People May Die of Thirst as Fossil Fuel Production Exhausts and Pollutes Our Fresh Wa
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Fracking is depleting water supplies in America's driest areas, report shows
America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.
Of the nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells drilled since 2011, three-quarters were located in areas where water is scarce, and 55% were in areas experiencing drought, the report by the Ceres investor network found.
Fracking those wells used 97bn gallons of water, raising new concerns about unforeseen costs of America's energy rush.
"Hydraulic fracturing is increasing competitive pressures for water in some of the country's most water-stressed and drought-ridden regions," said Mindy Lubber, president of the Ceres green investors' network.
Without new tougher regulations on water use, she warned industry could be on a "collision course" with other water users.
"It's a wake-up call," said Prof James Famiglietti, a hydrologist at the University of California, Irvine. "We understand as a country that we need more energy but it is time to have a conversation about what impacts there are, and do our best to try to minimise any damage."
It can take millions of gallons of fresh water to frack a single well, and much of the drilling is tightly concentrated in areas where water is in chronically short supply, or where there have been multi-year droughts.
Half of the 97bn gallons of water was used to frack wells in Texas, which has experienced severe drought for years – and where production is expected to double over the next five years.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/fracking-water-america-drought-oil-gas
America's oil and gas rush is depleting water supplies in the driest and most drought-prone areas of the country, from Texas to California, new research has found.
Of the nearly 40,000 oil and gas wells drilled since 2011, three-quarters were located in areas where water is scarce, and 55% were in areas experiencing drought, the report by the Ceres investor network found.
Fracking those wells used 97bn gallons of water, raising new concerns about unforeseen costs of America's energy rush.
"Hydraulic fracturing is increasing competitive pressures for water in some of the country's most water-stressed and drought-ridden regions," said Mindy Lubber, president of the Ceres green investors' network.
Without new tougher regulations on water use, she warned industry could be on a "collision course" with other water users.
"It's a wake-up call," said Prof James Famiglietti, a hydrologist at the University of California, Irvine. "We understand as a country that we need more energy but it is time to have a conversation about what impacts there are, and do our best to try to minimise any damage."
It can take millions of gallons of fresh water to frack a single well, and much of the drilling is tightly concentrated in areas where water is in chronically short supply, or where there have been multi-year droughts.
Half of the 97bn gallons of water was used to frack wells in Texas, which has experienced severe drought for years – and where production is expected to double over the next five years.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/05/fracking-water-america-drought-oil-gas
LMAO @ Ceres as a source. You truly are a gullible dupe of the same epic proportions as kennethdunce.
But yes, let's shut down the oil capacity of the US and place a windmill on every home in America and sing cum-bay-yah as we group hug one another.
LMAO
For the uneducated and illiterate; there is the same amount of water on the planet as there was when the planet was formed. Yes, dinosaurs drank and pissed in the very water you drink today. Therefore, water will never be a global crisis, merely a local one, due to a constantly moving and changing climate, which is easily solved through intelligent technology and planning.
wiseones2cents
Verified User
Easily solved? Tell that to California! It is a known fact fracking pollutes water supplies. Heck they light tap water on fire! Then you have the idiot apologists saying, ohhh the water lit up before we started fracking?LOL Talk about gullible!
OOOOOPS!
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304537904577277814040731688
Faulty Wells, Not Fracking, Blamed for Water Pollution
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Russell Gold
Updated March 25, 2012 1:52 p.m. ET
Some energy companies, state regulators, academics and environmentalists are reaching consensus that natural-gas drilling has led to several incidents of water pollution—but not because of fracking.
The energy officials and some environmentalists agree that poorly built wells are to blame for some cases of water contamination. In those cases, they say, wells weren't properly sealed with subterranean cement, which allowed contaminants to travel up the well bore from deep underground into shallow aquifers that provide drinking water.
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Some energy companies, state regulators, academics and environmentalists are reaching consensus that natural-gas drilling has led to several incidents of water pollution, but not because of fracking. Leslie Eaton explains on Lunch Break.
Many community activists have said that hydraulic fracturing itself—a process that uses water, sand and chemicals to break up shale rocks and release gas—can pollute drinking water. The energy industry has countered that the technique, which it has used for decades, isn't to blame for water contamination.
The energy industry has been struggling to convince critics that fracking is safe. If the industry can persuade them that the chief pollution risk is poorly constructed wells—and that risk can be minimized—it might encounter less resistance from the public to expanding oil-and-gas production.
Mark Boling, executive vice president and general counsel of Southwestern Energy Co., a major natural-gas producer, said he has examined several incidents in Colorado and Pennsylvania where gas drilling appears to have caused gas to get into drinking water. "Every one we identified was caused by a failure of the integrity of the well, and almost always it was the cement job," he said.
A. Scott Anderson, a senior policy adviser with the Environmental Defense Fund who is working with Mr. Boling, agreed. "The groundwater pollution incidents that have come to light to date have all been caused by well construction problems," he said.
Both men are calling for a stronger set of standards for well construction, including better cementing and more testing to ensure that wells and cement have no leaks.
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Cement failures have long plagued the industry. Mr. Anderson estimates that cement in about one in 10 wells fails to work properly and requires remedial work. Federal investigators have said that cement problems were a major cause of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010, when natural gas escaped from an offshore well in the Gulf of Mexico and exploded, killing 11 workers and setting off a mammoth oil spill.
Pennsylvania and New York have adopted new well-construction standards to try to prevent pollution. Ohio is expected to issue new rules this week.
Cementing is an essential aspect of drilling. Energy companies thread steel pipes into bored holes and squeeze cement around the pipes. The cement prevents gas or fluids from moving between the pipe and the exposed rock. A poorly cemented well can create a path for contaminants to migrate upward and leach into shallow porous rocks that hold drinking water.
Some critics say it is the fracking process itself, which takes place far underground, that can cause pollution. Wilma Subra, chairwoman of Stronger, a nonprofit group made up mostly of state oil-and-gas regulators, said that cracks caused by fracking can extend out of the shale and "allow natural gas and frack fluids to migrate out."
Others say that even if fracking is safe, it doesn't mean drilling poses an acceptable risk. "You may be able to fix one issue, but it doesn't make the whole drilling process OK," said Maya Van Rossum, head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and an opponent of gas development in the river's watershed.
Mark Zoback, a Stanford University geophysicist who served on the National Academy of Engineering investigation into the Deepwater Horizon blowout and more recently sat on a U.S. Energy Department committee that studied shale production, said it is important to focus on the real risks.
"There are three keys—and those are well construction, well construction and well construction," he said.
In its August report on shale production, the Energy Department committee recommended that companies run tests on every well to identify inadequate cementing, and it called for more inspections to confirm operators promptly "repair defective cementing jobs."
One of the largest documented instances of water contamination occurred in Bradford County, Pa.—after wells had been drilled but before any fracking took place. Chesapeake Energy Corp., the nation's second largest natural-gas company, has conceded that poor well construction may have played a role in high levels of natural gas found in local aquifers, according to letters to state regulators.
A state investigation concluded Chesapeake failed to cement its wells adequately, allowing gas to leak from pipes into the groundwater. Chesapeake agreed to pay $900,000 in fines and payments to the state, but never publicly acknowledged it caused the problem. In a news release last May, it said the investigation was "inconclusive." The company recently declined further comment, citing pending landowner lawsuits.
In an August 2010 letter to the state, a Chesapeake executive said that one of its wells "may be considered to be the most compelling source" of gas that reached the surface. Chesapeake found evidence suggesting the cement in one well had developed small channels that allowed gas to flow through it.
In the settlement, Chesapeake agreed to change how it built wells in Pennsylvania. It has begun using three interlocking pipes, instead of two, which adds an additional barrier to prevent gas movement.
The Oklahoma City-based company said the changes would increase costs per well by up to $500,000, or about 10%.
wiseones2cents
Verified User
Sounds like bullshit, What do you expect from the wallstreet journal that feeds on oil profits.
Here try putting this on for size.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...lling-pollutes-well-water-states-confirm?lite
Oil and gas drilling pollutes well water, states confirm
Sunday Jan 5, 2014 12:03 PM
Of course you assert this with nothing coherent or factual to support it and we should just take your word for it because you say so.
By the way, I live in California; I haven't seen any news that suggests the tap water we drink can be "lit up."
But of course you assert that it is so, therefore it must be so right?
LOL @ Wallstreet Journal feeding on oil profits; how do they do that?
How about the New York Times?
Gas Drilling Is Called Safe in New York
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: January 3, 2013
ALBANY — The state’s Health Department found in an analysis it prepared early last year that the much-debated drilling technology known as hydrofracking could be conducted safely in New York, according to a copy obtained by The New York Times from an expert who did not believe it should be kept secret.
The analysis and other health assessments have been closely guarded by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his administration as the governor weighs whether to approve fracking. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, has long delayed making a decision, unnerved in part by strident opposition on his party’s left.
......
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/nyregion/hydrofracking-safe-says-ny-health-dept-analysis.html?_r=0
Liberals hate facts.
Avoid loss of fracking fluid and gas
A well is drilled and lined with steel casing. That steel casing is held in place with cement, and is installed as a succession of tubular sections, each section screwed into the next. Each section of steel casing is typically 40m-45m long.
For the first 500 metres of a well, the casing may entail three concentric casings of steel, each held in place with its own casing of cement, to eliminate as much as possible any risk of contamination of the water table.
The fracking fluid is then pumped under pressure down to the desired depth, being contained by the well casing until it reaches the target depth, i.e. the depth of the reservoir rock. At that depth, the casing sections are either perforated, or the casing comes to an end.
The fluids are maintained under pressure for a short period of time (minutes) determined by the design engineer. That pressure opens up fissures in the target rock stratum, extending from a few metres to several hundred metres into the rock surrounding the well, but not into non-target rock. When the pressure is released some of the fracking fluid is driven by high pressure in the reservoir back up the well and is collected at the surface. These fluids are then disposed of or treated in an approved way.
Much of any fracking fluid remaining in the reservoir after the initial clean-up will be returned to the surface via the well, as the well produces natural gas or CSG. This is recovered and disposed of in the same way.
A small amount of the fracking fluid will stay underground (as does some 20–30% of the gas). This residual amount is not recoverable, mainly because at low concentrations, the effect of surface tension increases, which increases friction between the rock structure and the gas. In the same way, no matter how hard a sponge full of water is squeezed, there is always a little water that remains in the sponge.
http://www.straterra.co.nz/How fracking is done
I am all for horizontal drilling and fracking in hopes that the company currently searching my mineral rights in Oklahoma will find oil which never has been discovered here in the past, but thanks to this new technology that has a much smaller environmental footprint and less intrusive methods there is a good possibility I will derive some income from this land.
wiseones2cents
Verified User
Of course you assert this with nothing coherent or factual to support it and we should just take your word for it because you say so.
By the way, I live in California; I haven't seen any news that suggests the tap water we drink can be "lit up."
But of course you assert that it is so, therefore it must be so right?
I'm talking about water shortage in California!
Oh and the proof? Look at the link I provided after that.
Try not to interrupt if you can't follow the debate.
wiseones2cents
Verified User
Maybe it can be conducted(FUTURE TENSE)safely, though it has NOT BEEN according to my link. And is directly responsible for contaminated water.
The water shortage in California is not caused by fracking.
I read it; and laughed when I saw that you didn’t comprehend anything contained in it. But this is typical of Liberals who only see what they want to see.
I’ll interrupt whenever I see someone posting pure unadulterated bullshit; which would be most of the time for an uninformed juvenile Communist wannabe Canadian like you.
wiseones2cents
Verified User
Did you read the title of the thread or OP? The point is that fracking in California wouldn't help!
Pretty much states fracking is to blame. You find that funny, that companies are choosing profits over public safety? Maybe because it isn't your drinking water!
Seems like you are having a hard time proving it's bullshit! juvenile communist Canadian? AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! You remembered me!!! LOL
But I'm not juvenile, not communist, but I am a proud CANADIAN!
wiseones2cents
Verified User
I love how the libtards say stop using gas and oil, but do you see them all riding bicycles or walking to work? Al Gore flies around in a big private jet to tell other idiots about global warming. Now they have jumped on the latest bandwagon, a ban against fracking.
Maybe because the oil companies keep buying up alternative energies and suppressing it(or jacking the prices), like solar and electric cars???? There is no reason e-cars should cost as much as they do.
The same casing and cement that failed in the Gulf during BP's gigantic oil spill. Yeah, that is reassuring.
Eliminate as much as possible?
Did you write this "report" yourself Truth Detector? Next time get your Mom to help.
e·lim·i·nateiˈliməˌnāt/
verb
[COLOR=#878787 !important][/COLOR]
- 1.
completely remove or get rid of (something). You either eliminate something or you don't. The definition is completely.
Clearly the competence of the writer is now very much in question.
Really? And how is it that non target rock is avoided? The writer is not only uneducated but a lying fool as well. Tom, did you collaborate on this article? More and more incidents of "accidental" man made earth quakes prove the\is statement to be an utter lie.
Here we come to the main lie of the article, albeit one of omission yet a lie just the same.
All fluids returned to the surface once the well has started producing gas are known as produced water and are exempt from regulation. This is the present area of gravest concern with regards to fracking, unregulated disposal of fracking fluids containing all kinds of pollutants. UP TO 6 MILLION GALLONS PER WELL.
Nice crock of B.S. Turd Detector.
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LMAO at you LYAO over my source. Attack the message not the messenger, idiot.
Did anyone suggest that you duplicitous Turd Inspector?
While factually true, your statement ignores the fact that the vast majority of that water is undrinkable sea water, atmospheric vapor, and or too polluted to drink. Yes we have lots of water, not we do not have much clean fresh water, and furthermore you despicable Truth Deleter, the entire topic is about localities.