[OKC] Just how safe is fracking of natural gas?

Fri Jun 24 06:11:08 PDT 2011

Given Oklahoma is the epicenter of natural gas production and development,
and given the often contradictory and opposing views (see below as example),
is it possible to have a civil and informed discussion about the pros and
cons of natural gas in Oklahoma, and if so, how? 

It seems there is little questioning or discussion of industry PR/hype here
in our grand Oklahoma land - mostly just rubber stamping and cheerleading. 

Thoughts, ideas, comments?

20 Jun 2011: Opinion

Forum: Just How Safe Is 'Fracking' of Natural Gas?

New technologies for freeing natural gas from underground shale formations
have led to a hydraulic fracturing boom across the U.S. that is now
spreading to other countries. In a Yale Environment 360
<http://e360.yale.edu>  forum, eight experts discuss whether "fracking" can
be done without serious harm to water and air quality and what environmental
safeguards may be needed.

Depending on your point of view, hydraulic fracturing of natural gas is
either a blessing that will help provide new sources of energy for the
coming century, or an environmental curse that threatens water and air
quality in communities across the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Both sides in
the debate agree on one thing - natural gas reserves stored in subterranean
shale formations are extensive. But beyond that proponents and opponents of
fracking hold widely divergent views.

Yale Environment 360 asked industry officials, scientists, and
conservationists to answer the following two-part question: "Can hydraulic
fracturing of gas and oil reserves in shale formations be done on a large
scale without significant negative impacts on water supplies, air quality,
and local communities? As fracking continues to expand rapidly, do you
believe more stringent federal and state regulations are needed and, if so,
what should they be?" Among the wide range of views, one theme emerged:
Shale gas fracking in the U.S., which to date has been less strictly
regulated than other sectors of the oil and gas industry, is almost
certainly headed for a period of tougher federal and state environmental
controls.

Highlights.

*        The development of natural gas from shale formations using
high-volume, slick-water hydraulic fracturing is a new technology, first
applied in Texas only in the past 10 years or so and in Pennsylvania only in
the past 3 to 4 years. Only this year have objective, scientific studies on
the consequences been published, and these are alarming. The best evidence
indicates  <http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/pnas2011.pdf> widespread
contamination of drinking water wells within 1 kilometer of gas wells, and
the rate of venting and leakage of methane to the atmosphere is sufficient
to give shale gas a larger greenhouse gas footprint than any other fossil
fuel.- Robert Howarth, professor of ecology and environmental biology at
Cornell University, and co-author of
<http://www.sustainablefuture.cornell.edu/news/attachments/Howarth-EtAl-2011
.pdf> a recent study of methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing.

*       The fundamental mechanics of fracturing a well haven't changed since
the first one was stimulated in Kansas back in the 1940s. It's true that we
use more water today ... Should the fracturing process be regulated? Again,
the answer is yes. And again, the good news is that it is already ably
regulated in each and every state in which it is deployed.-- Lee Fuller,
executive director of Energy in Depth, an association of companies involved
in hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil

*       The oil and gas industry should be required to comply with the same
environmental safeguards as any other industry. Right now, it's not, and
that's putting people and communities at risk ... The evidence clearly shows
current regulations are not strong enough to prevent drinking water
contamination, toxic air pollution, and other threats. -- Amy Mall, senior
policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council

*        [What we need is] not more stringent regulations, but more
appropriate regulations. And these can best be set at the state level by
collaboration with stakeholders and industry. The gas shale drilling
industry works to design and operate cost-effective drilling programs, while
minimizing the impact of its operations on the environment. With the right
technology, the industry can meet both of those goals. We also want the
public and regulatory officials to know how we operate, how we protect the
environment, and how we abide by the regulations. -- David Burnett,
petroleum engineer and director of technology at Texas A&M University's
Global Petroleum Research Institute.

*        Put simply, shale gas - a form of natural gas - is a fossil fuel,
and fossil fuels are dirty fuels ... This is not to say that there is no
role for shale gas. There is. But that role is far more limited than the
hype suggests. Used, for example, to power existing, underutilized gas-fired
power plants as a way to immediately supplant aging, highly destructive
coal-fired power plants in the near term, shale gas makes some sense. But,
given geologic, financial, environmental, and other limits - as well as the
absence of any comprehensive plan to rapidly transition our country to
energy efficiency and clean energy - it is quite dangerous to give shale gas
anything more than a limited role ... natural gas development must
complement and speed, not undermine, our transition to energy efficiency and
renewable, clean energy. -- Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, director of the Western
Environmental Law Center's Climate and Energy Program, as well as one of the
center's attorneys.

*        Hydraulic fracturing is a 60-year-old technology that has been used
safely in more than 1 million wells. The industry and regulators are doing a
good job managing its risks, and there has not been a single documented
instance of groundwater contamination of subsurface formations from
hydraulic fracturing. -- Richard Ranger, senior policy advisor at the
American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry association

*       Whilst I may not be an expert on fracking, I do have a detailed
understanding on climate change - and in that regard the only responsible
action with regard to shale gas, or any "new" unconventional fossil fuel, is
to keep it in the ground - at least until there is a meaningful global
emissions cap forcing substitution. In the absence of such an emissions cap,
and in our energy hungry world, shale gas will only be combusted in addition
to coal - not as a substitution, as many analysts have naively suggested. --
Kevin Anderson, director of the energy program at the Tyndall Centre for
Climate Change Research, and lead author of a recent report on
hydrofracturing in the UK
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/55017665/The-Tyndall-Report-on-Fracking> .

Full article here ::: http://bit.ly/lK3z37. 

Shauna Lawyer Struby

writing . editing . project management

p.o. box 54665

okc . ok 73154

o 405 525 3464

c 405 210 6027

 <http://oklahomadispatch.blogspot.com/> oklahoma dispatch

 <http://www.travelok.com/experts/only_in_oklahoma> only in oklahoma

www.shaunastruby.com

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 12330 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.sustainableokc.org/pipermail/okc-sustainableokc.org/attachments/20110624/981a6dd2/attachment.bin>