Fracking - where is it headed ?

[Lamplighter]

This seems to be a particular issue for NE Pennsylvania.
Are any Dwellars involved with it yet ???


An OregonLive article
Cracking down on fracking
Published: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 5:00 AM *** Updated: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 2:17 PM
By Amy Goodman

Mike Markham of Colorado has an explosive problem: His tap water catches fire. Markham demonstrates this in a new documentary, "Gasland," which just won the Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize. Director Josh Fox films Markham as he runs his kitchen faucet, holding a cigarette lighter up to the running water. After a few seconds, a ball of fire erupts out of the sink, almost enveloping Markham's head.

The source of the flammable water, and the subject of "Gasland," is the mining process called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."

Fracking is used to access natural-gas and oil reserves buried thousands of feet below the ground. Companies like Halliburton drill down vertically, then send the shaft horizontally, crossing many small, trapped veins of gas and oil. Explosive charges are then set off at various points in the drill shaft, causing what Fox calls "mini-earthquakes." These fractures spread underground, allowing the gas to flow back into the shaft to be extracted. To force open the fractures, millions of gallons of liquid are forced into the shaft at very high pressure.

Drillers do not have to reveal the chemical cocktail, thanks to a slew of exemptions given to the industry, most notably in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which actually granted the fracking industry a specific exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

There is virtually no federal oversight of fracking, leaving the budget-strapped states to do the job with a patchwork of disparate regulations. They are no match for the major, multinational drilling and energy companies that are exploiting the political goal of "energy independence." The nonprofit news Web site ProPublica.org found that, out of 31 states examined, 21 have no regulations specific to hydraulic fracturing, and none requires the companies to report the amount of the toxic fluid remaining underground.

[Shawnee123]

From Hare to Heir (1960)
Bugs Bunny: Hey Sam, pass the salt please.
Yosemite Sam: Salt? GET IT YOURSELF!
Bugs Bunny: Uh oh, that'll cost you about...
Yosemite Sam: Salt? Why didn't you say so. Here's your salt, Bunny, I hope you like it.
[Brings it across the table to him then walks back]
Yosemite Sam: Ooh that rackin' frackin'...
Bugs Bunny: The pepper please.
Yosemite Sam: PEPPER! WE... Uh, yeah the pepper. Coming right up.
[Walks to the end of the table and gives it to Bugs]
Yosemite Sam: Ooh that rackin' frackin'...
Bugs Bunny: Oh Sam!
Yosemite Sam: Oh no.
Bugs Bunny: How about the olives?

[tw]

Seven counties in PA now have cases of contaminated water due to fracking.

This is not just a threat to rural counties. This problem threatens water sources for both NYC and Philadelphia.

[Lamplighter]

Yes, the reason I brought it up is that on a recent MSNBC talk show there was discussion of how some farm families are loosing their farms because the (well) water is so contaminated, and supposedly there have been several farmers to commit suicide.

Oregon has a couple of bills in the State Legislature in the works to specify what levels of specific "permanently placed compounds (?)" will be allowed, but since the methane is already in the ground it probably can not be included.

This legislation will probably also raise the hackles of sports fishermen and the ODFW because there are plans to use the process in drilling under rivers and lakes for pipelines. Messing about with rivers and lakes is a BIG NO! NO! NO! in this state.

(e.g.: Gas Drilling in the Marcellus Shale and Pennsylvania’s Coldwater Resources
Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited
February 13, 2009

[classicman]

I saw a piece of that show on MSNBC... Wasn't one of the issues what was in the compound they were/are using?

[Lamplighter]

That's the drilling company's proprietary information... you can't have it.

[Sheldonrs]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

That's the drilling company's proprietary information... you can't have it.

Same thing with the dispersant used for the gulf oil spill.

Thanks to our laws favoring HUGE business over us, so long as the chemicals they use are MIXED, they have no obligation to reveal them. If it was just ONE chemical, they would have to.

Logic has no place in business, i guess.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Sheldonrs

Logic has no place in government, i guess.

gotcha covered.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by classicman

gotcha covered.

Just stop that shit.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Sheldonrs

Logic has no place in the republican party, i guess.

[classicman]

Gee thanks. You think that might be an important aspect of all this?
Nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[classicman]

nope. but thanks for the kind words.

[classicman]

yeh, no. not so funny that way. You're better staying with the snarky crap.

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

yeh, no. not so funny that way. You're better staying with the snarky crap.

Translation: Yes. No. Good when Republicans in the PA legislature subvert government regulations and sunshine laws. Water contamination is another myth created by evil liberal movie makers. We must burn up as many fossil fuels as we can find. Necessary to wage war all over the world to protect our oil.

Besides, now that corporations can spend as much as they want on 'their' politicians, then 'contributions' are even larger when protecting those corporations from evil liberals.

His snippets actually say something. Most of the words are only invisible.

[classicman]

If the corps were paying for the D's you wouldn't be bitching at all. Take your partisan BS elsewhere. You are AGAIN trying to pick a fight where it need not be. Run along and piss on someone else. OH wait you can't because most of the rest ignore you. Maybe I'll join them, again.