Here is a Reuters article about a government study that concludes fracking doesn’t necessarily hurt our water. The problem with such studies is always in the circumstances that were not considered. Keep in mind that the process involves punching a big hole through many different layers of strata, lining it with a big pipe and attempting to fill the gaps between pipe and strata with a cement-like substance. If successful, nothing leaks from the casing, and nothing can move up or down along the outside of the casing. The problem is that metal expands and contracts, the earth itself moves, and the pressures inside the pipe are extreme.
If you have ever had a wet basement, you know the problems inherent with holes in the ground and water. Once that hole has been punched it is there forever. Even if the well is properly sealed, the hole, the steel, the bentonite are all there to move and loosen and eventually leak. So be skeptical when you read reports like this:
The study does not consider the disposal of produced water.
It’s a driller’s dream, little regulation or enforcement, vast amounts of fossil fuel to be exploited. The Patagonia region of Argentina is a land of opportunity. What could possibly go wrong?
The ongoing and expensive problem of orphan wells should remind us NOT to allow environmental costs to become “externalities” in the energy economic model. The industry continues to exploit it’s political power and economic dominance, leaving the rest of society to clean up the mess and suffer the health consequences. Fossil fuels are killing us slowly and will for generations to come.
One of our contributors discovered “Explore a Fracking Operation – Virtually” – a website that lets you see photographs of the various stages of fracking operations. Those who have not traveled to the regions where fracking is done may be surprised at the scale of this industry. Well drilling and fracking requires hundreds of heavy vehicles and a logistics reminicent of a large scale military mobilization. Check it out by clicking the illustration below:
You will find another excellent website at R-CAUSE.net. Like this site, it seeks to inform its constituency about the risks of fracking. Although New York has banned fracking, there continue to be threats to water and air in the Rochester and Corning areas.
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