ShaleGasPrimer_Online_4-2009. Facts About Fracking | New Yorkers Against Fracking. What is Fracking? Over the past decade, there has been a rush for new natural gas using a controversial drilling method. Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” injects a mixture of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure into dense shale rock formations to crack the rock and release natural gas. Fracking has been around for decades, but the techniques, technologies and chemicals used to reach new, remote gas reserves are more intensive and riskier than conventional gas drilling.
Fracking has brought rampant environmental and economic problems to rural communities. Accidents and leaks have polluted rivers, streams and drinking water supplies. Regions peppered with drilling rigs have high levels of smog as well as other airborne pollutants, including potential carcinogens. Rural communities face an onslaught of heavy truck traffic — often laden with dangerous chemicals used in drilling — and declining property values. A threat to New York’s drinking water Underground Contamination. Fracking Shale Extraction And Depletion. Native American Tribes Sue Frackers. But that last-resort land turns out to hold a wealth of oil, because it sits on the Bakken Shale, widely believed to be one of the world's largest deposits of crude. Until recently, that oil was difficult to extract, but hydraulic fracturing, combined with the ability to drill a well sideways underground, can tap it. The result, according to several senior tribal members and lawsuits filed last November and early this year in federal and state courts, has been a land grab involving everyone from tribal leaders accused of enriching themselves at the expense of their people, to oil speculators, to a New York hedge fund, to the federal government's Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The rush to get access to oil on tribal lands is part of the oil industry's larger push to secure drilling rights across the United States. Recent estimates show that the U.S. contains vast quantities of oil and gas. Wilkinson declined to comment and Woodward could not be reached. "Mr. FrackAction.com | Snake Oil: How Fracking's False Promise of Plenty Imperils Our Future:Amazon:Kindle Store. Water contamination report. _ReportOnPavillion_Dec-8-2011. Committee Democrats Release New Report Detailing Hydraulic Fracturing Products. EPA Hydraulic Fracturing. EPA Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources EPA is conducting a study to better understand any potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water and ground water. The scope of the research includes the full lifespan of water in hydraulic fracturing.
You can learn more about the study at epa.gov/hfstudy. Natural gas plays a key role in our nation's clean energy future. EPA is working with states and other key stakeholders to help ensure that natural gas extraction does not come at the expense of public health and the environment. On this page: Improving our Scientific Understanding of Hydraulic Fracturing Top of Page Providing Regulatory Clarity and Protections against Known Risks Although the national study should enhance our scientific knowledge, some concerns associated with overall natural gas and shale gas extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, are already well known. Graphs. FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry. Gasland 2: A film by Josh Fox - NOW on HBO.