I don't need it to be "widespread" to completely fuck up my life. I only need to worry that if a well 1 to 2 miles away (that's how close they are) fucks up my water, that is a complete disaster. And not worth it at any profit.
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EPA Study of Fracking Finds 'No Widespread, Systemic' Pollution
- Thread starter Axulus
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Well then, you should really stop using any and all oil & gas related products because your use of them is causing someone somewhere to undergo this horrible risk.
What about earthquakes caused by fracking? We've had about twenty earthquakes in the last three or four months in the Dallas area of Texas, something that's never really happened before, and it seems that most people say the cause is fracking. Most of them were pretty small, the biggest being a 4.0, but they've still caused a bit of property damage like cracked windows and cracks in the cement. - http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/09/us/texas-earthquakes-fracking-studies/
Are you saying that all gas and oil extraction techniques disrupt water?
But yeah, I do try to minimize my use of it. And I definitely endeavor to study the effects of it nearby. We have beautiful land here that hosts much wildlife, stock and farm. Unlike, say Texas, where it doesn't really much matter if you poison the land.
arkirk
Veteran Member
That is not really true. Fracking is a method of sharply increasing yields from existing wells and through a process of high pressure pumping acid solutions into shale formations to fracture them and release methane and sometimes liquid crude. The method involved pumping hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids at high pressures into geologic formations to fracture them. Once this is accomplished, this fracking solution is pumped back out of the well and disposed of in a pond. All fracking has a large volume of liquid toxic waste. This sort of waste does not have a good track record of being properly managed. If it is on the surface of the earth it eventually finds its way someplace it should not be, like a potable water aquifer. Fracking is taking off almost explosively all over the nation and it will be polluting aquifers, fields, streams, and other water sources more and more as it is done more and more. It is just another aspect of the unhealthy relationship our society has with fossil fuels...and should be stopped.
Jimmy Higgins
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I'll use big font in hopes this will catch on. Fracking doesn't cause earthquakes. The disposal wells where used fracking fluids are disposed apparently seem to cause them.
They could.
Questions: Do the disposal wells happen in the absence of fracking? Is any other industry or process using high pressure disposal wells? They are associated with the fracking "process" because they are part of the process. "Drilling" isn't fracking, extraction isn't fracking, people get that, even though we call it all fracking. But water disposal is a necessary byproduct of fracking. Hence it is talked about as being part of fracking.
Yes, yes.
And so I go after the largest sources and problems first. With fracking, they _DO_ disrupt water. In my neighborhood.
I'm also against most drilling for the same reasons. Most fossil fuels, in fact, mining, too.
We tossed out 50% of our fossil fuel use for home heating and switched to passive solar and renewable wood, using oil only for the very coldest nights when the woodstove cannot keep up. We do not use air conditioning, simply open windows and passive natural convection.
I do a lot to reduce my footprint, and I am always trying to do more.
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Where and to what extent.
In a recent thread about this I posted info on disposal wells. There are tens of thousands of them and less than half (IIRC it was 20 or 30%) are used by the oil & gas industry.
Talk to me when you get your footprint to zero. Otherwise you are a hypocrite who cares more about your air conditioning and hot shower than the horrors of someone's water being contaminated by an oil & gas well..
Jimmy Higgins
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No, people take "pollution from fracking" as being directly related to the breaking up of the bedrock process. I'm green, quite green, but there is a good deal of misinformation regarding fracking.
- The breaking up of rock to get gas and oil is generally too deep to affect an aquifer. Far too deep.
- Toxic materials are used in the fracking process which can be spilled at the surface. The threat of pollution from those materials is any handling at the surface.
- Gas can occur naturally in some areas, look up Eternal Flame Falls
- Gas can permeate through a poorly cased well, within the annulus of the well
- Fracking itself has not been followed up by earthquakes
- Disposal well sites, where some fracking fluids are disposed of have seen an increase in earthquake activity in multiple sites
- Currently, there are no requirements for drillers to create a baseline of conditions at a drilling site
Yes, other than the fact that Fracking fluids are generally not all that toxic.