Posted on 06/25/2013 7:09:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Industry’s denial of the dark side of natural gas fracking shouldn’t fool anyone. Thomas Pyle’s claim on this site that there is not one “confirmed case of groundwater contamination” from fracking is the big lie, repeated often. It’s like saying cigarettes don’t cause cancer. And industry’s intentional disinformation campaign comes from the same tobacco playbook (it even uses the same PR firm).
After spending the past four years traveling the country and meeting people whose lives were wrecked by fracking operations at their doorstep, I’ve learned the oil and gas industry is willfully misleading the public. Let’s look at each of Pyle’s misrepresentations one by one:
“Hydraulic fracturing has been in use for more than 60 years without any confirmed cases of groundwater contamination.”
Fracking – when taken to mean the entire process of developing an oil or gas well – has conclusively been linked to water contamination by federal and state environmental authorities many times. In Dimock, Pennsylvania, for example, the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) determined that methane contamination of the local water supply was due to gas drilling, specifically finding that 18 drinking-water wells in the area were affected by the operations of Cabot Oil & Gas.[1]
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency tests of Dimock water also clearly showed contaminants that could be traced to the fracking activities of Cabot Oil & Gas. Independent expert Dr. Rob Jackson from Duke University also analyzed EPA’s data and concluded that the water was contaminated by Marcellus shale gas fracked by Cabot.[2]
When oil industry spokespeople say "not one well" has been contaminated by fracking, it's deeply and dangerously misleading. The claim itself requires the parsing of language so that “fracking” only refers to one step in the process, namely the point when a toxic slurry of water and chemicals is pumped at enormous pressure into the ground to fracture the shale rock and free the gas within.
Industry knows it’s the drilling and well construction stages where it all breaks down -- literally. As the drill penetrates deep into the earth, it punctures different gas pockets that can mix together. The well around the hole is generally sealed with cement. But this thin layer of cement – the supposed barrier to gas and chemical migration into drinking water supplies – is notorious for cracking and leaking.
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They don't want to stop hydraulic fracturing. They want to stop ALL DRILLING of any type.
If I recall correctly, Dimock always had a gas water problem and that was used to bolster the ‘fracking is bad’ frenzy.
Conflating the argument. Methane is not introduced through fracking, it exists in the natural rock formations. It also migrates through fracture zones close to the surface, a natural process. This is how methane gets into well water, not as a result of fracking over a mile beneath the surface.
Under the consent order and agreement, Cabot must additionally submit to DEP:
Information on all parties who have contacted the company about water quantity or quality issues; and
A plan that specifically identifies how the company intends to prove the integrity of the casing and cementing on existing wells and fix defective casing and cementing by March 31.
If Cabot fails to fix the defective casing and cementing by the March deadline, the company must plug defective wells or implement another alternative as approved by DEP.
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The problem would have existed regardless of the wells being hydraulically fractured or not. It was not related to the problem.
For those who want to see a short 6 minute video showing how horizontal drilling and fracking is done Northern Gas and Oil has done a great video.
This includes a piece on how groundwater contamination is avoided:
http://www.northernoil.com/drilling-video
Knowledge is power, keep the link and pass it on.
Exactly. He’s telling us drilling is what is really the problem, so why doesn’t he come out and campaign against drilling?
Oh yeah, because he’s a lying hypocrite.
This loser is quoting ProPublica, FGS!
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