"Fracking" 101
http://shaleshockmedia.org/2011/01/30/3-tony-ingraffea-sautnersjosh-fox-cumulative-environmental-effects-of-gas-drilling/ In 2011, Professor Anthony Ingraffea (Professor of Fracture Engineering at Cornell University) debated Professor Terry Ingelder on the pros and cons of drilling. Ingelder’s pro-drilling comments include the idea that some people will have to “sacrifice” for horizontal slickwater shale gas and oil extraction and production (about one hour long). Professor’s Ingraffea’s response to Terry Engelder’s pro-drilling statement is about 30 min.)
http://vimeo.com/14472351 (4:45 min.) James Northrup (in the drilling industry for over 20 years, planning manager for ARCO) gives a brief introduction to high-volume slick- water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) gas drilling method and some problems in NY.
http://vimeo.com/14295502 (27 min.) - James Northrup gives a more Complete Introduction to high-volume slick-water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) gas drilling method and some problems in NY.
http://my.brainshark.com/Horizontal-Hydrofracking-of-Shale-Gas-in-New-York-162908032 Horizontal Hydrofracking of Shale Gas in New York - Powerpoint with James Northrup’s voiceover- more in-depth overview of drilling and problems. (42 mins, 57 slides)
http://my.brainshark.com/Fracking-Shale-Gas-Industrialization-Video-753892639 - Northrup explains the ways shale hydrofracture gas drilling and production is massive industrialization. (20 mins 4 secs , 28 slides)
http://vimeo.com/14472351 (4:45 min.) James Northrup (in the drilling industry for over 20 years, planning manager for ARCO) gives a brief introduction to high-volume slick- water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) gas drilling method and some problems in NY.
http://vimeo.com/14295502 (27 min.) - James Northrup gives a more Complete Introduction to high-volume slick-water horizontal hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) gas drilling method and some problems in NY.
http://my.brainshark.com/Horizontal-Hydrofracking-of-Shale-Gas-in-New-York-162908032 Horizontal Hydrofracking of Shale Gas in New York - Powerpoint with James Northrup’s voiceover- more in-depth overview of drilling and problems. (42 mins, 57 slides)
http://my.brainshark.com/Fracking-Shale-Gas-Industrialization-Video-753892639 - Northrup explains the ways shale hydrofracture gas drilling and production is massive industrialization. (20 mins 4 secs , 28 slides)
Basics of Why We're Concerned
To extract gas and oil from shale requires amazing technology: first, drilling down one or two miles to reach the petroleum-bearing shale. Then the drill bit must be turned to drill sideways through the shale (because the shale is not very thick and the gas and oil is not in hollow pockets, but embedded in cracks existing in the shale).
The more formal name for this process is unconventional high volume horizontal slickwater gas and oil drilling in shale. What we've learned from studying reports of communities with 3-10 years experience of shale drilling (PA, WV, ND, CO, TX, WY) concerns us because the whole process (that has come to be known as "fracking") is a large scale risky industrial process that MUST now be used to extract fossil fuels---because we have used up all the "easy-to-get-at" oil and gas. Here are some facts:
Ø Gas/oil permeates cracks in the shale; therefore, if industry predictions of a “Saudi Arabia” under Ohio are accurate, every leased sq. mile will have a well pad. (Ohio counties average 450 sq.mi.).
Ø 4-12 wells can be drilled per 3-8 acre pad. Production requires access roads, pipelines, compressors, separators, dehydrators, storage tanks, reserve pits. Pipelines connecting wells average 100 ft. right-of-ways and every 50-100 miles a 3-5 acre compressor station. This industrial process requires clear-cutting forests, replacing productive farmland with acres of cement or compressed rock and soil.
Ø Fracking each well once requires 3,000,000 - 8,000,000 gallons of water, 15,000 - 80,000 gallons of chemicals, 1500 tons of sand, all transported & stored. [The UN calculates the average American uses 5-13 gallons/person/day for drinking, cooking, cleaning. A single well ‘fracking’ = 20 to 50 people’s lifetime water requirement.]
Ø Transportation requires 1,000 truck trips over 4-8 weeks (24/7) for each well. Therefore, 25-50 wells within a single county = 24/7/365 days of truck traffic for 2-6 years. Industry calls this a “temporary disturbance,” but plans to drill 1,000 shale wells per year for the next 4-10 years in Eastern Ohio; some counties in PA have had hundreds of wells drilled.
Ø Air & water pollution (including diesel, sulphur dioxide, arsenic, benzene, toluene, formaldehyde, methane) from truck traffic, compressor stations, pipe and storage tank leaks, permitted emissions, cement failure, traffic accidents, will occur during drilling & production.
Ø Cuttings from 2-4 miles of vertical plus horizontal drilling contain toxic injected chemicals, Radium-226 and heavy metals normally occurring in the shale. Cuttings are currently buried on-site or transported to landfills— no one tests for the toxins or radium.
Ø Production of shale gas/oil typically drops by half in the first year. Analysis of Texas shale wells demonstrates the only way to ensure constant production is to keep drilling new wells. A risk analysis of existing shale wells over 4 states predicts 2-4% will contaminate groundwater.
Ø The few local jobs created are temporary and the highest paid jobs go to out-of-state crews; in contrast, the wind and solar industry is growing rapidly and could provide permanent jobs with home-grown, sustainable energy that cannot be exported.
Ø Most people would call this massive, risky industrialization, creating a temporary, “boom” economy that will go bust. Industry profits dictate that until gas & oil prices rise here, the industry will ship abroad; our ports are being refitted to do that.
Now you can imagine that once a hole has been drilled for one, two, or three miles, there is a lot of soil and rock that comes out of that hole. In addition, something like 1/4 to 1/2 of the water and toxic chemicals that are injected for drilling and the actual fracturing process return as "flowback". The rest returns as long as the well is producing, along with the gas and oil. These fluids (often called "brine") must be disposed of. They cannot be processed in the waste treatment plants that treat our household wastes.
Oil and Gas waste fluids are disposed of in Class II wells---either drilled for that purpose, or in an older, nonproducing gas well. They may be called: Salt Water Injection Wells (SWIW), Salt Water Disposal Well (SWD), Underground Injection Control (UIC) or “injection wells.” Solids like drill cuttings are often buried in landfills. What’s the worry?
Ø Fracking waste fluids contain toxic chemicals, including Lead, Uranium, Mercury, Ethylene Glycol, Radium, Methanol, Hydrochloric Acid, Formaldehyde; drill cuttings typically contain the same chemicals and radioactivity from shale. However, this oil and gas waste is defined as non-hazardous, yet Ohio does not require testing for toxicity levels.
Ø Fracking waste fluids can be 10X saltier than sea water and some is more acid than hydrocholoric acid.
Ø These fluids must be transported, requiring hundreds of trucks, subject to accidents, spills, and leaks; unbiased experts declare that one of the most likely sources of contamination is from spills, leaks or unauthorized dumping.
Ø Some of the chemicals are known to cause cancer, nerve damage, and contribute to respiratory disease.
Ø Portage county has 18 existing SWIW and 9 newly permitted wells as of 8/5/13.
Ø Industry reports that some of the cement & casing (supposed to protect our aquafers) fail immediately and within 30 years, 50% will experience failure. Two of Portage County’s injection wells date from the 1970s; 8 from the 1980s.
Ø PA and WV are dumping this toxic waste in Ohio’s injection wells!
Ø The EPA found that injection of fluid into deep wells triggered earthquakes in Colorado, Texas, New York, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Ohio and possibly in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Ø Ohio has hundreds of unidentified abandoned gas wells that can serve as conduits for contamination to migrate into our water sources.
Ø The only way the industry can make shale gas & oil profitable is to drill thousands and thousands of horizontal wells and to frack these wells multiple times. From each “frack,” for each well, approximately 1,000,000 gallons of waste flowback MUST be disposed of deep underground----permanently. Only a fraction can be “recycled,” and even that must be disposed of eventually.
Ø Injection wells are drilled through the aquafer, typically into limestone; if the cement around the casing fails, fluids and gases under pressure in cracks and crevaces in the limestone can migrate up to the surface or into the aquafer.
Ø Industry cannot tell us where the literally billions of gallons of waste injected underground over the last 20-30 + years has gone.
Sources are are available for all these facts and links will be added to this page as well.
