Study finds that fracking itself does not pollute groundwater

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snip

The UT Energy Institute's report stands in stark contrast to a draft report released in December from the Environmental Protection Agency, which said its examination of a hydraulic fracturing site in Pavillion, Wyo., found hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals associated with natural gas production in deep water wells.

Critics of the new Energy Institute study were skeptical of its results and cited the EPA study.

“We need to know more about the study,” said Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger of Cuero, who has organized community meetings in DeWitt County because she's concerned about the effects of hydraulic fracturing.

“It's difficult for researchers to be objective if their university receives a lot of grants and funds from the industry,” she said. “How many grants does that university get from oil and gas operations?”


Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Study-finds-that-fracking-itself-does-not-pollute-3337782.php#ixzz1mf1Kl5iy

[liberal N proud]

1. No, it's not the fracking itsself, it the fluids used to do the fracking.

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6. Can't be the fluids

Because no one is allowed to knows what in the fluids. All smoke and mirror.

If they are so sure, then why not tell us what is in the fluid. Or better yet add a tracer to fluids.

Funny how they claim "We have been fracking for 50 yeras" when we are talking about horizontal drilling "MWD" that has only been around a few years.

Sure vertical fracking has been around for years.

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2. It's not fracking's fault, study says

A university study asserts that the problems caused by the gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," arise because drilling operations aren't doing it right. The process itself isn't to blame, according to the study, released today by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/16/10426765-its-not-frackings-fault-study-says

[sonias]

13. Where does fracking go wrong?

From you MSNBC article:

Where does fracking go wrong?
(snip)
Hydraulic fracturing involves drilling deep into shale beds, then injecting water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to shatter layers of rock — liberating trapped pockets of natural gas. The gas is captured for energy use, but the water and other byproducts have to be cleaned up. The procedure has been used since the 1950s, but it's become far more widely applied in recent years due to advances in horizontal-drilling technologies.

The researchers concluded that many of the reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of the wastewater, Groat said. Other causes of the contamination include underground casing failures or poor cement jobs. "These problems are not unique to hydraulic fracturing," Groat said in a news release.

Same thing mentioned about how it's the mishandling of the waste water that contaminates the underground water. So how can this not be the industry's problem. They're the ones mishandling it! Doesn't matter if it happens above ground or below ground - the fracking industry is causing all the problems - so it is their fault!

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3. New study shows no evidence of groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing of shale formations to extract natural gas has no direct connection to reports of groundwater contamination, based on evidence reviewed in a study released Thursday by the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-evidence-groundwater-contamination-hydraulic-fracturing

.html

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4. Study: Fracturing no threat to groundwater

Hydraulic fracturing in shale formations "has no direct connection" to groundwater contamination, a study released Thursday concluded.

The study, conducted by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, found that many problems attributed to hydraulic fracturing "are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations," such as drilling pipe inadequately cased in concrete.

Many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale drilling and not from hydraulic fracturing, Charles "Chip" Groat, an Energy Institute associate director who led the project, said in
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Study-Fracturing-no-threat-to-groundwater-3337836.php

[mbperrin]

21. "problems attributed to hydraulic fracturing "are related to processes common to all oil and gas

operations"

In other words, ALL OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION pollutes groundwater.

Anyone in the industry can tell you that, if they would be honest. Where do we think the TRILLIONS of gallons of brackish water underneath Texas came from? The Easter bunny?

So yes, fracking and all other operations cause pollution of groundwater, most especially because companies cut corners, cheat, lie, and otherwise do anything they can to make a buck, sell a used field to the next group of ever-smaller less-talented independents, who in turn screw things up more and more until finally you get a Superfund site, which the taxpayers clean up (if they can).

Privatize the profits, socialize the risks. Classic. Hopefully, those who benefit in this life will burn in hell forever.

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5. Lawsuit Filed Against ConocoPhillips for Alleged Fracking-Related Water Contamination

90 residents and owners of property in the Gary Tap/ Grove Community area in Texas have filed a civil lawsuit against ConocoPhillips Co., alleging that fracking waste contaminated their well water. The lawsuit, filed in Panola County, says the company shot chemical fluids underground, and stored and disposed of fracking fluid near their properties.

Accusations in the lawsuit also include that ConocoPhillips’ trespass caused physical damage to the plaintiff’s property and caused injury to right of possession. Plaintiffs also allege that the company could have used reasonable alternative means of recovering minerals, but that they continued to contaminate the well water through drilling related petroleum byproducts.


http://breakinglawsuitnews.com/lawsuit-filed-against-conocophillips-for-alleged-fracking-related-water-contamination/

[sinkingfeeling]

7. So you believe the UT study over that of the EPA?

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8. Surely you don't think

Big Oil would have anything to do with this preliminary finding do you!!!!

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9. Lawsuit Filed Against ConocoPhillips for Alleged Fracking-Related Water Contamination

90 residents and owners of property in the Gary Tap/ Grove Community area in Texas have filed a civil lawsuit against ConocoPhillips Co., alleging that fracking waste contaminated their well water. The lawsuit, filed in Panola County, says the company shot chemical fluids underground, and stored and disposed of fracking fluid near their properties.

Accusations in the lawsuit also include that ConocoPhillips’ trespass caused physical damage to the plaintiff’s property and caused injury to right of possession. Plaintiffs also allege that the company could have used reasonable alternative means of recovering minerals, but that they continued to contaminate the well water through drilling related petroleum byproducts.
http://breakinglawsuitnews.com/lawsuit-filed-against-conocophillips-for-alleged-fracking-related-water-contamination/

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10. Letter to the Editor: Lawsuit against Conoco Phillips Oil Co.

Dear Editor,

Over 100 Shady Grove Gary Tap landowners and community residents have a Class Action Lawsuit against Conoco Phillips Oil Co (Case number 20011-484), which was filed Dec. 1, 2011 in the Panola County District Clerk’s office. Gary Tap lawyers met with Conoco lawyers Jan. 9, 2012 as that was the date Conoco had to acknowledge before the court the Class Action suit against them. Within the next 45 days will be disclosure time in which finding documents and taking interviews will take place.



If this effects you, call your senators and congressmen and tell them our serious, life threateneing situation, the contamination of our private water wells, ponds and streams and other water sources now in our homelands and community. We could be wiped off of lands our ancestors have been on for over 150 years.

I, president of the Family Members Trustee Board and of the Shady Grove Gary Tap Community Voice Trustee Board, as again asking you to voice your opinion on a bil the U.S. Congress is debating a bill that would allow big oil companiesto drill, dig, and put in place a pipeline call the Key Stone. By a process called fracking, they contaminate water. This process will begin in Canada and come across the U.S. Heartland, all the way to Houston.They are fracking under the pretense of creating thousands of jobs and clean air etc., but as we all know, that is very far from the truth. We know that diggin and fracking will kill 100's of small communities across America and them from their homeland.



http://www.news-journal.com/panola/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-lawsuit-against-conoco-phillips-oil-co/article_ca976f92-9c23-506f-ab8a-df4b84b385ad.html

[sinkingfeeling]

14. You didn't answer the question. It would appear that you support

the finding of the UT study that fracking doesn't cause anymore pollution problems than any other ' processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations'.

I, on the other hand, tend to believe the draft report from the EPA, which stated, "its examination of a hydraulic fracturing site in Pavillion, Wyo., found hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals associated with natural gas production in deep water wells."

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15. My apologies sent

I over looked your post. To answer your question:

I posted several article for us to look at. There have been to many complaint and stories from all over the country and world to say Fracking for NG and process and all related activities don't cause surface water, fresh water tables, aquiferer, river, lakes contamination.

If you read and search for numerousrous story out there you will find the truth. Natural Gas Industry contaminationting a tremendous amount of our fresh water. Lot of contaminated fresh water is pumped back into the ground and may cause future contaminationtion of fresh water tables.

That is the very reason they will not allow a tracer to be add to Fracking fluids. They also will not full disclose chemical used in process. They could and would be resposible for contamination even years later.

I am not again NGI but it need some serious over site before we have ruined our water tables, and aquifers.

[saras]

11. The title is a logical contradiction, characteristic of bad science

A study CANNOT, in PRINCIPLE or THEORY, find that fracking does not pollute groundwater. All it can EVER show is that pollution was not detected in THIS INSTANCE.

To demonstrate that fracking does not pollute groundwater, you have to demonstrate that fracking NEVER pollutes groundwater ANYWHERE, not merely that you can get away with it once or twice if you don't look too closely.

"Study fails to find link" would be a fair title. The link is already established in fact and statistic, it is the mechanism that is at question. A fair summary would be "When they frack, the water goes bad. This study did not uncover any clear cause or mechanism."

[sonias]

12. "surface spills in natural gas development pose greater risks to groundwater"

Scott Anderson of the Austin office of the EDF wrote in a blog that although the study didn't confirm any cases of drinking water contamination caused by fracking, that “does not mean such contamination is impossible or that hydraulic fracturing chemicals can't get loose in the environment in other ways (such as through spills of produced water).”

The study mentions there are ways “natural gas development that can pose significant environmental risk,” he wrote.

The report said, for example, that surface spills in natural gas development pose greater risks to groundwater than does hydraulic fracturing, and that there are gaps in the regulation of well casing (pipe), water disposal and storage.

The report is still bad news for the industry. It shows that their practices can still lead to drinking water contamination. It may not be the fracking, or at least not proven in this study, but it's in their process. The way they handle above waste water or the chemicals they work with. Either way if the gas industry wasn't fracking in these areas there would not be any water contamination.

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16. And another one

Study Says Fracking is Safe In Theory But Often Not In Practice

A university study asserts that the problems caused by the gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” arise because drilling operations aren’t doing it right. The process itself isn’t to blame, according to the study, released today by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

The report is likely to add new fuel to a blazing controversy over fracking. Researchers reviewed the evidence contained in the reports of groundwater contamination from three prominent shale-rock formations where the process is employed: the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and other areas of Appalachia; and the Haynesville Shale in western Louisiana and northeast Texas.
http://peakoil.com/enviroment/study-says-fracking-is-safe-in-theory-but-often-not-in-practice/

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17. Fracking Could Work If Industry Would Come Clean

VANCOUVER—Resistance to hydraulic fracturing in the U.S. has risen steadily in recent months. Citizens and politicians are worried that fracking deep shales to extract natural gas can contaminate groundwater, trigger earthquakes and release methane, the potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. But a panel of experts not tied to industry told a large audience at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting here yesterday that the primary concerns can be solved if drilling and gas companies would impose tougher controls on their own operations, and if regulators would stiffen safety rules and crack down on violators who break them.

That realistic but optimistic tone arose primarily from conclusions made in a new study released a day earlier by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. The study of shale drilling and gas extraction in Texas and Pennsylvania determined that three basic operations at the surface of wells have the greatest potential to taint drinking water with chemicals or methane. “We did not find that fracking the shale itself was likely to contaminate groundwater,” said Chip Groat, a geologist and professor of geoscience at the university who led the study. “We did find contamination from surface spills and leaks” at the top of the well.
more>>


http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/02/18/fracking-could-work-if-industry-would-come-clean/

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18. Pursuit of Shale Gas May Contaminate Water, Says UT Study, But It's Not Due to Fracking

The University of Texas Energy Institute cast a skeptical eye on the likelihood that the actual act of fracking could result in groundwater contamination. Particularly in the Barnett Shale, where aquifers sit thousands of feet above the shale rock, head researcher Dr. Chip Groat reasoned that the danger of fracking fluid migrating thousands of feet upward through propagating fractures was far-fetched. (As opposed to a Pavillion, Wyoming, where horizontal fracks and aquifers are much closer together.)

But as the shale play moves out of the pasture and into densely populated areas, that doesn't mean, taken holistically, that the pursuit of shale gas doesn't pose risks to groundwater.

An even greater threat, says the completed UT study, comes from surface spills of the concentrated chemicals later diluted in fracking fluid. But regulatory bodies don't keep detailed enough records to gauge how serious they are, or how often they occur.
more>>>


http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2012/02/ut_fracking_study_pursuit_of_s.php

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19. Fracking Industry Colludes With Pennsylvania Legislature to Create Dangerous New Law

Fracking Industry Colludes With Pennsylvania Legislature to Create Dangerous New Law

Pennsylvania's state legislature has effectively signed a death warrant for some number of residents, who knows how many. Corbett’s about to make it official.

Pennsylvanians: Fight back — or suffer the consequences.

The fracking industry has written a bill that gives itself legal permission to poison Pennsylvanians-and keeps doctors who treat them once they’re poisoned from telling anyone else what poisoned them. The bill also essentially permits all gas drilling and processing activities anywhere, including in residential areas.

more>
http://www.truth-out.org/fracking-industry-colludes-pennsylvania-legislature-dangerous-new-laws-head-governors-desk/132923015

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20. New York Fracking Debate Focuses On Wastewater

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — One of the most contentious issues in the debate over shale gas drilling in New York's share of the Marcellus Shale region — how to handle millions of gallons of contaminated wastewater — remains unsettled. As the state ponders final regulations, environmental advocates say the issue is a glaring gap in preparations.

"What's disconcerting is that while the state raises a number of possibilities, there isn't any real clear sense as to what the path forward is going to be," said Mark Brownstein, deputy director of the Environmental Defense Fund's national energy program. "On an issue as important as this, all of us who commented from the environmental community are looking for greater clarity."

There are three options for waste disposal in the state Department of Environmental Conservation's 1,500-page environmental review and proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of deep horizontal wells for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/20/new-york-fracking_n_1288696.html

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22. Despite Report, Researchers Say Fracking Poses Risks

A recent report from the University of Texas found no direct link between hydraulic fracturing and water contamination. But as Mose Buchele of StateImpact Texas reports, researchers say that doesn't mean the practice comes without significant environmental risks.
more>
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-environmental-news/environmental-problems-and-policies/despite-report-researchers-fracking-poses-risks/?utm_source=texastribune.org&utm_medium=alerts&utm_campaign=News%20Alert:%20Subscriptions