Horizontal Drilling And Fracking Video

Paul,

There is an article in the current issue of Popular Science addressing horizontal drilling. Although not as definitive as the video you posted, it addresses concerns regarding the aquifer, and the possibility of earthquakes. Even at my age I simply cannot comprehend,(considering technology as it is)why solar energy has not been exploited to efficiency thus alleviating the necessity of causing potential environmental harm. Go figure!

Have a great week!:-)

One of my clients hired me last year to position and orient a calibration pad where he could adjust and calibrate the instruments at the drill head that give direction and position.

Good video. People around Pittsburgh are up in arms abnout marcellus shale drilling. Usualy I think they are somewhat uninformed. I say bring it on (and pay me royalties!).

I simply cannot comprehend,(considering technology as it is)why solar energy has not been exploited to efficiency thus alleviating the necessity of causing potential environmental harm.

Easy money.
Who cares about the Earth or it's inhabitants, when there is easy money to be made.

Hopefully these types will be judged accordingly by God.

:coffee:

Fracking

Companies are using hydraulic fracturing techniques on about nine out of every 10 wells drilled on public lands, according to government figures.

By law, the drilling companies are not required to divulge what the chemicals are.

You have to wonder what Congress was thinking when they passed such a clause.

But the chemicals are only one part of the problem. Landscape fragmentation caused by the large footprint and network of new roads and other infrastructure required for natural gas drilling, the accompanying noise from such operations, and the threat of health problems caused by spills and improper disposal of waste water should also be of concern to landowners.

Around here, the drillers want to start drilling in the NYC watershed......frankly, once that water is contaminated, it's going to be an environmental and economic disaster for NYC and environs.

Uniformed? (cut & paste)

Environmental and health effects

Some environmental and human health concerns possibly associated with hydraulic fracturing include the contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, and the potential mishandling of waste. The potential costs associated with possible environmental clean-up processes, loss of land value and human and animal health concerns are undetermined. New technological advances and appropriate state regulations are working to study and safely implement the process.

Environmental activist groups speculate that hydraulic fracturing has a significant environmental impact, with arguments centered around the extent to which fracturing fluid used far below the earth's surface and will pollute fresh water zones, will contaminate surface or near-surface water supplies, impact rock shelf causing seismic events or lead to surface subsidence. However, well casing failures and failures of the gas well grouting systems may have been responsible for gas migration into drinking water aquifers in Dimock Pennsylvania. Also, water-related pollution events that occur from hydraulic fracturing are on or relatively-near the surface. With the transport, handing, storage and use of chemicals, and chemical-laden water, on sites, accidents that release materials into the environment may occur.

In April 2010 the state of Pennsylvania banned Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. from further drilling in the entire state until it plugs wells believed to be the source of contamination of the drinking water of 14 homes in Dimock Township PA. The investigation was initiated after a water well exploded on New Year's Day in 2009. The state investigation revealed that Cabot Oil & Gas Company "had allowed combustible gas to escape into the region's groundwater supplies."[18]

A well blowout in Clearfield County, PA on June 3, 2010 sent more than 35,000 gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the air and onto the surrounding landscape in a forested area. Campers were evacuated and the company EOG Resources and the well completion company C.C. Forbes have been ordered to cease all operations in the state of Pennsylvania pending investigation. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has called this a "serious incident".[19][20]

Injection of fluid into subsurface geological structures, such as faults and fractures, reduces the effective normal stress acting across these structures. If sufficient shear stress is present, the structure may slip in shear and generate seismic events over a range of magnitudes. Subsidence is not directly caused by hydraulic fracturing but may occur after considerable production of oil or ground water. Subsidence occurs over reservoirs whether they have been subject to hydraulic fracturing or not because it is a result of producing fluids from the reservoir and lowering the reservoir pore pressure. The subsidence process can be associated with some seismicity. Reports of minor tremors of no greater than 2.8 on the Richter scale were reported on June 2, 2009 in Cleburne, Texas - the first in the town's 140-year history.[21]

One use of hydraulic fracturing is in stimulating water wells. In that case, the fluid used may be pure water (typically water and a disinfectant such as bleach).[citation needed] Another use of hydraulic fracturing is to remediate waste spills by injecting bacteria, air, or other materials into a subsurface contaminated zone.[citation needed]

It has been reported that the hydraulic fracturing industry has refused to publicly disclose, due to intellectual property concerns, the specific formulation of the fluids employed in the fracturing process. A "NOW on PBS" episode aired in March 2010 introduces the documentary film Gasland. The filmmaker claims that the chemicals include toxins, known carcinogens and heavy metals which may have polluted the ground water near well sites in Pennsylvania and Colorado. The film also makes a case for explosive gases entering private potable water wells, causing "flammable water".

Energy in Depth, an oil and gas industry organization has published a list of chemicals in a "typical solution used in hydraulic fracturing," but notes "The specific compounds used in a given fracturing operation will vary." [22]

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has published a list of chemicals used in fracturing fluids.

A 2008 newspaper report states that medical personnel were inhibited in their treatment of workers injured in a fracturing accident because they did not know which specific chemicals were used. In the article, a nurse claimed she may have been exposed to the unknown chemicals on the patient's clothes.[23] Release of information, pertaining to hazardous components of any and all industrial chemicals, to medical and emgergency personnel has been governed by OSHA since the 1974 Right-To-know legislation.

In the United States, a 2004 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study concluded that the process was safe and didn't warrant further study, because there was "no unequivocal evidence" of health risks, and the fluids were neither necessarily hazardous nor able to travel far underground. That study, however, was not intended as a general study of hydraulic fracturing, but only of its use in coalbed methane deposits, and the study did not consider impacts above ground.[24] The EPA report did find uncertainties in knowledge of how fracturing fluid migrates through rocks, and upon its release service companies voluntarily agreed to stop using diesel fuel as a component of fracturing fluid, due to public concerns of its potential as a source of benzene contamination. With critics claiming that Bush administration officials influenced the 2004 EPA study, the U.S. Congress has requested that the EPA undertake a new, broader study of hydraulic fracturing. The report is due to be released in 2012.[25]

The increased use of hydraulic fracturing has prompted more speculation about its environmental dangers. A 2008 investigation of benzene contamination in Colorado and Wyoming led some EPA officials to suggest hydraulic fracturing as a culprit. One of the authors of the 2004 EPA report states that it has been misconstrued by the gas-drilling industry.[24]

It should be noted that a typical frac will utilize approximately 15,000m3 of water. Currently, the number of fractures per well is increasing. It is becoming increasingly more common to frac a well upwards of 300 times. At this point in time, there has been no investigation into the unregulated pollution of fresh water by the Canadian Government.

One hazard that is commonly overlooked is the venting of bulk sand silos directly to atmosphere. When they are being filled, or emptied during the fracture a fine cloud of silica particulate will be venting directly to atmosphere. This dust has the potential to travel many kilometers on the wind directly into populated areas. While the immediate personnel are wearing personal protective equipment, families in the area of a well fracture can potentially be exposed.

"Usualy I think they are somewhat uninformed. "

It is possible that there are many uninformed, on BOTH sides......but that doesn't negate the possible consequences of fracking.

EASY MONEY

Rick,

You’ve got that right.

Everything on this planet is controlled by $$$$$$$!

Have a great week!

Fracking: AKA Hydraulic/Chemical Fracturing

Depending on the strata, it may be water and mud or may add sulfuric, hydrochloric or hydrofluoric acids. I have also heard of using muriatic acid.

Explosives have also been used.

Muriatic Acid Is

simply a mixture of hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.

It's purpose would be to disolve rock along a micro fissure thus allowing the pressure to be more effective.

Paul in PA

"Construction/Mining" Category

I had not even noticed there was such a category.

Paul in PA

Muriatic Acid Is

Muriatic acid was once made by a process that involved sulfuric acid, and so may have incidentally contained some of that predecessor.

However, nowadays it is made by a different process and is simply hydrochloric acid with a higher allowed level of impurities than laboratory hydrochloric.

Muriatic Acid, My Bad

Now I remember using muriatic acid to clean lime out of furnace pipes and in a diluted solution to clean cement dust off of cars. We had a splash back that put my father in the hospital for a few days. We also had some home made cider vinegar that would clean the cars and was a safer to use.

I also used potassium dichromate dissolved in sulphuric acid to clean test tubes prior to Chemical Oxygen Demand tests one summer when I worked in the sanitary engineering lab at Lehigh. After cleaning the test tubes they where rinsed with a hydrocloric acid solution. To think now how casually I handled those acids gives me shivers.

Paul in PA

Muriatic Acid, My Bad

There's a lot of different chemicals and mixes involved in hydrofracking, the ones mentioned are just a few. But, we can't know for sure what's being used, from one application to the next. Neither can we know for sure if they are properly casing and grouting the bores as they drill, which can contribute to contaminating the intervening aquifers.

And again, to beat the horse a bit more, this is all part and parcel of the right wing push to get government oversight out of the way of corporate profiteering. Health and safety be damned.

"Construction/Mining" Category

Typical rhetoric when environmentalists spew their bullsh*t. All you have to do is just be in the mindset that oil companies and the industry are bad bad bad for the earth,enviornment and money and greed are their only objective. Hydraulic fracturing has been taking place for many years in the oil producing states. I only ask that you do your own inquiring and research. You can first start by inquiring with the state agencies and their respective directors that control oil and gas drilling and production in each state. Ask about the instances of complaints from the citizenry concerning hydraulic fracturing, the instances of enviornmental damage, etc. Next inquire about the employees of Schlumberger, Halliburton and other oil well service companies that are involved with hydraulic fracturing and the secret evil chemicals used everyday. What are the statistics concerning on the job injuries and long term health effects with the use of these evil secret acids and chemicals used in the process. I'm sure you would be quite surprised by the facts.

Pablo

"Construction/Mining" Category

> I had not even noticed there was such a category.
>
> Paul in PA

😉

"Construction/Mining" Category

Except for the fact that there absolutely HAVE been instances of water supplies becoming contaminated and all of the other problems cited, Pablo.

The environmentalists didn't just dream up the scenarios and the rhetoric. They are reacting to stuff that's actually happening.