IS NAT GAS FRACKING SAFE?

New York’s Ban On Gas Fracking: Time For Drillers To Shoulder The Burden Of Proof
Christopher Helman, December 13, 2010 (Forbes)

"New York Gov. David Paterson…signed a bill that will ban natural gas drillers from using the practice known as hydraulic fracking when developing fields in the gas rich Marcellus Shale. Environmentalists are happy at the ban. Energy companies are happy that the ban wasn’t for longer… [Though] the fears over the effects of fracking are far overblown, the U.S. has plenty of natural gas that does not happen to lay beneath the water shed of our most populous city. Natural gas is cheap and plentiful right now–so this is a fine time to stop…[and] sort out the implications of fracking.

"…[C]itizens in Texas and Pennsylvania say it’s responsible for polluting their groundwater…[F]racking–the injection of millions of gallons of water and sand with a smattering of chemicals–has been in use for decades. In the case of the Marcellus shale, where gas is trapped in tight rock formations, fracking is the only known way of fracturing the rock to allow the gas to escape. If done right, in a wellbore that is properly completed and cemented to prevent any gas from leaking out… the practice is virtually guaranteed not to pollute groundwater. In the Marcellus Shale the gas zone is thousands of feet deeper than the water aquifers–and the rock in between famous for its impermeability–fracking fluids will not naturally migrate that far up…"

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"The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue. The New York ban comes on the heels of last week’s announcement by the EPA that wells drilled and fracked by Range Resources in the Barnett Shale of northern Texas had contributed to the pollution of water aquifers. Range Resources says the aquifer pollution wasn’t caused by work on their wells at all but by natural influx of shallower gas up into the water…

"…[H] ere’s the thing–the concerns of regulators can’t be dismissed just because of their politics. The concerns of homeowners can’t be dismissed just because it’s so unlikely that fracking polluted their water. If the gas drillers want to put this debate to rest and get on with developing America’s monumental gas resources, they are going to have to figure out how to make everyone…satisfied that the practice is acceptable."

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"…[C]ompanies, like Halliburton, that lead the market for fracking, need to publicly reveal all the chemical components that go into the stuff and give the rationale for why they are used. The companies, like Range Resources and Chesapeake Energy, that are drilling the Marcellus and other shale formations, need to talk with regulators and agree to industry-wide minimum standards covering the drilling, completion and fracking of wells.

"Now is the time to do it. Gas prices are low and the nation has more than enough supply to meet our 27 trillion cubic feet of annual demand. Drillers don’t much care about the New York ban because they have plenty of other places to develop–and in many areas of the Marcellus, Barnett and Haynesville shales they’re being forced to drill just to hold onto their acreage. They wouldn’t mind at all if the ban helps push up gas prices on the margin. If adding precautions and oversight adds to the costs and worsens the economics of gas drilling, so be it. All costs get passed on to the consumer anyways. Including the cost of peace of mind."