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Hydraulic drilling harming environments all over

Opinion

Hydraulic drilling harming environments all over

During the last decade the natural gas industry has drilled tens of thousands of new wells in the United States to drill for natural gas.

Natural gas is viewed as a cheap, clean and American- made energy resource that enjoys the benefit of bipartisan support. Around 30 percent of our natural gas production is now coming from shale gas reserves that, until recently, were not feasible for commercial use.

While a majority of the population is enjoying the boom in natural gas production from this new found capability, the technique used for its extraction has proven controversial and has raised environmental concerns.

The development of the horizontal drilling method called hydraulic fracturing has been blamed from everything to methane gas leaks to flammable tap water. But it has revolutionized the natural gas industry in the United States and has made mining in our shale gas reserves commercially possible.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid combined with horizontal and vertical drilling methods. This creates new channels within the rock from which natural gas is extracted at higher than traditional rates.

The drilling process can take up to a month, while drilling teams delve more than a mile into the ground. Afterwards the well is cased with cement with the hope to prevent contamination and pollution.

These horizontal drilling techniques, now being used in 28 different states, has raised environmental concerns that challenge the adequacy of  the current regulatory regimes, especially on the issues of methane gas leaks and groundwater contamination.

The air quality emissions debate surrounding  hydraulic fracturing are related to methane gas leaks originating from wells. A majority of the methane gas pollution occurs during the process of well completion.

This is the process when the well is being attached to a pipeline and it must be “completed” by first removing all of the pressurized liquid. When the liquid is removed from the well methane gas bubbles escape into the atmosphere.

According to research conducted by Cornell University in 2011, methane is leaked into our atmosphere at rates two to three times higher than conventional gas production methods. More recent studies have found that emission rates have improved but fracking is still the largest source of methane gas pollution in the United States.

Unfortunately air quality isn’t the only thing degraded by hydraulic fracturing and the most central debate concerning hydraulic fracturing is groundwater contamination.

The pressurized liquid that is used in fracking is a mixture of water, sand, and more than 500 different chemicals.

These chemicals are dangerous and when they are leaked into the environment the effects can be catastrophic.

The natural gas companies that use the fracking method argue that water supplies are safe and that there is enough space between them and shale gas reserves to prevent contamination.

But in most cases companies say little about their drilling techniques because they are currently not required by law to do so.

To add fuel to the fire many of the investigations done on groundwater contamination are never seen by the general public. Many of the citizens effected by the polluted groundwater are forced to accept non-disclosure agreements and to settle before it has a chance to reach the public eye.

Hydraulic fracturing has the potential to bring struggling communities jobs and encourage economic growth but before for a constructive debate can take place it would require public access to all of the steps concerning hydraulic fracturing.

Scientific information about exploration, drilling, production, transport and waste disposal must be made available to the communities effected by hydraulic fracturing.  With this evidence these communities can properly make an informed decision concerning the risk of hydraulic fracturing.

Some communities will avoid the environmental concerns surrounding fracking while others will welcome the development of new jobs, but they must have all of the necessary information to make an educated decision.

Too many communities throughout the United States have made decisions about hydraulic fracturing in the dark and are now the facing the consequences. More citizens need to demand this information from the federal government to give ordinary people a chance to make a knowledgeable decision.

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