There’s a big debate about the practice of fracking, formally known as hydraulic fracturing, in West Virginia. But within this fracas, much of the debate is leaving out some critical facts.
Fact #1 – In over 50 years of drilling for natural gas in the United States, there has never been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination from stimulating a well through hydraulic fracturing.
Fact #2 – If chemicals used in fracking are so bad, why are the industry and many companies so willing to publicly disclose what is used in the process. For example, Chesapeake Energy has a fracking disclosure website. Then there is this great website for industry transparency called FracFocus. And just this month the Williams Company began listing its fracking ingredients online as well.
Fact #3 – Last week top officials of West Virginia’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) told members of the Legislature they have no (that’s zero) confirmed cases of well water contamination from fracking.
So why all the fracking fracas? Could it be people just haven’t considered the facts?
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Duke's Hazard
Erroneous information can be hazardous. This is certainly the case with the misinformation in Duke University’s study linking methane in well water to hydraulic fracturing.
No one in West Virginia wants their water poisoned. That includes companies using hydraulic fracturing to stimulate natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions of our state. When Duke University released its questionable study yesterday, a lot of eyebrows were raised by West Virginia natural gas producers as well as industry experts in neighboring states.
Energy in Depth (EID) posed several substantive questions in their analyses of the study yesterday. But nothing raises eyebrows more than the quotes EID included from the study itself which concedes that hydraulic fracturing likely has zero impact on water wells:
• “Methane migration [via fracturing] through the 1- to 2-km-thick geological formations that overlie the Marcellus and Utica shales is less likely as a mechanism for methane contamination than leaky well casings …” (Osborn, et al., Duke Univ., May 9, 2011)
• “Based on our data (Table 2), we found no evidence for contamination of the shallow wells near active drilling sites from deep brines and/or fracturing fluids.” (ibid)
• “When gas wells are thousands of feet deep – and far below the shallow aquifers that typically provide drinking water – contamination is often stated to be impossible due to the distance between the well and the drinking water. Although this seems reasonable in most (and possibly all) cases, field and modeling studies should be undertaken to confirm this assumption.
Former Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) John Hanger weighs in with extensive criticism. Hanger, who was Pennsylvania’ chief protector of the environment, points out that gas migration, not frack fluids, is the real issue for water wells in his informative blog.
West Virginia is excessively proud of its natural resources. We should be! Our natural resources are our state’s economic life blood. Whether it is timber, natural gas, coal, tourism or water, our state must maximize every opportunity while protecting what we all value.
However, false information will be hazardous to West Virginia’s future if we allow its dissemination. Marcellus drilling will create 20,000 new jobs in West Virginia by 2015. These jobs, and the economic vitality it will bring, are far too important to our future. Duke’s misinformation is a hazard to this future so let’s set the record straight so we can all reap the benefits.
No one in West Virginia wants their water poisoned. That includes companies using hydraulic fracturing to stimulate natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions of our state. When Duke University released its questionable study yesterday, a lot of eyebrows were raised by West Virginia natural gas producers as well as industry experts in neighboring states.
Energy in Depth (EID) posed several substantive questions in their analyses of the study yesterday. But nothing raises eyebrows more than the quotes EID included from the study itself which concedes that hydraulic fracturing likely has zero impact on water wells:
• “Methane migration [via fracturing] through the 1- to 2-km-thick geological formations that overlie the Marcellus and Utica shales is less likely as a mechanism for methane contamination than leaky well casings …” (Osborn, et al., Duke Univ., May 9, 2011)
• “Based on our data (Table 2), we found no evidence for contamination of the shallow wells near active drilling sites from deep brines and/or fracturing fluids.” (ibid)
• “When gas wells are thousands of feet deep – and far below the shallow aquifers that typically provide drinking water – contamination is often stated to be impossible due to the distance between the well and the drinking water. Although this seems reasonable in most (and possibly all) cases, field and modeling studies should be undertaken to confirm this assumption.
Former Secretary of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) John Hanger weighs in with extensive criticism. Hanger, who was Pennsylvania’ chief protector of the environment, points out that gas migration, not frack fluids, is the real issue for water wells in his informative blog.
West Virginia is excessively proud of its natural resources. We should be! Our natural resources are our state’s economic life blood. Whether it is timber, natural gas, coal, tourism or water, our state must maximize every opportunity while protecting what we all value.
However, false information will be hazardous to West Virginia’s future if we allow its dissemination. Marcellus drilling will create 20,000 new jobs in West Virginia by 2015. These jobs, and the economic vitality it will bring, are far too important to our future. Duke’s misinformation is a hazard to this future so let’s set the record straight so we can all reap the benefits.