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Fracking Leads To Cleaner Air
IBD Editorials ^ | August 20, 2012

Posted on 08/20/2012 5:05:31 PM PDT by raptor22

Carbon emissions in the U.S. have hit a 20-year low due to a supposedly environmentally unfriendly drilling technique that has created an abundance of cheap natural gas. The free market, it seems, does it better than the EPA.

Environmentalists find themselves between shale rock and a hard place after a little noticed technical report documented how the natural gas boom caused by the use of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has actually helped the environment in a major way while also creating jobs and economic growth.

In the report, the U.S. Energy Information Agency, a part of the Energy Department, said that energy-related U.S. CO2 emissions for the first four months of this year fell to about 1992 levels. EIA estimates that full-year emissions will be the lowest since at least 1995.

The untold story is that this has been achieved by the free market and private-sector technology, not government mandates.

Fracking is a process involving the high-pressure injection of fluids, mainly water with a few chemical additives, to fracture the porous shale rock found in huge formations in the Northeast and Rocky Mountain West. This allows the release and extraction of the oil and gas trapped inside the rock.

Environmentalists contend, without evidence, that these chemical additives will and have contaminated groundwater supplies. The mixture used to fracture shale is in fact a benign blend of 90% water, 9.5% sand and 0.5% chemicals such as the sodium chloride of table salt and the citric acid of the orange juice you had for breakfast. Shale formations in which fracking is employed are thousands of feet deep. Drinking water aquifers are generally only a hundred feet deep. There's a lot of solid rock between them.

Conservation efforts, the laggard economy and greater use of renewable energy are factors in the CO2 decline.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: agw; climatechange; eagleford; energy; epa; fracking; globalwarming; ibd; ibdenergy; ibdfracking; kyoto; marcellus; natgas; naturalgas; shale; uibd

1 posted on 08/20/2012 5:05:41 PM PDT by raptor22
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To: raptor22
Environmentalists find themselves between shale rock and a hard place

No they don't. They'll ignore the facts, and most of the media and at least half of the government will cover for them. How many involved in Climategate were held accountable?

2 posted on 08/20/2012 5:39:31 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: raptor22

Cleaner air but wastes gazillions of gallons of fresh water when we just can’t afford to waste fresh water anymore.


3 posted on 08/20/2012 5:48:33 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

I’ve seen the water sources used for fracking. Unless you like drinking water from creeks and rivers with all of the microscopic life that thrives in it, I call it an E. coli cocktail, they’re not wasting the water. That water doesn’t stay underground. It is recycled.


4 posted on 08/20/2012 6:08:48 PM PDT by meatloaf (Support Senate S 1863 & House Bill 1380 to eliminate oil slavery.)
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To: chessplayer

Troll

Looking for a little attention are we??


5 posted on 08/20/2012 6:40:41 PM PDT by 100American (Knowledge is knowing how, Wisdom is knowing when)
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To: chessplayer
Cleaner air but wastes gazillions of gallons of fresh water when we just can’t afford to waste fresh water anymore.

Lots of water in Pennsylvania. And Texas? I guess maybe we'll have a couple fewer rice paddies along the coast so we can frack the Eagle Ford.

6 posted on 08/20/2012 6:40:45 PM PDT by dirtboy
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To: chessplayer
OMG quick, dam up all the rivers, the fresh water's running into the ocean!!! AAAIIIEEEE!!!!
7 posted on 08/20/2012 6:46:52 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: raptor22

This might get silly, you know? :)


8 posted on 08/20/2012 7:00:16 PM PDT by EveningStar
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To: 100American

Crawl back into your bottle, troll.


9 posted on 08/20/2012 7:26:43 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: raptor22; 11B40; A Balrog of Morgoth; A message; ACelt; Aeronaut; AFPhys; AlexW; America_Right; ...
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10 posted on 08/20/2012 9:59:48 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Obama should change his campaign slogan to "Yes, we am!" Sounds as stupid as his administration is.)
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To: thackney

Petro Ping


11 posted on 08/20/2012 10:10:45 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: chessplayer

In the dry, low-populated area of South Texas, where the Eagle Ford shale field has a large demand for hydraulic fracturing, what percentage of fresh water usage would you guess goes to hydraulic fracturing?


12 posted on 08/21/2012 5:04:35 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: chessplayer

Some info four your comparison:

It takes about 4.7 million gallons of water to frack the average well in the Eagle Ford shale, a vast reservoir containing oil and natural gas that swoops beneath about 26 counties in South Texas. Estimates are that 25,000 wells may be drilled in the Eagle Ford shale over the next 20 years. They’ll require more than 15,000 acre-feet of water per year.

But that total is dwarfed by regionwide water usage, Brownlow said.
The South Texas water-management region that includes Bexar County uses 1.1 million acre-feet per year, while the entire South Texas region uses 4.2 million acre-feet of water per year.

That means that for every 1 acre-foot of water used in fracking, 280 acre-feet will be used for other purposes, he said.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/10/11/water-for-fracking-is-dwarfed-by-other-usage/

- - - - -

Most people read the numbers of hydraulic fracturing and think that is a overwhelming number. In reality, they have little idea how much fresh water there is and how much we already use. It just is not a significant draw compared to our existing total water usage.


13 posted on 08/21/2012 5:07:29 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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info four your

info for your...

sigh...

Not enough coffee yet.


14 posted on 08/21/2012 5:09:26 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: chessplayer

gazillions

Thats allot huh!


15 posted on 08/21/2012 6:18:23 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: thackney

I thinl I’ll just keep my mouth shut about our CO2 frac’s.


16 posted on 08/21/2012 6:22:00 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: raptor22

The ‘viros will just “pivot”,
because the real goal is control of energy usage,
“clean air” or “CO2” is just an excuse to reach the goal.


17 posted on 08/21/2012 6:22:18 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working fors)
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