Fracking
-Fracturing a deep shale layer one time to release natural gas
might pose little risk to drinking-water supplies,
but doing so repeatedly could be problematic
-Anthony Ingraffea,
- All had assembled to help the agency determine whether
fracking, accused of infusing toxic chem- icals and gas into drinking-water sup- plies in various states, is guilty as charged
-Only recently, however, has the technique been combined with a newer technology called directional, or hori- zontal, drilling—the ability to turn a downward-plodding drill bit as much as 90 degrees and continue drilling within the layer, parallel to the ground surface, for thousands of additional feet.
-The chief hurdle is that unlike frack- ing of vertical wells, horizontal fracking requires enormous volumes of water and chemicals. Huge ponds or tanks are also needed to store the chemically laden “flowback water” that comes back up the hole after wells have been fractured.
- Frack- ing may be powerful, but it’s not that powerful—not enough to blow open new fissures through that much rock, con- necting horizontal well bores (called “lat- erals”) to groundwater near the surface.
-the scientists and regulators now trying to answer this complex question have ar- rived a little late. We could have used their research before fracking became a big con- troversy
- The massive in- dustrial endeavor demands a staggering two to four million gallons of water for a single lateral, as well as 15,000 to 60,000 gallons of chemicals; multiply those quan- tities by the number of wells drilled at one site.
might pose little risk to drinking-water supplies,
but doing so repeatedly could be problematic
-Anthony Ingraffea,
- All had assembled to help the agency determine whether
fracking, accused of infusing toxic chem- icals and gas into drinking-water sup- plies in various states, is guilty as charged
-Only recently, however, has the technique been combined with a newer technology called directional, or hori- zontal, drilling—the ability to turn a downward-plodding drill bit as much as 90 degrees and continue drilling within the layer, parallel to the ground surface, for thousands of additional feet.
-The chief hurdle is that unlike frack- ing of vertical wells, horizontal fracking requires enormous volumes of water and chemicals. Huge ponds or tanks are also needed to store the chemically laden “flowback water” that comes back up the hole after wells have been fractured.
- Frack- ing may be powerful, but it’s not that powerful—not enough to blow open new fissures through that much rock, con- necting horizontal well bores (called “lat- erals”) to groundwater near the surface.
-the scientists and regulators now trying to answer this complex question have ar- rived a little late. We could have used their research before fracking became a big con- troversy
- The massive in- dustrial endeavor demands a staggering two to four million gallons of water for a single lateral, as well as 15,000 to 60,000 gallons of chemicals; multiply those quan- tities by the number of wells drilled at one site.