Gasland

What will they say? Who needs local drinking water? And the people being effected are just peons, so who gives a shit? Not most of the people on this board. I mean there is money to be made.
 
"...in the case of this film, accuracy is too often pushed aside for simplicity, evidence too often sacrificed for exaggeration, and the same old cast of characters and anecdotes – previously debunked – simply lifted from prior incarnations of the film and given a new home in this one."

Energy in Depth
 
Personally I think Gas is a clean and needed resource. The problem is how we explore and how we harvest it.
 
The problem with this shale gas recovery is the enormous amount of water needed to crack it.

Solve that problem and Bob's your uncle.

Fail to solve that problem and the water table of PA is going to go to shit.
 
"...in the case of this film, accuracy is too often pushed aside for simplicity, evidence too often sacrificed for exaggeration, and the same old cast of characters and anecdotes – previously debunked – simply lifted from prior incarnations of the film and given a new home in this one."

Energy in Depth

Now if it is so safe, why all the exemptions from existing pollution laws?
 
"...in the case of this film, accuracy is too often pushed aside for simplicity, evidence too often sacrificed for exaggeration, and the same old cast of characters and anecdotes – previously debunked – simply lifted from prior incarnations of the film and given a new home in this one."

Energy in Depth

Now if it is so safe, why all the exemptions from existing pollution laws?

I think the jury's still out as to a direct correlation specifically targeted at a particular frac job that has resulted in the pollution of a fresh water table. If not, links would be appreciated such as documented cases. Documented as in DNR or EPA reports, not a video such as Gasland.

I know that the state of Illinois has very specific guidlines for protecting groundwater including drilling, casing, and cementing procedures as well as folow up monitoring.

As to exemptions- none that I'm aware of.
 
The problem with this shale gas recovery is the enormous amount of water needed to crack it.

Solve that problem and Bob's your uncle.

Fail to solve that problem and the water table of PA is going to go to shit.

Bullshit.....

Please expound....

Here is one of the more use full links Shale Gas and Fracking - C-SPAN Video Library

There are a number of factual and logical articles that google will provide as well....

Here is a interesting piece I found at the New York Post.....

8:48 AM, February 15, 2011 ι Abby Wisse Schachter
T Boone Pickens recently visited John Stewart at "The Daily Show" to proselytize for his 'Pickens plan' for energy independence. A major tenent of the plan is getting off OPEC oil and on to natural gas. Pickens wants all trucks to be modified to run on natural gas and says it can be done in seven years. Stewarts was receptive but skeptical, asking more than once about the alleged dangers of a type of natural gas drilling called hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Stewart joked that Pickens' plan must have a catch like the fracking will "liquify our pets" and more seriously he told Pickens that everyone "has seen the scene of fire coming out of the taps" of those whose water has been poisoned by gas drilling. Pickens replied that he had personally "fracked" 3,000 wells and there is no problem with water contamination of any kind. Stewart's response was that if it was a safe practice, he'd be all in for natural gas development.

Would the Environmental Protection Agency be enough of a source for Stewart to "prove" that fracking doesn't poison drinking water?

Two competing cases now making their way through district and federal courts may just provide all the evidence Stewart needs .

In December, the EPA issued an "emergency order" against energy company Range Resources for alegedly having a role in the contamination of two wells in the area of the Barnett Shale, where Range is fracking for natural gas. Range deicded to fight the order and ahead of a hearing by the state regulatory commission, Range did a series of interviews and took depositions regarding the wells and the contamination. At the hearing the EPA and the landowner making claims against Range didn't show up. On January 18th the Department of Justice filed a complaint against Range in federal district court seeking enforcement of the EPA's emergency order. The next day a district judge for the Western District of Texas ruled that Range could depose the EPA regarding the basis for its emergency order. During the deposition the EPA admited "under oath that it had knowledge of natural gas in water wells in the immediate area of the alleged contamination prior to issuing its December 7 Order, and that such gas existed before Range drilled its wells; that EPA did not evaluate the geology of the area,...and EPA admitted that Range may not have caused or contributed to the natural gas in the water well that is the main source of contention." The research conducted by Range and others suggests that the wells were dug too deep and that methane gas was in the water supply because of that. Plus the wells were dug before proper cementing practices and modern casing regulations had been adopted by the state.

The EPA's case in federal court is still pending, while the case is also being heard by Texas' regulatory agency the Railroad commission. Given the current evidence, both judges may rule against the EPA and against the claim that Range bears any responsibility for the contaminatio of the two wells in question.

If the EPA loses, a precedent may be set, since the case hangs on technical evidence of well contamination. If Range Resources is victorious it could go a long way toward dispelling the now prevalent attitude that any and all hydraulic fracturing is harmful to humans and detrimental to the environment. And hopefully, liberals like John Stewart might just adopt a "drill baby drill" attitude.


Topics
T. Boone Pickens Daily Show Environmental Protection Agency OPEC Environment
 
"...in the case of this film, accuracy is too often pushed aside for simplicity, evidence too often sacrificed for exaggeration, and the same old cast of characters and anecdotes – previously debunked – simply lifted from prior incarnations of the film and given a new home in this one."

Energy in Depth

Now if it is so safe, why all the exemptions from existing pollution laws?

I think the jury's still out as to a direct correlation specifically targeted at a particular frac job that has resulted in the pollution of a fresh water table. If not, links would be appreciated such as documented cases. Documented as in DNR or EPA reports, not a video such as Gasland.

I know that the state of Illinois has very specific guidlines for protecting groundwater including drilling, casing, and cementing procedures as well as folow up monitoring.

As to exemptions- none that I'm aware of.

Natural Gas Fracking: Ruining Your Lunch

Pollution of water, air and food from the gas drilling industry is exempt from federal pollution laws, thanks to Dick Cheney’s 2005 Energy Policy Act and its ‘Halliburton Exemption.’ Incredibly, gas drillers can pollute without regard to the basic protections in Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, or the Clear Air Act. For instance, it is legal for gas drilling to cause drinking water to contain high levels of carcinogens like benzene that violate the Safe Drinking Water Act because that law simply does not apply if gas drilling is the cause. The public and the environment have been essentially defenseless against gas drillers (who are often the same companies as the oil drillers). They have used the cover of this exemption to ruin the air, water, and landscape of large swaths of several western states, and are now moving east.
 
It's About Fracking Time! U.S. EPA Lights a Fire Under Hydraulic Fracturing – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views

Hydraulic Fracturing and the Clean Water Act
Actually there is a little something called the Clean Water Act. Its primary focus is surface water such as lakes and rivers, though with some wiggle room it could indirectly apply to ground sources like wells and aquifers. There is also something called the Safe Water Drinking Act of 1974 but hydraulic fracturing was exempted from that, an omission that was reaffirmed by the EPA under the Bush administration. Fracking was also exempted from the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Then there’s the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act of 1976, which covers the use and disposal of hazardous substances, but fracking is also at least partly exempt from that. And just to top things off, the chemical brines used in fracking are considered proprietary and companies are under no obligation to disclose what’s in them (so they don’t).
 
Already, the USDA quarantined 28 cattle in Pennsylvania who grazed on a pasture that was contaminated by fracking leaks. The state agriculture department said that the toxic water which included chloride, magnesium, potassium, and strontium, a heavy metal toxic to humans(especially to young children), has contaminated the cows' meat (via Reuters). Propublica reported last year that 16 cattle dropped dead after being exposed to fracking run- off. Farmers across Pennsylvania, which has seen heavy gas drilling, have spoken about birth deformities and sickness in their grazing cattle. As the prospect of natural gas fracking looms on the horizon for New York State, many area farmers are alarmed and concerned that it could put them out of business.



Already, the USDA quarantined 28 cattle in Pennsylvania who grazed on a pasture that was contaminated by fracking leaks. The state agriculture department said that the toxic water which included chloride, magnesium, potassium, and strontium, a heavy metal toxic to humans(especially to young children), has contaminated the cows' meat (via Reuters). Propublica reported last year that 16 cattle dropped dead after being exposed to fracking run- off. Farmers across Pennsylvania, which has seen heavy gas drilling, have spoken about birth deformities and sickness in their grazing cattle. As the prospect of natural gas fracking looms on the horizon for New York State, many area farmers are alarmed and concerned that it could put them out of business.
 
Natural Gas: A Fracking Mess? - Energy & Environment Experts

Even more disquieting is the fact that the industry enjoys a number of unmerited exemptions from environmental laws - laws designed to protect our communities, lands, and waters. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act. That law also exempted the oil and gas industry’s construction activities from compliance with the stormwater run-off provisions of the Clean Water Act. Moreover, oil and gas companies are not required to disclose to the public what chemicals they are injecting underground during their drilling and fracking operations.

Now communities across America are seeing the results of such a severe lack of oversight. Hundreds of cases of water contamination have been documented, and state regulatory agencies have had trouble keeping up. In fact, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued 1,435 violations to natural gas companies in only 2 ½ years, and 952 of those were identified as likely to harm the environment. At this point in time, the laws and regulations providing for air and water quality, the safe use and disposal of toxic chemicals, and the protection of lands are inadequate. We have a long way to go to assure that natural gas is truly a “clean” fossil fuel.

Because the industry has shown that it is unable to take steps towards better self-monitoring and regulation, it is the government’s role to enact policies that make natural gas drilling safer for people and the environment. While EPA conducts its study of hydraulic fracturing over the next two years, Congress should ensure as a first step that the chemicals used during natural gas development are publicly disclosed, that hydraulic fracturing operations comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, and that the industry’s construction activities comply with the Clean Water Act. If there is anything that we can learn from the BP oil spill, it is that lax oversight, supervision, and regulation only leads to disaster. If natural gas is going to play a growing role in our energy mix, it must be done right—in a way that does not endanger people, communities, or ecosystems.
 

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