Posts Tagged ‘Marcellus shale’
Hope, Arkansas is the hometown of William Jefferson Clinton, our nation’s 42nd president. And while Little Rock may be the state’s capital, and largest city, the Natural State’s former governor Mike Huckabee also hails from the southwestern town of Hope.
But because of the tightly-regulated 60-year old energy stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – which has been safely used to enhance oil and natural gas production in the United States more than 1.1 million times without every impacted groundwater – there’s much more hope, genuine economic opportunity and job growth potentials flowing into Arkansas, and other regions of the country.
A quick history lesson, compliments of Southwestern Energy: “Southwestern Energy Company discovered the economic viability of the Fayetteville Shale and was the first company to drill and successfully produce its natural gas.”
This discovery, enabled by fracture stimulation coupled with advanced horizontal drilling technologies, “continues to help boost the economy,” says Arkansas’ Channel 11-THV. This from their recent story on the responsible development of the Fayetteville Shale:
Kathy Deck, an economist with the University of Arkansas, even says the Fayetteville Shale play provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the state when it needed it most. She says that while the shale has not developed as quickly as projected, the recession has had a lot to do with that, and that — going forward — the shale will continue to be an important part of the state’s economy.
The Arkansas Business Journal reports that this environmentally-sound development has been “A ‘Shot in the Arm’ to Economy”:
“You have to say, especially in Arkansas, the Fayetteville Shale Play provided a much-needed shot in the arm for the state when it needed it most,” said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business, which has twice attempted to project the shale play’s impact.
And despite the sluggishness that the national economy continues to experience, similar benefits are being experienced in other shale gas-producing states and regions of the country. In northwest Louisiana, where the development of the Haynesville Shale continues to safely hum along, KTBS-TV reports that the “Mansfield Economy Booms; Construction On Every Corner.” This from their story on this economic growth, which is a direct result of homegrown energy production:
Construction crews in Mansfield are hard at work with two new restaurants, two new hotels and a new bank.
Shelby Spurlock of Claiborne Parish says the Haynesville Shale is the reason she decided to open Cafe 171 in Mansfield. “It’s an ant bed of activity and we just wanted to come and join it,” said Spurlock while getting ready for Thursday’s grand opening.
City Alderman Troy Terrell says the Haynesville Shale has given Mansfield one of the biggest economic boosts in the state. “In the next two years, Mansfield won’t even look the same, ” said Terrell while standing at one of many construction sites.
Terrell says the economic boom has lead to several new roads. The city recently spent 10-million dollars on a new sewer and water system. City leaders say the new system will bring even more businesses and jobs.
Who said we don’t build things in American anymore? But wait, the news gets better.
While this days of service in the U.S. Congress are counting down, true to form, Sen. Arlen Specter is not mailing it in. Specter, a Pennsylvania Democrat-turned Republican-turned-Democrat, understands that the responsible development of the Commonwealth’s Marcellus Shale reserves is a true game-changer for the region’s economy, its workforce, and for our nation’s energy security. The Williamsport Sun-Gazette reports this yesterday:
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Philadelphia, sees great economic potential for the local area from the Marcellus Shale and believes the gas industry can help ensure drilling does not adversely impact the environment.
Natural gas, he noted, represents a bridge between fossil fuels and renewable energy resources.
“If we find a way to free ourselves from OPEC oil, that would be great,” he said. “It will be an economic opportunity for Williamsport.”
Speaking of the local area, workforce training programs continue to spud across Pennsylvania, helping to equip men and women from the region with the tools, skill sets, and know-how they will need to contribute to the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale’s abundant, clean-burning natural gas reserves. This from yesterday’s Scranton Times-Tribune:
With the hope of landing a high-paying, stable job in the burgeoning natural gas industry, 24 men embarked Monday on their first industry course at Lackawanna College in New Milford.
Larry Milliken, the course instructor, spent his career working in the industry all over the country from exploration and mineral development to working as an oil and gas “land man.” “(Lackawanna College) set up this program to help people from this area find a career in the natural gas industry,” Mr. Milliken said. “It’s a diverse background of people and ages coming into this class.”
Joshua Houck, 26, of Great Bend, said his curiosity about the natural gas industry motivated him to take the class. “I’m going to try to get a good job afterward,” he said.
Al Bisner, 28, of New Milford, said he returned to the Susquehanna County area after serving in the Army. Mr. Bisner has spent his working career self-employed in the plumbing and heating field but decided he could make more money working for the gas industry. He said he is worried about the rural area becoming more like a “big city” but figured natural gas development is here to stay and wanted “to get in on the ground floor.”
Toward the end of the first session, Mr. Milliken said to the class, “You, your kids and even their kids will be able to make careers in the natural gas industry.”
Think of that: careers – not jobs – in the natural gas industry. You see, our industry is committed to being good neighbors, citizens, partners, friends and ultimately stewards of the environment.
But despite hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety, some remain fully committed to stopping the use of this technology, and therefore the benefits that it’s making possible for America, especially in small, rural communities where economic opportunity is desperately needed. But supporters of responsible domestic energy production continue to speak out. This from Norwich, NY’s Evening Sun:
Greene businessman Enzo Olivieri warns that a moratorium on natural gas drilling in New York would kill everyone’s hopes for new jobs, and the anti-drillers pushing for it will ultimately succeed because they have deeper pockets.
“That’s what it all boils down to. They, who for the most part come from downstate, have more money than we do up here, so they’re more powerful,” he said.
Olivieri’s exasperation was recently relayed in a phone call to The Evening Sun after the New York State Senate voted Aug. 3 to impose a nine-month moratorium on the controversial high water volume horizontal drilling technique, called hydraulic fracturing. The restaurant owner and real estate developer said he fears that the promise of economic recovery in the area and throughout upstate New York may now simply “wash downstate along with the region’s water.”
Referring to New York City-based protesters who want to ban drilling, he said, “They are the first to use our resources, our water and our crops, and not pay the adequate amount for it. Now they want to take our jobs away?”
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The positive and overwhelming economic and energy security benefits enabled by hydraulic fracturing – a tightly regulated 60-year old energy stimulation technology – continue to be realized across the nation. These benefits – affordable supplies of reliable homegrown energy and thousands of good-paying jobs – are a reality in major energy-producing states, particularly North Dakota and Texas.
And while New York was the birthplace of natural gas production, a de facto ban on Marcellus Shale production through the use of 21st century horizontal drilling technology continues to deny landowners their right to responsibly develop privately-owned, clean-burning, job-creating resources.
Facts are stubborn things, as they say. So for your edification, here are a few about fracturing.
In a Fort Worth Business Press column today, Bruce Vincent, chairman of the Independent Petroleum Association of American (IPAA) and president of Swift Energy, underscores the critical role that fracture stimulation has played, and continues to play, in safely producing homegrown, job-creating energy oil and natural gas resources over the past 60 years. Here are key excerpts from Vincent’s column, which speaks directly to the devastating consequences that bills like the FRAC Act would introduce to American consumers:
This process is tightly regulated by energy-producing states, and is subject to a host of federal laws and regulations as well. In fact, federal law mandates that these fluids – which as stated, are made up of more than 99.5 percent water and sand – be disclosed at every single well-site. Many states even provide these lists online.
In commercial use since 1949, hydraulic fracturing has been – and continues to be – the linchpin to American oil and natural gas production. With surgical-like precision, using high-pressure fluids made up of more than 99.5 percent water and sand, with a small percentage of everyday additives used to kill bacteria and reduce wellbore friction, fracturing stimulates oil and gas production thousands of feet below ground, allowing increased amounts of energy to be produced.
But is it safe, and what steps do producers take to ensure groundwater protection? The short answer: yes, and many.
Unfortunately, some members of Congress believe that they know better than Texas, and that Washington bureaucrats ought to regulate fracturing, rather than individual energy-producing states who understand the geology best and have amassed an impressive track record of overseeing this critical technology. These advocates say their legislation is about disclosure of fracturing fluids. At its core, though, these efforts are aimed at stopping fracturing altogether, which would significantly blunt the positive economic growth and job creation in Texas, as well as in other energy-producing states, and ultimately, increase the cost of energy for America.
More than 1,500 miles away from Ft. Worth, in bucolic Syracuse, NY, folks are also talking about fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety and effectiveness. In yesterday’s Syracuse Post-Standard, Alfred Station, NY-native Chris Kulander – who holds a Ph.D. in geophysics with a focus on petroleum seismology – write this about fracture stimulation, and the benefits this proven technology stands to help generate through responsibly developing New York’s portion of the Marcellus Shale:
No evidence directly connects injection of fracking fluid into shale with aquifer contamination. In 2004, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a study finding no confirmed instances of drinking water contamination by fracking fluids in the ground. This finding is not surprising, as fracking fluid is pumped through heavy steel pipe surrounded by a concrete liner to formations thousands of feet below aquifers.
Fracking has made production from the Marcellus Shale possible and created thousands of jobs.
An unfortunate push exists in New York to ban all fracking, purportedly until the technology can be “proven” safe, and to require federal oversight of fracking.
While a responsive state regulatory framework and vigorous, impartial enforcement of those regulations are necessary, draconian measures such as rolling moratoriums or federal oversight of fracking are not. New York is well able to regulate fracking while at the same time allowing development of natural gas and enjoying the jobs and revenue it brings.
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The responsible development of clean-burning natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation – enabled by hydraulic fracture stimulation technologies, coupled with advancements in horizontal drilling – continues to be an boon throughout much of Appalachia, where small, rural communities and towns have not experienced genuine, lasting economic growth and prosperity for quite some time. But that’s all changing now thanks to these technologies, which can safely and effectively reach the Marcellus’ abundant, homegrown, job-creating natural gas reserves.
And while some continue to oppose this environmentally-proven and tightly regulated development, and the tens of thousands of good-paying jobs this production is helping to create at a time when economic opportunity is dire, it’s clear that folks throughout the Rust Belt agree that this is a good thing, and that it can – and must – be done responsibly.
Energy production companies, including Chesapeake Energy, continue to hire throughout the region, holding forums for those interested in joining our fight for a more secure energy future and more stable energy prices for American families, seniors and consumers.
Under the headline “Hundreds Want Gas Drilling Jobs,” the Wheeling Intelligencer reports that “For neighbors Shawn Long and Eric Westbrook of Middlebourne, who arrived before 10 a.m. and waited more than an hour to get through the door, the chance for new employment in the Ohio Valley is welcome.”
One attendee at the recent Chesapeake Energy open house said that “This is a great opportunity for around here,” adding that “this (the gas industry) is one of the only things around here. It’s a good thing they (Chesapeake) are here.” Another individual seeking employment noted that “It’s this or the coal mine. I’ve got two kids and a wife I have to take care of,” add that “Any new full-time employment in this area is great.”
We report, you decide — as they say.
Hundreds in WV, Throughout the
Rust Belt Want Gas Drilling Jobs … |
… While a Few Use Distortions to Stop Responsible Gas Development, Job Growth
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(Hundreds Want Gas Drilling Jobs; Wheeling Intelligencer, 8/19/10)
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(“Protest” in Pittsburgh, Pa.; 8/18/10)
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Just The Facts: University of Pitt. Prof. Sets the Record Straight on Hydraulic Fracturing
Positive benefits created by fracture stimulation technology continue to pour in from coast to coast
In an interview with KDKA radio’s Mike Pintet, Professor Radisav Vidic of the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, sets the record straight on hydraulic fracturing – the 60 year-old energy stimulation technology that has been safely used to produced domestic oil and gas over 1.1 million times. Dr. Vidic, who holds a Ph.D. in environmental engineering, underscores hydraulic fracturing’s tight regulations and long and clear record of environmental safety.
On Hydraulic Fracturing’s Clear, Long Record of Protecting Groundwater: “There hasn’t been any proven case”
- “There hasn’t been any proven case that shows that the hydraulic fracturing itself causes contamination to groundwater. First of all, the well casing — the way it’s designed to be used — there’s multiple barriers there through the aquifer so there’s really no communication between the material that’s injected into the well and a groundwater aquifer. … This water is injected at a 8,000 feet depth so the chances of this water coming up all the way to the surface is very small simply.”
On Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Disclosure: “Go on the DEP’s website”
- “You can go on the DEP website, and there is a list chemicals that are being used in hydro fracturing operation. This list contains a total of I think about 78 chemicals. But you have to understand not all of them are used on every well, every time. This is a list of all the chemicals that are ever being used in the hydrofracturing operation. A subset of those chemicals are used on each well depending on which company is doing it and what is their technology, and approach to hydro fracturing the well. The industry is required to disclose this information, and the DEP has a list of all the chemicals that are being used for hydro fracturing operations.”
On GasLand Claims About Flaming Faucets: “It’s not caused by drilling”
- “It’s not caused by the drilling, it’s caused by the methane that’s coming from some place.”
What are others saying about domestic oil and natural gas production enabled by hydraulic fracturing? We’re glad you asked.
- Without fracture stimulation, ND’s economic boon wouldn’t be happening: “Hydraulic fracturing — or frac’ing — also is used for natural gas, and it’s controversial. The fluid is mostly water, but it also contains about one-half percent chemicals. Despite industry assurances, environmental groups worry frac’ing is polluting groundwater, and they want more regulation. Some even want an outright ban. But without this technology, the boom in North Dakota wouldn’t be happening.” (NRP, 8/18/10)
- Hydraulic fracturing helping to create hundreds of jobs in rural Pa.: “New York State lawmakers made a grand show of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale gas drilling procedures last week. They held our state up as an example of what not to do in a recession and inferred the state is selling its environment out so that it can generate the economy the gas drilling brings. To our friends to the north we would say that sword holds a double edge. … This past week the Sun-Gazette reported on the rapid growth of the cement mixing Halliburton plant off Route 405 in Clinton Township, where ground was broken a year ago. By year’s end there will be about 100 jobs, and there are projections that the plant will eventually employ 400 people. Plants with 400 jobs especially new ones aren’t plentiful in our region. (Williamsport Sun-Gazette Editorial, 8/15/10)
- Shale drilling could become an economic gusher for Michigan: “The $1.2 billion-a-year oil and gas industry is a modest player in Michigan’s economy, but the situation could change because the shale-rich Great Lakes State could be sitting atop the next in-demand natural resource, experts said. Advances in technology and $3-a-gallon gasoline have made deep-seated shale oil more accessible and desirable, they said. … The industry’s fortunes took a turn for the better when the state sold $178 million in leasing fees in a single auction in May. That equaled the total amount of money the state has collected in leasing fees since the 1920s, a telltale sign that interest in shale drilling is heating up. (Detroit News, 8/18/10)
- Roustabouts wanted as companies rush to drill for gas: “Workers looking for jobs in the region’s booming natural gas industry may try their hand as a “roustabouts” — general laborers who work physically grueling 12-hour shifts for 14 consecutive days in all kinds of weather to build and remove drilling pads and assist production. “It’s demanding labor, working long stretches without days off. You have to be ready to do quality work and do it a long time. Once they start production, they don’t stop,” said Richard Guenther, an employee relations specialist with Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Mt. Morris, Greene County. Pay can range from $10 to $20 an hour, plus overtime. (Tribune-Review, 8/18/10)
- 1 million wells have been fractured without a single case of documented harm to groundwater: “Water is mixed with sand and some chemicals and then pumped at high pressure into the well bore to shatter the Bakken shale formation, which can be as hard as a driveway. The “fracking” creates fissures that free up trapped oil and natural gas to flow up to the well bore. … Increasingly refined hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques have doubled Montana’s oil-and-gas production, Richmond said. In the United States, approximately 35,000 wells are “fracked” each year and 1 million wells have been developed without documented harm to groundwater, he said. … Oil in the Bakken lies well below groundwater supplies. (Billings Gazette, 8/14/10)
- Marcellus Shale’s economic impact is growing: “Marcellus Shale drilling is still in its infancy in West Virginia, but the industry is already contributing millions of dollars to the state’s economy. It may be awhile before the gas industry’s economic impact rivals that of coal in West Virginia. Mike Shaver, clad in a hard hat and muddy boots, surveys a gas drilling rig on a site in Upshur County. As a crew drills towards the Marcellus Shale, a pipe pumps water and dirt out of the hole in the earth and into a huge pit of muddy, rock-filled water. Shaver looks at the water, trying to determine how much farther the drill has to go before reaching shale gas. (Huntington Herald Dispatch, 8/14/10)
- Fracturing enabling a “transformative opportunity”, says. fmr. Gov. Ridge: “Former Gov. Tom Ridge this afternoon called Marcellus Shale gas production a “transformative opportunity” for Pennsylvania during an appearance Downtown in his new role as a strategic adviser to an industry group. Still dressed in the jeans and checkered shirt that he wore to inspect production operations in Washington County earlier in the day, Mr. Ridge hailed the industry’s economic potential but also stressed the need to manage environmental concerns. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/17/10)
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In 1949, the average cost for a gallon of gasoline was 17 cents. That same year, the First Polaroid Camera was sold for $89.95. And while the Polaroid has certainly had a lasting impact on American society, it was in 1949 when hydraulic fracturing first came into commercial use.
This energy stimulation technology has been safely used to help produce homegrown oil and natural gas more than 1.1 million times. And because of the industry’s commitment to ensure environmental safety, along with commonsense laws and regulations overseeing the process, hydraulic fracturing has never caused groundwater contamination. But despite this remarkable track record of putting the nation on stronger path toward energy security, a host of claims surrounding fracturing continue to persist.
Energy In Depth’s Lee Fuller helped separate the fact from fiction in a Detroit Free Press letter this week:
Fracturing is not new and is not “exempt from federal water laws,” as Olson claims. Shale gas development is regulated under the federal Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, the Community “Right to Know” Act, the Superfund law and by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
While Olson claims that “Most states, like Michigan, have not evaluated the impacts” of this technology, your readers should know Harold Fitch, director of the Geological Survey (OGS) office at Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality — which regulates every aspect of oil and gas production, including fracturing — has said that “there is no indication that hydraulic fracturing has ever caused damage to ground water or other resources in Michigan.” Fitch notes that “OGS has never received a complaint or allegation that hydraulic fracturing has impacted groundwater in any way.”
Fracturing fluids are made up of more than 99.5% water and sand. A small percentage of fluids used to reduce friction and kill bacteria that are commonly found under one’s kitchen sink, are added. Not only is a list of these fluids mandated by federal law to be available at every well site, many organizations — including Energy In Depth — list them online.
And here’s just a quick snapshot of positive economic benefits that hydraulic fracturing is helping to bring to energy-producing regions of the country that are in desperate need of good-paying jobs and stable energy costs, as well as the commitment from the industry to be good neighbors and stewards of the environment:
- Making good on a promise; Halliburton plant creates jobs. Sun-Gazette. “When ground was broken last August on a cement mixing plant owned by Halliburton off Route 405 in Clinton Township, company officials promised they would bring jobs to this area. The company is making good on that promise, said Perry A. Harris, senior district manager for Halliburton’s northeast U.S. operations. “By year’s end we’ll have 75 to 100 (employees) and (add) another 100 to 150 next year,” Harris said during a recent tour of the plant. … Harris said the company plans to develop another 55 acres nearby that will be home to other Halliburton gas field support operations. “Between the two sites, we’ll (be hiring) 400-plus people over the next two to three years,” Harris said.
- Another Bakken in ND? KXN-TV. “Central Bottineau County is poised to become the hub of a brand new boom. We’ve all become familiar with the Bakken Shale Formation in recent years. That’s the huge oil-rich rock formation that’s triggered a major oil boom centered in the Stanley area. But now, major oil companies are making moves that suggest a second oil boom is in its infancy. Jim Olson reports. Oil wells are not new to Bottineau County. 40 years ago, several successful wells were drilled there. But the work going on this summer on drilling rigs like this could signal the beginning of a major oil rush to the region. Lynn Helms, Dept. of Mineral Resources, says “It’s going to have a major impact.”
- Our commitment to the community. Lock Haven Express, Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Kathryn Klaber. “And while Marcellus development is still in the early stages, many of these benefits are already being realized. According to a recent study released by researchers at Penn State, our industry will help create nearly 212,000 jobs across the Commonwealth over the next decade. Last year alone, Marcellus development was responsible for the creation of 44,000 jobs. To date, landowners have received more than $1.7 billion in royalties and lease payments from Marcellus producers. And this production has also generated close to $400 million in state and local tax receipts – with that number expected to double this year. Many Pennsylvanians are also seeing lower energy rates because of this increase supply, allowing consumers to keep more of what they earn.
- Natural gas fueling economy. Shreveport Times. “The Haynesville Shale is the fourth largest natural gas field in the world. Discovered in 2008, the shale rock is buried as deep as two miles under the ground and in some places can be 500 feet thick. It stretches about 5,000 square miles under most of northwest Louisiana, and experts believe it contains about 245 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to power America for 10 years. Local leaders tout the economic benefits of the shale not just because of the millions of dollars in royalties and leasing bonuses paid to local landowners during the past two years from gas companies scrambling to acquire space to drill, but also new jobs and economic growth have come as a result of the production.
- Anadarko joins team to preserve stream banks. Lock Haven Express. “The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Bureau of Forestry have been working with volunteers from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. this week to construct in-stream fish habitat structures along Trout Run, a tributary to Pine Creek. Last fall, Anadarko contributed $10,000 to the conservancy to purchase materials for a stream restoration project in the Pine Creek watershed. Anadarko employees volunteered to help with the installation at the time of the donation. This week, they kept their word with 20 Anadarko staff from Williamsport and Houston pounding sledge hammers , moving rock, and securing silt fabric to create the in-stream structures.
- UGI to spend $300M on drilling project. Citizens Voice. “UGI Corp. plans to invest more than $300 million over the next two years to develop natural gas infrastructure in the Marcellus Shale region, a project that includes a “major pipeline project,” the utility company announced Thursday. UGI officials outlined the move in a one-and-a-half-page news release sent out after normal business hours without providing details of exactly where the company might locate such a pipeline. The project would bring Marcellus Shale producers in the state “improved access to high-value markets,” according to the release.
- Gas Company Overhauling Some Roads. WNEP-TV. “Cabot Oil and Gas is now completely rebuilding some roads before all the trucks show up. It’s a complete transformation along Wickizer Road, a state road near Dimock. Trucks and crews are turning a narrow dirt road into one wide enough to handle big trucks coming and going all the time. Cabot Oil and Gas is doing all the work on that road and other state and township roads in Susquehanna County before there is truck traffic.
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Or why the foliation perpendicular to stress in the context of subsurface ductile deformation matters in the debate over shale and hydraulic fracturing
We’ve spent some time over the past couple months taking a critical look at some of the key assertions made in the HBO documentary GasLand, putting forth in that time two separate rebuttal documents that we believe address in a substantive way a number of the misconceptions upon which the film, and its broader political message, is based.
But one of the issues we haven’t tackled yet is the suggestion that fissures made in the process of fracturing a shale formation are so long, and so upwardly vertical, that they have the potential to create conduits (or cleavages) through which fracturing-related fluids can travel to water-bearing formations thousands of feet above – including the water table. In his brief explanation of what the fracturing process is all about, GasLand director Josh Fox includes the following image in his film:
According to Fox, the fracturing process “is like a mini-earthquake,” and “blasts a mix of water and chemicals 8,000 feet into the ground.” At least he gets the depth right. But according to New York Department of Environmental Conservation (page 127 of this document), “No blast or explosion is created by the hydraulic fracturing process. The proppant holds the fractures open, allowing hydrocarbons to flow into the wellbore after injected fluids are recovered.” Guess there’s no need to call in the bomb squad after all.
But basic mechanics aside, the message the director is attempting to advance through the image above is simple: Hydraulic fracturing completely decimates the shale formation, creates massive gaps in the underlying rock, and produces vertical chasms that travel all the way up to the surface. Within that context, it becomes a lot easier to understand how the technology could lead to the drinking water contamination – as long as pathways and pressure exist, who can say for sure what’s actually happening down there, or up here?
Serious geologists have known since time immemorial that such a phenomenon is a virtual impossibility – and so has the EPA, which wrote in 1995 that “given the horizontal and vertical distance between the drinking water well and the closest methane production wells, the possibility of contamination of endangerment of USDWs [underground sources of drinking water] in the area is extremely remote.” And that letter, keep in mind, was in reference to a coalbed methane well – which reside thousands of feet closer to the water table than shale wells.
But thanks to the good folks over at Pinnacle Technologies, we now have some solid data to express this separation in quantitative terms. As reported by Pinnacle general manager Kevin Fisher in July’s edition of the American Oil & Gas Reporter, the following graphs plots actual field data from tens of thousands of fracturing operations conducted over the past decade – this first one, in the Barnett Shale, which shows quite clearly that even the most shallow fissures created through the hydraulic fracturing process remain separated from the water table by more than 3,500 feet:
But that’s just the Barnett, right? Everyone knows there’s no problem out there. Isn’t the real area of concern the Mighty Marcellus – where activists continue to claim that gas, chemicals, salt, metals, and Lord knows what else regularly get dredged up from the depths and beamed into every well, sink and stream in sight? Well, Pinnacle ran the numbers on the Marcellus as well, and although the data set isn’t quite as robust as what you’d find in the Barnett (remember: we’ve been developing that one a bit longer), the story in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio is remarkably similar. To wit:
Here we see an even greater separation between fractures in the underlying rock and sources of potable water above – with the closest the two shall ever meet clocking in at roughly 4,300 feet.
In other words, the deepest formations holding drinking water and the most shallow depth in which you’ll find a fracture in the Marcellus Shale are still separated by the equivalent of three-and-a-half Empire State Buildings – or three Petronas Towers, for our Malaysian friends. And by the way: they’re not exactly separated by air either. Between the two, you’ll find millions of tons of solid, impermeable rock – rock that has for literally hundreds of millions of years acted as an immutable barrier preventing salty water below from communicating with fresh water above.
But just to be sure we got this right, we sent these graphs and data up to Williamsville, N.Y. so that Ph.D. geologist Michael P. Joy might give them a gander and share some technical insights into what makes this phenomenon possible. Below is a (small) excerpt from the email he sent us in reply:
The hydraulic fracturing process creates fractures that are very small, usually an 1/8th inch or less in width. There is not enough pressure that could be exerted on the column of water to create a fracture matrix long enough to reach anywhere close to near surface aquifers. … The gas and water in these deep shale formations exist in hydrostatic equilibrium; the pressure acting down on the formation fluid is equal to the pressure being exerted from the bottom upward and the formation fluids act under the immutable laws of physics and stay in place.
Right. Exactly what he said.
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Earlier this week, EPA found itself in the unenviable position of having to scramble for an alternate location for hosting its previously scheduled public information session on the shale gas stimulation technique known as hydraulic fracturing.
Of course, it was pure coincidence that the agency settled on the one city in the state whose newspaper ran four separate letters to the editor late last week targeting with misinformation the technology in question.
Syracuse, of course, is the city we’re talking about, and even though New York State has more than 13,000 oil and natural gas wells in operation today – the vast majority of which have been fractured – activists continue to spread misleading information about the 60-year-old technology, and the many state and federal regulations in place to ensure that this process is conducted in a safe and environmentally sound manner.
Last week the readers of Syracuse’s Post-Standard witnessed this effort first hand and in full-force – four letters in a single day. Luckily however, there are folks out there who know the truth, speak the truth and are willing to set the record straight on a technology been deployed over 1.1 million different times without a single confirmed case of groundwater contamination.
Which brings us to the first letter from last week’s Aug. 6 Post-Standard:
“Here are some of the exemptions from the United States federal laws that the natural gas industry can ignore due to the “Cheney loophole” in the Federal Energy Act of 2005: Exemptions of the gas (and oil) industry: 1) the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2) the Clean Water Act, 3) the Clean Air Act, 4) the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 5) waste management laws, 6) public right to know provisions of the emergency planning and community right to know act.” – David Kauber, Aurora
Funny thing about these claims? Not a single one is backed up by fact. And no, just because Josh Fox says it’s true, doesn’t mean it is. Local resident Andy Leahy sums it up best in today’s Post-Standard:
“I’m going to have to leave aside the preposterous claims that the oil and gas industry is exempt from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Superfund law and so on… The history of the Safe Drinking Water Act, on the other hand, carries a slightly more interesting “kernel of truth,” from which the activists have sprouted their claims. For more than two decades since passage in 1974, no one in authority on any state or federal level interpreted underground injection control as encompassing oil and gas well “stimulation,” or fracturing, as had long been routinely deployed during development of these resources… in the late 1990s there was a very effective lawsuit brought by an environmental group having to do with hydraulic fracturing for coalbed methane in Alabama.”
Mr. Leahy goes on to write:
“The Energy Policy Act of 2005, among many other things, rendered this Alabama legal decision ineffective by clarifying congressional intent within SDWA. It said clearly that hydraulic fracturing was not meant, and was never meant, by Congress to be covered under the federal underground injection control program. So that’s the exemption, the so-called “Halliburton loophole.” It just confirmed the status quo, which is that the states remain the primary regulators of oil and gas exploration activity.”
You can imagine the substance of the other three letters – which you can read here if you’d like. But to save you the time, effort and tears, we’ll leave you with this little nugget:
We are a well-informed, intelligent, educated people who are well aware of what we have to lose if the gas companies are allowed to frack within the aquifers of our state. We know that we are exempt from the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts.” – Beverly Ann Scholl, Skaneateles
Sorry, Ms. Scholl, educated people support their arguments with facts, not fiction.
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Budget, air conditioning (?) play role in EPA decision to move Binghamton HF forum to Syracuse – but tight logistics force agency to postpone event ‘til next month
Two county lines and a 73-mile stretch of Interstate 81 are all that separate Binghamton from Syracuse, N.Y. But judging by the reaction lodged by anti-Marcellus activists upon hearing news of EPA’s change of venue for its upcoming forum on hydraulic fracturing, you would’ve thought the agency was trying to move the thing instead to the Syracuse, Sicily.
Now comes word that the forum itself will need to be rescheduled for sometime in September – a public safety decision announced today after the hosts consulted with local police and county officials. Of course, if you thought anti-energy activists were angry about the change of venue for the event before, imagine what they’ll be saying today about its outright postponement. Actually, here’s an early preview:
“EPA has been bought and paid for!” – declared one commenter on the website of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin this morning. “[F]or months this was the location, as far as i’m [sic.] concerned the gas companies pulled this stunt with a pay-off to someone!” Actually, the real story here appears to be about a pay-off that didn’t quite happen – specifically, a payment from EPA to Binghamton University to rent the space needed to host the forum in the first place.
According to local media, EPA and BU originally agreed to (but never signed a contract stipulating) a $6,000 hosting fee – based on an assumption that several hundred folks, at most a thousand or two, would be coming. Then came news that 8,000 people were planning to attend – along with a full-slate of musical acts, jugglers, a couple face-painters, and a petting zoo.
Again, according to reports, all BU did was ask EPA for some extra funds to handle the logistics associated with providing a safe and civil atmosphere in which the forum could take place. EPA, for its part, balked. Spend $1.9 million on the first phase of the second study we’ve done on hydraulic fracturing in the past 70 months? No problem, says EPA. Fork over a couple grand extra to ensure we’ve got enough Job-Johnnies available on-site in Binghamton? That’s a bridge too far.
Of course, money aside, the other issue that had anti-Marcellus activists in an absolute panic was a report surfacing last week (most prominently in the Press & Sun-Bulletin) indicating the forum might be held in a venue without a sufficient air-conditioning system in place. Here’s an excerpt from the call-to-action that Katherine Nadeau of the pressure group Environmental Advocates of New York sent around to her followers on Aug. 6:
[T]he university is trying to move the hearing to an un-air conditioned, acoustically-impossible gym. … You should call [BU] President McGraw at 607-777-xxxx. … [Tell him that] due to the size of the crowd, the age diversity (children and seniors) and the likelihood that it will be a very hot day, holding the hearing in an air-conditioned venue is critical.
Funny thing about air-conditioning in New York – it’s powered by electricity, nearly a third of which in the state is derived directly from clean-burning natural gas. And according to the friendly dispatcher with whom we spoke at NYSEG (the major Southern Tier utility), a larger share of Binghamton’s electricity comes from natural gas than the average community in the state. So again: Activists oppose natural gas and the means for producing it. But they support the electricity derived from natural gas that makes air-conditioning possible. So in other words: They oppose being denied the latter, especially if it impacts their level of comfort in protesting the former. Got it?
Of course, lost in the recriminations over the decision to move the EPA forum from Binghamton to Syracuse – and then today’s news, to move the event itself to the month of September – is the broader realization that this “public information session,” as the agency calls it, won’t play a role in determining the scope and scale of EPA’s future study on the safety and performance of hydraulic fracturing – the second such study (as we mentioned) that EPA is doing on this general subject in the past six years.
Those decisions were made late last year by Congress, and confirmed earlier this year by the agency’s Science Advisory Board – instructing EPA to study the relationship between the use of fracturing technology and the safety and quality of underground sources of drinking water. The good news is that the science on this phenomenon is about as straightforward as it gets – which is why even EPA has been forced to admit (repeatedly) that not a single case of groundwater contamination has ever been tied to hydraulic fracturing in the 60 years it’s been in use.
Unfortunately, if the previous three “public information sessions” over which presided EPA this summer are any indication, the event in Syracuse next month won’t focus all that much on the factual history associated with hydraulic fracturing’s safe and efficient use in New York State over the past half-century. Nor will the panels or participants spend much time considering the enormous job-creating and broader economic potential that responsible Marcellus exploration can leverage for a state with 900,000 residents on the unemployment rolls and a $9 billion gap in the budget.
No, it probably won’t have much of that. But according to one invite we received in the (electronic) mail, there will be plenty of bands on hand — The Sim Redmond Band, the Tioga County Heymakers, and a group called “Sophistafunk,” just to name a few. And who knows? Maybe these guys feel the same way about the promise and potential of clean-burning natural gas for New York as we do (their guitars aren’t powered by wind, after all).
Guess we’ll eventually have the opportunity to find out. Just have to wait ‘til September to do it.
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Sen. Casey asks Colo. congresswoman to help him make the case for jobs-killing anti-HF bill in Philadelphia paper – EID takes a closer look
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) represents the only congressional district in Colorado where hydraulic fracturing technology is not currently used; Philadelphia represents the only major city in Pennsylvania where the geology suggests it’s likely the technology will never be used.
So of course it made perfect sense for Rep. DeGette to choose the Philadelphia Inquirer to lodge her latest broadside against the 60-year-old energy technology known as hydraulic fracturing, teaming up with FRAC Act battery mate and Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey (D) on a column that does its level best to tie onshore natural gas exploration to the oil spill in the Gulf – notwithstanding the fact that hydraulic fracturing had nothing to do with the incident offshore.
But for those who continue to oppose the generations-old, 1.1-million-served-and-counting procedure of “fracking” a well, admitting to that fact would be tantamount to letting a once-in-a-lifetime crisis go to waste. After all: Opportunities to re-write a 37-year-old statute for the explicit purpose of assigning EPA unprecedented new authority over something that’s always been regulated by the states don’t come along every day. Rep. DeGette, a perennial FRAC Act introducer, knows it – and Sen. Casey likely does too. So maybe that’s why their column on hydraulic fracturing in Tuesday’s paper includes three separate allusions to the spill in the Gulf – three references in a column that only runs 580 words.
We’ll get to the errors in that piece in just a second. But let’s start by giving credit where credit’s due: Nowhere in the op-ed do Sen. Casey and Rep. DeGette attempt to advance the notion that fracturing was previously regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, but now – magically – is not. The reason, presumably, is that it’s not true. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped folks like Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) from peddling their own alternate reality in support of the FRAC Act.
In Hinchey’s world, EPA had been regulating hydraulic fracturing for 30 years right up until Dick Cheney rammed through legislation in 2005 that “exempted” the procedure from federal oversight. But wait, that bill had the support of nearly three-quarters of the U.S. Senate? Wait, hydraulic fracturing had never in its history been regulated under SDWA prior to 2005, or after it? Wait! Did Rep. Hinchey just tell a committee of Congress that a nurse in Colorado “died after being exposed to fracturing fluids” – even though that’s not true? Of course he did. Silly to sweat the details when no one holds you accountable for them.
Again, to their credit, the inaccuracies found in Tuesday’s DeGette/Casey column can be considered minor compared to the whoppers that Hinchey and his friends let fly just about every week. But they still should be considered. Below we identify and correct just a few:
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PA DEP confirms that well-water claims not related to “natural gas exploration and production activities”; Calls such claims “unfortunate”
Drinking Water Claims Made Last Week …
Drinking Water An Issue In Marcellus Shale Debate
KDKA-TV
Jul 23, 2010
Bill Eakin, of Avella, says his once-pristine well water is now contaminated and that it has killed his garden and made him and his wife Shirley ill.
He blames the Atlas Energy Company which has been drilling for natural gas close by for the past two years.
In a statement, Atlas Energy says testing showed that their drilling had nothing to do with the contamination of Bill Eakin’s well.
“The results did not indicate contamination due to natural gas exploration and production activities. We subsequently notified their lawyer of the results and discontinued the courtesy water service that has been provided during the testing process.”
… Debunked by Scientific, DEP Data This Week
DEP Tests Don’t Find Water Contamination
KDKA-TV
Jul 27, 2010
In a statement, Atlas told KDKA’s Andy Sheehan their tests of the village’s water wells came up negative:
“The results did not indicate contamination due to natural gas exploration and production activities.”
On Tuesday, the state Department of Environmental Protection said its independent testing showed the same thing.
“That’s exactly right,” Helen Humphreys, a spokesperson for the DEP, said. “The test results came back with results that are consistent with water in southwestern Pennsylvania.”
The DEP says it also has been unable to verify any contamination cases in the state caused by drilling, even though much of the public believes otherwise.
“It is counter to a perception and it’s unfortunate,” Humphreys said. “We really need to be sure that people are seeing the data that we’re seeing.”
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