My reaction was much like yours when I heard the term Natural gas hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, “huh” “what”. I’ve never heard of this beofre!
After looking it up and reading about it turns out that natural gas hydraulic fracturing is just the propagation of fractures in a rock layer, as a result of the action of a pressurized fluid. Hydrofracturing commonly known as fracking, is a technique used to release petroleum, natural gas which includes shale gas, tight gas and coal seam gas, or other substances for extraction.
Proponents of fracking point to the economic benefits from vast amounts of formerly inaccessible hydrocorbons the process can extract. Opponents point to potential enviromental impacts, including contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface contamination from spills and flowback and the health effects these might have. For these reasons hydraulic fracturing has come under scrutiny internationally, with some countries suspending or even going as far as banning it compeletly.
According to an article writen in Sceintific American by David Biello researchers discovered methane in 51 of the 60 wells tested—that is not out of the ordinary. A small amount of methane from both deep and biological sources is present in most of the aquifers in this region of Pennsylvania and New York State. By measuring the ratio of radioactive carbon present in the methane contamination, however, the researchers determined that in drinking water wells near active natural gas wells, the methane was old and therefore fossil natural gas , rather than more freshly produced methane. This marks the first time that drinking water contamination has been definitively linked to fracking.
To add insult to injury fracking is specificlly exempted from much federal regulation, such as the Safe Drinking water Act of 1974.
It remains to be seen whether natural gas delivers environmental benefits—such as reduced emissions of carbon dioxide when burned.
Hydraulic Fracturing has been around for quite a while, since 1947, to be exact. Way before I was ever around! The first use of hydraulic fracturing was in 1947 but the modern fracking technique.
So we’ve established that Hydraulic Fracturing is nothing new, infact drilling for natural gas is a booming industry.
Hope this blog post has enlighten you about the topic of Hydraulic Fracturing or hydrofracturing!
Thanks for reading! Catch you later
Sources:
http://www.iehn.org/overview.naturalgashydraulicfracturing.php
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fracking-for-natural-gas-pollutes-water-wells
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/the-hard-facts-about-fracking
