Green | January 29, 2010 | 14 comments

Fracking: Houses exploding, aquifers catching on fire: Current calls out for your stories

source: http://blogs.current.com/green/2010/01/29/fracking-houses-exploding-aquifers-catching-on-fir...

leahl
At first I thought someone was making a reference to Battlestar Galatica.

However I didn’t need to leave the planet to discover that fracking refers to a process of extracting natural gas out of the ground. What seems to be flying under the radar is that it has a minor side effect, which reportedly include accounts of aquifers catching on fire, houses blowing up, and residents who live close to locations of the extraction process getting cancer.

As they say, curiosity kills the cat, so I clicked right on over to Wikipedia to get the low down on Hydraulic Fracturing. The cliffs notes: Hydraulic fracturing is a process used by gas an oil companies to create fractures in rocks. The fracture is maintained by introducing a proppant into the injected fluid. Proppant is a material, such as grains of sand, ceramic, or other particulates, that prevent the fractures from closing when the injection is stopped.

The technique is used as a way to extract natural gas. While most companies state that 99.5 percent or so of their proppant is made from sand and water, the remaining ingredients are what is known as the “special sauce” and is considered what makes different companies competitive against each other, hence the contents of the ingredients are protected by patents, and are not available to the public.

While the technique is apparently safe for underground use, it may not be safe when it leaks above ground, (hence the stories of houses exploding and people being able to light their water on fire).

Alright, so our interest is piqued. We are asking you for your first hand accounts. Have you experienced fracking? Do you know someone who has? Share your story, your photos or your video here.

If you are seeking more information, Wikipedia has an extensive description of the process and the EPA’s involvement. And Solve Climate is covering the two bills that are currently addressing fracking.

(goto the blog for links and photos)
http://blogs.current.com/green/2010/01/29/fracking-houses-exploding-aquifers-cat...
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14 comments // Fracking: Houses exploding, aquifers catching on fire: Current calls out for your stories // Video

  • artemis6
  • KSirys
  • Progresshiv
  • vala
  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  

    • I live in Garfield County (until tomorrow morning anyway). 90% of Split Estate was filmed within 10 miles of my house. We have a perpetual brown cloud hanging in our valley that's worse than many major cities I've been in. When a rig sets up near by you can smell the acrid fumes coming out of the ground. It chokes you and gives you a headache. I honestly don't know how the workers can stand it. There was a report of one oil worker in Durango (southwest Colorado) that was hospitalized. A nurse attempted to treat him and began to suffer organ failures due to contact with the chemicals on his clothing. The oil companies wouldn't divulge what chemicals they were, even though it might mean the life of the nurse, because it was "trade secret."

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • kaps145
    • 0
      kaps145  

    • Wetdog pretty well hit the nail on the head. And I agree with his statements regarding natural gas.

      I'm a strong believer in sustainable and alternative energies, as well as a proponent of being "green", but my father is a petroleum engineer. There has been plenty of debate and discussion between the two of us. We actually talked about fracking just last month.

      Fracking, when done properly, is harmless. It is a technique that has been used, explored, and honed for decades. Just like any good engineering and science, petroleum engineers and their colleagues (geologists, chemical engineers, physicists) have a pretty good idea of what they are doing. Yes you will get the occasional accident, or mishap, but that is the same in any industry or profession. Fracking does not cause earthquakes, and most drilling takes place so far underground now a days that there is very little chance fracking fluids will seep UP into water wells. I'm not saying drilling isn't dirty; it most certainly is. If people are being exposed to contaminants then it is probably due to sloppy work at surface or near surface levels. Most respectable and established drilling companies have very strict safety regulations they follow. Put the blame on sloppy work, not the process.

      The greed and corruption of big oil corporations is happening on the business side of things. The people in charge of and carrying out the actual extraction work are much more down to earth and respectable professionals.

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
  • Wetdog
    • 0
      Wetdog  

    • Methane is a gas. Methane is only marginally soluble in water. Methane is produced by anaerobic bacteria from cellulose plant material with water present. This is why you see little bubbles of "swamp gas" coming to the surface of swamps and sloughs. The methane produced by plant decay dissolves poorly in water and diffuses into the atmosphere rapidly when exposed to air.

      Swamp gas is chemically the same stuff as natural gas, methane, CH4. It is a very low grade contaminant in water----if exposed to air for a little while, it diffuses out very quickly.

      The "special sauce" is mostly xantham gum. A natural thickener and adhesive produced from plants by bacterial action. Boil a colliflower or cabbage in water, then set the pan aside and let it cool. Let it set for a day or two, and check your pan again. The thick sticky jelly like stuff that has formed is xantham gum. Xantham gum is used as an emulsifier(keeps things from settling to the bottom) and thickener in all sorts of human foods, everything from sauces, dressings, candies, drinks, almost all processed foods(ready to eat) have xantham gum in them.

      Petroleum however, does not mix with water and causes major pollution problems that can last for years. Oil spilled from Exxon Valdez in 1989 STILL fouls hundreds of miles of Alaskan and Canadian beachs, and will for a long, long time to come.

      Methane(natural gas) causes minimal damage to the environment to extract, and to use. Methane is a gas, which makes it easy to remove contaminants before it is used, unlike coal and petroleum. It is clean enough to cook with inside your home, as millions of people already do. And since it is a gas, it will never be strip mined, you can't stip mine a gas. And we can run our vehicles on natural gas for about 1/2 the cost of running them on petroleum.

      And since biomethane and natural gas are the same stuff, they can be mixed in any proportion with no loss of performance. Natural gas is also the perfect match with solar and wind power to take up the slack when electrical production drops due to clouds or wind speeds decreasing.

      Using natural gas in a mix with solar, wind and other renewable energy sources is the best thing we can do for the environment.

    • 2 years ago
  • Sam_the_Wizer
    • 0
      Sam_the_Wizer  
    • Wetdog:

      Come breathe my air, drink my water, and then tell me natural gas is good for the environment. As the natural gas development has increased in my community we've developed a rural brown cloud. My dad and neighbor each were diagnosed with rare forms of cancer associated with chemicals used in the oil and gas industries. Cancers so rare that two cases in such close proximity is deemed to be statistically significant.

    • 2 years ago
  • leahl
  • artemis6
  • idealist
    • 0
      idealist  

    • unless you never knew how evil big oil is... well here some more proof. its not just indigenous tribes getting there water tainted its U.S. too!

    • 2 years ago
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