EPA fracking investigation in Wyoming revisited after objections. In December of last year, Ars reported on a major EPA study in Pavillion, Wyoming that concluded hydraulic fracking operations there had contaminated the groundwater aquifer. While there wasn’t a clear link to contamination detected in some shallow private water wells, EPA believed the deeper contamination was very likely related to fracking. This determination came primarily from two deep monitoring wells that EPA had installed for the investigation. Encana, the gas exploration company that owned the natural gas wells, disagreed vehemently. They asserted that EPA had drilled monitoring wells into a zone where gas was naturally present.
In the end, the EPA, the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Wyoming Geological Survey, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and the Wyoming Water Development Office met to discuss these objections. What comes next? Fracking Lawsuit In New York Dismissed By US Judge. By Jessica Dye NEW YORK, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Brooklyn dismissed a lawsuit on Monday brought by New York state and environmental groups challenging proposed natural gas drilling in the Delaware River basin. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis threw out the action on procedural grounds, saying there was no basis for the lawsuit since the regulations it sought to halt had not yet been finalized. "The court concludes that this dispute is not currently fit for judicial review," Garaufis wrote.
"The harms that plaintiffs ultimately are concerned about are speculative, and rely on a chain of inferences that may never come to pass. " New York and several environmental groups sued the U.S. government and Delaware River Basin Commission in 2011, asking for environmental studies to determine the effect of gas drilling on the basin, which supplies water to about 15 million people, including some New York City residents. Earlier on HuffPost: Global Fracking Protests Planned Around The World By GlobalFrackdown Campaign. PHILADELPHIA -- Demonstrators in the United States and other countries protested Saturday against the natural gas drilling process known as fracking that they say threatens public health and the environment.
Participants in the "Global Frackdown" campaign posted photos on social media websites showing mostly small groups. But organizer Mark Schlosberg said Saturday afternoon he thought the protests were going well and he pointed to photos showing larger demonstrations in South Africa and France as well as higher turnouts in cities in California, Colorado and New York. "I think it's really the communities all over the world coming together to say, `We want to protect our water, we want to protect our air, and we want to safeguard our climate future by getting off dirty fossil fuels and saying no to fracking. But scientists disagree on the risks of hydraulic fracking, a process that injects large volumes of water, sand and chemicals underground to break rock apart and free the gas. Brendan DeMelle: Deepening Doubts About Fracked Shale Gas Wells' Long Term Prospects. This month, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released its bi-annual report on how much natural gas has been produced in the Marcellus Shale, a rock formation which stretches underneath much of Appalachia.
Investors were shocked because the production numbers seemed far lower than expected. Watched closely by market and energy analysts, the report sparked a heated debate about the oil and gas industry's excited rhetoric about fracked shale gas as the cure-all to many of America's energy and jobs needs. But the story quickly got complicated. The report was released despite lacking data from the state’s second largest driller, Chesapeake Energy, and state regulators never flagged the omission.
The amount of gas flowing out of Pennsylvania had actually climbed dramatically. If regulators make mistakes in tracking energy production in their state, how reliable is the companion to that report, which tracks the toxic waste produced by these same companies? Wastewater Injection Wells: The Trillion-Gallon Loophole. From ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten: On a cold, overcast afternoon in January 2003, two tanker trucks backed up to an injection well site in a pasture outside Rosharon, Texas. There, under a steel shed, they began to unload thousands of gallons of wastewater for burial deep beneath the earth.
The waste – the byproduct of oil and gas drilling – was described in regulatory documents as a benign mixture of salt and water. But as the liquid rushed from the trucks, it released a billowing vapor of far more volatile materials, including benzene and other flammable hydrocarbons. The truck engines, left to idle by their drivers, sucked the fumes from the air, revving into a high-pitched whine. Before anyone could react, one of the trucks backfired, releasing a spark that ignited the invisible cloud. Fifteen-foot-high flames enveloped the steel shed and tankers. The site at Rosharon is what is known as a “Class 2” well. That’s what happened at Rosharon. In 1980, California Rep. Fracking in California takes less water. In Pennsylvania, the controversial practice of fracking can consume 4.5 million gallons of water per well, the liquid pumped deep underground to crack rocks that contain natural gas.
In parts of Texas, fracking a well often takes 6 million gallons. But in California, where fracking is starting to spread, the average amount of water involved is just 164,000 gallons, according to industry data. Hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, has triggered a boom in energy production across the United States and sparked a fierce public debate that revolves around water. Critics say fracking can ruin drinking water supplies when badly built wells allow chemicals used in the process to seep into aquifers. The disposal wells that take used fracking water and bury it far beneath the earth's surface can trigger earthquakes. And in arid Western states, the sheer volume of water that fracking requires alarms farmers and environmentalists alike. Less water used in California Why the difference? Methane Making An Appearance In Pa. Water Supplies. Hide caption Mike and Nancy Leighton live in Leroy Township, Pa., where residents have been dealing with flammable gas puddles and tainted well water.
Becky Lettenberger/NPR Hide caption A local well pad in Bradford County has been leaking gas since mid-May, according to state regulators. Gas has been bubbling into this nearby creek since about the same time. Becky Lettenberger/NPR Hide caption The Morse well pad in Bradford County, which the state believes is responsible for the leaking methane. More than 3 million pounds of cement and steel are used in a typical natural gas well.
Becky Lettenberger/NPR Hide caption It's thought that a leaky pipe that connects the surface to the deep underground gas reservoir is responsible for the methane escape. Hide caption Flammable methane continues to bubble up from the ground in 15 to 20 spots on the Leightons' property. Mike and Nancy Leighton's problems began on May 19, just as Mike was settling in to watch the Preakness Stakes. University of Texas Compounds Conflict Question in Review of Gas Report. Fact sheet: How much does fracking really affect climate change? Motivated Reasoning Skip to next paragraph Energy Trends Insider Our mission is to provide clear, objective information about the important energy issues facing the world, address and correct misconceptions, and to actively engage readers and exchange ideas.
For more great energy coverage, visit Energy Trends Insider. Recent posts Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition But then the article went on to say something that I thought was very relevant to debates on just about any controversial energy topic — fossil fuel subsidies, climate change, hydraulic fracturing: One expert said there’s an actual psychological process at work that sometimes blinds people to science, on the fracking debate and many others. Lubell said the situation, which happens on both sides of a debate, is called “motivated reasoning.” Keystone Pipeline and Climate Change Game Over For the Planet? So how did Hansen and McKibben respond? Hansen said: Energy News - Waterless LPG Natural Gas Fracking and Tanzania Uranium. Can fracking contaminate drinking water? - environment - 11 July 2012. The salt of the Earth may hint at trouble for the fracking industry's safety claims, according to a new geological study – although other researchers disagree.
Hydraulic fracturing uses pressurised fluid to crack open deep shale rocks to release the methane trapped within them. Geologists say this potentially harmful fluid is unlikely to percolate up through a few kilometres of rock to reach the shallow aquifers that supply drinking water – but Avner Vengosh of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, thinks the methane itself could do so. The gas would be an explosion risk. Last year his team claimed drinking wells close to fracking sites in Pennsylvania were contaminated with methane – perhaps from fracking – a finding that was met with a storm of criticism. Now Vengosh claims more evidence of possible contamination. Fast-moving gas The process is likely to take millions of years, making it far too slow to pose a serious problem, says Mike Stephenson of the British Geological Survey.
Intelligence Squared Fracking Debate Discusses Pros and Cons Of Shale Gas Boom. Tell Your U.S. Legislators: Protect Our Water, Ban Fracking Now! The action you’re looking for no longer exists, but don’t worry! Here are some other ways to take action to protect your food and water: You have a right to know what's in your food! We can all agree that we should be able to know what's in the food that we're eating.
Fill out the form to sign the petition to legislators: I urge you to support legislation that would require the labeling of all genetically engineered foods. Sign the Petition to Ban Fracking Now! Fracking threatens our essential resources. Tell Congress to Stop Obama's Secret Trade Deals Congress just introduced fast track, and could vote at any time. New hazard of gas drilling: flow-back water. New hazard of gas drilling: flow-back water Only six treatment plants in PA By TOM KANE RIVER VALLEY - According to some, every consequence of gas drilling can be taken care of except one: the disposal of the flow-back water that comes out of the well after drilling.
Much of the water used in the drilling process called “fracking”? About 40 percent of the total? “That’s the bigger issue. And as if that weren’t enough, the wastewater could become radioactive. “By default, in oil and gas production, the agency does not have any specific regulations that deal with NORM or any radioactive material,” said EPA spokesman Dave Bay. The risk for NORM in wastewater can vary from virtually none to potentially ruinous to human health and the environment.
NORM consists of Radium 226 and Radium 228, which are bone seekers that result in lung cancer and bone cancer. “When the material experiences a change in pressure and temperature, the NORM precipitates out and forms radioactive scale. HBO’s Gasland has it right: Take caution before jumping on the ‘fracking’ wagon. “Whoa, that’s not supposed to happen.” Thus spoke Josh Fox, master of the understatement, after he witnessed a man, whose house neighbors a natural gas well, light his kitchen tap water on fire.
And by “fire” I don’t mean a delicate tongue of flame like on a candlestick: it’s an honest-to-goodness fireball that comes blazing out of that tap. And it happens not once but multiple times in different homes across the country in Fox’s recently-released documentary on hydraulic fracturing called Gasland. Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as “fracking” (any other Battlestar Galactica fans sharing a smile?) Wrong. In Gasland, citizens from Pennsylvania to Colorado display jars of muddy brown water which began gushing from their kitchen taps after hydro-fracking started nearby.
At this point, you’re not alone if you’re suspiciously examining the glass of water you were about to sip. Congress is stalled (what else is new?) Photos: Haze surrounding home during fracking near Pavilion, Wyoming. Fracking in USA. Fracking. Ohio Fracking: Earthquakes Could Incite Policy Shift. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In Ohio, geographically and politically positioned to become a leading importer of wastewater from gas drilling, environmentalists and lawmakers opposed to the technique known as fracking are seizing on a series of small earthquakes as a signal to proceed with caution.
Earthquakes caused by the injection of wastewater that's a byproduct of high-pressure hydraulic fracture drilling, aren't new. Yet earthquakes have a special ability to grab public attention. That's especially true after Saturday's quake near Youngstown, at magnitude 4.0 strong enough to be felt across hundreds of square miles. Gov. John Kasich, a drilling proponent, has shut down the wastewater well on which the quake has been blamed, along with others in the area, as the seismic activity is reviewed. "Drilling's very important for our economy and to help us progress as a state, but every single person in the Mahoning Valley felt this earthquake," said state Sen.
Also on HuffPost: Chevron might inject steam into Arabian oil field. Chevron Corp. might invest as much as $40 billion to produce an extra 5 billion barrels from an oilfield along the border of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, by injecting steam underground to make it liquid enough to pump. The San Ramon company is pressing ahead with a pilot project at the Wafra field after "very promising" results, said Ahmed al-Omer, managing director of Saudi Arabian Chevron. The venture expects to make a final decision by 2013, al-Omer said. The project would be the largest so-called steam-flood development in the world, according to Chevron.
The technique involves injecting steam to heat heavy crude at the field to make it flow more easily to wells for extraction. "We are going to apply the steam in phases, and we will take it area by area, and this may continue beyond 2038," al-Omer said. Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in OPEC, pumped 9.55 million barrels a day of crude in November. EPA: Natural Gas Fracking Linked to Water Contamination: Scientific American. The EPA’s investigation into water pollution near Pavillion, Wyo., produces landmark findings that could erode arguments used to defend safety of the gas drilling process. In a first, federal environment officials today scientifically linked underground water pollution with hydraulic fracturing, concluding that contaminants found in central Wyoming were likely caused by the gas drilling process. The findings by the Environmental Protection Agency come partway through a separate national study by the agency to determine whether fracking presents a risk to water resources.
In the 121-page draft report released today, EPA officials said that the contamination near the town of Pavillion, Wyo., had most likely seeped up from gas wells and contained at least 10 compounds [1] known to be used in frack fluids. Environmental advocates greeted today’s report with a sense of vindication and seized the opportunity to argue for stronger federal regulation of fracking. Markell: Delaware will vote against controversial drilling in Delaware River watershed.
Energy From Shale | About Natural Shale Gas, Shale Reserves, & Fracking. Here Comes Solar Energy. In Village’s Fight Over Gas Drilling, Civility Is Fading | Business News. Oklahoma's 5.6 Earthquake: Is Fracking Responsible?