CBS' 60 Minutes report this evening on shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing failed to break any new ground in the heated national debate over whether they pose a serious environmental threat that should be more tightly regulated. Many North Texans might have missed the report on KTVT, Channel 11 because it coincided with the final minutes of the Dallas Cowboys game on KDFW, Channel 4, in which they upset the New York Giants.
The 60 Minutes' report by Lesley Stahl focused on hydraulic fracturing, "or fracking," the process by which huge volumes of water and sand, plus chemical additives, are pumped down a well under high pressure to create cracks in rocks that allow natural gas to be released. The oil and gas industry has opposed proposals to federally regulate the process under the Safe Drinking Water Act and require disclosure of chemicals used in it. Some environmental and citizens' groups say fracking poses a significant threat to underground drinking-water supplies.
An in-depth series of Star-Telegram articles on fracking, published Sept. 5-7, quoted experts who said that poor cementing and casing of wells actually poses a more-serious threat to groundwater contamination than fracking. However, surface spills or leaks of fracking fluids have in at least a few instances resulted in deaths of animals ranging from small fish to cattle.
Among those interviewed by 60 Minutes were Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the No. 2 natural gas producer in North Texas' Barnett Shale, and Tim and Christine Ruggiero, a Wise County couple who complained of environmental abuses by Aruba Petroleum when it drilled for gas on their property. Aruba was fined $35,500 by the state.
--Jack Z. Smith
WITH PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THIS INDUSTRY, IT IS TOTALLY UNACCEPETABLE FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO LET THESE COMPANIES PUMP WHATEVER THEY WANT INTO THE GROUND. IT MAKES ME THINK THAT THE EPA IS A POWERLESS ORGANIZATION, OR THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS TO AFRAID TO REGULATE THIS INDUSTRY BECAUSE OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE ECONOMY IF REGULATIONS WERE PUT IN PLACE.
Posted by: DOUG | November 14, 2010 at 08:32 PM
The point is being missed here, they woun't admit it but when the cavity they are pumping water into fills the excess water that is still being pushed down "does resurface" but just as importantly they are using 2,000,000 -7,000,000 million gallons of fresh water per frac that is absolutely unrecoverable as drinking/fresh water "ever" The watertables we are concerned about them poluting are going to become "none existant" and it's going to hapen "quikly"
Posted by: Scott Jakins | November 14, 2010 at 09:59 PM
It isn't always fresh water they are using. Look on the side of the trucks. It says non-potable water. And it is recoverable, it just costs more money. Devon has a well publicized system that reuses the frac water. Doug - I assume you are also against nuclear power since the only way they they currently dispose of waste is by injecting it into the ground.
Posted by: BC | November 17, 2010 at 11:05 AM
Actually, it's only recoverable if they don't inject it into a disposal well. Only a tiny portion of the water used by Devon is recycled.
“Disposing used water into deep injection wells essentially removes it from the active hydrologic cycle. Conceivably, it could return to the active cycle at some very distant point in the future (speaking in geologic terms, well beyond human time frames.)” Paul Hudak, Ph.D. Hydrologist
Posted by: Sharon Wilson | March 09, 2011 at 08:59 AM