We hear so much these days about the oil extraction technique, Fracking, is a common term…….Depending on what news outlet you are a fan of…..we NEVER get both sides of the controversy at the same time….instead we get one side or the other and NO one actually works off the same data to make their points….instead they pay some think tank to come up with a position that supports whichever side you fall down on……
To make an informed decision on whether to support or oppose the issue we need info…..
(Newser) – For as big a role as fracking plays in US energy production, the national conversation about it is sadly lacking, writes Gretchen Goldman at LiveScience. For that, blame the companies involved in the hunt for natural gas—along with inept government agencies, writes Goldman, an environmental engineer with the Union of Concerned Scientists. Companies have “fended off citizens with silence,” she writes. “They say little about the technological practices they use, including information about the chemicals they inject into the earth and the wastewater that comes back.”
Meanwhile, state and federal agencies “have been asleep at the switch,” unable to keep up with industry advances and proper regulations. All this is not to say that fracking is evil—some communities might be perfectly willing to accept higher risks for the payoff. But the point is that the entire debate needs to get better so people can make informed choices, writes Goldman. “Science is like a trusty flashlight in these contentious debates,” she writes. “Let’s let it illuminate our path, no matter which road we take.” Click for her full column, or for a “toolkit” of information for citizens from the UCS.
To me it sounds like a great way to separate the oil from the sand……but it also sounds like there are more problems with the system that solutions for our oil consumption. Until we have a meeting of both sides and hear both sides using the same data…there is NO way that an informed opinioon can be made….all we are doing is regurgitating talking points and slogans…..not the truth.
Outside of the real risk that fracking chemicals pose to underground water supplies is the fact that they use around 1 million gallons of water per well, mostly from exisiting water supplies that people rely on for their source of drinking water. In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that 70 to 140 billion gallons of water are used to fracture 35,000 wells in the United States each year.
This water is pumped through the fracking process and regurgitated as contaminated waste water that cannot be used again for human consumption so huge tanks have to be built to store or an expensive process to inject it deep below the surface is being used. There are concerns that these deep injection well are themselves leaking into fresh underground aquifers.
Here in Texas and other areas where severe drought conditions have dried up a lot of topical water supplies we are now looking at greater shortages because many communities allow gas drilling companies use of our drinking water to drill their wells. Their was even one small Texas community where there water supplied dried completely up because of this. In some cases frackers outbid others for water supplies like farmers which hurts our food supply chain and puts some farmers out of business or at a great loss when crops die from lack of water.
There seems to a connection too with the fracking process and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/07/whats-energy-extraction-and-earthquakes"an increased number of earthquakes. And what pours salt into the wound is the discovery that claimed 100 year supplies of natural gas are bogus. By some estimates there is less than 50 year supply. So once these companies wreak havoc with our environment and leave our air and water supplies wanting, they will take their profits and move away leaving the communities they infected to fend for themselves
Morning Larry, thanx for the definition….fracking is NOT the way of the future if we want a future….it is that simple.
Contaminated underground drinking water and water use is a big issue we deal with here in north Texas. The city allowed gas wells to be drilled within city limits last year, against strong citizen protests. In the end they listened to the sugar-coated explanations from the industry how safe fracking was.
Now the gas companies are pushing the boundaries by violating the agreement they made with the city by building wells closer to homes than was established in that agreement. See that story here and mine and other people’s comments at the bottom of the story
All this is gonna come back and bite us in the ass…..and soon I feel.
Not only has Brazil found the worlds second largest deposits of oil off her coast but it seems the northeast is riddled with shale oil. It really looks like we’re going to use this shit right to the last drop and just damn the future.
oh great not bad enough to destroy the rain forest huh?
Actually, there have been good movements in that area. The destruction has been radically curtailed in the last 10 years and some restorative actions put in place.
About damn time, huh? Activist have done a good job….just wish they were as successful world wide…..