An Industry Reborn

[Mr. H.]

Absolutely fascinating...

RIGZONE - Shale Boom, Gas Demand to Make North America LNG Exports Reality

Imagine that - the U.S. actually exporting something of value. Bringing money back into this country.

The increase in North American natural gas due to the shale gas boom and a projected increase in global gas demand mean that North America will become a liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter within the next few years.

The recovery in global LNG consumption in 2010, combined with anticipated gas demand growth in emerging economies of China and India presents opportunities for LNG exports, as does growing demand in Europe, where gas production is expected to decline and demand for gas-fired power generation is expected to grow. Near-term LNG demand also will be impacted by Japan, where the earthquake and tsunami damaged nuclear power facilities, resulting in strong demand for natural gas to fire electric power plants. However, it is too early to tell how this will impact Japan's long-term plans.

Right on.

USA

USA

USA

(Sing along with me - you know the words)

 

[sparky]

Frackin' through the snow
In a caustic chemical way
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Plumbing will ignite
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
'F*ck the kids' tonight

Oh, jingo bells, jingo bells
Jingo all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
The market's makin' hay
Jingo bells, jingo bells
Jingo all the way
Oh, what fun it is to screw
the 'lil guy on the way

 

[Mr. H.]

^^^


One sad commentary here is the fact that we haven't done enough over the years to find new markets for our own natural gas, i.e. NGV's and power generation (outside of peaker plants).

 

[editec]

I'm ALL for it.

When they can do it without screwing up the water.

 

[RGR]

I'm ALL for it.

When they can do it without screwing up the water.

Hydraulic fracturing hasn't screwed up the water any worse than farming does. Isn't near a problem. You don't see people advocating a cessation of farming because of what their runoff does, no reason to stop hydraulic fracturing for doing even less.

 

[Trajan]

some info.




Hydraulic fracturing -- Hydraulic fracturing is a practice used to coax oil and natural gas from hard rock formations. It involves forcing large amounts of pressurized water, a proppant (usually sand), and very small amounts of chemicals down the wellbore to create tiny fissures in the rock so the oil and gas can flow through the wellbore to the surface. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in more than one million wells during the past 60+ years. National Geographic produced an animation illustrating the practice and as you'll see, the fracturing occurs well below the aquifer and is separated from groundwater and drinking water supplies by hundreds or thousands of feet of solid rock.

A list of the chemicals used in the fracturing fluid is available at EnergyInDepth.org. (This information appears on an oil and natural gas-sponsored website but it comes from the Department of Energy and the Ground Water Protection Council.)

Drinking water contamination -- U.S. government studies have found no evidence of drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing. In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a study to assess the contamination potential of underground drinking water sources (UDWS) from the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluid into coalbed methane (CBM) wells. EPA found "the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into CBM wells poses little or no threat to USDWs and does not justify additional study at this time." EPA also reviewed incidents of drinking water well contamination believed to be associated with hydraulic fracturing operations. It found "no confirmed cases linked to fracturing fluid injection of CBM wells or subsequent underground movement of fracturing fluid."

In 1998, the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and a team of state agency representatives conducted a survey of state oil and natural gas agencies to establish an accurate assessment of the number of active CBM wells associated with hydraulic fracturing. Based on the survey of 25 oil and natural gas producing states, the GWPC concluded, "there was no evidence to support claims that public health is at risk as a result of the hydraulic fracturing of coalbeds used for the production of methane gas."

EPA is developing a study plan now for a congressionally-mandated review of the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water. The study is expected to be finished in 2012.

A recent documentary about hydraulic fracturing implies that fracturing has contaminated water wells in Pennsylvania. However, John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently told Reuters, "It's our experience in Pennsylvania that we have not had one case in which the fluids used to break off the gas from 5,000 to 8,000 feet underground have returned to contaminate ground water." Hanger's comment appears in this Reuters article.

The Safe Drinking Water Act - Despite claims to the contrary, hydraulic fracturing has never been regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This act was enacted in 1974 to ensure water supply systems serving the public meet appropriate health standards. It was specifically designed to establish a federal-state partnership to "protect drinking water from contamination by the underground injection of waste," not the use of hydraulic fracturing fluids used to enhance oil and natural gas production. Fracturing fluids were never included under the act. To clarify this point, Congress included language in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 making it clear once and for all that underground injection fluids or propping agents were excluded from the SDWA.

Critics have alleged that hydraulic fracturing was "exempted" from the SDWA and have mischaracterized the language in the 2005 law as a "loophole." These statements are not accurate.

State vs. federal regulation - Some members of Congress have introduced legislation to regulate hydraulic fracturing under federal law, rather than allow the states to continue to have regulatory authority. The GWPC examined this issue in 2009 and issued a report concluding that the regulation of oil and natural gas field activities is best accomplished at the state level where regional and local conditions are understood and where state regulators are on-hand to conduct inspections and oversee operations.
Addressing Hydraulic Fracturing Issues One-by-One - Energy Tomorrow Blog


a graphic primer-


Breaking Fuel From the Rock

 

[Trajan]

The upset it appears is due to the use of say; kerosene, benzene, toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde in Hydraulic fracking.

I understand this, as I work with these chemicals on a daily basis and am well aware of their dangers. However, everything in measure, the purity and final ppm count is whats important.

Toluene for instance is a classified as a level 2 health hazard on a scale of 1-4, 4 being greatest. It Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) the value that is the point at which is becomes dangerous to humans in a given exposure time is 200 parts per million at its most potent at whats called the time-weighted average (TWA) that is your total exposure in a given work day , 8 hours.

So in short for this chemical to adversely effect a human according to Ohsa standards requires exposure to this chem. for a total of 200 ppm over 8 hours.

Then you get into ingestion and dilution factors. One must drink 80.0 pure toluene that makes up 1.8 grams of the liquid, say water to be fatal, in one gallon of water.

If they use a figure I saw, of say 500 gallons of toluene in a MIXTURE of water and sand to frack, and they get leakage into ground water which is a moving refreshed resource of hundreds of millions of gallons, well, there ya go. Its the sample they pull at the end of the line that counts, from your faucet.

Its like the old Alar scare and apples, back in the 80's and early 90's, you would have to eat 5 pounds of apples per day for 20 years to get close to the TWA saturation level at which it would harm a human......




here is some more context on these chems-

Federal and state surveys do not show toluene to be a common impurity in drinking water supplies. Toluene was found in about 1% of the groundwater sources (wells) at amounts lower than 2 parts per billion (ppb). (This is like 1 second in 32 years). It was found more frequently in surface water samples at similar concentrations. If toluene is in your drinking water you can be exposed by drinking the water or by eating cold foods prepared with the water. Evaporation during cooking tends to decrease the amount of toluene found in hot foods or water. Additional exposure will occur when you breathe in the toluene that evaporates from water while you shower, bathe, clean, or cook with the water.

The toluene level in the air outside your home is usually less than 1 ppm in cities and suburbs that are not close to industry. The toluene inside your house is also likely to be less than 1 ppm. The amount of toluene in food has not been reported, but is likely to be low. Traces of toluene were found in eggs that were stored in polystyrene containers containing toluene.

Unless you smoke cigarettes or work with toluene-containing products, you are probably only exposed to about 300 micrograms (µg) of toluene a day. A microgram is one one-millionth of a gram. If you smoke a pack of cigarettes per day, you add another 1,000 µg to your exposure. People who work in places where toluene-containing products are used can be exposed to 1,000 milligrams of toluene a day when the average air concentration is 50 ppm and they breathe at a normal rate and volume. A milligram is one-thousandth of a gram.

Toluene: Everything You Could Ever Want to Know About This Common Toxic Chemical



so when you read these reports on Fracking etc. just be aware that when they say they found traces of toluene, read past that and look for the concentration(s), ppm and ppb , ingestion exposure in milligrams and grams etc.

 

[sparky]

The upset it appears is due to the use of say; kerosene, benzene, toluene, xylene, and formaldehyde in Hydraulic fracking.

I understand this, as I work with these chemicals on a daily basis and am well aware of their dangers. However, everything in measure, the purity and final ppm count is whats important.


so when you read these reports on Fracking etc. just be aware that when they say they found traces of toluene, read past that and look for the concentration(s), ppm and ppb , ingestion exposure in milligrams and grams etc.

yooooookay......

 

[editec]

I'm ALL for it.

When they can do it without screwing up the water.

Hydraulic fracturing hasn't screwed up the water any worse than farming does. Isn't near a problem. You don't see people advocating a cessation of farming because of what their runoff does, no reason to stop hydraulic fracturing for doing even less.

Tell it to these people in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

They might disagree.

."Dave DeCristo rents out property just downhill from the Atgas well pad at Chesapeake Energy's 2H well.

That's where the equipment failure late Tuesday night caused thousands upon thousands of gallons of fracking fluid to spill.

"I really don't understand what's going on up there," said Dave DeCristo. "But you know they've got the best of the best in here, doing what they do to get the situation under control."DEP started testing nearby waterways early this morning, monitoring any changes to the water that flows into Towanda Creek and the Susquehanna River.

Some raised water concerns even before what DEP calls a gas well blowout. Tracey Kelley showed us video of her water that she took Wednesday. The mother of two says the water has been milky white since last weekend, and it permanently stained her countertop."We're not drinking the water," said Kelley. "My parents brought us water. And we're not showering. We've got pets at home, and they're not drinking the water."Until problems began surfacing this week, many considered the drilling operations here in this part of Bradford County to be a boom for the area.

source

 

[chikenwing]

I'm ALL for it.

When they can do it without screwing up the water.

Hydraulic fracturing hasn't screwed up the water any worse than farming does. Isn't near a problem. You don't see people advocating a cessation of farming because of what their runoff does, no reason to stop hydraulic fracturing for doing even less.

Tell it to these people in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

They might disagree.

."Dave DeCristo rents out property just downhill from the Atgas well pad at Chesapeake Energy's 2H well.

That's where the equipment failure late Tuesday night caused thousands upon thousands of gallons of fracking fluid to spill.

"I really don't understand what's going on up there," said Dave DeCristo. "But you know they've got the best of the best in here, doing what they do to get the situation under control."DEP started testing nearby waterways early this morning, monitoring any changes to the water that flows into Towanda Creek and the Susquehanna River.

Some raised water concerns even before what DEP calls a gas well blowout. Tracey Kelley showed us video of her water that she took Wednesday. The mother of two says the water has been milky white since last weekend, and it permanently stained her countertop."We're not drinking the water," said Kelley. "My parents brought us water. And we're not showering. We've got pets at home, and they're not drinking the water."Until problems began surfacing this week, many considered the drilling operations here in this part of Bradford County to be a boom for the area.

source

Everything has a cost,she neglected to tell about all the money they have gotten and will get from gas drilling.

Bradford county has changed tremendously from gas drilling,farms that were going under have been saved,people that were just making it now don't have to worry about their futures economical.

As far as lighting your water fauset..nothing new there at all,many people in the area have had to install degasifation systems on the water wells for years.

As usual cherry pick the news you want.

Its a huge find,they have discovered there is just as much oil as gas.

 

[chikenwing]

I kick myself for not buying land there when we were thinking about it back in the 90's

 

[RGR]

yooooookay......


YouTube - Faucet Water Ignites! Natural Gas in Well Water! THANKS DICK!


YouTube - GASLAND Trailer 2010

Gasland is a joke. Please don't confuse it with evidence of anything. 60 years ago, when natural gas from coal was oozing into someone's fresh water aquifer (or actually IN someone's freshwater aquifer) and people were lighting their water on fire, there just wasn't some utube fool around with a video camera to record it.

 

[RGR]

I'm ALL for it.

When they can do it without screwing up the water.

Hydraulic fracturing hasn't screwed up the water any worse than farming does. Isn't near a problem. You don't see people advocating a cessation of farming because of what their runoff does, no reason to stop hydraulic fracturing for doing even less.

Tell it to these people in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.

I already have. People like me are consulted on a regular basis to explain how all of this works, at the citizen, state and federal level.

They might disagree.

Some of them did. They didn't seem any more aware of how well design protects freshwater supplies any better than the average internet poster. Anecdotally, it is referred to as the "howling at the moon" effect.

Landowner goes home one day...something is different...BLAME IT ON FRACING! THERE IS THIS UTUBE VIDEO!!! It's funny as hell to discuss in person, people have this blank look when you explain the particular physical or hydrodynamic laws their favorite theory breaks. When you throw in the fact that their freshwater aquifer is also a natural gas producing formation, they go cross eyed.

 

[chikenwing]

We live near the boarder of Bradford and Tioga county new york,you drive into pa,and you don't see 1 no fraking sign and few real estate for sale sign,cross back into new york and the for sale signs are numerous.alog with the no drill no spill signs next to their gas meter.alittle north is Ithaca,the Berkly of the east and the propaganda is everywhere,they want their gas as long as the don't see where it comes from.

Have there been some spills,yes but the media blows them out of reality and cherry picks what they want you to hear.

We would be in line for a nice healthy lease check,but new york can't get its act together so everything is on hold here.

 

[Foxfyre]

Every new technology brings some new dangers, accidents, and close calls but we always fix, correct, and remedy the worst problems and learn how to do things more efficiently, effectively, and safely. And yes, the anti-industrial and anti-progress media will almost always blow the problems way out of proportion and downplay what works well which is most of it.

Conversely, the same media will play up the good points re solar, wind farms, hydro power, etc. and sort of ignore or downplay the downside to these same technologies.

The fact is, as new technology creates more oppotunities, options, and jobs, we have more affluence. And affluence has generally produced demand for greater standards of clean soil, clean air, clean water, and aesthetic beauty.

We shouldn't discourage anything that helps make the American people more free and more prosperous. The positives will invariably outweigh any negatives.

 

[Mr. H.]

Why am I not surpirsed this has devolved into a discussion on hydraulic fracturing.

Good points folks, but I mean hey look - here's something this country is about to embark upon whereby we will actually be exporting a lot of something that has a lot of value. Exporting - selling natural gas overseas. Cold hard cash coming into the U.S.
It'll help the trade deficit, create jobs, boost manufacturing.

Forget the fracturing debate - there's plenty of threads for that already.
This shit is groundbreaking news.

 

[RGR]

Why am I not surpirsed this has devolved into a discussion on hydraulic fracturing.

The advent of modern hydraulic fracturing has given new life to an industry, and areas, previously ignored. This is good.

Forget the fracturing debate - there's plenty of threads for that already.
This shit is groundbreaking news.

Absolutely. US as a natural gas exporting superpower, as we were once an oil superpower, is a good thing. Bring on the fracking and lets all get busy!

 

[dilloduck]

Why am I not surpirsed this has devolved into a discussion on hydraulic fracturing.

Good points folks, but I mean hey look - here's something this country is about to embark upon whereby we will actually be exporting a lot of something that has a lot of value. Exporting - selling natural gas overseas. Cold hard cash coming into the U.S.
It'll help the trade deficit, create jobs, boost manufacturing.

Forget the fracturing debate - there's plenty of threads for that already.
This shit is groundbreaking news.

Wouldn't that drive all the mom and pop fracking companies out of business ?

 

[Mr. H.]

That joke itself is groundbreaking.

I give up LOL. Think I'll just get drunk.

 

[JiggsCasey]

Absolutely. US as a natural gas exporting superpower, as we were once an oil superpower, is a good thing. Bring on the fracking and lets all get busy!

And there it is... finally... laid bare for all to see.

RGR's enthusiastic, cornucopian agenda. Shale gas. Why didn't you just admit this earlier, instead of hemming and hawing and dancing around all the shale gas questions I asked of you months ago.

Replete with the "fool with a camera on utube" canard. Great stuff. As if the numerous legit concerns brought up throughout Gasland can be brushed aside with another surface quip.

Even if gas-from-shale managed to offset existing conventional decline rates enough to pass seamlessly into this new paradigm (and it never will), you're advocating an entire industry that would need to be whipped into shape on a massive scale, requiring an enormous amount of capital. The infrastructure expansion alone being a logistical nightmare of epic proportion, for a country whose growth has slowed almost to a halt the past several years. I'll guess your infectious optimism insists it can all be done quickly, too, for a nation enjoying a W-shaped recession. (assuming it HAS an end). Subsidies to the rescue?

Tell us, when the double dip hits later this year as the post-Fukushima 2Qs start rolling in (July?), where will the investment come from to triple the hydraulic fracking industry right here in Star-Spangled America?

Meanwhile, thanks to Chindia (and neocon hubris), peak is here already. ... Slept too late, missed the alarm ... Why? Because the world listened to people like you for too long.

The same people who brought us WMDs, color-coded terror scales, "Operation Iraqi Liberation," and "we'll be greeted as Liberators!"