A Brief Introduction to Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing, as defined by the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC), is the use of sand, water, and chemicals injected at high pressures to blast open shale rock and release the trapped gas inside. At least 65 of the several hundred chemicals used in fracking operations are known to cause heart, blood, brain, and liver damage through prolonged exposure. The operation sites are known to be conducted near, and even above sources of fresh water that supply up to tens of thousands of people per site. While oil and gas companies claim to have safeguards in place, there have been several fires, explosions, and chemical spills nationwide.
Even though many of the chemicals used are known, the exact mixtures are not, nor are they the same because each of the 23 different shale rock formations being operated on require different blends and proportions depending on the specific depth, thickness and other characteristics.
The shale rock formation known as the Marcellus Formation, covers vast areas of Eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Kentucky. Another formation, Utica Shale, underlies the Marcellus Shale in many areas, but is closer to the surface in Ohio, and New York. The formations have become some of North Americas most valuable targets for extracting natural gas, even providing 85% of the shale gas production growth in the U.S. since the start of 2012, which means there was and continues to be an abundance of fracking activity, which includes the use of both vertical and horizontal drilling techniques.
Horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing is a new practice that began in Ohio in 2011, and occurs mostly in the Appalachian Region of the state. This technique allows oil & gas companies to access reservoirs of natural gas in areas that cannot be reached by drilling directly above the site. It also enables companies to increase their profits by extending the length of the “pay zone”, which is the area where natural gas can seep into the drilled well.
(Graphic by Al Granberg)
Often, a very large percentage of the fluids used during fracking operations in the Marcellus Shale is left underground after wells are drilled. Although drilling companies claim that the chemicals make up less than 1% of the fluid used, the volume (roughly 34,000 gallons per well) is cause for much of the concern for the safety of the drinking water supplying the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, production wells are not regulated by the Underground Injection Control Program (UIC)—part of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)—that regulates the “construction, operation, permitting, and closure of injection wells used to place fluids underground for storage or disposal.” (epa.gov/uic)
In an article published on TRBT titled "Congress Plans to DEREGULATE Us to DEATH", Lessa Leigh states, "...the House is busy trying to dismantle regulatory laws with a series of acts: The Midnight Rules Relief Act (H.R.21), the REINS Act (H.R.26), and the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA) (H.R. 5). The basic purpose of these acts is to help corporate interests evade the public protections consumers and workers expect.With the Midnight Rules Relief Act, Congress could wipe out large chunks of regulations at once, instead of voting on individual resolutions."
The aforementioned is deeply concerning because this hard push for deregulation by the GOP-led Congress will likely result in little to no laws that protect the environment, which includes sources of fresh water (the Great Lakes, et cetera). When you couple that with the fact Congress is also responsible for exempting hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Water Act, despite the amount of chemicals left underground long after drilling operations have ended, it should be very clear that we face an uphill battle to protect the earth for future generations, and ourselves.
(Article by Derick Battle)