No Fracking Way!

[Goatnapper'96]

This is a predictable thread, and it reflects our national politics. On one side there are people who are against most any fossil fuel production (for a variety of reasons) and they will use any evidence to demonstrate fossil fuels and the technologies that produce them are dangerous and need to go away. On the other side are the folks like me who, also for a variety of reasons, are of the idea that the more we extract the better we are. These people dismiss most claims of environmental hazard as propaganda. Most people are somewhere in between, and the people at the poles are making every effort to pull them to their side.

There, I admitted that I'm taking a side, and I'm under no delusion that I'm objectively approaching this from somewhere in the middle. Now you can read the next part if you want.

This article is bullshit. The EPA and its crew have been desperate to find a link between fracing and some sort of danger ever since the improved technology made the Bakken the biggest find of our generation. They've tried to link it to everything from groundwater pollution to earthquakes (yeah, earthquakes) and this is all they can come up with? They might have found chemicals (the tests can't be replicated by the state DEQ), that might be in fracing fluid that might have gotten there by fracing? Would the NYT run a story about a man who might have gotten a call from a company that might want to hire him for a job that might be related to the Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline? Yet, despite even the Times admitting that this area is different from other drill areas, people at the pole will latch onto this article and make the wild conclusion that this is evidence that there is some sort of mass contamination of the nation's fresh groundwater supply from fracing. I believe the NYT expected this reaction, which is why they ran the story.

I admit that I'm not a fracing expert, but I've been around it enough to know that no oil company wants to introduce more water into their oil formation. For this reason, they take precautions to keep the fracing fluid in the target formation. Further, the amount of water used in a frac, though the gallons make it sound like a big number, is relatively small. The amount of water used to irrigate 640 acres of corn in North Dakota would be enough to frac 5,000 wells per year. Because the frac water represents a miniscule proportion of total groundwater any mixing of frac water with groundwater would likely have a negligible effect. Just because it can be measured doesn't mean it's dangerous.

Just my two cents in an effort to make this thread even more predictable.

And FYI, I know the people in this community of Wyoming and they don't need to worry. They don't drink anything that hasn't been brewed or distilled.

When the dust settles there will be more growth of the domestic fossil fuel industry under President Obama than probably any of his predecessors since WWII. This will be despite a deep ideological perspective that causes them to do all they can to impede. The invisible hand has been erected and no unhallowed hand will stop its growth!

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I heard from someone working up there that the problem isn't the fracking itself, it's that they're pumping back all the fluid used back into the empty wells. But it's an anecdote given to me who is totally uninformed on the subject.

[landpoke]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...ORDS=pavillion

Sorry it's just a snippet (subscriber only), but the important part is there.

As an aside, the last place I worked had methane/hydrocarbons in their well water. And there wasn't an oil and gas well for a good 40 miles from the office. When you're off-loading and the water begins to foam and fizz for reasons unknown you begin to question your lifestyle.

[landpoke]

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regio...6eedd33c2.html

[Moliere]

http://trib.com/news/state-and-regio...6eedd33c2.html

Who needs the scientific method when you can manufacture your own results?

[pellegrino]

Who needs the scientific method when you can manufacture your own results?

seriously, what good does the EPA do us if they don't provide accurate test results?

[KillerDog]

seriously, what good does the EPA do us if they don't provide accurate test results?

They attack profit creating industries and businesses to promote a bullshit political agenda.

[Jeff Lebowski]

They attack profit creating industries and businesses to promote a bullshit political agenda.

Sincerely,

Ann Coulter

[pellegrino]

They attack profit creating industries and businesses to promote a bullshit political agenda.

I'll take an SU path and say that science is the most precious thing we have and the abuse of it is blasphemy.

[Jacob]

EPA finds Fracking to be likely contributor to groundwater contamination.

This seems like a no-brainer. We need clean ground water more than we need the energy. You can learn to live with less energy consumption, but you can't learn to live without clean water.

No brainer for sure.

[Goatnapper'96]

Sincerely,

Ann Coulter

I am not sure what the motivation is but it clearly appears to me that there is a desired endstate. As Mr Finderson said it appears to be a no brainer!

My opinion is it is not so much a desire to destroy profitable business, as the unemployment rate is obviously a political albatross and I am convinced the President would like it to go away, as much as it is this year long primary campaign the President has run to shore up support amongst his core electorate.

[San Juan Sun]

A couple of tidbits from my dad, who works for Haliburton and coordinates their drilling operations in the Four Corners:

- They are anticipating a big year in 2013 for drilling oil in the Four Corners. They mainly focus on gas wells right now.

- The Four Corners has an over abundance of gas, to the point that the pipelines, and even proposed pipelines, won't be able to keep up with production.

- He works closely with his counterparts in North Dakota. Supposedly the manpower shortage up there is incredible, but the infrastructure to accommodate the existing workforce is insufficient. Halliburton has rented out some hotels near Williston for the next six years for their guys to live in.

None of this is news to people that follow American energy production. I just thought these anecdotes were interesting.

[cougjunkie]

A couple of tidbits from my dad, who works for Haliburton and coordinates their drilling operations in the Four Corners:

- They are anticipating a big year in 2013 for drilling oil in the Four Corners. They mainly focus on gas wells right now.

- The Four Corners has an over abundance of gas, to the point that the pipelines, and even proposed pipelines, won't be able to keep up with production.

- He works closely with his counterparts in North Dakota. Supposedly the manpower shortage up there is incredible, but the infrastructure to accommodate the existing workforce is insufficient. Halliburton has rented out some hotels near Williston for the next six years for their guys to live in.

None of this is news to people that follow American energy production. I just thought these anecdotes were interesting.

My brother in law was working in Vernal and they transferred him to Williston. They actually live in trailers up there because they don't have adequate housing for everyone. (He works for Schlumberger).

[FN Phat]

My brother in law was working in Vernal and they transferred him to Williston. They actually live in trailers up there because they don't have adequate housing for everyone. (He works for Schlumberger).

I know of a few carpenters that live out here that went to the Dakotas to build homes. They can't build cookie-cutter houses quick enough and are paying the carpenters union scale+ and still can't get enough out of the ground. Crazy.

[Surfah]

I know of a few carpenters that live out here that went to the Dakotas to build homes. They can't build cookie-cutter houses quick enough and are paying the carpenters union scale+ and still can't get enough out of the ground. Crazy.

Our cousin is drilling up in the Dakotas right now. Mom says he's making gobs of money.