USGS says fracking not affecting ground water in AR

[prophet]

http://www.thecitywire.com/node/25948

[Dr. Steve Yaney]

I feel much safer

[Half Ton]

Thanks for posting grant! Been waiting to see these results on groundwater.

[Kurt]

Does this say fracking not affecting groundwater- yet. As far as they can tell.

[prophet]

Does this say fracking not affecting groundwater- yet. As far as they can tell.

there's always hope

[BHK Okie]

Hey Grant most people don't even know or understand what fracking is or does . They just know what they've heard on tv . We drill 6 wells per pad and we can't even frack into another well . When I explain to people how it really works their response is usually something like "Oh , is that all ?". I'm sure , at some point somewhere , at some time , someone has affected ground water by fracking just as I'm sure the gas and oil we use in our vehicles and the trash we throw away every day that goes to a landfill , at some point somewhere , will and has affected ground water . It is unbelievable the amount of money and technology being used to protect the ground water . VERY much more than is used to protect it from trash , sewer , etc. Just my 2 cents . Pile on , I can take it :-)

[mgood]

Got a buddy writing a law review article on fracking in the US and its legal implications. Will try to get him to post it here when he's done with it- could be a whole semester mind you. Those things take forever to write.

[BHK Okie]

If I put a whole semester into it I could be VERY convincing ......... but I hope he does well and gets an A on it .

[Roger]

Fracturing formations is an old practice of the O&G industry and has been used since way back when. It was first associated with deep vertical well drilling practices at least back to the '70s based on my knowledge. The process was the same back then as it now. Pump large amounts of fluid and particles to prop open the fractures so that the oil or gas would flow out of the formation.

This process was usually done in deep formations where the hydrocarbons were created more than 6000 years ago. It was associated with some secondary recovery processes as well.

This fracturing of formations in Arkansas are being done at much shallower depths and across a broader area due to the horizontal wells that are the heart of this practice. Liquids migrate through the fractures that are in the formation whether they are are natural or man-made.

Maybe these wells don't impact the ground water right now, but check back in when your grandchildren are living here. Just something to think about.

[Roger]

One last thought about it's affecting ground water.

Estimates on water requirements for a frac job as they are called range one to four million gallons (or about 24,000 barrels) of water that is taken from the surface water supply. Got two of the water farms as I call them within a mile of the house. Rain fill them up, tankers drain them down. Plus, they pull from them creeks and rivers when they can.

Multiply that times how many wells they drill and add a small multiplier for the wells that must be fractured a second time. That's a lot of our state's most precious resource.

Remember that this water once used is no longer potable or fit to put back into our water supply. Thus the injection wells that they use are to dispose of this back into the ground under high pressure.

Maybe we shouldn't be worried about the ground water. Maybe we should be worried about the surface supplies. There is only a certain amount of fresh water on our planet. Something to consider?

[JLEllison]

Roger,

Most of what you have on here is right, but I think it's important to point out how much the process has evolved in the last decade. While fracking was created in the 50's, it was not economically viable until recently for multiple reasons. One of the biggest being the recent development of horizontal fracking, which environmentally is a much more concerning process than vertical boring. That process, the unpredictability of shale formation fracturing under pressure, and the fact that the O&G's are still allowed to largely shield what they are pumping into the wells under the label of "proprietary information" make it a scary process in my mind. I'll have to check, but I believe in Arkansas O&G's only have to release a small number of chemicals and their use of diesel fuel for fluid. As far as the amount of fluid recovered from the wells, estimates are anywhere from around 30-50% of the water stays down the well, the rest is supposed to be collected and either shipped off-site for treatment or put through a series of collection ponds and eventually spread onto open fields. It's a messy process however you look at it. Also, there might not be a lot of examples of where it has been definitively linked to groundwater contamination, but there are a lot of claims and the EPA has substantiated at least one giant one in Wyoming recently. http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; But hey, all they're really doing is purposefully breaking the foundation of the earth... what could go wrong?

[BHK Okie]

That's a lot to think about ..............while you're walking to work

[JLEllison]

and that's a really flippant attitude to have about one of the biggest environmental concerns of our time... especially from someone who should like the idea of being outside.

[BHK Okie]

Guess I should have ask you first what I should say and think . You obviously know MUCH MORE about it than someone who's been doing it for 30+ years ! Please accept my fake apology .

[Roger]

Bhk, care to respond to my post on the enormous demands that fracking puts I our surface water supplies? As for this post:

[quote="BHK Okie"]That's a lot to think about ..............while you're walking to work [qoute]

We're talking about natural gas not oil. And your last post:

[quote="BHK Okie"]Guess I should have ask you first what I should say and think . You obviously know MUCH MORE about it than someone who's been doing it for 30+ years ! Please accept my fake apology .[/quote

I don't think you can take it as you claim with that type of a reply. 20 years in the oil field service business with an understanding of their business practices left me with no trust in them.

Besides, if we have no reason to fear this practice then why did Cheney's task force exempt them from EPA regulations?