Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing in the United States

Schematic depiction of hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, showing potential environmental effects.

Environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing in the United States has been an issue of public concern, and includes the potential contamination of ground and surface water, methane emissions,[1] air pollution, migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals and radionuclides to the surface, the potential mishandling of solid waste, drill cuttings, increased seismicity and associated effects on human and ecosystem health.[2][3] A number of instances with groundwater contamination have been documented,[4] however opponents of water safety regulation claim hydraulic fracturing has never caused any drinking water contamination.[5]

As early as 1987, researchers at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that hydraulic fracturing can contaminate and has contaminated groundwater. According to former EPA employees, evidence of the negative environmental impact of fracking was systematically removed from congressional reports to support the energy industry under the direction of the Office of Legal Counsel during the Reagan administration.[6] With the growth of hydraulic fracturing in the United States, "public exposure to the many chemicals involved in energy development is expected to increase over the next few years, with uncertain consequences" per science writer Valerie Brown in 2007.[3]

Air quality and methane emissions

Methane emissions from wells raise global warming concerns. There is a 2,500 square-mile methane plume hovering over the Four Corners area of the western US.[7] The magnitude of the plume was such that NASA researcher Christian Frankenberg reported to the press that, "We couldn’t be sure that the signal was real."[8] According to NASA: "The study's lead author, Eric Kort of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, noted the study period predates the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, near the hot spot. This indicates the methane emissions should not be attributed to fracking but instead to leaks in natural gas production and processing equipment in New Mexico's San Juan Basin, which is the most active coalbed methane production area in the country."[9]

Other concerns are related to emissions from the hydraulic fracturing chemicals and equipment such as volatile organic compound (VOC) and ozone. In 2008, ozone concentrations in ambient air near drilling sites in Sublette County, Wyoming were frequently above the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 75 ppb[10] and have been recorded as high as 125 ppb. In DISH, Texas, elevated levels of disulfides, benzene, xylenes and naphthalene have been detected in the air, emitted from compressor stations.[11] In Garfield County, Colorado, an area with a high concentration of drilling rigs, VOC emissions increased 30% between 2004 and 2006.[3]

Researchers from the University of Michigan analyzed the emissions produced from the hydraulic fracturing equipment at the Marcellus Shale and Eagle Ford Shale plays, and concluded that hydraulic pumps accounted for about 83% of the total emissions in the hydraulic fracturing fleet. NOx emission ranged between 3,600–5,600 lb/job, HC 232–289 lb/job, CO 859–1416 lb/job, and PM 184–310 lb/job. If the fuel efficiencies of the hydraulic fracturing pumps are improved, the emissions can be reduced.[12]

On April 17, 2012, the EPA issued cost-effective regulations, required by the Clean Air Act, which include the first federal air standards for natural gas wells that are hydraulically fractured.[13] The final rules are expected to yield a nearly 95% reduction in VOC emissions from more than 11,000 new hydraulically fractured gas wells each year. This reduction would be accomplished primarily through capturing natural gas that escapes into the air, and making it available for sale. The rules also will reduce air toxics, which are known or suspected of causing cancer and other serious health effects, and emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.[13]

Stanford University in the American Journal of Science, looked at 200 studies and claimed the United States Environmental Protection Agency has been underestimating US methane emissions.[14] A survey of hydraulic fracturing sites in Pennsylvania revealed drilling operations releasing plumes of methane 100 to 1,000 times the rate the EPA expects from that stage of drilling.[15]

Water issues

2015 EPA Report on Spills

In May 2015, the EPA released a report reviewing the spill data from various state and industry sources for data about spills related to hydraulic fracturing.[16] Of the total reports reviewed in the study 1% (457) were determined to be related to hydraulic fracturing, while 66% were unrelated and 33% had insufficient data reported to determine if the spill was associated to hydraulic fracturing. In 324 incidents the spilled fluids were reported to reach categorized environmental receptors: Surface Water 67%, Soil 64%, and Ground Water 48%.

Other key spill figures from the report:

This report was cited in the full hydraulic fracturing water report now open for peer review "Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources"[17] though not directly addressed in the contents of the EPA spill data report it is interesting to note highlights several times where associations to hydraulic fracturing, causes of spills, and response to spills were unknown or indeterminate because of missing or unreported data. This highlights the need for more complete reporting and standardization of reporting for improved tracking to better guide implementation of environmental safety practices particularly where the impact is likely to impact key health determents like water quality.

Water usage

Hydraulic fracturing uses between 1.2 and 3.5 million US gallons (4,500 and 13,200 m3) of water per well, with large projects using up to 5 million US gallons (19,000 m3). Additional water is used when wells are refractured.[18][19] An average well requires 3 to 8 million US gallons (11,000 to 30,000 m3) of water over its lifetime.[19][20][21][22] Back in 2008 and 2009 at the beginning of the shale boom in Pennsylvania, hydraulic fracturing accounted for 650 million US gallons per year (2,500,000 m3/a) (less than 0.8%) of annual water use in the area overlying the Marcellus Shale.[20][21][23] The annual number of well permits, however, increased by a factor of five[24] and the number of well starts increased by a factor of over 17 from 2008 to 2011.[25]

According to Environment America, a federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations, there are concerns for farmers competing with oil and gas for water.[26] A report by Ceres questions whether the growth of hydraulic fracturing is sustainable in Texas and Colorado as 92% of Colorado wells were in extremely high water stress regions (that means regions where more than 80% of the available water is already allocated for agricultural, industrial and municipal water use) and 51% percent of the Texas wells were in high or extremely high water stress regions.[27] In Barnhart, Texas the aquifer supplying the local community ran dry because of intensive water utilization for hydraulic fracturing.[28] In 2013, the Railroad Commission of Texas adopted new hydraulic fracturing water recycling rules intended to encourage Texas hydraulic fracturing operators to conserve water used in the hydraulic fracturing process.[29]

Consequences for agriculture have already been observed in North America. In some regions of the US that are vulnerable to droughts, farmers are now competing with fracking industrials for the use of water resources.[30] In the Barnett Shale region, in Texas and New Mexico, drinking water wells have dried up due to fracking's withdrawal of water, and water has been taken from an aquifer used for residential and agricultural use.[30] Farmers have seen their wells go dry in Texas and New Mexico as a result of fracking’s pressure on water resources, for instance in Carlsbad, New Mexico.[30] Agricultural communities have already seen water prices rising because of that problem. In the North Water Conservation District in Colorado was organized an auction to allocate water and the prices rose from $22/acre-foot in 2010 to $28 in the beginning of 2012.[30]

Injected fluid

Hydraulic fracturing fluids include proppants, radionuclide tracers, and other chemicals. While many are common and generally harmless, some additives used in the United States are known carcinogens.[2] Out of 2,500 hydraulic fracturing products, more than 650 contained known or possible human carcinogens regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act or listed as hazardous air pollutants".[2] Between 2005 and 2009, 279 products had at least one component listed as "proprietary" or "trade secret" on their Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) required safety data sheet (SDS). In many instances, companies who bought products off the shelf did not know the ingredients.[2] Without knowing the identity of the proprietary components, regulators cannot test for their presence. This prevents government regulators from establishing baseline levels of the substances prior to hydraulic fracturing and documenting changes in these levels, thereby making it more difficult to prove that hydraulic fracturing is contaminating the environment with these substances.[31]

The Ground Water Protection Council launched FracFocus.org, an online voluntary disclosure database for hydraulic fracturing fluids funded by oil and gas trade groups and the United States Department of Energy (DOE). The site has been met with some scepticism relating to proprietary information that is not included.[32][33] Some states have mandated fluid disclosure and incorporated FracFocus as the tool for disclosure.[34][35]

Groundwater contamination

In 2009, state regulators from across the country stated that they had seen no evidence of hydraulic fracturing contaminating water in their respective jurisdictions.[36] In May 2011 the EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson testified in a Senate Hearing Committee stating that the EPA had never made a definitive determination of contamination where the hydraulic fracturing process itself has contaminated water.[37] However, by 2013, Dr. Robin Ikeda, Deputy Director of Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health at the CDC testified to congress that EPA had documented contamination at several sites.[38]

Incidents of contamination

Flowback

Flowback is the portion of the injected fracturing fluid that flows back to the surface, along with oil, gas, and brine, when the well is produced. An estimated 90% of flowback in the United States is disposed of into deep EPA-licensed Class II disposal wells, with the remaining less than 10% reused, evaporated, used for irrigation, or discharged to surface streams under an NPDES permit. Of nine oil and gas-producing states studied in 2012, underground injection disposal was by far the predominant method in all but Pennsylvania where were only six active waste disposal wells.[58] In California, Virginia, and Ohio there have been instances of illegal dumping of flowback, a precursor to possible contamination of local ground and surface water reservoirs.[59] Discharging oil and gas produced water to surface streams without an NPDES permit is a federal crime.[60] Discharges through water treatment works must comply with the federal Clean Water Act and the terms of their NPDES permits, but the EPA noted that most water treatment works are not set up to treat flowback.[61]

In Pennsylvania, oil and gas produced water had for many years been accepted by licensed water treatment works for treatment and discharge, but the volume expanded greatly with the proliferation of Marcellus Shale wells after 2000. In 2010 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) limited surface water discharges from new treatment plants to 250 mg/l chloride; the chloride limitation was designed to also limit other contaminants such as radium. Existing water treatment plants were "grandfathered," and still allowed higher discharge concentrations, but oil and gas operators were prohibited to send wastewater to the grandfathered treatment plants.[62]

One Duke University study reported that "Marcellus [Shale] wells produce significantly less wastewater per unit gas recovered (~35%) compared to conventional natural gas wells."[63] In Colorado the volume of wastewater discharged to surface streams increased from 2008 to 2011.[64]

Surface water contamination

Hydraulic fracturing can affect surface water quality either through accidental spills at the wellsite, or by discharge of the flowback through existing water treatment works. Directed by Congress, the EPA announced in March 2010 that it would examine claims of water pollution related to hydraulic fracturing.[40] Christopher Portier, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, argued that, in addition to the EPA's plans to investigate the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water, additional studies should be carried out to determine whether wastewater from the wells can harm people or animals and vegetables they eat.[65] A group of US doctors called for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in populated areas until such studies had been done.[66][67]

However, others point out exclusions and exemptions for hydraulic fracturing under United States federal law. Exemptions were made in the Clean Water Act, as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, also known as the "Halliburton Loophole." These exemptions included stormwater runoff from gas and oil construction activities which includes "oil and gas exploration, production, process, or treatment operations and transmission facilities" as part of the definition of construction activities.[68] Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act involved the definition of underground injection. Underground injection related to hydraulic fracturing was exempted from the Clean Water Act, except if it uses diesel fuel.[69]

The growing of oil and natural gas drilling employing hydraulic fracturing technology is steady around different regions of the United States, but the maintenance of wastewater gathered after the drilling process containing hydraulic fracturing fluids is lagging behind.[70] In Pennsylvania, the DEP reported that the resources to properly regulate wastewater-handling facilities were unavailable, inspecting facilities every 20 years rather than every 2 years as called for by regulation.[70]

The quantity of wastewater and the unpreparedness of sewage plants to treat wastewater, is an issue in Pennsylvania.[71][72] The Associated Press has reported that starting in 2011, the DEP strongly resisted providing the AP and other news organizations with information about complaints related to drilling.[73] When waste brine is discharged to surface waters through conventional wastewater treatment plants, the bromide in the brine usually is not captured. Although not a health hazard by itself, in western Pennsylvania some downstream drinking water treatment plants using the surface water experienced increases in brominated trihalomethanes in 2009 and 2010. Trihalomethanes, undesirable byproducts of the chlorination process, form when the chlorine combines with dissolved organic matter in the source water, to form the trihalomethane chloroform. Bromine can substitute for some chlorine, forming brominated trihalomethanes. Because bromine has a higher atomic weight than chlorine, the partial conversion to brominated trihalomethanes increases the concentration by weight of total trihalomethanes.[74][75][76]

Radioactivity

Radioactivity associated with hydraulically fractured wells comes from two sources: naturally occurring radioactive material and radioactive tracers introduced into the wells. Flowback from oil and gas wells is usually disposed of deep underground in Class II injection wells, but in Pennsylvania, much of the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations is processed by public sewage treatment plants. Many sewage plants say that they are incapable of removing the radioactive components of this waste, which is often released into major rivers. Industry officials, though, claim that these levels are diluted enough that public health is not compromised.[71]

In 2011, the level of dissolved radium in hydraulic fracturing wastewater released upstream from drinking water intakes had been measured to be up to 18,035 pCi/L (667.3 Bq/l),[77] and the gross alpha level measured to be up to 40,880 pCi/L (1,513 Bq/l).[71][77] The New York Times reported that studies by the EPA and a confidential study by the drilling industry concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways.[78] A recent Duke University study sampled water downstream from a Pennsylvania wastewater treatment facility from 2010 through Fall 2012 and found the creek sediment contained levels of radium 200 times background levels.[79] The surface water had the same chemical signature as rocks in the Marcellus Shale formation. The facility denied processing Marcellus waste since 2011. In May 2013 the facility signed another agreement to not accept or discharge wastewater Marcellus Shale formations until it has installed technology to remove the radiation compounds, metals and salts.[80][81] According to the Duke researches the 'waste treatment solids/sludge' have exceeded U.S. regulations for radium disposal to soil.[80] The study by Duke University also found that radium has been "absorbed and accumulated on the sediments locally at the discharge".[80]

The New York Times noted that in 2011 the Pennsylvania DEP only made a "request — not a regulation" of gas companies to stop sending their flowback and waste water to public water treatment facilities.[82] However, the DEP gave oil and gas operators 30 days to voluntarily comply, and they all did.[62] Former Pennsylvania DEP Secretary John Hanger, who served under Gov. Ed Rendell, affirmed that municipal drinking water throughout the state is safe. "Every single drop that is coming out of the tap in Pennsylvania today meets the safe drinking water standard," Hanger said, but added that the environmentalists were accurate in stating that Pennsylvania water treatment plants were not equipped to treat hydraulic fracturing water.[83] Current Pennsylvania DEP Secretary Michael Krancer serving under Gov. Tom Corbett has said it is "total fiction" that untreated wastewater is being discharged into the state's waterways,[84] though it has been observed that Corbett received over a million dollars in gas industry contributions,[85] more than all his competitors combined, during his election campaign.[86] Unannounced inspections are not made by regulators: the companies report their own spills, and create their own remediation plans.[71] A recent review of the state-approved plans found them to appear to be in violation of the law.[71] Treatment plants are still not equipped to remove radioactive material and are not required to test for it.[71] Despite this, in 2009 the Ridgway Borough's public sewage treatment plant, in Elk County, PA, facility was sent wastewater containing radium and other types of radiation at 275–780 times the drinking-water standard. The water being released from the plant was not tested for radiation levels.[71] Part of the problem is that growth in waste produced by the industry has outpaced regulators and state resources.[71] It should be noted that "safe drinking water standards" have not yet been set for many of the substances known to be in hydrofracturing fluids or their radioactivity levels,[71] and their levels are not included in public drinking water quality reports.[87]

Tests conducted in Pennsylvania in 2009 found "no evidence of elevated radiation levels" in waterways.[88] At the time radiation concerns were not seen as a pressing issue.[88] In 2011 The New York Times reported radium in wastewater from natural gas wells is released into Pennsylvania rivers,[71][89] and compiled a map of these wells and their wastewater contamination levels,[77] and stated that some EPA reports were never made public.[78] The Times' reporting on the issue has come under some criticism.[90][91] A 2012 study examining a number of hydraulic fracturing sites in Pennsylvania and Virginia by Pennsylvania State University, found that water that flows back from gas wells after hydraulic fracturing contains high levels of radium.[92]

Before 2011, flowback in Pennsylvania was processed by public wastewater plants, which were not equipped to remove radioactive material and were not required to test for it. Industry officials, though, claim that these levels are diluted enough that public health is not compromised.[71][72] In 2010 the DEP limited surface water discharges from new treatment plants to 250 mg/l chloride. This limitation was designed to also limit other contaminants such as radium. Existing water treatment plants were allowed higher discharge concentrations. In April 2011, the DEP asked unconventional gas operators to voluntarily stop sending wastewater to the grandfathered treatment plants. The PADEP reported that the operators had complied.[62]

A 2013 Duke University study sampled water downstream from a Pennsylvania wastewater treatment facility from 2010 through 2012 and found that creek sediment contained levels of radium 200 times background levels.[79] The surface water had the same chemical signature as rocks in the Marcellus Shale formation along with high levels of chloride. The facility denied processing Marcellus waste after 2011. In May 2013 the facility signed another agreement to not accept or discharge Marcellus wastewater until it installed technology to remove the radioactive materials, metals and salts.[80][81]

A 2012 study by researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, University of Colorado, and Colorado State University reported a reduction in the percentage of flowback treated through surface water discharge in Pennsylvania from 2008 through 2011.[64] By late 2012, bromine concentrations had declined to previous levels in the Monongahela River, but remained high in the Allegheny.[93]

Naturally occurring radioactive materials

The New York Times has reported radiation in hydraulic fracturing wastewater released into rivers in Pennsylvania.[71] It collected data from more than 200 natural gas wells in Pennsylvania and has posted a map entitled Toxic Contamination from Natural Gas Wells in Pennsylvania. The Times stated "never-reported studies" by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and a "confidential study by the drilling industry" concluded that radioactivity in drilling waste cannot be fully diluted in rivers and other waterways.[78] Despite this, as of early 2011 federal and state regulators did not require sewage treatment plants that accept drilling waste (which is mostly water) to test for radioactivity. In Pennsylvania, where the drilling boom began in 2008, most drinking-water intake plants downstream from sewage treatment plants have not tested for radioactivity since before 2006.[71]

The New York Times reporting has been criticized[90] and one science writer has taken issue with one instance of the newspaper's presentation and explanation of its calculations regarding dilution,[94] charging that a lack of context made the article's analysis uninformative.[91]

According to a Times report in February 2011, wastewater at 116 of 179 deep gas wells in Pennsylvania "contained high levels of radiation," but its effect on public drinking water supplies is unknown because water suppliers are required to conduct tests of radiation "only sporadically".[95] The New York Post stated that the DEP reported that all samples it took from seven rivers in November and December 2010 "showed levels at or below the normal naturally occurring background levels of radioactivity", and "below the federal drinking water standard for Radium 226 and 228."[96] However, samples taken by the state from at least one river, (the Monongahela, a source of drinking water for parts of Pittsburgh), were taken upstream from the sewage treatment plants accepting drilling waste water.[97]

Radioactive tracers

Radioactive tracer isotopes are sometimes injected with hydraulic fracturing fluid to determine the injection profile and location of created fractures.[98] Sand containing gamma-emitting tracer isotopes is used to trace and measure fractures. A 1995 study found that radioactive tracers were used in over 15% of stimulated oil and gas wells.[99] In the United States, injection of radionuclides are licensed and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).[100] According to the NRC, some of the most commonly used tracers include antimony-124, bromine-82, iodine-125, iodine-131, iridium-192, and scandium-46.[100] A 2003 publication by the International Atomic Energy Agency confirms the frequent use of most of the tracers above, and says that manganese-56, sodium-24, technetium-99m, silver-110m, argon-41, and xenon-133 are also used extensively because they are easily identified and measured.[101] According to a 2013 meeting of researchers who examined low (never exceeding drinking water standards) but persistent detections of iodine-131 in a stream used for Philadelphia drinking water: “Workshop participants concluded that the likely source of 131-I in Philadelphia’s source waters is residual 131-I excreted from patients following medical treatments,” but suggested that other potential sources also be studied, including hydraulic fracturing.[102]

Seismicity

Hydraulic fracturing routinely produces microseismic events much too small to be detected except by sensitive instruments. These microseismic events are often used to map the horizontal and vertical extent of the fracturing.[103] However, a 2012 US Geological Survey study reported that a "remarkable" increase in the rate of M ≥ 3 earthquakes in the US midcontinent "is currently in progress", having started in 2001 and culminating in a 6-fold increase over 20th century levels in 2011. The overall increase was tied to earthquake increases in a few specific areas: the Raton Basin of southern Colorado (site of coalbed methane activity), and gas-producing areas in central and southern Oklahoma, and central Arkansas.[104] While analysis suggested that the increase is "almost certainly man-made", the United States Geological Survey (USGS) noted: "USGS's studies suggest that the actual hydraulic fracturing process is only very rarely the direct cause of felt earthquakes." The increased earthquakes were said to be most likely caused by increased injection of gas-well wastewater into disposal wells.[105] The injection of waste water from oil and gas operations, including from hydraulic fracturing, into saltwater disposal wells may cause bigger low-magnitude tremors, being registered up to 3.3 (Mw).[106]

Induced seismicity from hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing routinely triggers microseismic events too small to be detected except with sensitive instruments. However, according to the US Geological Survey: “Reports of hydraulic fracturing causing earthquakes large enough to be felt at the surface are extremely rare, with only three occurrences reported as of late 2012, in Great Britain, Oklahoma, and Canada.”[107] Bill Ellsworth, a geoscientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has said, however: "We don't see any connection between fracking and earthquakes of any concern to society."[108] The National Research Council (part of the National Academy of Sciences) has also observed that hydraulic fracturing, when used in shale gas recovery, does not pose a serious risk of causing earthquakes that can be felt.[109]

Induced seismicity from water disposal wells

Of greater concern are earthquakes associated with permitted Class II deep wastewater injection wells, many of which inject frac flowback and produced water from oil and gas wells.The USGS has reported earthquakes induced by disposal of produced water and hydraulic fracturing flowback into waste disposal wells in several location

In 2013, Researchers from Columbia University and the University of Oklahoma demonstrated that in the midwestern United States, some areas with increased human-induced seismicity are susceptible to additional earthquakes triggered by the seismic waves from remote earthquakes. They recommended increased seismic monitoring near fluid injection sites to determine which areas are vulnerable to remote triggering and when injection activity should be ceased.[110][111]

Geophysicist Cliff Frohlich researched seismic activity on the Barnett Shale in Texas from 2009 to 2011. Frohlich set up temporary seismographs on a 70 kilometer grid covering the Barnett Shale in Texas. The seismographs sensed and located earthquakes 1.5 magnitude and larger in the area. The seismographs revealed a spacial association between earthquakes and Class II injection wells, most of which were established to dispose of flowback and produced water from Barnett Shale wells, near Dallas-Fort Worth and Cleburne, Texas. Some of the earthquakes were greater than magnitude 3.0, and were felt by peole at the surface, and reported in the local news. Earthquakes were reported in areas where there had previously been no recorded earthquakes.[112] The study found that the great majority of Class II injection wells are not associated with earthquakes. Injection-induced earthquakes were strongly associated with wells injecting more than 150,000 barrels of water per month, and particularly after those wells had been injecting for more than a year. The majority of induced earthquakes occurred in Johnson County, which seemed more prone to induced earthquakes than other parts of the Barnett play.[113]

Earthquakes large enough to be felt by people have also been linked to some deep disposal wells that receive hydraulic fracturing flowback and produced water from hydraulically fractured wells. Flowback and brine from oil and gas wells are injected into EPA-regulated class II disposal wells. According to the EPA, approximately 144,000 such class II disposal wells in the US receive more than 2 billion US gallons (7.6 Gl) of wastewater each day.[114] To date, the strongest earthquakes triggered by underground waste injection were three quakes close to Richter magnitude 5 recorded in 1967 near a Colorado disposal well which received non-oilfield waste.[115]

According to the USGS only a small fraction of roughly 40,000 waste fluid disposal wells for oil and gas operations in the United States have induced earthquakes that are large enough to be of concern to the public.[116] Although the magnitudes of these quakes has been small, the USGS says that there is no guarantee that larger quakes will not occur.[117] In addition, the frequency of the quakes has been increasing. In 2009, there were 50 earthquakes greater than magnitude 3.0 in the area spanning Alabama and Montana, and there were 87 quakes in 2010. In 2011 there were 134 earthquakes in the same area, a sixfold increase over 20th century levels.[118] There are also concerns that quakes may damage underground gas, oil, and water lines and wells that were not designed to withstand earthquakes.[117][119]

The 2011 Oklahoma earthquake, the largest earthquake in Oklahoma history (most sources describe it as magnitude 5.7, although the US Geological Survey lists it as 5.6) has been linked by some researchers to decades-long injection of brine.[120] A 2015 study concluded that recent earthquakes in central Oklahoma, which includes 5.6 magnitude quake, were triggered by injection of produced water from conventional oil reservoirs in the Hunton Group, and are unrelated to hydraulic fracturing.[121]

Class II disposal wells receiving brine from Fayetteville Shale gas wells in Central Arkansas triggered hundreds of shallow earthquakes, the largest of which was magnitude 4.7, and caused damage. In April 2011, the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission halted injection at two of the main disposal wells, and the earthquakes abated.[122]

Several earthquakes in 2011, including a 4.0 magnitude tremor on New Year's Eve that hit Youngstown, Ohio, are likely linked to a disposal of hydraulic fracturing wastewater,[110] according to seismologists at Columbia University.[123] By order of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the well had stopped injecting on December 30, 2011. The following day, after the 4.0 quake, Ohio governor John Kasich ordered an indefinite halt to injection in three additional deep disposal wells in the vicinity. The Department of Natural Resources proposed a number of tightened rules to its Class II injection regulations. The Department noted that there were 177 operational Class II disposal wells in the state, and that the Youngstown well was the first to produce recorded earthquakes since Ohio's Underground Injection Control program began in 1983.[124]

Since 2008, more than 50 earthquakes, up to a magnitude of 3.5, have occurred in the area of north Texas home to numerous Barnett Shale gas wells, an area that previously had no earthquakes. No injuries or serious damage from the earthquakes has been reported. A study of quakes near the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport 2008–2009, concluded that the quakes were triggered by disposal wells receiving brine from gas wells.[125]

A two-year study 2009–2011 by University of Texas researchers concluded that a number of earthquakes from Richter magnitude 1.5 to 2.5 in the Barnett Shale area of north Texas were linked to oilfield waste disposal into Class II injection wells. No quakes were linked to hydraulic fracturing itself.[126] Researchers noted that there are more than 50,000 Class II disposal wells in Texas receiving oilfield waste, yet only a few dozen are suspected of triggering earthquakes.[125]

On May 31, 2014, an earthquake registering at a magnitude of 3.4 occurred in Greeley, Colorado. The earthquake occurred near two hydraulic fracturing wastewater injection wells that are reportedly close to capacity. One waste injection well is 8,700 feet deep and 20 years old, while the other is 10,700 feet and just two years old. A research team from the University of Colorado Boulder have placed seismographs in the area to monitor further activity.[127][128]

Abandoned wells

Drilling for oil and gas has been going on in Pennsylvania since 1859, and there are an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 wells drilled before the state kept track of the wells, or required them to be properly plugged. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has a program to locate and plug old wells. A 2014 study examined 19 abandoned wells, 14 of which had never been plugged, and only one of which was known to the state. Methane leakage rates were measured, and extrapolations over all the expected orphaned wells in the state indicated that the old wells made up a significant source of methane.[129][130][131]

Health effects

There is worldwide concern over the possible adverse public health implications of hydraulic fracturing activity.[132] Intensive research is underway to ascertain whether there are impacts on a number of health conditions.[132]

Potential sources for ground and surface water exposure to toxins and toxicants (including endocrine disrupting hormones, heavy metals, minerals, radioactive substances, and salts) include 1) the drilling and fracturing phase; 2) improper treatment of wastewater, including spills during transport; and 3) failure of cement wall casings.

Many of the above contaminants have been associated with poor health outcomes, especially reproductive and developmental. Heavy metal and benzene/toluene exposure during pregnancy has been associated with miscarriage and stillbirths. Benzene and toluene have been associated with menstrual cycle disorders. Cancer, blood disorders, nervous system impairment, and respiratory issues have also been cited as potential complications of hydraulic fracturing fluid exposure.[133][134][135]

The 2014 EPA Executive summary describes evidence of drinking water contamination due to spills, inadequate casings, and other etiologies. Per this summary, frequency estimates range from one spill for every 100 wells in Colorado to between 0.4-12.2 spills for every 100 wells in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, “at least 3% of the wells (600 out of 23,000 wells) did not have cement across a portion of the casing installed through the protected ground water resource identified by well operators.”[136]

While the health effects of water contamination, as well as air pollution and other potential health hazards due to hydraulic fracturing, is not well understood, studies report concerning findings. A 2014 retrospective cohort study of 124,842 births between 1996-2009 in rural Colorado reported statistically significant odds of congenital heart disease, including neural tube defects, with resident exposure to hydraulic fracturing.[134]

A 2015 study revealed lower birth weights and a higher incidence of small for gestational age comparing most to least exposed.[137]

A 2013 review focusing on Marcellus shale gas hydraulic fracturing and the New York City water supply stated, "Although potential benefits of Marcellus natural gas exploitation are large for transition to a clean energy economy, at present the regulatory framework in New York State is inadequate to prevent potentially irreversible threats to the local environment and New York City water supply. Major investments in state and federal regulatory enforcement will be required to avoid these environmental consequences, and a ban on drilling within the NYC water supply watersheds is appropriate, even if more highly regulated Marcellus gas production is eventually permitted elsewhere in New York State."[138]

Early in January 2012, Christopher Portier, director of the US CDC's National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, argued that, in addition to the EPA's plans to investigate the impact of fracking on drinking water, additional studies should be carried out to determine whether wastewater from the wells can harm people or animals and vegetables they eat.[65]

As of May 2012, the United States Institute of Medicine and United States National Research Council were preparing to review the potential human and environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing.[139][140]

In 2011 in Garfield County, Colorado, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry collected air samples at 14 sites, including 8 oil and gas sites, 4 urban background sites, and 2 rural background sites. and detected carcinogens such as benzene, tetrachloroethene, and 1-4 dichlorobenzene at all the sites, both oil and gas sites, and background sites. Benzene was detected at 7 out of 8 oil and gas sites, in all 4 urban areas, and one out of the 2 rural background sites. The compound 1,4-dichlorobezene was detected in 3 out of 8 oil and gas sites, 3 out of 4 urban sites, and 1 out of 2 rural background sites. The benzene concentrations at one of the eight oil and gas sites was identified as cause for concern, because although it was within the acceptable range, it was near the upper limit of the range. The report concluded: “With the exception of the Brock site, these risk estimates do not appear to represent a significant theoretical cancer risk at any of the sites, nor does it appear that that the theoretical cancer risk is elevated at oil and gas development sites as compared to urban or rural background sites.”[141][142]

In 2011, the EPA released new emissions guidelines stating that the old standards could have led to an unacceptably high risk of cancers for those living near drilling operations.[142]

Worker health

In 2013 the United States the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released a hazard alert based on data collected by NIOSH that "workers may be exposed to dust with high levels of respirable crystalline silica (silicon dioxide) during hydraulic fracturing."[143] NIOSH notified company representatives of these findings and provided reports with recommendations to control exposure to crystalline silica and recommend that all hydraulic fracturing sites evaluate their operations to determine the potential for worker exposure to crystalline silica and implement controls as necessary to protect workers.[144]

Research and lobbying

Illustration of hydraulic fracturing and related activities

The New York Times has reported that, since the 1980s, the EPA investigations into the oil and gas industry's environmental impact—including the ongoing one into fracking's potential impact on drinking water—and associated reports had been narrowed in scope and/or had negative findings removed due to industry and government pressure.[6][145]

A 2004 EPA study on hydraulic fracturing in coalbed methane wells concluded that the process was safe, and didn't warrant further study, because there was "no unequivocal evidence" of health risks to groundwater, and the fluids were neither necessarily hazardous nor able to travel far underground.[146] The EPA report did find uncertainties in knowledge of how fracturing fluid migrates through rocks, and recommended that diesel fuel not be used as a component of fracturing fluid in coalbed methane walls due to its potential as a source of benzene contamination; in response, well service companies agreed to stop using diesel fuel in coalbed methane wells.[147] One of the authors of the 2004 EPA report noted that it studied only hydraulic fracturing in coalbed methane wells.[146]

The New York Times cited Weston Wilson, the agency whistle-blower, that the results of the 2004 EPA study were influenced by industry and political pressure.[6] An early draft of the study discussed the possibility of dangerous levels of hydraulic fracturing fluid contamination and mentioned "possible evidence" of aquifer contamination. The final report concluded simply that hydraulic fracturing "poses little or no threat to drinking water".[6] The study's scope was narrowed so that it only focused on the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids, ignoring other aspects of the process such as disposal of fluids and environmental concerns such as water quality, fish kills, and acid burns. The study was concluded before public complaints of contamination started emerging.[148]:780 The study's conclusion that the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into coalbed methane wells posed a minimal threat to underground drinking water sources[149] may have influenced the 2005 Congressional decision that hydraulic fracturing should continue to be regulated by the states and not under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

A 2011 study by Congressional Democrats and reporting by the New York Times that same year found that hydraulic fracturing had resulted in significant increases of radioactive material including radium and carcinogens including benzene in major rivers and watersheds.[150] At one site the amount of benzene discharged into the Allegheny River after treatment was 28 times accepted levels for drinking water.[150] The congressional representatives called for better regulation and more disclosure.[150]

In June 2015, the EPA released a report entitled “Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources” in which the EPA “did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States”.[151] However, the EPA also noted that the mechanisms assessed in the report were not considered “widespread” and that evaluation of identified cases rests on limiting factors that include “insufficient pre- and post-fracturing data on the quality of drinking water resources; the paucity of long-term systematic studies; the presence of other sources of contamination precluding a definitive link between hydraulic fracturing activities and an impact; and the inaccessibility of some information on hydraulic fracturing activities and potential impacts.”[151] The report suggested that two types of water withdrawals had potential for water resource contamination, namely ground water withdrawals and surface water withdrawals.[151] Perhaps more controversial is the recent Final Rule that was suspended on September 30, 2015 by US District Judge Scott Skavdahl with the Wyoming District Court.[152][153] Skavdahl entertained arguments that the regulative authority for hydraulic fracturing should rest with the EPA instead of the Bureau of Land Management.[152] Colorado, Utah (including the Ute Indian Tribe of the northern area of the state), Wyoming, North Dakota, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance included statements that the new rule would interfere in state regulations and cause redundancies that could take away resources from other programs.[152][153] Furthermore, Skavdahl considered the argument that the “final rules lack factual or scientific support” and that the opposition is supported by the recent publication of the June 2015 EPA report.[152]

Built Environment/Infrastructure

Hydraulic Fracturing's effects on built infrastructure are often underestimated. The fracking process requires heavy equipment and vast amount of water, chemicals, and other materials, thus transportation of that equipment, liquids, and materials, requires trucks with heavy tankers. This has caused infrastructure damage to local roads and bridges that were not designed and constructed to frequently withstand heavier loads.[154]

Each individual fracking well requires a vast amount of truck traffic. Studies estimated that on average, to fracture (build and drill) a single well, between 1,760 and 1,904 truck trips are needed to transport equipment, chemicals, water and other materials; removing fracking wastes and transporting the natural gas require additional truck trips.[155] The infrastructure deterioration caused by this heavy truck traffic has a huge economic impact/burden on local states. In July 2012, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, local fracking activities had cost an estimate of 2 billion dollars in damage to roads that connect drilling sites to storage sites.[156] In Pennsylvania, a study conducted in 2014 based on data on the distribution of fracking well activity and the roadway type in the state estimated that the road reconstruction costs caused by additional heavy truck traffic from Marcellus Shale natural gas development in 2011 were about $13,000–$23,000 per well for all state roadway types.[157]

Many similar studies are underway in different states to evaluate the potential infrastructure impact from fracking. However, existing evidence suggests that road and bridge deterioration from overloading infrastructure be taken into consideration when evaluating the environmental and economic cost of the fracking process.

See also

Wikinews has related news: Disposal of fracking wastewater poses potential environmental problems

References

  1. ↑ http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/10/22/3582904/methane-leaks-climate-benefit-fracking/
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing" (PDF). Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives. April 18, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Brown, Valerie J. (February 2007). "Industry Issues: Putting the Heat on Gas". Environmental Health Perspectives (US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences) 115 (2): A76. doi:10.1289/ehp.115-a76. PMC 1817691. PMID 17384744.
  4. ↑ Fischetti, Mark (August 20, 2013). "Groundwater Contamination May End the Gas-Fracking Boom". Scientific American 309 (3).
  5. ↑ Mall, Amy (19 December 2011). "Incidents where hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause of drinking water contamination". Switchboard: NRDC Staff Blog. Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Urbina, Ian (3 March 2011). "Pressure Limits Efforts to Police Drilling for Gas". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2012. More than a quarter-century of efforts by some lawmakers and regulators to force the federal government to police the industry better have been thwarted, as E.P.A. studies have been repeatedly narrowed in scope and important findings have been removed
  7. ↑ http://www.mintpressnews.com/2500-square-mile-methane-plume-silently-hovering-western-us/200313/
  8. ↑ http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/30/2500-square-mile-methane-plume-silently-hovering-over-western-us
  9. ↑ U.S. METHANE 'HOT SPOT' BIGGER THAN EXPECTED NASA, 9 Oct. 2014.
  10. ↑ "Ozone mitigation efforts continue in Sublette County, Wyoming". Wyoming's Online News Source. March 2011.
  11. ↑ Biello, David (30 March 2010). "Natural gas cracked out of shale deposits may mean the U.S. has a stable supply for a century—but at what cost to the environment and human health?". Scientific American. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  12. ↑ Rodriguez, Ginna (April 2013). Air Emissions Characterization and Management For Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Operations In the United States (PDF) (Report). University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  13. 1 2 "Oil and Natural Gas Air Pollution Standards". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  14. ↑ http://www.rt.com/usa/methane-emissions-fracking-underestimated-epa-024/
  15. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/national/unexpected-loose-gas-from-fracking/950/
  16. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2015). "Review of State and Industry Spill Data: Characterization of Hydraulic Fracturing-Related Spills". Retrieved 2015-10-10.
  17. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2015). "Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources".
  18. ↑ Andrews, Anthony; et al. (30 October 2009). Unconventional Gas Shales: Development, Technology, and Policy Issues (PDF) (Report). Congressional Research Service. pp. 7; 23. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  19. 1 2 Abdalla, Charles W.; Drohan, Joy R. (2010). Water Withdrawals for Development of Marcellus Shale Gas in Pennsylvania. Introduction to Pennsylvania’s Water Resources (PDF) (Report). The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 16 September 2012. Hydrofracturing a horizontal Marcellus well may use 4 to 8 million gallons of water, typically within about 1 week. However, based on experiences in other major U.S. shale gas fields, some Marcellus wells may need to be hydrofractured several times over their productive life (typically five to twenty years or more)
  20. 1 2 Ground Water Protection Council; ALL Consulting (April 2009). Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer (PDF) (Report). DOE Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory. pp. 56–66. DE-FG26-04NT15455. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  21. 1 2 Arthur, J. Daniel; Uretsky, Mike; Wilson, Preston (May 5–6, 2010). Water Resources and Use for Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale Region (PDF). Meeting of the American Institute of Professional Geologists. Pittsburgh: ALL Consulting. p. 3. Retrieved 2012-05-09.
  22. ↑ Cothren, Jackson. Modeling the Effects of Non-Riparian Surface Water Diversions on Flow Conditions in the Little Red Watershed (PDF) (Report). U. S. Geological Survey, Arkansas Water Science Center Arkansas Water Resources Center, American Water Resources Association, Arkansas State Section Fayetteville Shale Symposium 2012. p. 12. Retrieved 16 September 2012. ...each well requires between 3 and 7 million gallons of water for hydraulic fracturing and the number of wells is expected to grow in the future
  23. ↑ Satterfield, J; Mantell, M; Kathol, D; Hiebert, F; Patterson, K; Lee, R (September 2008). Managing Water Resources Challenges in Select Natural Gas Shale Plays. GWPC Annual Meeting. ALL Consulting.
  24. ↑ "Unconventional well drilling permits". Marcellus Center. Marcellus Center, Pennsylvania State University. 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  25. ↑ "Horizontal drilling boosts Pennsylvania's natural gas production". EIA. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-16.
  26. ↑ Ridlington, Elizabeth; John Rumpler (October 3, 2013). "Fracking by the numbers". Environment America.
  27. ↑ Lubber, Mindy (28 May 2013). "Escalating Water Strains In Fracking Regions". Forbes. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  28. ↑ "A Texan tragedy: ample oil, no water" 11 Aug Guardian
  29. ↑ Berner, Daniel P; Grauman, Edward M; Hansen, Karen M; Kadas, Madeleine Boyer; LaValle, Laura L; Moore, Bryan J (May 1, 2013). "New Hydraulic Fracturing Water Recycling Rules Published in Texas Register". The National Law Review (Beveridge & Diamond PC). Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Ridlington, Rumpler "Fracking by the numbers: key impact of dirty drilling at the state and national level", Environment America, October 2013
  31. ↑ Kris Fitz Patrick (November 17, 2011). "Ensuring Safe Drinking Water in the Age of Hydraulic Fracturing". The most fundamental recommendation is for states to rigorously test their ground water before and after hydraulic fracturing takes place. A major difficulty in proving or disproving contamination in previous cases has been the lack of a baseline sample for the water supply in question. The group also raises a federal policy issue, namely whether fracturing fluids should continue to be exempt from Safe Drinking Water Act regulations. This exemption was an informal one until 2005, when it was codified as part of the Energy Policy Act. A consequence of this exemption is that drilling companies are not required to disclose the chemicals that make up the fracturing fluids, making testing for these chemicals in ground water more difficult.
  32. ↑ Hass, Benjamin (14 August 2012). "Fracking Hazards Obscured in Failure to Disclose Wells". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  33. ↑ Soraghan, Mike (13 December 2013). "White House official backs FracFocus as preferred disclosure method". E&E News. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  34. ↑ "Colorado Sets The Bar on Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure". Environmental Defense Fund. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  35. ↑ Maykuth, Andrew (22 January 2012). "More states ordering disclosure of fracking chemicals.". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  36. ↑ "Regulatory Statements on Hydraulic Fracturing Submitted by the States, June 2009" (PDF). Insterstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  37. ↑ "Pathways To Energy Independence: Hydraulic Fracturing And Other New Technologies". U.S. Senate. May 6, 2011.
  38. ↑ Ikeda, Robin (April 26, 2013). "Review of Federal Hydraulic Fracturing Research Activities. Testimony before the Subcommittees on Energy and Environment Committee on Science, Space and Technology U.S. House of Representatives". CDC web site. US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  39. ↑ Urbina, Ian (3 August 2011). "A Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May be More". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  40. 1 2 "EPA's Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources". EPA. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  41. ↑ Horwitt, Dusty (August 3, 2011). Cracks in the Facade: 25 Years Ago, EPA Linked "Fracking" to Water Contamination (PDF). Environmental Working Group (Report). Retrieved August 3, 2011.
  42. ↑ Brown, VJ (Feb 2007). "Industry Issues: Putting the Heat on Gas". Environmental Health Perspectives 115 (2): A76. doi:10.1289/ehp.115-a76. PMC 1817691. PMID 17384744. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  43. ↑ "Timeline for cleanup from Clark gas well blowout accelerated". Casper Star Tribune. Associated Press. 27 Feb 2008. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  44. ↑ Michael Rubinkam, Pa. regulators shut down Cabot drilling, April 15, 2010, pressconnects.com
  45. ↑ Lustgarten, Abrahm (November 20, 2009). "Pa. Residents Sue Gas Driller for Contamination, Health Concerns". Pro Publica. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
  46. 1 2 Fetzer, Richard M. (January 19, 2012). Action Memorandum - Request for funding for a Removal Action at the Dimock Residential Groundwater Site (PDF) (Report). Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  47. ↑ Legere, Laura. "Gas company slapped with drilling ban and fine". The Times Tribune. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  48. ↑ Mouawad, Jad; Krauss, Clifford (7 December 2009). "Dark Side of a Natural Gas Boom". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  49. ↑ Christopher Bateman (21 June 2010). "A Colossal Fracking Mess". VanityFair.com. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  50. ↑ Jim Snyder; Mark Drajem (10 January 2012). "Pennsylvania Fracking Foes Fault EPA Over Tainted Water Response". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  51. 1 2 Gardner, Timothy (2012-05-11). "Water safe in town made famous by fracking-EPA". Reuters. Retrieved 2012-05-14.
  52. ↑ "Dimock, PA Water Testing Results Expected To Impact Fracking Debate". Associated Press. 5 March 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  53. 1 2 DiGiulio, Dominic C.; Wilkin, Richard T.; Miller, Carlyle; Oberley, Gregory (December 2011). Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion, Wyoming. Draft (PDF) (Report). EPA. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  54. ↑ "EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review" (Press release). EPA. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  55. ↑ Phillips, Susan (8 December 2011). "EPA Blames Fracking for Wyoming Groundwater Contamination". StateImpact Pennsylvania (NPR). Retrieved 6 February 2012.
  56. ↑ Peter R. Wright, Peter B. McMahon, David K. Mueller, and Melanie L. Clark (9 March 2012). Groundwater quality and quality control data for two monitoring wells near Pavillion, Wyoming, April and May 2012. (PDF) (Report). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
  57. ↑ US EPA, Region 8, Wyoming to Lead Further Investigation of Water Quality Concerns Outside of Pavillion with Support of EPA, 20 June 2013.
  58. ↑ General Accounting Office, Energy-water nexus, p.15-17, 9 Jan. 2012.
  59. ↑ Kiparsky, Michael; Hein, Jayni Foley (April 2013). "Regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing in California: A Wastewater and Water Quality Perspective" (PDF). University of California Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
  60. ↑ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Crimes Case Bulletin, Feb. 2013, p.10.
  61. ↑ US Environmental Protection Agency, Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale: NPDES program FAQs, PDF, 16 March 2011.
  62. 1 2 3 University of Pittsburgh, Shales Gas Roundtable, p.56, Aug, 2013.
  63. ↑ Lutz, Brian; Lewis, Aurana; Doyle, Martin (8 February 2013). "Generation, transport, and disposal of wastewater associated with Marcellus Shale gas development". Environmental Health Perspectives (Water Resources Research) 49 (2): 647–1197. doi:10.1002/wrcr.20096. Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  64. 1 2 Logan, Jeffrey (2012). Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity (PDF) (Report). Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  65. 1 2 Alex Wayne (4 January 2012). "Health Effects of Fracking Need Study, Says CDC Scientist". Businessweek. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  66. ↑ David Wethe (19 January 2012). "Like Fracking? You'll Love 'Super Fracking'". Businessweek. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  67. ↑ Mark Drajem (11 January 2012). "Fracking Political Support Unshaken by Doctors' Call for Ban". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  68. ↑ "Environmental Defense Center: Fracking". Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  69. ↑ "ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005" (PDF). Authentic Government Information GPO. Retrieved 23 April 2013. (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
  70. 1 2 "With Natural Gas Drilling Boom, Pennsylvania Faces an Onslaught of Wastewater". Propublica. 3 October 2009. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  71. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Urbina, Ian (26 February 2011). "Regulation Lax as Gas Wells' Tainted Water Hits Rivers". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  72. 1 2 Caruso, David B. (2011-01-03). "44,000 Barrels of Tainted Water Dumped Into Neshaminy Creek. We're the only state allowing tainted water into our rivers". NBC Philadelphia. Associated Press. Retrieved 2012-04-28. ...the more than 300,000 residents of the 17 municipalities that get water from the creek or use it for recreation were never informed that numerous public pronouncements that the watershed was free of gas waste had been wrong.
  73. ↑ Kevin Begos (5 January 2014). "4 states confirm water pollution from drilling. Associated Press review of complaints casts doubt on industry view that it rarely happens.". USA Today. Associated Press. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  74. ↑ Bruce Gellerman and Ann Murray (10 August 2012). "Disposal of Fracking Wastewater Polluting PA Rivers". PRI's Environmental News Magazine (Public Radio International). Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  75. ↑ Sun, M.; Lowry, G.V.; Gregory, K.B. (2013). "Selective oxidation of bromide in wastewater brines from hydraulic fracturing". Water research (Water Res.) 47 (11): 3723–3731. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2013.04.041. PMID 23726709.
  76. ↑ Paul Handke, Trihalomethane speciation and the relationship to elevated total dissolved solid concentrations, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
  77. 1 2 3 White, Jeremy; Park, Haeyoun; Urbina, Ian; Palmer, Griff (26 February 2011). "Toxic Contamination From Natural Gas Wells". The New York Times.
  78. 1 2 3 "Drilling Down: Documents: Natural Gas's Toxic Waste". The New York Times. 26 February 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  79. 1 2 Carus, Felicity (2 October 2013). "Dangerous levels of radioactivity found at fracking waste site in Pennsylvania. Co-author of study says UK must impose better environmental regulation than US if it pursues shale gas extraction". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  80. 1 2 3 4 Warner, Nathaniel R.; Christie, Cidney A.; Jackson, Robert B.; Vengosh, Avner (2 October 2013). "Impacts of Shale Gas Wastewater Disposal on Water Quality in Western Pennsylvania". Environ. Sci. Technol. (ACS Publications) 47 (20): 11849–57. doi:10.1021/es402165b. PMID 24087919.
  81. 1 2 Jacobs, Harrison (9 October 2013). "Duke Study: Fracking Is Leaving Radioactive Pollution In Pennsylvania Rivers". Business Insider (Business Insider). Retrieved 10 October 2013.
  82. ↑ Griswold, Eliza (17 November 2011). "The Fracturing of Pennsylvania". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  83. ↑ "State Official: Pa. Water Meets Safe Drinking Standards". CBS Pittsburgh. January 4, 2011.
  84. ↑ "Pennsylvania DEP Secretary Defends States' Ability to Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing". PR Newswire. November 17, 2011.
  85. ↑ Don Hopey (February 24, 2011). "Corbett repeals policy on gas drilling in parks". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
  86. ↑ Bill McKibben (8 March 2012). "Why Not Frack?". The New York Review of Books 59 (4). Retrieved 21 February 2012.
  87. ↑ "Annual Drinking Water Quality Report, 2010" (PDF). Philadelphia Water Department. Spring 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  88. 1 2 McGraw, Seamus (27 March 2011). "Is Fracking Safe? The Top 10 Myths About Natural Gas Drilling". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  89. ↑ Urbina, Ian (7 April 2011). "Pennsylvania Calls for More Water Tests". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  90. 1 2 "Natural Gas Drilling, the Spotlight". The New York Times. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  91. 1 2 Charles Petit (2 March 2011). "Part II of the fracking water problems in PA and other Marcellus Shale country". Knight Science Journalism Tracker. MIT. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  92. ↑ "Analysis of Marcellus flowback finds high levels of ancient brines" (Press release). Pennsylvania State University. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  93. ↑ Don Hopey, Study finds lower bromide levels in Mon, but not in Allegheny, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 13 Nov. 2012.
  94. ↑ Urbina, Ian (1 March 2011). "Drilling Down: Wastewater Recycling No Cure-All in Gas Process". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  95. ↑ Don Hopey (5 March 2011). "Radiation-fracking link sparks swift reactions". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  96. ↑ Shocker: New York Times radioactive water report is false March 8, 2011 ι Abby Wisse Schachter. Report is from a Rupert Murdoch tabloid, The New York Post
  97. ↑ Urbina, Ian (7 March 2011). "E.P.A. Steps Up Scrutiny of Pollution in Pennsylvania Rivers". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2013.
  98. ↑ Reis, John C. (1976). Environmental Control in Petroleum Engineering. Gulf Professional Publishers.
  99. ↑ K. Fisher and others, "A comprehensive study of the analysis and economic benefits of radioactive tracer engineered stimulation procedures," Society of Petroleum Engineers, Paper 30794-MS, October 1995.
  100. 1 2 Jack E. Whitten, Steven R. Courtemanche, Andrea R. Jones, Richard E. Penrod, and David B. Fogl (Division of Industrial and Medical Nuclear Safety, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (June 2000). "Consolidated Guidance About Materials Licenses: Program-Specific Guidance About Well Logging, Tracer, and Field Flood Study Licenses (NUREG-1556, Volume 14)". US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 19 April 2012. labeled Frac Sand...Sc-46, Br-82, Ag-110m, Sb-124, Ir-192
  101. ↑ Radiation Protection and the Management of Radioactive Waste in the Oil and Gas Industry (PDF) (Report). International Atomic Energy Agency. 2003. pp. 39–40. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  102. ↑ Timothy A. Bartrand and Jeffrey S. Rosen (October 2013). Potential Impacts and Significance of Elevated 131 I on Drinking Water Sources [Project #4486] ORDER NUMBER: 4486 (PDF) (Report). Water Research Foundation. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
  103. ↑ Bennet, Les, et.al.. "The Source for Hydraulic Fracture Characterization" (PDF). Oilfield Review (Schlumberger) (Winter 2005/2006): 42–57. Retrieved 2012-09-30.
  104. ↑ Ellsworth, W. L.; Hickman, S.H.; McGarr, A.; Michael, A. J.; Rubinstein, J. L. (18 April 2012). Are seismicity rate changes in the midcontinent natural or manmade?. Seismological Society of America 2012 meeting. San Diego, California: Seismological Society of America. Retrieved 2014-02-23.
  105. ↑ US Geological Survey, Man-made earthquakes, accessed 22 Sept. 2013.
  106. ↑ Zoback, Mark; Kitasei, Saya; Copithorne, Brad (July 2010). Addressing the Environmental Risks from Shale Gas Development (PDF) (Report). Worldwatch Institute. p. 9. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
  107. ↑ US Geological Survey, Hydraulic fracturing FAQs, accessed 21 April 2015.
  108. ↑ Soraghan, Mike (13 December 2013). "Disconnects in public discourse around 'fracking' cloud earthquake issue.". E&E News. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  109. ↑ Induced Seismicity Potential in Energy Technologies (Report). National Academies Press. 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013. The process of hydraulic fracturing a well as presently implemented for shale gas recovery does not pose a high risk for inducing felt seismic events.
  110. 1 2 Kim, Won-Young 'Induced seismicity associated with fluid injection into a deep well in Youngstown, Ohio', Journal of Geophysical Research-Solid Earth
  111. ↑ van der Elst1, Nicholas J.; Savage, Heather M.; Keranen, Katie M; Abers, Geoffrey A. (12 July 2013). "Enhanced Remote Earthquake Triggering at Fluid-Injection Sites in the Midwestern United States". Science (ACS Publications) 341 (6142): 164–167. doi:10.1126/science.1238948. PMID 23846900.
  112. ↑ Frohlich, Cliff (2012). "Two-year survey comparing earthquake activity and injection-well locations in the Barnett Shale, Texas.". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109: 13934–13938. doi:10.1073/pnas.1207728109.
  113. ↑ Cliff Frohlich, Induced or triggered Earthquakes in Texas, Final Technical Report, Award no. G12AP20001, US Geological Survey, External Report, n.d.
  114. ↑ , Environmental Protection Agency
  115. ↑ USGS, How large are the earthquakes induced by fluid injection?
  116. ↑ "How is hydraulic fracturing related to earthquakes and tremors?". USGS. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  117. 1 2 Rachel Maddow, Terrence Henry (7 August 2012). Rachel Maddow Show: Fracking waste messes with Texas (video). MSNBC. Event occurs at 9:24 - 10:35.
  118. ↑ Soraghan, Mike (29 March 2012). "'Remarkable' spate of man-made quakes linked to drilling, USGS team says". EnergyWire (E&E). Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  119. ↑ Henry, Terrence (6 August 2012). "How Fracking Disposal Wells Are Causing Earthquakes in Dallas-Fort Worth". State Impact Texas. NPR. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
  120. ↑ Katie M. Keranen, "Potentially induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA," Geology, 26 March 2013.
  121. ↑ Justin L. Rubenstein, "Myths and facts on wastewater injection, hydraulic fracturing, and induced seismicity,", Seismological Research Letters, 10 June 2015.
  122. ↑ Bill Leith, Induced seismicity, US Geological Survey, June 2012.
  123. ↑ "Ohio Quakes Probably Triggered by Waste Disposal Well, Say Seismologists" (Press release). Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  124. ↑ Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Executive Summary, Preliminary Report on the Northstar 1 Class II Injection Well and the Seismic Events in the Youngstown, Ohio, Area, PDF, March 2012.
  125. 1 2 NPR - State Impact Texas, How oil and gas disposal wells can cause earthquakes.
  126. ↑ University of Texas, Study finds correlation between injection wells and small earthquakes, 6 Aug. 2011.
  127. ↑ Dunn, Sharon (June 5, 2014). "CU research team studying earthquake activity near Greeley". Greeley Tribune. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  128. ↑ Tomasic, John (June 2, 2014). "Greeley quake adds ammunition to Colorado fracking war". The Colorado Independent. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  129. ↑ Mary Kang and others, "Direct measurements of methane emissions from abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 Dec. 2014, v.11, n.51, p18173-18177.
  130. ↑ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/abandoned-wells-leak-powerful-greenhouse-gas/
  131. ↑ http://www.climatecentral.org/news/abandoned-oil-wells-methane-emissions-17575
  132. 1 2 Finkel ML, Hays J; Hays (October 2013). "The implications of unconventional drilling for natural gas: a global public health concern". Public Health (Review) 127 (10): 889–93. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2013.07.005. PMID 24119661.
  133. ↑ Adgate, John L.; Goldstein, Bernard D.; McKenzie, Lisa M. (2014-08-05). "Potential Public Health Hazards, Exposures and Health Effects from Unconventional Natural Gas Development". Environmental Science & Technology 48 (15): 8307–8320. doi:10.1021/es404621d. ISSN 0013-936X.
  134. 1 2 McKenzie, Lisa M.; Guo, Ruixin; Witter, Roxana Zulauf; Savitz, David A.; Newman, Lee S.; Adgate, John L. (Apr 2014). "Birth Outcomes and Maternal Residential Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado". Environmental Health Perspectives 122: 412–7. doi:10.1289/ehp.1306722. PMC 3984231. PMID 24474681.
  135. ↑ McKenzie, Lisa M.; Witter, Roxana Z.; Newman, Lee S.; Adgate, John L. (2012-05-01). "Human health risk assessment of air emissions from development of unconventional natural gas resources". Science of The Total Environment 424: 79–87. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.02.018. PMID 22444058.
  136. ↑ (PDF) http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/hf_es_erd_jun2015.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  137. ↑ Stacy, Shaina L.; Brink, LuAnn L.; Larkin, Jacob C.; Sadovsky, Yoel; Goldstein, Bernard D.; Pitt, Bruce R.; Talbott, Evelyn O. (2015-06-03). "Perinatal Outcomes and Unconventional Natural Gas Operations in Southwest Pennsylvania". PLoS ONE 10 (6): e0126425. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126425. PMC 4454655. PMID 26039051.
  138. ↑ Eaton TT. Science-based decision-making on complex issues: Marcellus shale gas hydrofracking and New York City water supply. Sci Total Environ. 2013 Sep 1;461-462:158-69. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.093. Epub 2013 May 28. PMID 23722091
  139. ↑ Mall, Amy (16 May 2012). "Concerns about the health risks of fracking continue to grow". Switchboard: NRDC Staff Blog. Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  140. ↑ Hopkinson, Jenny; DiCosmo, Bridget (15 May 2012). "Academies' NRC Seeks Broad Review Of Currently Ignored Fracking Risks". InsideEPA (Inside Washington Publishers). (subscription required). Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  141. ↑ Health Consultation, Garfield County, Colorado, US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 13 March 2015, p.10 and Table 2.
  142. 1 2 Abrahm Lustgarten and Nicholas Kusnetz (2011-09-16). "Science Lags as Health Problems Emerge Near Gas Fields". Propublica. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
  143. ↑ "Worker Exposure to Silica during Hydraulic Fracturing". OSHA. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
  144. ↑ Esswein, Eric; Kiefer, Max; Snawder, John; Breitenstein, Michael (23 May 2012). "Worker Exposure to Crystalline Silica During Hydraulic Fracturing". NIOSH Science Blog. United States Center for Disease Control. Retrieved 2012-09-08.
  145. ↑ "The Debate Over the Hydrofracking Study's Scope". The New York Times. 3 March 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2012. While environmentalists have aggressively lobbied the agency to broaden the scope of the study, industry has lobbied the agency to narrow this focus
  146. 1 2 "Does Natural-Gas Drilling Endanger Water Supplies?". BusinessWeek. November 11, 2008.
  147. ↑ "Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs; National Study Final Report" (PDF). Retrieved July 13, 2011.
  148. ↑ Dammel, Joseph A. (2011). "Notes From Underground: Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale" (PDF). Minnesota Journal of Law, Science and Technology (University of Minnesota Law School) 12 (2): 773–810. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  149. ↑ Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs; National Study Final Report (PDF) (Report). EPA. June 2004. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  150. 1 2 3 Urbina, Ian (April 16, 2011). "Chemicals Were Injected Into Wells, Report Says". New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
  151. 1 2 3 EPA. "Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. EPA. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  152. 1 2 3 4 Haun, Marjorie (8 October 2015). "Federal judge gives fracking a break from BLM regulations". Watchdog Arena. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  153. 1 2 Associated Press (24 June 2015). "At The Last Minute, Judge Delays Federal Fracking Regulations". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  154. ↑ Mehany, M.S.H.M.; Guggemos, A. (2015). "A Literature Survey of the Fracking Economic and Environmental Implications in the United States" (PDF). Procedia Engineering (118): 169–176. Retrieved 10/25/15. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  155. ↑ Podulka, S.G.; Podulka, W.J. (6/9/2010). "Comments on the Science Advisory Board’s 5/19/2010 Draft Committee Report on the EPA’s Research Scoping Document Related to Hydraulic Fracturing (“Report”)" (PDF). EPA Science Advisor Board. Retrieved 26 October 2015. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  156. ↑ Shlachter, B. "Drilling trucks have caused an estimated $2 billion in damage to Texas roads.". Star-Telegram. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  157. ↑ Abramzon, S; Samaras, C; Curtright, A; Litovitz, A; Burger, N (2014). "Estimating the Consumptive Use Costs of Shale Natural Gas Extraction on Pennsylvania Roadways". Journal of Infrastructure Systems 20 (3): 06014001. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000203.

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.