Hydraulic Fracturing Is Fundamentally Safe.

I'll be brief;

65 years of hydraulic fracturing, which includes over 47,000 shale wells.

Not one cited incident of pollution due to hydraulic fracturing, not one.

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Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 16, 2013 at 11:32pm

Not one

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 18, 2013 at 9:52am

For all the hoopla the anti shale people make there are facts behind their rantings about "fracing".

On the other hand we of the pro shale development persuasion have science and facts behind us.

Here are a few examples of what some experts and regulators have to say about "fracing":

  • Ernest Moniz, Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Energy: “To my knowledge, I still have not seen any evidence of fracking per se contaminating groundwater.” (Aug. 2013)
  • U.S. Geological Survey: “This new study is important in terms of finding no significant effects on groundwater quality from shale gas development within the area of sampling.” (January 2013)
  • U.S. Govt. Accountability Office (GAO): “[R]egulatory officials we met with from eight states – Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas – told us that, based on state investigations, the hydraulic fracturing process has not been identified as a cause of groundwater contamination within their states.” (September 2012)
  • Lisa Jackson, former EPA Administrator: “In no case have we made a definitive determination that [hydraulic fracturing] has caused chemicals to enter groundwater.” (April 2012)
  • Jackson: “I’m not aware of any proven case where [hydraulic fracturing] itself has affected water.” (May 2011)
  • Dr. Stephen Holditch, Dept. of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University; member of DOE’s SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee: “I have been working in hydraulic fracturing for 40+ years and there is absolutely no evidence hydraulic fractures can grow from miles below the surface to the fresh water aquifers.” (October 2011)
  • Center for Rural Pennsylvania: “In this study, statistical analyses of post-drilling versus pre-drilling water chemistry did not suggest major influences from gas well drilling or hydrofracturing (fracking) on nearby water wells, when considering changes in potential pollutants that are most prominent in drilling waste fluids.” (October 2011)
  • Dr. Mark Zoback, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University; member of DOE’s SEAB Shale Gas Production Subcommittee: “Fracturing fluids have not contaminated any water supply and with that much distance to an aquifer, it is very unlikely they could.” (August 2011)
  • State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations, Inc. (STRONGER): “Although an estimated 80,000 wells have been fractured in Ohio, state agencies have not identified a single instance where groundwater has been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing operations.” (January 2011)
  • N.Y. Revised Draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS): “A supporting study for this dSGEIS concludes that it is highly unlikely that groundwater contamination would occur by fluids escaping from the wellbore for hydraulic fracturing. The 2009 dSGEIS further observes that regulatory officials from 15 states recently testified that groundwater contamination as a result of the hydraulic fracturing process in the tight formation itself has not occurred.” (2011)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “In the studies surveyed, no incidents are reported which conclusively demonstrate contamination of shallow water zones with fracture fluids.” (2010)
  • U.S. Dept. of Energy and Ground Water Protection Council: “[B]ased on over sixty years of practical application and a lack of evidence to the contrary, there is nothing to indicate that when coupled with appropriate well construction; the practice of hydraulic fracturing in deep formations endangers ground water. There is also a lack of demonstrated evidence that hydraulic fracturing conducted in many shallower formations presents a substantial risk of endangerment to ground water.” (May 2009)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: “Although thousands of CBM wells are fractured annually, EPA did not find confirmed evidence that drinking water wells have been contaminated by hydraulic fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells.” (2004)
Permalink Reply by lynn on August 18, 2013 at 1:19pm

Thanks Mark for the good info.  If our forefathers had focused as much on the 'what if's' as people do today we'd still be living in caves and eating roots and berries. 

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 18, 2013 at 2:18pm

lynn,

Thanks for the thanks.

The scientific evidence is in; you are correct it's time to move past the "what if's". I's time to move forward.

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 18, 2013 at 2:21pm

EPA Chief believes in hydraulic fracturing;

UPDATE (8/1/2013; 1:38pm EST): Today, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz reiterated the strong and decades-long safety record of hydraulic fracturing. Speaking at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, Moniz stated “To my knowledge I still have not seen any evidence of fracking per se contaminating groundwater,” reiterating comments from federal and state regulators across the country that hydraulic fracturing is a proven safe technology.

Permalink Reply by mark ondrusek on August 18, 2013 at 4:47pm

that is bs jesse!

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 18, 2013 at 10:26pm

You are incorrect.

The USGS did the peer review of the draft and found multiple flaws. So many flaws that the EPA dropped the draft and even instructed that it not be used.

0i7okn54zwbdoPermalink Reply by 0i7okn54zwbdo on August 19, 2013 at 9:28am

An administration that hates fossil fuels as much as this one thought that the report was questionable.  That should be enough evidence that they didn't find a causal link.

Permalink Reply by mark ondrusek on August 18, 2013 at 6:50pm

I am tired of all these studies looking for a problem with fracking.  they will be doing them when I am pushing up dasies!  until you offer proof that it is dangerous leave us landowners alone.  if you don't want me to frack my land pay my frickin taxes for me and every other landowner!  offer solid proof or shut up.  I am tired of people telling me what to do with my land!

 

Permalink Reply by p umpjack on August 18, 2013 at 7:34pm

crossing the street  is a risk higher than fracking

Permalink Reply by mark ondrusek on August 18, 2013 at 7:38pm

sorry to inform you...what is under my land belongs to me!  if you don't like that or understand it there are many places you could move to where they would appreciate your socialist attitude a little more.  this site is not one of them!

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 18, 2013 at 10:28pm

I made this point in the last thread.

You have far more chance of being killed by a car than your water ever being polluted by hydraulic fracing.

Therefore we should outlaw cars.

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