Posted on 12/01/2011 5:20:19 PM PST by raptor22
New Energy: The latest salvo in the administration's war on energy may be new rules and permits to regulate a process to get oil and gas from porous rock, sacrificing jobs and economic growth while under review.
There are a few areas of the U.S. that are booming. Two of these are in North Dakota and Pennsylvania, states that sit atop two massive shale rock formations, the Bakken and the Marcellus.
Extraction of oil and natural gas from these formations have created jobs and economic growth in the midst of a stagnant and parched economy.
The oil and gas is extracted from this porous rock by a process called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."
The process involves the injection under high pressure of fluids, mainly water with a few chemical additives, to fracture the porous shale rock and allow the release and extraction of the oil and gas trapped inside the porous rock. Environmentalists contend these chemical additives contaminate groundwater supplies.
The fluid used in the process is 99.5% sand and water. There are other chemicals ranging from the citric acid found in soda to benzene, which are used to reduce friction and fight microbes.
Shale formations in which fracking is used are thousands of feet deep. Drinking water aquifers are generally only a hundred feet deep. There's solid rock between them.
Yet the Environmental Protection Agency, bowing to environmentalists' pressure and faithful to the administration mantra that fossil fuels are harmful and obsolete, is preparing to nip this economic boom in the bud by regulating it to death.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Go ask.
Every well has a log of exactly what they put down the hole in the fracking process. In Texas, the logs are open for public inspection.
I would imagine that Pennsylvania's regulations require similar openess.
A wide variety of chemical additives are used in hydraulic fracturing fluids. They include: dilute acids, biocides, breakers, corrosion inhibitors, crosslinkers, friction reducers, gels, potassium chloride, oxygen scavengers, pH adjusting agents, scale inhibitors and surfactants. These chemical additives typically might make up just 1/2 to 2 percent of the fluid. The remaining 98 to 99 1/2 percent of the fluid is water. Proppants such as sand, aluminum shot or ceramic beads are frequently injected to hold fractures open after the pressure treatment is completed.
Unsubstantiated?
Just check some real life stories, like:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/04/19/gas-drilling-industry-makes-stunning-admission/
http://www.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,876880045001_2062814,00.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/21/us-chesapeake-blowout-idUSTRE73K5OH20110421
Yup.
I understand that they are adding “dilute acids, biocides, breakers, corrosion inhibitors, crosslinkers, friction reducers, gels, potassium chloride, oxygen scavengers, pH adjusting agents, scale inhibitors and surfactants” to the 99+% of water.
What I would like to see is full disclosure of what exactly is the chemical composition of these “dilute acids, biocides, breakers, corrosion inhibitors, crosslinkers, friction reducers, gels, oxygen scavengers, pH adjusting agents, scale inhibitors and surfactants”.
Ping.
The US has recently become a net exporter of petroleum products instead of an importer and the trend is growing.
Being an exporter gives the US new world status and negotiating power that the Obama administration is not going to be able to use. It’s just one more reason to look forward to Obama being defeated next November.
Ping
The residents of Dimock have no case and cannot show how hydraulic fracturing affected their wells.....and they have the help of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Cabot supplied the water as a measure of good faith while the wells were being examined, tested and evaluated.
Those tests, evaluations and examinations are complete and natural gas drilling is not the problem.
Hydraulic fracturing has not contaminated a single well in the 60 years it has been used in conjunction with oil and gas drilling.
You have swallowed the environmental ejaculate and now try to get us to do the same.
1) The contents of frack fluid is either public knowledge or provided to the local environmental agency.
2) The radioactive materials are what is coming up from the shale area. That water is treated and recycled.
3) The "other nasty stuff" is what is already in the earth below your aquifer....stuff like salts and chemicals that occur naturally.
Accidental spills and blowbacks are the biggest danger. The blowback from the Chesapeake operation in Bradford County PA cannot be detected in the ground or streams nearby. An overturned heating oil truck poses a larger risk to aquifers than fracking fluid.
All of this is disclosed and public information in Pennsylvania. In other states, it is disclosed to the state regulatory agency. There are no secrets.
Here is your "dangerous" frack fluid from Halliburton:
Leo, the bromide in the water was a laboratory error! I posted the article right here on FR!
You are spreading lies.
The spill in Bradford County has been shown to have had immediate effects on surface water. However, later tests show no trace of the chemicals from fracking fluid in the well, pond or streams. In other words, mother nature healed itself.
So, instead of spreading lies and hysteria, check for facts. Don't be a liberal.
More problems this morning. Warren Township, State Game Lands. Approx. 1/2 hour drive from Dimock. Pool of “sludge” discovered on State Game Lands. Not good. Talisman Energy Co. investigating. As are all the state/fed. agencies. Looks like a careless trucker dumped his load.
Yeah, nobody dumped on state land prior to the gas industry coming here.
Wonder if perhaps eco-terrorism? Premature in any case. But the publicity will do the industry no good in any event. The timing of this dumping concerns me...is my point.
“Here is your “dangerous” frack fluid from Halliburton:”
You’re mistaken. The fracking fluid is crystal clear. However, a corporate exec did take a swig at a conference! That pic, although used yesterday in another thread, is not a pic of a glass of “fracking fluid.”
The first thing a new Republican President must do on Jan 20, 2013, is to disband the EPA & other parts of the Federal government.
The 2nd thing is to fire all the Shadow Government Czars & their staffs.
The 3rd thing is to reverse each & every EXECUTIVE ORDER signed by Barry the Imposter.
The 4th thing is to present evidence of Barry’s birth outside the USA & his attendance at Occidental College as a Foreign Aid student who was a citizen of Indonesia, along with proof of dual citizenship.
In order to find out the fluids used in fracking, Pennsylvania requires you to file paperwork requesting the list on a well by well basis via a Right-To-Know request.
Not hardly published public information the way I read it.
If you or anyone else can post the names/formulae of the actual chemicals used in fracking, I would sure like to see it.
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