FRACKING NEWS
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 12:23 pmFRACKING NEWS: Oct. 5, 2010
Canadian report: Hydraulic fracturing and water pollution: Investor risks from North America’s shale gas boom
REPORT:
http://www.share.ca/files/Hydraulic_Fracturing__
Investor_Brief.pdf
By Paula Barrios, Research Analyst
SHARE: Shareholder Association for Research & Education
Abstract: North America’s vast shale gas resources are projected to become a major resource for the coming decades, as the U.S. and other countries seek to move toward cleaner energy sources and to become less dependent on foreign oil and natural gas imports. Shale gas extraction presents significant risks, however, and concern is growing that the methods that make it viable are polluting drinking water sources with toxics. As companies prepare to intensify shale gas extraction in Canada and the U.S., investors need to look into the risks that the extraction process presents, and the steps they can take to mitigate those risks.
MORE: http://www.share.ca/files/Hydraulic_Fra ... _Brief.pdf
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Shale gas a tough sell in environment-proud Quebec
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/
shale-gas-a-tough-sell-in-environment-proud-quebec/article1740503/
Les Perreaux
SAINTE-HYACINTHE, QUE.— From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Oct. 03, 2010 9:53PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Oct. 04, 2010 12:14AM EDT
The natural gas trapped in rock thousands of metres beneath the tranquil rich farmland of the St. Lawrence Valley can be tough to crack for natural gas prospectors, but tapping support from the skeptical citizens above is proving even trickier.
To free the gas, drillers fracture a dense layer of gas-bearing shale with a high-pressure blast of chemicals and water in a process known as fracking. Up on the surface, that ominously named technique isn’t helping as gas men and their government allies try to sell a natural gas industry to a province better known for its hydro-electric power and disdain for Alberta’s oil sands.
Four years ago, shale gas wasn’t even in the Quebec government’s carefully crafted 10-year energy plan. After dozens of pages dedicated to hydro electricity, a small section spoke of the need “to diversify Quebec’s natural gas sources.” Now those plans are being redrafted on the fly. Gas prospectors have ramped up exploration drilling, but the province has not kept pace – lacking even the laws to regulate and tax the industry. It has convened a quick environmental review, which opens on Monday, and promised new legislation for spring 2011.
Premier Jean Charest’s government has left it to André Caillé, an energy executive once hailed as a hero in the province, to sell the new energy industry with his credibility and charm.
It hasn’t exactly gone as planned.
Some 400 years ago, French settlers cleared this land and today their descendants produce much of Canada’s fruit, vegetables and dairy, including North America’s finest cheese. The flat farmland and rolling green countryside is peppered with picturesque villages that support those farmers, and the acreages and pied-à-terre of city dwellers drawn by peace and quiet.
It’s not traditionally a centre of noisy activism. But one evening this week, when Mr. Caillé made his pitch in a packed and steaming conference room on the outskirts of Sainte-Hyacinthe, the descendents of those settlers greeted him with hoots and hollers of derision.
When Mr. Caillé asked for calm, young and elderly alike called him a liar and a thief. The French words for shale gas (gaz de schiste) were quickly transformed into shouts of “We don’t want your gaz de shit!”
Two minutes later, Mr. Caillé was gone, ushered out by police worried about his safety. He’d lost the room in much the same way the government may be losing the province.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/
shale-gas-a-tough-sell-in-environment-proud-quebec/article1740503/
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St. Lawrence drilling plan draws opposition
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
st-lawrence-drilling-plan-sparks-ire/article1733617/
Shawn McCarthy and Rhéal Séguin Ottawa, Quebec— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010 7:23PM EDT Last updated Monday, Oct. 04, 2010 8:33AM EDT
A junior oil company is at the centre of a growing political and environmental battle over Canada’s latest energy prospect – the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Halifax-based Corridor Resources (CDH-T5.28-0.03-0.56%) is sailing into turbulent political waters as it prepares to launch an oil-and-gas exploration program in the Gulf, over the objections of fishermen and environmentalists, and concerns raised by the Government of Quebec.
If the company finds commercial deposits of oil and gas in the largely unexplored offshore area, it would spark a rush of exploration activity in the ecologically sensitive waters, raising concerns about the impact on fish stocks, whales and other marine life that teem in the warm, relatively shallow waters.
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board is expected to rule this week in favour of Corridor’s application for a low-intensity seismic program to survey marine life and the sea floor in the “Old Harry” field – a critical step before it can seek a drilling licence from the offshore regulatory board.
The push to open the Gulf of St. Lawrence to drilling comes in the wake of BP PLC’s massive oil spill at a well in the Gulf of Mexico, which spewed 60,000 barrels of oil a day and shut down the fishery for three months, with untold long-term damage. The BP spill has raised concerns about energy development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Quebec has declared a two-year moratorium on exploration activity in its Gulf of St. Lawrence jurisdiction – despite estimates that the amount of oil and gas in the field would supply the province for 25 years – and it has urged Newfoundland to proceed with caution and regard to environmental concerns.
Corridor has conducted two seismic programs of the Old Harry area, and is encouraged by the results. The company has a producing gas well in New Brunswick and exploration properties, both onshore and offshore, throughout Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
- - - -SNIP - - -
“The reaction isn’t completely surprising,” said Christian Vanasse, a comedian who is now a prominent opponent of shale gas. “The white francophones who live in this valley are living with what the natives up north have been putting up with for years. As long as Hydro-Québec was flooding vast distant lands, we didn’t give a shit and thought we were green.
“There must be Indians who are laughing their asses off at us right now.”
With a report from Rhéal Séguin in Quebec City
More related to this story (Links are on website)
Guidelines issued for Arctic offshore drilling review
Drillers to face tougher obstacles
Experts question BP's take on Gulf oil spill
Relief wells urged in offshore drilling
Few firms disclose environmental practices
Canada to monitor Arctic drill sites
Spill halted, Enbridge’s reputation sullied
If there’s an oil spill, who’s at risk? Canadian taxpayers
= = = = = =
Environmental hearings into energy 'game changer' begin in Quebec
http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2010/10 ... -Hearings/
Andy Blatchford, Today, Canadian Press October 3, 2010
MONTREAL - Environmental hearings begin in Quebec on Monday into the risks of tapping a 5,000-square-kilometre energy source one federal document calls an energy "game changer."
The public hearings could be raucous given that tempers have already flared over Quebec's push to exploit natural gas reservoirs buried under the St. Lawrence River lowlands.
The proposed endeavour to unlock gas from the shale has ignited boisterous protests in recent weeks and made international headlines, including an article in The Economist magazine.
Quebecers concerned about potential environmental impacts have crammed public information sessions to grill industry leaders.
But government and industry players say the reservoirs are too lucrative to pass up. In just a few years, companies have leased the entire region.
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2010/10 ... -Hearings/
= = = = = = =
MUST WATCH: EnCana Buries Hydraulic Fracturing Pit Sludge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZijSwab ... re=related
DivideWatch | May 17, 2009
Twenty-three days after EnCana completed hydraulic fracturing operations on the F11E, the liner is removed, some of the sludge is pumped out and the remainder - perhaps 70 barrels or more - is dozed in.
The pad overlies a spring that often surfaces here. It is fed by a shallow groundwater aquifer that supplies water to West Divide Creek and a family's private water well located maybe 200 yards away. An irrigation ditch is located approximately 30 feet from the East end of the pit.
- - - -SNIP - - -
For over a year, at www.journeyoftheforsaken.com, I've been documenting EnCana's aggressive and irresponsible development of 60 natural gas wells around our home and the infamous area of the 2004 West Divide Creek natural gas blowout.
= = = = = = =
Fracked: Barnett Shale drilling chemicals found in blood and organs
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/26/905373/
-Fracked:-Barnett-Shale-drilling-chemicals-found-in-blood-and-organs
by TXsharon Sun Sep 26, 2010 at 08:39:09 AM PDT
Bob and Lisa were told by their doctor to move out of their home within 48 hours because it was too dangerous for them to stay after they were diagnosed with drilling chemicals in their blood and organs.
Flight for survival
http://www.wcmessenger.com/news/content/
EklVEZEyuVBmtmajzo.php
Toxic emissions force family to leave home By Brandon Evans
= = = = = =
Council delivers message to Ontario Energy Board on
Fracking
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/?p=314
This coming Thursday and Friday the Council of Canadians will be participating in an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) Stakeholder Conference in Toronto. The conference provides a forum to discuss recent developments in North American natural gas supply markets and the implications for the Ontario natural gas sector.
= = = = = = =
Property devalued 75%! Where's your "Drill, Baby, drill" now?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/19/903261/
-Property-devalued-75!-Wheres-your-Drill,-Baby,-drill-now
by TXsharon Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 11:01:30 AM PDT
Natural gas drilling causes 75% property value loss
Drilling can dig into land value
Saturday, September 18, 2010, By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
= = = = =
Some fresh water disappears down a hole in ‘fracking’
http://whyy.org/cms/news/health-science/2010/09/29/
some-fresh-water-disappears-down-a-hole-in-%E2%80%98fracking%E2%80%99/46978
by: Patrick Cobbs pcobbs@whyy.org Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
The natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects fresh water deep into a hole in the earth.
At least 80 percent of that water never comes back; no one is keeping close track of just how much fresh water is lost nationally due to fracking.
Some of the water that does return to the surface is brackish or contaminated. Often, that wastewater is reused in fracking. Sometimes, it gets reinjected into the earth, to be sequestered.
Thanks to the 2005 energy law, the federal Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate fracking in production wells.
"In this case what you’re doing is you’re taking renewable water and you’re sort of making it effectively non-renewable." - Meena Palaniappan, Director of the International Water and Communities Initiative for the Pacific Institute.
The only way EPA gets involved in fracking is when water contaminated in the process gets reinjected into the earth for disposal. EPA has long regulated the use of injection wells to bury underground wastewater from industrial processes.
Doug Duncan of the U.S. Geological Survey says that, as energy companies crank up major drilling across the multistate Marcellus Shale deposit, including Pennsylvania, it may be time to take a comprehensive look at how much fresh water is lost in the fracking process. Duncan: I don’t know that that has been evaluated. It’s undoubtedly a very large quantity. It’s definitely a fair question.
MORE:
http://whyy.org/cms/news/health-science/2010/09/29/
some-fresh-water-disappears-down-a-hole-in-%E2%80%98fracking%E2%80%99/46978
= = = = = = =
Marcellus Shale fight takes new turn with pipeline mandate
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/
104134903.html?cmpid=15585797
01 Oct 2010
More than the drinking water has become poisonous in Susquehanna County. In a sharp rebuke of one of the state's biggest Marcellus Shale gas drillers, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered an $11.8 million pipeline built to deliver water to 18 rural residences in Dimock Township whose household wells are contaminated by natural gas. In response, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Texas driller whose wells the state blames for the pollution, denounced the decision as "unfounded, irrational, and capricious" and accused DEP Secretary John Hanger of "obvious political pandering
= = = = = =
MUST LISTEN: Pavillion Water Problems
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wpr/
news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1704989
WYOMING (wpr) - For years now, people living amid the natural gas fields east of town have complained about foul smelling and discolored water. They've also claimed to experience unexplained health problems, from respiratory difficulties to neurological issues. Late last month, federal officials said that residents shouldn't drink or cook with water from 41 area wells.
Wyoming Public Radio's Molly Messick has this story about what's next for Pavillion.
© Copyright 2010, wpr
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Gas drilling technique sparks fears in Michigan
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101004/BIZ/10040329/
Gas-drilling-technique-sparks-fears-in-Michigan
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News Last Updated: October 04. 2010 1:00AM
[ NOTE: Click on Interactive Tabs:
The Process; Safeguarding Groundwater; Potential Problems ]
Michigan could be on the verge of a new and, possibly, risky era in underground exploration as companies jockey to cash in on the state's natural gas resources.
At the end of this month, oil and gas rights for 452,000 acres of state land across the northwestern Lower Peninsula will be auctioned off. A similar auction held in May generated $178.4 million for Michigan's Natural Resources Trust Fund, which state law designates as the recipient of all proceeds.
The surge of interest in Michigan's natural gas supplies is the result of a new twist on an old drilling technique -- one that has made natural gas production more cost-effective but has raised fears among environmental groups here and around the country.
Hydraulic fracturing has been used to harvest natural gas for decades in Michigan with few reported problems. By pumping a water/chemical mix vertically into shale formations beneath the surface at high pressure, the rock structures are fractured, allowing natural gas to flow and be pumped back to the surface.
Now, firms have found that by drilling much deeper vertically, and then drilling several thousand additional feet horizontally and using more water, they can unleash natural gas that previously wasn't harvestable.
Recent hydraulic fracturing in several states using this new approach has been linked to environmental problems, and concerns in Michigan include:
• The migration of gases and fracturing fluids into water supplies and sensitive areas.
• The millions of gallons of water needed for the process could deplete ecosystems.
• The handling and storage of wastewater from the process, known as "fracking fluid."
Industry officials and many government regulators say those problems can be tied to human error or failure to adhere to best practices -- not the hydraulic fracturing process itself.
Some conservationists ask: What's the difference? If state and federal regulations are unable to compel compliance that prevents harm to the environment, they say, then the process really is a problem.
"This drilling is not only deeper, it also uses substantially more fresh water ... and chemicals," the Michigan Environmental Council warns on its website. "There are many unknowns with respect to the environmental and long-term impacts."
MORE:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101004/BIZ/10040329/
Gas-drilling-technique-sparks-fears-in-Michigan
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Pa. Environmental Agency Butts Heads With Gas Drilling Company Over Town’s Water Woes
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/
pa.-environmental-agency-and-gas-drilling-company-butt-heads-over-dimocks-
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Oct. 1, 11:06 a.m
Dimock resident Julie Sautner, seen in her basement with water from her filtration system, flushed her toilet one day to find a rush of earth-brown water. Tests showed her drinking water was high in aluminum, iron and methane. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)
Residents of Dimock, Pa., whose water woes [1] have [2] been [3] widely [4] chronicled [5] as a prime example of the hidden costs of natural gas drilling, will get a safe and permanent water supply to replace their methane-contaminated wells, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday.
For about two years, Cabot Oil & Gas, a natural gas drilling company, has supplied drinking water [6] to some Dimock residents after several private drinking wells were found to be contaminated with methane, the main component of natural gas. A few wells have exploded. The Pennsylvania DEP has said that Cabot is responsible for the problems and announced intentions to bill the company for the cost of an $11.8 million plan to construct a new public water line [7] to serve these residents.
"We have had people here in Pennsylvania without safe drinking water for nearly two years," said John Hanger, head of Pennsylvania's DEP. "That is totally unacceptable. It is reprehensible. We have given Cabot every opportunity to resolve this matter."
MORE:
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/
pa.-environmental-agency-and-gas-drilling-company-butt-heads-over-dimocks-
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MORE FRACKING NEWS:
http://forum.stopthehogs.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=31
Canadian report: Hydraulic fracturing and water pollution: Investor risks from North America’s shale gas boom
REPORT:
http://www.share.ca/files/Hydraulic_Fracturing__
Investor_Brief.pdf
By Paula Barrios, Research Analyst
SHARE: Shareholder Association for Research & Education
Abstract: North America’s vast shale gas resources are projected to become a major resource for the coming decades, as the U.S. and other countries seek to move toward cleaner energy sources and to become less dependent on foreign oil and natural gas imports. Shale gas extraction presents significant risks, however, and concern is growing that the methods that make it viable are polluting drinking water sources with toxics. As companies prepare to intensify shale gas extraction in Canada and the U.S., investors need to look into the risks that the extraction process presents, and the steps they can take to mitigate those risks.
MORE: http://www.share.ca/files/Hydraulic_Fra ... _Brief.pdf
= = = = = = =
Shale gas a tough sell in environment-proud Quebec
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/
shale-gas-a-tough-sell-in-environment-proud-quebec/article1740503/
Les Perreaux
SAINTE-HYACINTHE, QUE.— From Monday's Globe and Mail
Published Sunday, Oct. 03, 2010 9:53PM EDT
Last updated Monday, Oct. 04, 2010 12:14AM EDT
The natural gas trapped in rock thousands of metres beneath the tranquil rich farmland of the St. Lawrence Valley can be tough to crack for natural gas prospectors, but tapping support from the skeptical citizens above is proving even trickier.
To free the gas, drillers fracture a dense layer of gas-bearing shale with a high-pressure blast of chemicals and water in a process known as fracking. Up on the surface, that ominously named technique isn’t helping as gas men and their government allies try to sell a natural gas industry to a province better known for its hydro-electric power and disdain for Alberta’s oil sands.
Four years ago, shale gas wasn’t even in the Quebec government’s carefully crafted 10-year energy plan. After dozens of pages dedicated to hydro electricity, a small section spoke of the need “to diversify Quebec’s natural gas sources.” Now those plans are being redrafted on the fly. Gas prospectors have ramped up exploration drilling, but the province has not kept pace – lacking even the laws to regulate and tax the industry. It has convened a quick environmental review, which opens on Monday, and promised new legislation for spring 2011.
Premier Jean Charest’s government has left it to André Caillé, an energy executive once hailed as a hero in the province, to sell the new energy industry with his credibility and charm.
It hasn’t exactly gone as planned.
Some 400 years ago, French settlers cleared this land and today their descendants produce much of Canada’s fruit, vegetables and dairy, including North America’s finest cheese. The flat farmland and rolling green countryside is peppered with picturesque villages that support those farmers, and the acreages and pied-à-terre of city dwellers drawn by peace and quiet.
It’s not traditionally a centre of noisy activism. But one evening this week, when Mr. Caillé made his pitch in a packed and steaming conference room on the outskirts of Sainte-Hyacinthe, the descendents of those settlers greeted him with hoots and hollers of derision.
When Mr. Caillé asked for calm, young and elderly alike called him a liar and a thief. The French words for shale gas (gaz de schiste) were quickly transformed into shouts of “We don’t want your gaz de shit!”
Two minutes later, Mr. Caillé was gone, ushered out by police worried about his safety. He’d lost the room in much the same way the government may be losing the province.
MORE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/
shale-gas-a-tough-sell-in-environment-proud-quebec/article1740503/
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St. Lawrence drilling plan draws opposition
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/
st-lawrence-drilling-plan-sparks-ire/article1733617/
Shawn McCarthy and Rhéal Séguin Ottawa, Quebec— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Sep. 29, 2010 7:23PM EDT Last updated Monday, Oct. 04, 2010 8:33AM EDT
A junior oil company is at the centre of a growing political and environmental battle over Canada’s latest energy prospect – the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Halifax-based Corridor Resources (CDH-T5.28-0.03-0.56%) is sailing into turbulent political waters as it prepares to launch an oil-and-gas exploration program in the Gulf, over the objections of fishermen and environmentalists, and concerns raised by the Government of Quebec.
If the company finds commercial deposits of oil and gas in the largely unexplored offshore area, it would spark a rush of exploration activity in the ecologically sensitive waters, raising concerns about the impact on fish stocks, whales and other marine life that teem in the warm, relatively shallow waters.
The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board is expected to rule this week in favour of Corridor’s application for a low-intensity seismic program to survey marine life and the sea floor in the “Old Harry” field – a critical step before it can seek a drilling licence from the offshore regulatory board.
The push to open the Gulf of St. Lawrence to drilling comes in the wake of BP PLC’s massive oil spill at a well in the Gulf of Mexico, which spewed 60,000 barrels of oil a day and shut down the fishery for three months, with untold long-term damage. The BP spill has raised concerns about energy development in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Quebec has declared a two-year moratorium on exploration activity in its Gulf of St. Lawrence jurisdiction – despite estimates that the amount of oil and gas in the field would supply the province for 25 years – and it has urged Newfoundland to proceed with caution and regard to environmental concerns.
Corridor has conducted two seismic programs of the Old Harry area, and is encouraged by the results. The company has a producing gas well in New Brunswick and exploration properties, both onshore and offshore, throughout Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
- - - -SNIP - - -
“The reaction isn’t completely surprising,” said Christian Vanasse, a comedian who is now a prominent opponent of shale gas. “The white francophones who live in this valley are living with what the natives up north have been putting up with for years. As long as Hydro-Québec was flooding vast distant lands, we didn’t give a shit and thought we were green.
“There must be Indians who are laughing their asses off at us right now.”
With a report from Rhéal Séguin in Quebec City
More related to this story (Links are on website)
Guidelines issued for Arctic offshore drilling review
Drillers to face tougher obstacles
Experts question BP's take on Gulf oil spill
Relief wells urged in offshore drilling
Few firms disclose environmental practices
Canada to monitor Arctic drill sites
Spill halted, Enbridge’s reputation sullied
If there’s an oil spill, who’s at risk? Canadian taxpayers
= = = = = =
Environmental hearings into energy 'game changer' begin in Quebec
http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2010/10 ... -Hearings/
Andy Blatchford, Today, Canadian Press October 3, 2010
MONTREAL - Environmental hearings begin in Quebec on Monday into the risks of tapping a 5,000-square-kilometre energy source one federal document calls an energy "game changer."
The public hearings could be raucous given that tempers have already flared over Quebec's push to exploit natural gas reservoirs buried under the St. Lawrence River lowlands.
The proposed endeavour to unlock gas from the shale has ignited boisterous protests in recent weeks and made international headlines, including an article in The Economist magazine.
Quebecers concerned about potential environmental impacts have crammed public information sessions to grill industry leaders.
But government and industry players say the reservoirs are too lucrative to pass up. In just a few years, companies have leased the entire region.
MORE:
http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2010/10 ... -Hearings/
= = = = = = =
MUST WATCH: EnCana Buries Hydraulic Fracturing Pit Sludge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZijSwab ... re=related
DivideWatch | May 17, 2009
Twenty-three days after EnCana completed hydraulic fracturing operations on the F11E, the liner is removed, some of the sludge is pumped out and the remainder - perhaps 70 barrels or more - is dozed in.
The pad overlies a spring that often surfaces here. It is fed by a shallow groundwater aquifer that supplies water to West Divide Creek and a family's private water well located maybe 200 yards away. An irrigation ditch is located approximately 30 feet from the East end of the pit.
- - - -SNIP - - -
For over a year, at www.journeyoftheforsaken.com, I've been documenting EnCana's aggressive and irresponsible development of 60 natural gas wells around our home and the infamous area of the 2004 West Divide Creek natural gas blowout.
= = = = = = =
Fracked: Barnett Shale drilling chemicals found in blood and organs
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/26/905373/
-Fracked:-Barnett-Shale-drilling-chemicals-found-in-blood-and-organs
by TXsharon Sun Sep 26, 2010 at 08:39:09 AM PDT
Bob and Lisa were told by their doctor to move out of their home within 48 hours because it was too dangerous for them to stay after they were diagnosed with drilling chemicals in their blood and organs.
Flight for survival
http://www.wcmessenger.com/news/content/
EklVEZEyuVBmtmajzo.php
Toxic emissions force family to leave home By Brandon Evans
= = = = = =
Council delivers message to Ontario Energy Board on
Fracking
http://www.canadians.org/energyblog/?p=314
This coming Thursday and Friday the Council of Canadians will be participating in an Ontario Energy Board (OEB) Stakeholder Conference in Toronto. The conference provides a forum to discuss recent developments in North American natural gas supply markets and the implications for the Ontario natural gas sector.
= = = = = = =
Property devalued 75%! Where's your "Drill, Baby, drill" now?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/19/903261/
-Property-devalued-75!-Wheres-your-Drill,-Baby,-drill-now
by TXsharon Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 11:01:30 AM PDT
Natural gas drilling causes 75% property value loss
Drilling can dig into land value
Saturday, September 18, 2010, By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe
= = = = =
Some fresh water disappears down a hole in ‘fracking’
http://whyy.org/cms/news/health-science/2010/09/29/
some-fresh-water-disappears-down-a-hole-in-%E2%80%98fracking%E2%80%99/46978
by: Patrick Cobbs pcobbs@whyy.org Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
The natural gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects fresh water deep into a hole in the earth.
At least 80 percent of that water never comes back; no one is keeping close track of just how much fresh water is lost nationally due to fracking.
Some of the water that does return to the surface is brackish or contaminated. Often, that wastewater is reused in fracking. Sometimes, it gets reinjected into the earth, to be sequestered.
Thanks to the 2005 energy law, the federal Environmental Protection Agency does not regulate fracking in production wells.
"In this case what you’re doing is you’re taking renewable water and you’re sort of making it effectively non-renewable." - Meena Palaniappan, Director of the International Water and Communities Initiative for the Pacific Institute.
The only way EPA gets involved in fracking is when water contaminated in the process gets reinjected into the earth for disposal. EPA has long regulated the use of injection wells to bury underground wastewater from industrial processes.
Doug Duncan of the U.S. Geological Survey says that, as energy companies crank up major drilling across the multistate Marcellus Shale deposit, including Pennsylvania, it may be time to take a comprehensive look at how much fresh water is lost in the fracking process. Duncan: I don’t know that that has been evaluated. It’s undoubtedly a very large quantity. It’s definitely a fair question.
MORE:
http://whyy.org/cms/news/health-science/2010/09/29/
some-fresh-water-disappears-down-a-hole-in-%E2%80%98fracking%E2%80%99/46978
= = = = = = =
Marcellus Shale fight takes new turn with pipeline mandate
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_stories/
104134903.html?cmpid=15585797
01 Oct 2010
More than the drinking water has become poisonous in Susquehanna County. In a sharp rebuke of one of the state's biggest Marcellus Shale gas drillers, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered an $11.8 million pipeline built to deliver water to 18 rural residences in Dimock Township whose household wells are contaminated by natural gas. In response, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Texas driller whose wells the state blames for the pollution, denounced the decision as "unfounded, irrational, and capricious" and accused DEP Secretary John Hanger of "obvious political pandering
= = = = = =
MUST LISTEN: Pavillion Water Problems
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wpr/
news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1704989
WYOMING (wpr) - For years now, people living amid the natural gas fields east of town have complained about foul smelling and discolored water. They've also claimed to experience unexplained health problems, from respiratory difficulties to neurological issues. Late last month, federal officials said that residents shouldn't drink or cook with water from 41 area wells.
Wyoming Public Radio's Molly Messick has this story about what's next for Pavillion.
© Copyright 2010, wpr
= = = = = =
Gas drilling technique sparks fears in Michigan
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101004/BIZ/10040329/
Gas-drilling-technique-sparks-fears-in-Michigan
Jim Lynch / The Detroit News Last Updated: October 04. 2010 1:00AM
[ NOTE: Click on Interactive Tabs:
The Process; Safeguarding Groundwater; Potential Problems ]
Michigan could be on the verge of a new and, possibly, risky era in underground exploration as companies jockey to cash in on the state's natural gas resources.
At the end of this month, oil and gas rights for 452,000 acres of state land across the northwestern Lower Peninsula will be auctioned off. A similar auction held in May generated $178.4 million for Michigan's Natural Resources Trust Fund, which state law designates as the recipient of all proceeds.
The surge of interest in Michigan's natural gas supplies is the result of a new twist on an old drilling technique -- one that has made natural gas production more cost-effective but has raised fears among environmental groups here and around the country.
Hydraulic fracturing has been used to harvest natural gas for decades in Michigan with few reported problems. By pumping a water/chemical mix vertically into shale formations beneath the surface at high pressure, the rock structures are fractured, allowing natural gas to flow and be pumped back to the surface.
Now, firms have found that by drilling much deeper vertically, and then drilling several thousand additional feet horizontally and using more water, they can unleash natural gas that previously wasn't harvestable.
Recent hydraulic fracturing in several states using this new approach has been linked to environmental problems, and concerns in Michigan include:
• The migration of gases and fracturing fluids into water supplies and sensitive areas.
• The millions of gallons of water needed for the process could deplete ecosystems.
• The handling and storage of wastewater from the process, known as "fracking fluid."
Industry officials and many government regulators say those problems can be tied to human error or failure to adhere to best practices -- not the hydraulic fracturing process itself.
Some conservationists ask: What's the difference? If state and federal regulations are unable to compel compliance that prevents harm to the environment, they say, then the process really is a problem.
"This drilling is not only deeper, it also uses substantially more fresh water ... and chemicals," the Michigan Environmental Council warns on its website. "There are many unknowns with respect to the environmental and long-term impacts."
MORE:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101004/BIZ/10040329/
Gas-drilling-technique-sparks-fears-in-Michigan
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Pa. Environmental Agency Butts Heads With Gas Drilling Company Over Town’s Water Woes
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/
pa.-environmental-agency-and-gas-drilling-company-butt-heads-over-dimocks-
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Oct. 1, 11:06 a.m
Dimock resident Julie Sautner, seen in her basement with water from her filtration system, flushed her toilet one day to find a rush of earth-brown water. Tests showed her drinking water was high in aluminum, iron and methane. (Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica)
Residents of Dimock, Pa., whose water woes [1] have [2] been [3] widely [4] chronicled [5] as a prime example of the hidden costs of natural gas drilling, will get a safe and permanent water supply to replace their methane-contaminated wells, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday.
For about two years, Cabot Oil & Gas, a natural gas drilling company, has supplied drinking water [6] to some Dimock residents after several private drinking wells were found to be contaminated with methane, the main component of natural gas. A few wells have exploded. The Pennsylvania DEP has said that Cabot is responsible for the problems and announced intentions to bill the company for the cost of an $11.8 million plan to construct a new public water line [7] to serve these residents.
"We have had people here in Pennsylvania without safe drinking water for nearly two years," said John Hanger, head of Pennsylvania's DEP. "That is totally unacceptable. It is reprehensible. We have given Cabot every opportunity to resolve this matter."
MORE:
http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/
pa.-environmental-agency-and-gas-drilling-company-butt-heads-over-dimocks-
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