Posted on 06/21/2011 8:14:14 AM PDT by Shout Bits
Environmentalists have taken aim at a common natural gas extraction technique called Hydraulic Fracturing, or Fracking. The enviros claim that Fracking will contaminate ground water or even cause earthquakes because it involves injecting water, sand, and some chemicals into bedrock to increase natural gas supplies. Not only are these claims specious (Fracking occurs well below the water table), the enviros are revisiting a long history of hypocrisy since the only way to obtain their renewable energy goal is through Fracking.
States like Wyoming and Texas are now requiring thorough disclosure of Fracking chemicals. France has banned the practice outright. Agitprop movies like Gasland seek to demonize the technology that has turned an expensive, price volatile commodity into a near limitless resource. Even if everything the enviros say about Fracking is true, they still want the US to shift toward natural gas for most of its energy needs, and that requires Fracking. As usual, the enviro dirty laundry is showing.
At least 23 states have renewable energy laws that purport to require 15% to 30% of all electricity to come from renewable energy sources. But wind power provides less than 2% of the nation’s electricity and solar nearly zero. How do these states hope to go from 2% to 30%? The answer is a political sleight of hand called the Renewable Portfolio Standard, or RPS. An RPS does not actually require a massive and impractical investment in solar and wind generation, it requires the overall CO2 emissions of a utility to mirror a hypothetical portfolio of renewable energy sources (assuming such technologies actually worked as advertised).
A RPS solution usually contains a token amount of wind and solar credits, along with advertising encouraging consumers to conserve, but the bulk of the results come from replacing coal plants with natural gas turbines. The unadvertised reality of a RPS is that it is nothing more than shifting from coal to natural gas. Renewable energy? Hardly, but natural gas contains hydrogen atoms that when burned release H2O, not CO2. By its nature, natural gas releases less CO2 per unit of energy, so the bottom line of replacing coal with natural gas resembles an investment in renewable energy. Also, natural gas turbines produce fewer secondary pollutants than coal, a nice plus given the EPA’s regulations regarding mercury and particulates.
So, renewable energy has next to nothing to do with wind and solar and is mostly replacing coal with natural gas. What is the problem? Well, prior to Fracking, natural gas was a limited and expensive commodity with a highly volatile price. Shifting electricity generation to natural gas would more than double the price of powering people’s homes. The only way to achieve a RPS is to ensure a vast and stable supply of natural gas, and currently Fracking is the only practical way to do that.
The same enviros that demanded the shift from coal want to shut down domestic natural gas production. The old line about conservation, living simply, and other collectivist garbage cannot withstand the fact that the US economy needs energy to function. Be it coal or natural gas, something must be extracted from the ground, and it must be burned. But enviros do not care about reality because they are never held accountable for their positions; they are just ‘for the planet,’ not for regular people powering their homes. The Old Time Media will never point out the enviro hypocrisy of both demanding more natural gas energy and outlawing its production, but the enviro’s Fracking fantasy seeks to hobble the US way of life nonetheless.
If regulations were energy, we would not need any other source.
There are probably worse chemicals used in the manufacture of windmills and solar panels.
I guess I’m an enviro wacko homo communist.
Fracking uses nasty chemicals that have gotten into the local well water on too many occasions. It is a real concern.
And before you flame me I don’t think fracking causes earthquakes or is a technology we learned from crashed UFOs.
There’s a middle ground here. Complete bans are an over reaction and so is “anything goes” approaches. There will always be shoddy implementations of fracking. They need to be driven out of business. Even major firms can be shoddy, such as BP and TEPCO.
Fracking is the lesser of the evils on so many levels, but the industry must make every effort to regulate itself. Otherwise they risk over reaction like widescale bans.
Witness, Santa Barbara. New oil production is still banned there as an over reation to a spill 40 years ago.
the enviros have only one goal, and that is to continually decrease and hinder production.
they don’t give a crap whether fracking is actually bad or not. they just want it to seem bad enough to shut down production....
they are going to lose this time, however.
Source?
We can read that headline claim in any liberal publication, do you have anything meaningful to back it up?
Here’s an example from here, in PA.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/05/18/chesapeake-energy-handed-record-fine-for-fracking-in-pa/
Ruined wells as a result of resource extraction is routine in this area. Especially bad is strip mining, rarely does anyone win compensation as a result of these activities.
As in the Gulf Oil Spill - failure to follow SOP will result in problems. Regulation, inspection, fines and license suspension are a necessary part of the process.
As for ‘induced seismicity’, it is a consideration taken seriously by engineers during the permitting process. It seems to be a real although rare issue around waste disposal, geothermal plants and fracking operations.
Over reaction is the key phrase.
Just like with the BP spill...just because one rig screws up doesn't necessarily mean it's time for new regulation.
What, where, and when.
Kindly cite examples.
Hmmm - strip mining - activity on the surface where rainwater collects.
Fracking - thousands of feet below the water table.
You are pulling a typical bait-and-switch of the anti-fracking camp. Confuse old coalmining contamination with fracking activity. The dishonesty of the anti-fracking camp is stunning at times - even here on FR.
You can't there aren't any. Fracking has been going on in Texas for decades.
FRACKING IS BRILLIANT....
The agency began an investigation in February 2010 after receiving complaints from residents about drinking water near Chesapeake shale gas drilling sites. The agency concluded that contamination was caused by improper well casing and cementing, allowing seepage from non-shale shallow gas formations.
Accident or trolling???
Pete must have been a retread. He already got the zot!
snip
Chesapeake Energy, one of Pennsylvania's biggest shale gas producers, said in a statement that it will pay the fines and has improved its cementing and casing practices since the investigation.
Chesapeake suspended completion of natural gas wells in Pennsylvania for three weeks after a well blowout on April 19 sent thousands of gallons of drilling fluid spewing into the surrounding area and into local waterways.
One sloppy operator, who will likely change their ways.
I firmly believe there should be regulations--at the State Level, and they should be enforced, also by the State--which is what is being done in PA.
We frack wells in North Dakota, too, and incidents are very few.
Locations can be designed to contain spills, and short of the occasional disaster (which no one wants--believe me), there will not be a problem.
Unless and until the EPA backs off the coal generated electricity industry, natural gas is going to be the fuel that electricity comes from. Some of us heat with gas, where heat is not optional for a significant part of the year. Either way, stopping fracking would stop a lot of natural gas development, which means prices will jump for both natural gas and electricity.
I guess we could go just back to burning coal to keep warm...
So, tell me, how many years have you worked in the Petroleum/Gas industry?
I'll take natural gas wells any day of the week.
what chemicals?
do you even know?
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