Transcript TO FRACK OR NOT TO FRACK PATRICK PARENTEAU CORNELL LIBRARY AUTHOR’S SERIES OCTOBER 5, 2012

TO FRACK OR NOT TO FRACK
PATRICK PARENTEAU
CORNELL LIBRARY AUTHOR’S SERIES
OCTOBER 5, 2012
Safe Drinking Water
Act Exemption
The term ‘underground
injection’ –
means the subsurface
emplacement of fluids by well
injection; and
(B) excludes –
(i) the underground injection
of natural gas for purposes of
storage; and
(ii) the underground injection
of fluids or propping agents
(other than diesel fuels)
pursuant to hydraulic
fracturing operations related
to oil, gas, or geothermal
production activities.
42 USC § 1421 (d)(1)
•
•
•
“nd Water Treatment
“Flowback,” also known as “produced water,” is the waste fluid that is returned to the
surface after hydraulic fracturing
Produced water contains fracturing fluids and formation waters (typically brines)
– These present potentially major health hazards if improperly managed or if there are
accidents, such as surface spills, natural disasters, leaks, etc.
– Brines are ubiquitous in flowback because of the marine origins of the shale
– Heavy metals and naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORMs) may also be
present in flowback, posing further potential health risks
Produced water must be properly disposed of to prevent public health problems
– Many municipal wastewater treatment plants have been designated for disposing of
flowback, but are not equipped or designed to handle these fluids, particularly because
of high Total Dissolved Solids (from brine), NORMs, & other chemicals
– Underground injection is another option for disposal of “produced water,” but may also
create longer-term health risks
Water Use
• In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
estimated that 70 to 140 billion gallons of water are
used to fracture 35,000 wells in the United States each
year. This is approximately the annual water
consumption of 40 to 80 cities each with a population
of 50,000. Fracture treatments in coalbed methane
wells use from 50,000 to 350,000 gallons of water per
well, while deeper horizontal shale wells can use
anywhere from 2 to 10 million gallons of water to
fracture a single well. The extraction of so much water
for fracking has raised concerns about the ecological
impacts to aquatic resources, as well as dewatering of
drinking water aquifers.
Blowouts
• When Chesapeake Energy
lost control of a Marcellus
Shale gas well in
Pennsylvania on April 19,
2011 an emergency
response team from Texas
was called in to stop the
leak. By the time the team
arrived more than 13 hours
later, brine water and
hydraulic fracturing fluids
from the well had spewed
across nearby fields and
into a creek.
Explosions
Wetzel Ohio 2011
Pearsall Texas January 2012
Earthquakes
GREEN COMPLETION
Houston
February 23, 2012
Oil and Natural Gas Sector: New Source Performance Standards and
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Reviews
40 CFR Part 63
Targets emissions from compressors, oil storage tanks and other oil-and-gas
sector equipment. Would cut 95 percent of smog-forming and toxic
emissions from fracking wells. Requires “green completion” by 2014.
Scientist vs. Scientist
Larry Cathles
Robert Howarth
Comparison of greenhouse gas emissions from shale gas with low and high
estimates of fugitive methane emissions, conventional natural gas with low and
high estimates of fugitive methane emissions, surface-mined coal, deep-mined
coal, and diesel oil. A is for a 20-year time horizon, and B is for a 100-year time
horizon.
Estimates include direct emissions of CO2 during combustion (blue bars), indirect
emissions of CO2 necessary to develop and use the energy source (yellow bars),
and fugitive emissions of methane, converted to equivalent value of CO2 as
described in the text (gray bars).
Greenhouse gases, climate change and the transition
from coal to low-carbon electricity
N P Myhrvold and K Caldeira, Environmental Research Letters 2012
doi:10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014019
• We show that rapid deployment of low-emission energy
systems can do little to diminish the climate impacts in
the first half of this century. Conservation, wind, solar,
nuclear power, and possibly carbon capture and storage
appear to be able to achieve substantial climate
benefits in the second half of this century; however,
natural gas cannot.
• Delaying the rollout of the technologies is not an option
however; the risks of environmental harm will be much
greater in the second half of the century and beyond if
we continue to rely on coal-based technologies.
“Dependence on natural gas is a delaying tactic. I just don’t understand
the logic: We will delay building the energy infrastructure that we need
to solve the energy-carbon-climate problem, and build CO2 spewing
natural gas plants instead, but you should be thankful that these
engines of global warming aren’t as bad as what we could have built.”
Dr. Ken Caldeira, Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, Stanford U
"The door is closing," Fatih Birol, chief economist at the
International Energy Agency, said. "I am very worried – if we
don't change direction now on how we use energy, we will
end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for
safety]. The door will be closed forever."