protect the environment during fracking operations. "We've got to develop shale gas in an environmentally responsible way, and that means air and water quality, and it means not causing earthquakes." San Francisco Chronicle

E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

Concerned About Fylde Coast Gas Extraction? (Fracking) Watch This

The first thing I have to admit is that I am woefully slow on the uptake of this potential threat to the Fylde Coast and it's inhabitants. So slow in fact, that others long ago took up the cause, and as such are far ahead of me on the far from benign subject of hydraulic fracturing. (fracking)

Although I shall re-post a few words I had to say on the subject hydraulic fracturing, or more specifically the documentary Gas-Land, which exposes the perils of fracking, far better that I furnish a link to a dedicated site, where you, and I for that matter, can avail yourself of this blogger's efforts to date.

http://dont-frack-with-the-fylde.blogspot.com/

See sidebar at the above for further fracking links.

From a previous post.

Having now watched the complete documentary, I have to admit to being at a loss for words. The sheer scale of eco-vandalism that has laid waste to vast, and I mean vast, tracts of land throughout the United States is mind boggling. The poisoning of the water table, and subsequently air quality surrounding these gas wells, is nothing short of criminal.

I thought the people of Appalachia had a cross to bear due to the effects of mountain top removal, but even their plight seems to pale when compared to the environmental damage caused by gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing.

I have to put this film in the must see category, even if you are not directly effected (yet) by fracking. If you have limited bandwidth, might I suggest at least watch part four on Youtube, (now below) where some frightening facts and figures are given an airing.

The prime villain in all this, the drilling companies apart, Dick Chaney, aided and abetted by George W Bush.

I think the time has come for a bit of hands on activism on my own part.

Below: Gas-Land stills from the trailer, (2m 47s) followed by the complete documentary in seven parts. But I have to stress, gas coming out of the faucet is the least of their problems.

No longer available due to infringement of copyright.

They're Fracking in My Backyard

Bastards!

Blackpool uneasy at prospect of 'fracking' boom on its coastline
By Jonathan Brown
14 May 2011

The allure of Blackpool rock and the rejuvenating effects of its sand and water once made it a magnet for the toiling classes as they took a break from the drudgery of the Lancashire cotton mills.

Today, as the resort battles to cope with the allure of cheap flights to Spain, those three elements are once again attracting outsiders to this part of the English coast in search of a fourth: gas.

Cuadrilla Resources, a British company specialising in the development of shale gas wells, has been hard at work in the resort's rural hinterland since August last year after being given permission by the Government.

Whitehall is due to hold a new round of licensing for shale drilling at the end of the year. So far two wells have been sunk. The first at Preese Hall and the second at the village of Singleton in the picturesque Fylde countryside, an area until now best known for its bracing sea walks and world-class links courses.

The first drill has already penetrated 7,500ft down into the Bowland shale and fracking – the process of releasing natural gas from the sedimentary rock by blasting it with water, sand and chemicals – is already under way.

A third site is expected to be opened this summer and the company has permission to probe another three nearby, before beginning explorations in the Netherlands and Poland.

But following claims over the safety of the process in the United States, some locals are concerned, with councillors petitioned to object. Blackpool's Green Party chairman Philip Mitchell said an industry was being introduced without adequate investigation by the authorities.

"The potential is catastrophic," he said. "We don't know the science of this or how it will affect people. We are introducing something that we do not know the full dangers of."

Greens claim that there is the risk of explosive well blow-outs, fire, traffic disruption and noise. They fear that, so significant are the deposits and so huge the rewards, the industry could be on the verge of major expansion not just across Lancashire but the whole of the UK.

To add to the sense of unease this week, France's National Assembly voted to ban the process after a sustained protest by green groups. The Senate is expected to follow suit next month making France the first country to ban fracking. (French environmentalists are furious though that a last-minute deal means that research employing the technique will continue.)

Cuadrilla Resources, currently the only holder of a UK fracking licence, believes the process is entirely safe. At present operations are regulated by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as well as the Environment Agency. The official line is that no one knows how much gas is there until the exploratory phase is completed nor how much it will cost to recover.

In the meantime the company has been conducting a charm offensive inviting local people, journalists and MPs to tour the site. This week the chief executive Mark Miller, from Pennsylvania, compared modern drilling technology to keyhole surgery. He said a dozen wells could be drilled on an area the size of a football pitch with each site capable of feeding gas into a generator capable of producing 100 megawatts of local electricity for the next 30 years.

"We have shown many people around our first shale gas wells in Lancashire and most people comment how quiet and low-profile they are. They make little impact on the surrounding countryside and will hopefully fulfill a useful local function," he said.

A DECC spokesman said: "We support industry's endeavours in pursuing such energy sources so long as tapping of such resources proves to be economically, commercially and environmentally viable. All onshore oil and gas projects, including shale gas exploration and development, are subject to a series of checks, including local planning permission, before they are able to move ahead with drilling activities."

How Hydraulic Fracturing Works




Fracking, or chemical fracturing, is the process by which water, sand and chemicals are used to increase the quantity of gas that can be extracted from the ground.

The mixture is pumped at high pressure into natural gas or methane gas fields, cracking open the rock deep beneath the surface to release trapped reserves.

Gas then flows out of the fissures, which are kept open by the sand and chemicals, and into pipes that lead to the surface.

Drilling companies claim that chemical additives make up less than one per cent of the liquid poured into the gas field. However, the quantities involved are so large that a typical well is likely to pump about 34,000 gallons of chemicals into the ground.

One of the chemicals used is diesel, which contains toxic substances. Other chemicals used can include hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde and arsenic. independent

I have touched on the subject of fracking previously, But the full movie that I mentioned, the one I had downloaded, turned out to be corrupt, so I never got to view the thing. So here is part one, and this is as far as I have got so far.

Update: Having now watched the complete documentary, I have to admit to being at a loss for words. The sheer scale of eco-vandalism that has laid waste to vast, and I mean vast, tracts of land throughout the United States is mind boggling. The poisoning of the water table, and subsequently air quality surrounding these gas wells, is nothing short of criminal.

I thought the people of Appalachia had a cross to bear due to the effects of mountain top removal, but even their plight seems to pale when compared to the environmental damage caused by gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing.

I have to put this film in the must see category, even if you are not directly effected (yet) by fracking. If you have limited bandwidth, might I suggest at least watch part four on Youtube, where some frightening facts and figures are given an airing.

The prime villain in all this, the drilling companies apart, Dick Chaney, aided and abetted by George W Bush.

I think the time has come for a bit of hands on activism on my own part.

It's All Them Little Microbes See

Not being a disbarred solicitor, I don't feel qualified to comment on biological questions of such complexity. So I shall leave it up to you to come to your own conclusion. I wouldn't have run with this story, but it was only yesterday that I watched this trailer (below) for a program I'm waiting to watch. A somewhat different equation I'll grant you, but near enough to grab my attention.

Methanotroph' bacteria feasted on blown BP rig's methane belch

Deepwater Horizon upsets climate-change assumptions

Scientists believe they have solved the mystery over what happened to the hundreds of thousands of tons of methane that belched into the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion last April.

According to a study published in Science Xpress, the gas served as a feast for methanotrophs: bacteria able to use natural gas as food.

A team of US researchers found that the level of dissolved oxygen in a 36,000-square-mile are surrounding the rig had plummeted, a tell-tale sign of a boom in the methanotroph population. They made measurements that ruled out the possibility that the escaped methane had simply bubbled into the atmosphere.

"What we observed in June was a horizon of deep water laden with methane and other hydrocarbon gases," said UC Santa Barbara oceanographer David Valentine.

"When we returned in September and October and tracked these waters, we found the gases were gone. In their place were residual methane-eating bacteria, and a one million ton deficit in dissolved oxygen that we attribute to respiration of methane by these bacteria."

The scientists were particularly surprised at the speed with which the bacteria consumed their enormous meal. Earlier studies elsewhere in the world suggested methane levels around Deepwater Horizon would be well above normal for years ahead.

Valentine's co-author, John Kessler of Texas A&M, said the study has major implications for our understanding of how methane releases affect the climate. There are vast stores of the powerful greenhouse gas trapped on the sea floor, and it had been supposed that occasional large releases have a significant impact on global temperatures.

"What the Deepwater Horizon incident has taught us is that releases of methane with similar characteristics will not have the capacity to influence climate," Kessler said.

The question of what happened to the more than four million barrels of crude oil spilled after the blow out, which also dissipated sooner than expected, remains under debate. Factors including high winds, natural breakdown, evaporation and the clean-up operation have all been suggested. The Register

After the two minute mark.


Gasland review