Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a means of natural gas extraction employed in deep natural gas well drilling. Once a well is drilled, millions of gallons of water, sand and proprietary chemicals are injected, under high pressure, into a well. The pressure fractures the shale and props open fissures that enable natural gas to flow more freely out of the well.
What is horizontal hydraulic fracturing?
Horizontal hydrofracking is a means of tapping shale deposits containing natural gas that were previously inaccessible by conventional drilling. Vertical hydrofracking is used to extend the life of an existing well once its productivity starts to run out, sort of a last resort. Horizontal fracking differs in that it uses a mixture of 596 chemicals, many of them proprietary, and millions of gallons of water per frack. This water then becomes contaminated and must be cleaned and disposed of.
What is the Halliburton Loophole?
In 2005, the Bush/ Cheney Energy Bill exempted natural gas drilling from the Safe Drinking Water Act. It exempts companies from disclosing the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing. Essentially, the provision took the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) off the job. It is now commonly referred to as the Halliburton Loophole.
What is the Safe Drinking Water Act?
In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was passed by Congress to ensure clean drinking water free from both natural and man-made contaminates.
What is the FRAC Act?
The FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness to Chemical Act) is a House bill intended to repeal the Halliburton Loophole and to require the natural gas industry to disclose the chemicals they use.
How deep do natural gas wells go?
The average well is up to 8,000 feet deep. The depth of drinking water aquifers is about 1,000 feet. The problems typically stem from poor cement well casings that leak natural gas as well as fracking fluid into water wells.
How much water is used during the fracking process?
Generally 1-8 million gallons of water may be used to frack a well. A well may be fracked up to 18 times.
What fluids are used in the fracking process?
For each frack, 80-300 tons of chemicals may be used. Presently, the natural gas industry does not have to disclose the chemicals used, but scientists have identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.
In what form does the natural gas come out of the well?
The gas comes up wet in produced water and has to be separated from the wastewater on the surface. Only 30-50% of the water is typically recovered from a well. This wastewater can be highly toxic.
What is done with the wastewater?
Evaporators evaporate off VOCs and condensate tanks steam off VOCs, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The wastewater is then trucked to water treatment facilities.
What is a well's potential to cause air pollution?
As the VOCs are evaporated and come into contact with diesel exhaust from tru
What give you the "authority" to just say that and expect people to believe it.
Its...
I prefer a civil discourse. Hostile and personal confrontational posting are adolescent and unwanted.
Re the wells. I have them all around me, by the hundreds, and I know of NO water wells that have been affected. My neighbors have one in full production less than 300 feet from their house and well.
Many of the local water wells have had natural gas in them from day one, for many it is a problem. As for the fraking, a blanket statement concerning them is indeed untrue. If I were to say there has never been any problems, that also would be untrue.
This area underwent a large gas drilling period in the 1930s. They were of the shallow type, non fraking and some are still in production. Now we are undergoing a similar surge of DEEP well drilling, a mile down.
Carelessness in drilling etc etc, you bet. Spills and the State is right there to fine the companies and get things cleaned up. I know of NO ONE within my area that has been adversely affected.
The greenies tried to get the drilling stopped. So they held a meeting in New York City for people from around the country, to stop drilling in Pa.
So, as the wells come on line here, the gas is pumped across the line to NYC at an increased cost to their people.
So far China, Japan and Dutch have bought in by the billions of dollars in this affair. Penn State U. estimates, we alone have enough gas to supply the entire northeast for the next 75 years. At a low price. Of course we could import it from the ME as we do our oil.
We have had two huge underground gas storage areas here for well over fifty years and another is being arranged by pumping out salt to form a cavern, that will take two years and then filled with gas under pressure.
In the winter time, the process is reversed and gas is drawn out to heat the major cities of the northeast.
The greenies from the cities were here when 70 windmills were erected, the energy produced is all sold to coastal cities.
The hydraulic fracturing process involves the high pressure injection of millions of gallons of water mixed with a toxic witches' brew of undisclosed chemicals and sand to accommodate the fracturing and release of gas from the shale beds. That precious water is taken from rivers, lakes, and water resources intended for public benefit, and not to enrich the coffers of international energy companies who are engaging in a frenzied feast to plunder America's mineral resources, in much the same way they have plundered the mineral resources of indigenous people in South America, Central America, and Africa. The story is always the same. They rape, they plunder, and then leave their mess behind for the locals to deal with.
Contamination & Dumping
Ron Gulla told me that only 30 % of the fracturing fluid is recovered and supposedly processed, while 70 % REMAINS in the ground. The recovered fluid is supposed to be hauled off to processing centers, but locals have repeatedly caught company truckers DUMPING the recovered fracturing fluid on local roads, in forested areas, and even dumping it down abandoned mine shafts. To deceive the public, some trucks have "Clean Water" printed on the side.
Naturally, petroleum gases released by fracturing, liquids and the fracturing fluid itself is mixing with ground water and even percolating up through fissures into the surface environment. Initially, energy company representatives had told land owners that they were only adding three benign chemicals and sand to the fracturing fluid, but environmental activists soon discovered that there could be as many as 584 different chemicals used in the fracturing fluid mix. The energy companies involved in the gas fracturing steadfastly refuse to divulge to anybody the chemical makeup of the fracturing fluid and government regulators simply won't intervene on the public's behalf and force disclosure.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 rammed through congress by the Bush/Cheney team exempts gas fracturing energy companies from any liability for environmental damage or injury that may result from the use of fracturing fluids. Therefore, the hard-fought federal legislation designed to protect the public interest and health, such as the Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Water Quality Act of 1987 are now null and void, and meaningless when it when it comes to gas fracture extraction. Here's a quote from Wikipedia's description of the 2005 Energy Policy Act:
"This bill exempted fluids used in the natural gas extraction process of Hydraulic fracturing from protections under the Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, and CERCLA. The proposed Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act would repeal these exemptions."
Ron Gulla tells the story as well as anyone in the following four video clips that are now posted to YouTube. They were part of a video documentary made a couple of years ago by damacuscitizens.org to try to bring to greater public awareness the horrendous destruction of farmland that has been ripping through vast regions of Pennsylvania like a rampaging bull. This madness must stop. New York recently passed a one year moratorium to halt all drilling activity until environmental impact studies can be made and reassess the wisdom of continuing this insane juggernaut.
Pennsylvania state Senator Jim Ferlo has sponsored Pennsylvania Senate bill 1447 which calls for a moratorium on all natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale deposit, which runs through most of Pennsylvania. Currently, the greatest destruction in the Northeast is taking place in Pennsylvania, but Ohio is being prepared for the slaughter. Hopefully, enough activists in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia will rally enough local support among farm land owners and state residents alike, to prevent even more rural owners from buying into the same deception and lies that already befell Pennsylvania farmers .
The hydraulic fracturing process involves the high pressure injection of millions of gallons of water mixed with a toxic witches' brew of undisclosed chemicals and sand to accommodate the fracturing and release of gas from the shale beds. That precious water is taken from rivers, lakes, and water resources intended for public benefit, and not to enrich the coffers of international energy companies who are engaging in a frenzied feast to plunder America's mineral resources, in much the same way they have plundered the mineral resources of indigenous people in South America, Central America, and Africa. The story is always the same. They rape, they plunder, and then leave their mess behind for the locals to deal with.
The hydraulic fracturing process involves the high pressure injection of millions of gallons of water mixed with a toxic witches' brew of undisclosed chemicals and sand to accommodate the fracturing and release of gas from the shale beds. That precious water is taken from rivers, lakes, and water resources intended for public benefit, and not to enrich the coffers of international energy companies who are engaging in a frenzied feast to plunder America's mineral resources, in much the same way they have plundered the mineral resources of indigenous people in South America, Central America, and Africa. The story is always the same. They rape, they plunder, and then leave their mess behind for the locals to deal with.
Lets see "millions of gallons" used over what time period. What exactly is toxic about so called "undisclosed chemicals". "Public benefit" is codeword for use by only elitists.
"Plunder America's mineral resources", in other words you want to keep the U.S. from using its own resources so your foreign masters can continue to get fat and rich off of us.
Most of the places that mine resources in South America, Central America, and Africa have a standard of living instead of living hand to mouth, like you wish they would go back too.
RAPE! RAPE! Lets hear it one more time! Rape! You falsely accuse rape so you can bring misery to the American population.
In your first paragraph, you have committed nearly every cliche of the environmental movement.
You side with foreign resource companies in shutting down domestic resources productions, that makes you a quisling traitor to the people of this nation.
And you put animals and plants before the welfare of humans, that makes you a threat to humanity.
You are a traitor to this nation and its people. And I already tore apart your article in my previous post.
Environmentalism is not about the environment. It is about control, tyranny, destruction of civilization, and genocide. And you are a part of that evil.
Lets see "millions of gallons" used over what time period.
Here, they take the water from the river that flows to the ocean, inject it into the wells, pump it back out, then recycle it thru municipal waste facilities and they in turn return it to the same river from whence it came.We are living in among hundreds of such wells. When they leave, other than the wellhead, one would never know they had been there.
I know of no natural resource that is not "plundered" in the eyes of a few people, the correct term is "exploited" for the good of mankind.
I know of no natural resource that is not "plundered" in the eyes of a few people, the correct term is "exploited" for the good of mankind.
"Exploiting" means someone is being taking advantaged of. When something is mined from the earth, it is not "exploited".
The only "exploiters" in this situation are the environmentalists. The environmentalists exploit the hard work and wealth of the American population, so they can enrich themselves and their foreign masters at the expense of the American people.
The frackers are in direct violation of the First Commandment of the New judeo Century in America:
THOU SHALT NOT ALLOW ANY BENEFIT TO THE CITIZENS.
Cheap, plentiful, clean NatGas is a benefit to the citizens, and must be stopped at all costs, any excuse, no matter how thin.
JP GOLDMAN MORGAN SACHS CHASE UBER ALLES!
Godfrey Smith: Mike, I wouldn't worry. Prosperity is just around the corner. Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner. My Man Godfrey (1936)
"2. exploit - draw from; make good use of; "we must exploit the resources we are given wisely" tap maximise, maximize - make the most of; "He maximized his role" apply, employ, use, utilise, utilize - put into service;