EPA Finds Fracking Causes Groundwater Pollution

[Cutlass]

Is this going to put a stop to or slow down the extraction of oil from the oil sands in the Canadian prairies?

Fraking fractures shale for the removal of oil or gas, typically fairly deep underground. oil sands are scooped out by tractors on the surface. Totally different and unrelated technologies.

 

[Cutlass]

That assumes that all those layers above the shale are in fact impervious. And you know, they are causing cracks in rock there. So there's no real reason to assume that they aren't fracturing more rock than just the targets. It only takes a couple of tiny cracks to bring chemicals up to the aquifers.

 

[Quackers]

There was an article in the Economist about this. Apparently there is almost enough natural gas to be gained from fracking in Europe as USA! Frakking actually caused a few amusing minor earthquakes in lancashire this year

 

[Silurian]

We will die of thirst before we run out of oil and gas.

No they will have to change the chemicals they put in the drilling fluid to a safer one which most likely would be more expensive at the present. Or they will find a way of making the chemicals bio degrade.

But whilst they can use what they use now they will not spend a lot of money on research.

 

[Murky]

Since the horse is already out of the barn, so to speak, it will probably up to government to clean up the mess. There are ways you can clean-up water pollution. In the case of a polluted well, you first would bring the water to the surface then put it through some process to clean it before it can be deemed safe for use. It can be very expensive depending on the scale of the problem.

 

[GoodGame]

Since the horse is already out of the barn, so to speak, it will probably up to government to clean up the mess. There are ways you can clean-up water pollution. In the case of a polluted well, you first would bring the water to the surface then put it through some process to clean it before it can be deemed safe for use. It's can be very expensive depending on the scale of the problem.

Yeah superfund sites are REAL cheap. /sarcasm

Aren't you just asking for higher taxes (job destruction?) to fund the profits of a few in the name of job creation?

 

[Murky]

Yeah superfund sites are REAL cheap. /sarcasm

Aren't you just asking for higher taxes (job destruction?) to fund the profits of a few in the name of job creation?

No. If it were up to me there would be a immediate ban on Fracking and companies found responsible for polluting water sources would face stiff fines and be forced to do the clean-up work. There may even be evidence of a criminal cover-up there. Who knows..

Realistically, I think it will be up to the "gubmint" to fix the mess.

 

[Antilogic]

This is another situation where there are so many competing "studies", that you don't know what to believe and/or whose motivation to trust...

I guess you just have to consider the source...
What would the gubbamint's motivation be?
I think the motivation for the fracking industry is pretty clear...

I am interested in what that is going to mean to us as concerned citizens/energy consumers... long term and short term.

Aside: I hate the politicization of science. I really do. Because instead of evaluating the research like we should be, we are talking motives.

In this case, we have the "studies" conducted by the major energy companies which are not publicly released so we cannot evaluate them in any scientific manner. The studies the EPA is drawing from are, and can identify several chemicals that would be unsafe if they were used for fracking... if that's what the energy companies were using. They refuse to disclose the blends. The EPA does not directly conduct even half of its studies--they act as data aggregators and utilize research conducted outside the agency (or they give out research grants and universities conduct the studies).

nah, we'll just desalinate more sea water - won't cause any problems at all, honest

Yay, job security!

 

[cybrxkhan]

"The EPA is killing jobs!" *Wants to fire over 10000 employees*

What a god damn joke.

But those are government jobs! Small government!

 

[say1988]

They refuse to disclose the blends

Which is ludicrous. They should at least have to disclose what chemicals they are putting into the ground, even if you the proportions.

 

[Antilogic]

Which is ludicrous. They should at least have to disclose what chemicals they are putting into the ground, even if you the proportions.

I'd even let them keep it out of the public domain if they think their trade secrets are really that secret. But that doesn't mean they couldn't tell the EPA which chemicals and blends they are using (as well as disclose any testing they have done internally) to verify its safety (and it just gets redacted if the reports go public).

Status quo here is just sick.

 

[Murky]

For anyone that is interested there are hearings going on today in New York about hydraulic fracturing.

http://www.nysenate.gov/committee/environmental-conservation

 

[emzie]

Yeah superfund sites are REAL cheap. /sarcasm

Aren't you just asking for higher taxes (job destruction?) to fund the profits of a few in the name of job creation?

I am pro-pollution, since clean up means job creation.

 

[Ayatollah So]

I am pro-pollution, since clean up means job creation.

In today's economy, that might even make sense! (But by the time the cleanup actually happens, the Great Recession may be over.)

 

[GoodGame]

I am pro-pollution, since clean up means job creation.

Read the first point. I guess you like higher taxes.

It only makes sense if you can shift the cost to a deficit for some other generation to pay for. Wonderful Nero-like thinking.

 

[Murky]

Ohio’s 4.0 Earthquake Caused By “Fracking”

The 4.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the Youngstown area was at a depth of two miles and that is different from a natural earthquake, according to Won-Young Kim, a research professor of Seismology Geology and Tectonophysics at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

So now there is more than just water contamination to worry about. It threatens to cause Earthquakes too.

When will they put a stop to this madness?

 

[bombshoo]

So now there is more than just water contamination to worry about. It threatens to cause Earthquakes too.

When will they put a stop to this madness?

Oh wow. I didn't even think there might be a relation between the two (the Earthquake and the fracking). I was actually in the area at the time and felt that one.

 

[LucyDuke]

If this causes enough outrage, our politicians will respond.. in some way.

It won't.

So now there is more than just water contamination to worry about. It threatens to cause Earthquakes too.

When will they put a stop to this madness?

They won't.


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