Hydrofracked? One Man’s Mystery Leads to a Backlash Against Natural Gas Drilling

[babsbunny]

http://www.propublica.org/article/hydrofracked-one-mans-mystery-leads-to-a-backlash-against-natural-gas-drill



This story was published as part of Amazon's Kindle Singles program, and is available for reading <1> on that device. ProPublica's first Kindle Single,"Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks: The Untold Story," is also available <2>.

There are few things a family needs to survive more than fresh drinking water. And Louis Meeks, a burly, jowled Vietnam War hero who had long ago planted his roots on these sparse eastern Wyoming grasslands, was drilling a new well in search of it.

[Drahthaardogs]

1. I have done a lot of environmental work in the oil and gas fields

among many other places. A lot of people now believe that fraccing is not the issue, that the real issue is insufficient casing and poor quality steel from China, which causes fractures in the well itself. Wells that have gamma testing done prior to fraccing seem to have a lot less incidence of issues.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Steel from China is stealing the integrity of our infrastructure, the health of our

children, the health of our economy, and a few other sundry items. A great quote that hung in a local business... may still be there...

Paraphrasing: "The bitter taste of poor quality remains long after the sweet taste of low initial cost has long passed"

[NutmegYankee]

3. gamma testing? Are you talking about radiography of welds and casts?

Just wondering...

[Drahthaardogs]

16. Yes, but there are certain aspects that the government petro engineers are having them test

not sure of the details or why they are calling it "gamma testing". I am environmental engineer not petroleum. I clean up the messes other people make.

[randr]

9. Please expand on your argument

I have not seen any studies to indicate this and I live in a region that is central to the damage caused by the fracting gas industry.

[Drahthaardogs]

13. You are not going to find any studies on it

because it is anecdotal at this point. There are some very knowledgable people in the BLM field offices out west that believe that the real culprit is poor steel from China that crimps and cracks, is inconsistent and has weak spots, etc, especially in the cased portion of the wells as they go through the fresh water zones. There is no official policy on it, just an observation from folks whose opinion I trust.

[randr]

14. Still waiting for a link to your claim

[randr]

15. I would also add

If as you state the wells are placed over fresh water sources, this would be a violation of environmental rules that were in place before Bush/Cheney gave the fracters free run.
This issue alone should cause all Americans to stop and question what the hell is going on.

[Drahthaardogs]

18. What the heck are you talking about?

They are drilling under Lake Sak in North Dakota as we speak. They drill under the Green River in Pinedale. They drill through aquifers all the time. There is no law that says they cannot. The SDWA does not even begin to address it.

[randr]

19. Well drilling in aquifers required special EPA review

until Bush/Cheney removed the requirement. Given that fracting was a new technology it should have received extra oversight so that situations like people are facing today could have been avoided.

[H2O Man]

4. Recommended.

I note that the "energy industries" have been engaged in a coordinated attempt to discredit the movie "Gasland." They are concerned that if it wins the big award this weekend, lots more people will watch it. The more people who watch it translates into more people actively opposing fracking.

These industries have hired guns who pop up everywhere these days, claiming that the movie is wrong, that fracking is safe, etc, etc. Beware of darkness, as George Harrison noted.

[Pat Riot]

5. Thank you for this.

I had long thought natural gas was our answer to getting off foreign oil. Clean burning and plenty of it underneath our country, probably not too hard to switch vehicles over to it. I didn't understand really what hydro fracking is. Now I get it a little better.

[randr]

11. Natural gas may very well be a temporary solution to the lose of

oil imported from a rapidly changing world. The issue is "Fracting" as a process of extraction.
The gas industry is in direct competition with solar and wind and needs to find the most cost effective means to deliver their product. In partnership with the Bush/Cheney crowd they have forced a situation upon many communities across our nation that is only about continued, and obscene, profits at the cost of our land and water resources.
There are environmentally safer methods to capture the gas reserves we may need to carry us into at future of renewable and safe energy sources. It is the greed of people who have proven to have no regard for our planet, future, or their fellow humans that is driving this issue.

[Maine-ah]

6. knr

long, but certainly worth the read...if you don't have the time now, at least book mark and read it later.

[kohodog]

7. Yes, and today in the NYT

is a comprehensive article. Interesting timing with Gasland up for an Oscar tonight.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?hp

The fight is ongoing in New York State, even in the Catskills, the primary watershed for water in NYC. There have been some positive developments slowing approval down but it is not over. New York water is unfiltered so the health of the watershed is critical. Greed should not be allowed to ruin our air, land and water.

[randr]

8. With the publicity of Josh Stone's "Gas Land" the Fracting Gas Industry

is starting to ramp up the opposition to people attempting to expose the problems. We will start to see personal attacks on people and groups, a excellerated campaign to paint natural gas as some how our "clean" answer to an energy shortage, and red herrings, such as unsubstantiated claims that the problem is the "China" steel.
The largest propaganda campaign in history is unfolding. The corporations that received special passes on almost all regulatory processes are starting to come unglued as the damage they have created over the last 10 years of unprecidented drilling comes to light.
The question American's need to ask is about what we want our future to be. Are we willing to sacrifice our land and water resources in order to continue the wasteful and environmentally damaging practices of the past century?
The Fracting Gas Industry along with their partnerships in the Military Industrial Complex are losing their grip on third world and Arab Nation supplies. THEY KNOW THE ALTERNATIVES OF SOLAR AND WIND GENERATION ARE VIALBLE.
They are in a desperate fight for their survival and, like a dying dinosaur will, are willing to destroy the very environment that gives them substinance.
Here are a few more important links:
http://www.pressaction.com/news
http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/howarth/GHG%20emissions%20from%20Marcellus%20--%20November%202010.pdf

[randr]

20. Josh Fox is the creator of Gas Land, not Josh Stone--my bad

[reformist2]

10. Why is this being allowed now? I suspect there are geopolitical reasons behind it.

It is in the national interest to have a cheap alternative to foreign oil. We should definitely go after the oil companies that are contaminating water supplies, but I'm guessing they have a lot of friends in high places...

[randr]

12. You suspect they have friends in high places???

There would be no fracting industry without the exemptions to environmental rules given out by Cheny/Bush.

[reformist2]

17. By high places, I don't just mean environmental (de)regulators, but national security types.