Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing

Fracking for Dummies
Natural gas hydraulic fracturing (it’s a mouthful I know) is a technique used to extract natural gas from shale rock. Water is pumped into a well at a high pressure creating fractures in rock formation. With the water are other materials like sand which are added to keep the fractures open during the process so more oil or gas can be extracted.

The Good

It has been projected that 42 trillion cubic meters of recoverable gas is sourced from hydrofracking. This number is almost equivalent to the amount of conventional gas found in the United States in the past one-and-a-half centuries. It’s also approximately 65 times the US consumption rate which is what makes it seem the ideal source of energy until we are able to find renewable energy resources. The 50 billion barrels which have been discovered through this method has the potential to produce 3 million barrels of oil a day by the year 2020. With it our dependency on foreign oil imports would significantly decrease in the coming years.

Precautions have been put in place in the event of blowout or methane gas leaks. Old pipelines have been updated and alarms which warm of these leaks have been installed.

The Bad (supposedly)

Despite the benefits of natural gas hydraulic fracturing, many remain opposed to it. This is because of the environmental risks that fracking poses. The first of these is water use and wastage. Water is the planet’s most valuable resource and it supplies of it are decreasing all over the world. With fracking, about 20 million liters of water is pressurized into each well along with sand and more that help keep it open. But worst of all is the amount of chemicals used in the process. There are about “200,000 liters of acids, biocides, scale inhibitors, friction reducers and surfactants” combined in with the water. In fact, of the 2 million liters used, only 1 – 2% is used to extract shale gas. That means that millions of liters of water are being wasted; this does not make for a sustainable replacement of conventional oil.

Furthermore, of the natural gases contained in shale rock, methane gas is number one. As you may or may not know, methane is the second most important greenhouse gas. Some researchers have found that in twenty years shale gas has contributed to the greenhouse effect more than both coal and oil. Blowouts, spills, and improper disposal can lead to contamination of drinking water as has happened in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania citizens complained of contaminated water from municipal supply and it was confirmed that toxic methane was found in the fresh water supply from the wells near drilling sites.

BUT supporters of the method argue that their opponents base much of their hesitations on fear not science. Their arguments are based on “what-ifs” not on evidence or instances of bad things happening as a result of fracking. In the Pennsylvania case above, data about the contamination has not been made available for outside evaluation. This casts shade on the truth about the situation.

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Bibliography

Howarth, Robert W., Anthony Ingraffea, and Terry Engelder. “Natural gas: Should fracking stop?.” Nature 477, no. 7364 (September 15, 2011): 271-275. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 7, 2012).

Hutchinson, Cliff. “Hydraulic fracturing: An environmentally safe method.” Fort Worth Business Press 21, no. 4 (February 2, 2009): 13. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 7, 2012).

“Hydraulic Fracturing Overview: Growth of the Process and Safe Drinking Water Concerns.” Congressional Digest 91, no. 3 (March 2012): 71. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed October 7, 2012).

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Howarth, Robert W., Anthony Ingraffea, and Terry Engelder.. “Fracking for Fuel.” Diagram. Nature 477, no. 7364 (2011): 272. Academic Search Complete (accessed October 7, 2012)