Fracking Has Had No ‘Widespread’ Impact on Drinking Water - EPA

[Toro]

Fracking isn’t causing widespread damage to the nation’s drinking water, the Obama administration said in a long-awaited report released Thursday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—after a four-year study that is the U.S. government’s most comprehensive examination of the issue to date—concluded that hydraulic fracturing, as being carried out by industry and regulated by states, isn’t having “widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water.”

However, the EPA said there were a small number of contaminated drinking wells and highlighted potential vulnerabilities, including the disposal of wastewater and construction of durable wells.

The report was issued nearly a decade since fracking began helping unlock vast reserves of oil and natural gas across the U.S. It also bolsters the position staked out by the energy industry and its supporters: that fracking can be carried out safely.

“Hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systematic impact on drinking water resources,” said Thomas Burke, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA’s office of research and development, on Thursday. “In fact, the number of documented impacts to drinking water is relatively low when compared to the number of fractured wells.”

Fracking Has Had No Widespread Impact on Drinking Water EPA Finds - WSJ

No surprise there.

 

[Toro]

What? No takers?

 

[TheOldSchool]

A little bit of contaminated water is okay. Let's increase fracking until the contamination is major. Then we can talk about fracking's impact.

 

[Carla_Danger]

My water coming out of the kitchen sink is on fire. Is that a bad sign?

 

[rdean]

Not yet.

 

[skookerasbil]

more mental case green k00k losing.

 

[skookerasbil]

A little bit of contaminated water is okay. Let's increase fracking until the contamination is major. Then we can talk about fracking's impact.

Oh Gawd

These types get hysterical about everything!!


Its really irrelevant.......fracking is happening across the globe because it is cheap energy. That ALWAYS wins the day!!!

America steps up exports of natural gas to Europe - San Francisco Bay Area Moderate Conservative Examiner.com

 

[TheOldSchool]

A little bit of contaminated water is okay. Let's increase fracking until the contamination is major. Then we can talk about fracking's impact.

Oh Gawd

These types get hysterical about everything!!

Y@ s0n so hy$ter1c@l

 

[skookerasbil]

More Proof the skeptics are WINNING US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

 

[skookerasbil]

When is a single AGW k00k going to post up a single link displaying for us where the science is mattering in the real world?


Been waiting 2 years for this!!!!

 

[TheOldSchool]

More Proof the skeptics are WINNING US Message Board - Political Discussion Forum

You mean more proof of:

 

[skookerasbil]

Who's not winning?


U.S. forecasts natural gas boom through 2040

 

[skookerasbil]

Who's the boyscout on this thread??!!!


[URL=http://s42.photobucket.com/user/baldaltima/media/boyscouts109.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[Old Rocks]

California aquifers contaminated with billions of gallons of fracking wastewater RT USA

Industry illegally injected about 3 billion gallons of fracking wastewater into central California drinking-water and farm-irrigation aquifers, the state found after the US Environmental Protection Agency ordered a review of possible contamination.

According to documents obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, the California State Water Resources Board found that at least nine of the 11 hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, wastewater injection sites that were shut down in July upon suspicion of contamination were in fact riddled with toxic fluids used to unleash energy reserves deep underground. The aquifers, protected by state law and the federal Safe Water Drinking Act, supply quality water in a state currently sufferingunprecedented drought.

The documents also show that the Central Valley Water Board found high levels of toxic chemicals - including arsenic, thallium, and nitrates - in water-supply wells near the wastewater-disposal sites.

Arsenic is a carcinogen that weakens the immune system, and thallium is a common component in rat poison.

“Arsenic and thallium are extremely dangerous chemicals,” said Timothy Krantz, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Redlands, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

“The fact that high concentrations are showing up in multiple water wells close to wastewater injection sites raises major concerns about the health and safety of nearby residents.”

Hmm................. Bit of a problem here.

 

[skookerasbil]

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[URL='http://[URL=http://s42.photobucket.com/user/baldaltima/media/chart-of-the-day-the-epic-implosion-of-the-green-energy-bubble.jpg.html][IMG]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e305/baldaltima/chart-of-the-day-the-epic-implosion-of-the-green-energy-bubble.jpg[/IMG][/URL]'][URL='http://s42.photobucket.com/user/baldaltima/media/chart-of-the-day-the-epic-implosion-of-the-green-energy-bubble.jpg.html'][/URL]


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[URL='http://[URL=http://s42.photobucket.com/user/baldaltima/media/total_energy_consumption.png.html][IMG]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e305/baldaltima/total_energy_consumption.png[/IMG][/URL]'][URL='http://s42.photobucket.com/user/baldaltima/media/total_energy_consumption.png.html'][/URL]























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[skookerasbil]

 

[Old Rocks]

Potential Contaminant Pathways from Hydraulically Fractured Shale to Aquifers - Myers - 2012 - Groundwater - Wiley Online Library

Hydraulic fracturing of deep shale beds to develop natural gas has caused concern regarding the potential for various forms of water pollution. Two potential pathways—advective transport through bulk media and preferential flow through fractures—could allow the transport of contaminants from the fractured shale to aquifers. There is substantial geologic evidence that natural vertical flow drives contaminants, mostly brine, to near the surface from deep evaporite sources. Interpretative modeling shows that advective transport could require up to tens of thousands of years to move contaminants to the surface, but also that fracking the shale could reduce that transport time to tens or hundreds of years. Conductive faults or fracture zones, as found throughout the Marcellus shale region, could reduce the travel time further. Injection of up to 15,000,000 L of fluid into the shale generates high pressure at the well, which decreases with distance from the well and with time after injection as the fluid advects through the shale. The advection displaces native fluids, mostly brine, and fractures the bulk media widening existing fractures. Simulated pressure returns to pre-injection levels in about 300 d. The overall system requires from 3 to 6 years to reach a new equilibrium reflecting the significant changes caused by fracking the shale, which could allow advective transport to aquifers in less than 10 years. The rapid expansion of hydraulic fracturing requires that monitoring systems be employed to track the movement of contaminants and that gas wells have a reasonable offset from faults

So what this is saying is that really, we don't know if we are embarking on a course that will have some serious consequences in the future.

 

[skookerasbil]

Write it down s0ns............all the philosophy surrounding fracking isn't adding up to dick!!! Conjecture is gay. When people need cheap energy, that's what they are going to get. They just need to throw enough small bones to the green community to keep them quiet. The big banks will get what they want every time!!!

 

[Old Rocks]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/b...-win-on-price-vs-conventional-fuels.html?_r=0

Those prices were made possible by generous subsidies that could soon diminish or expire, but recent analyses show that even without those subsidies, alternative energies can often compete with traditional sources.

In Texas, Austin Energy signed a deal this spring for 20 years of output from a solar farm at less than 5 cents a kilowatt-hour. In September, the Grand River Dam Authority in Oklahoma announced its approval of a new agreement to buy power from a new wind farm expected to be completed next year. Grand River estimated the deal would save its customers roughly $50 million from the project.

And, also in Oklahoma, American Electric Power ended up tripling the amount of wind power it had originally sought after seeing how low the bids came in last year.

“Wind was on sale — it was a Blue Light Special,” said Jay Godfrey, managing director of renewable energy for the company. He noted that Oklahoma, unlike many states, did not require utilities to buy power from renewable sources.

“We were doing it because it made sense for our ratepayers,” he said.

According to a study by the investment banking firm Lazard, the cost of utility-scale solar energy is as low as 5.6 cents a kilowatt-hour, and wind is as low as 1.4 cents. In comparison, natural gas comes at 6.1 cents a kilowatt-hour on the low end and coal at 6.6 cents. Without subsidies, the firm’s analysis shows, solar costs about 7.2 cents a kilowatt-hour at the low end, with wind at 3.7 cents.

Economics will kill coal as an energy source. And natural gas, shortly after that.

 

[skookerasbil]

Big banks are influencing energy commodity prices US senators - Natural Gas Platts News Article Story


Is EVERY Market Rigged Washington s Blog



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By every measure the big banks are bigger - Fortune