Fracking - where is it headed ?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Achille's other heel.

Water samples collected at Colorado sites where hydraulic fracturing was used to extract natural gas show the presence of chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer, scientists reported Monday.

The study, published in the journal Endocrinology, also found elevated levels of the hormone-disrupting chemicals in the Colorado River, where wastewater released during accidental spills at nearby wells could wind up.

[glatt]

New study: Recent natural gas fracking operations have tainted the ground water, but it's actually good news, because it's the well casings that are to blame and they can be fixed.

The shale-gas boom of recent years has contaminated drinking-water wells in North Texas’ Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, a study published Monday concludes.

The study, by researchers from five universities, concludes that neither drilling itself nor the hydraulic fracturing that follows it is directly to blame.

Instead, gas found in water wells appeared to have leaked from defective casing and cementing in gas wells, meant to protect groundwater; or from gas formations not linked to zones where fracking took place.

“Our data do not suggest that horizontal drilling or hydraulic fracturing has provided a conduit to connect deep Marcellus or Barnett formations directly to surface aquifers,” the authors wrote.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds to a growing body of science that examines the environmental impacts of natural gas production, which has seen a rush of drilling and processing in numerous states over the past decade.

In an email, lead author Thomas Darrah of Ohio State University said tracing the blame to well construction problems instead of fracking offers hope of protecting groundwater supplies.

“This is relatively good news because it means that most of the issues we have identified can potentially be avoided by future improvements in well integrity,” said Darrah, who teaches in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Instead, gas found in water wells appeared to have leaked from defective casing and cementing in gas wells, meant to protect groundwater; or from gas formations not linked to zones where fracking took place.

“This is relatively good news because it means that most of the issues we have identified can potentially be avoided by future improvements in well integrity,” said Darrah, who teaches in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State.

So the drillers/frackers who install the casings and cement them, are doing a half-assed job. And have been right along, just nobody has been paying attention and it's not as noticeable as Deepwater Horizon/Macondo circus.

[busterb]

Well they banned it in Denton, TX. the place where it was started.

[classicman]

first Soda, now fracking .... whats next? Bacon?!?!?!?!??!

[busterb]

HUmm maybe intercorse Spell check

[Griff]

New York takes the wrong approach to ‘fracking’

Fracking’s risks concern water and air contamination. States should control where and how wastewater is disposed of, require robust wells that are resistant to blowouts, demand that drillers prevent methane and volatile organic compounds from escaping into the air and regulate leaks from storage facilities and well sites. States such as Colorado have developed rules with sensitivity both to industry and to environmental concerns. The Obama administration is developing its own, national fracking rules, too. That’s the model to follow — not New York’s.

[xoxoxoBruce]

He figures it'll be worth more later, after the others have petered out, and he's out of office so he can belly up to the trough, too.

[Griff]

Cuomo is the slimiest character to come out of New York politics in a while, always look for another rea$on for any policy.

[xoxoxoBruce]

As Mr Wonderful on Shark Tank says, "It's about the money, it's always about the money, all the time."

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Griff

New York takes the wrong approach to ‘fracking’

...States such as Colorado have developed rules with sensitivity both to industry and to environmental concerns.
The Obama administration is developing its own, national fracking rules, too.
That’s the model to follow — not New York’s.

Hmmmm..... Did the Washington Post forget to mention ...

from here
Colorado: yellow dots = violatlons

green lines = water sheds
lavender = shale plays
tan areas = shale basins
orange dots = horizontal wells

Pennsylvania: yellow dots = violations

green lines = water sheds
lavender area = EIA shale play
purple dots = permits

Maybe Kentucky doesn't have problems ... yet, but government prevention of coal ash problems hasn't set a good example.

[Undertoad]

I tried to figure out what a "violation" is LL, do you have any insight on that?

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I tried to figure out what a "violation" is LL, do you have any insight on that?

Insight ???.

Since some maps on that link are showing "permits issued", I have to assume a violation is in terms of how each State defines those permits. Some maps show "contamination sites" which may be more self-evident.

There is a diversity of information among these maps, so I would not attempt to compare the numbers of violation in one state with the numbers in another state.

[glatt]

A few years ago when we were looking for a nursing home for my FIL, we looked at the state records for each. Every single place had tons of violations. One of them had a violation for letting a dementia patient wander out and get lost on the streets for a day, but most of them had violations like not having a DNR form in a holder on the back of a patient's room door.

You want there the be no violations, but there are violations and then there are violations.

I imagine it's similar here.

You don't want contaminated aquifers. That would be a big deal. But if a delivery truck has a shipment invoice with the wrong date on top, maybe that's not such a big deal.

[Lamplighter]

Glatt, I'm not sure your examples are analogous, but I agree that there are levels of "violations",
particularly when the comparison is between management of a single business operation
and an industry made up of many different "operators".

But maybe I would say that preventing a violation is much more important
than trying to or having to remedy a violation that has already happened.
There may be no remediation of a contaminated aquifer, especially one used for drinking water.
For example, the aquifer feeding into the Columbia River from the Hanford Reservation
(atomic bomb era) is almost certainly beyond remedy.

P.S. Not having a DNR in the patient's file may well lead to a very nasty situation...
that may not have a good solution.