Gas Drilling Background and History
The Barnett Shale and Marcellus Shale have similar geological properties.
The Barnett Shale is known as a "tight" gas reservoir, indicating that the gas is not easily extracted. The shale is very hard, and it was virtually impossible to produce gas in commercial quantities from this formation until recent improvements were made in hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling, and there was an upturn in the natural gas price.
Future development of the field will be hampered in part by the fact that major portions of the field are in urban areas, including the rapidly growing Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Some local governments are researching means by which they can drill on existing public land (e.g., parks) without disrupting other activities so they may obtain royalties on any minerals found, whereas others are seeking compensation from drilling companies for damage to roads caused by overweight vehicles (many of the roads are rural and not designed for use by heavy equipment). In addition, drilling and exploration have generated significant controversy.
See the Notes and External Links on this Ft. Worth, Texas Shale deposit using fracking since 2005.
Also see Sharon Davis, Bluedaze Blog.
Please note that information taken from Wikipedia should be verified using other, more reliable sources. It is a good place to start research, but because anyone can edit Wikipedia, we do not recommend using it in research papers or to obtain highly reliable information.
See the true cost of gas!
Natural gas is just another dirty fossil fuel. for more info see: Bluedaze
A [Barnett Shale] drilling rig operating for 3 months has the same impact as a city of 4,000 people—water use, solid waste generation, air emissions and traffic.
~David Burnett, Dir. Global Petroleum Research Institute
Digital landscape of the pristine Upper Delaware Watershed - before and after gas drilling.
A slow quiet simulated time lapse on what can happen to the scenic Delaware watershed as gas drilling proceeds in Pennsylvania.
Molly Ivins has written about how the EPA was virtually dismantled as the Bush-Cheney administration handed over the role of oil and gas regulation to the oil and gas industry. While Governor of Texas, Bush allowed Texas industry to voluntarily comply with Federal Clean Air Regulations. Of the hundreds of Texas companies that might have volunteered, according to Ivins, only three did.
Bushwhacked by Molly ivins offers a critique of the presidency of George W. Bush, describing how the same flawed policies he used to govern Texas have affected health and safety standards, the economy, and the environment.
Paul Krugman. Strictly Business. Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush’s America
Chapter 9 of Bushwhacked, by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, entitled “Dick, Dubya, and Wyoming Methane,” tells you all you need to know about the Bush Interior Department.
We learn, in particular, that J. Steven Griles, the deputy secretary—and probably the real power in the department—has spent his career shuttling back and forth between being a government official and lobbying for the extractive industries.
And he has never worried much about ethical niceties—little things like recusing himself from decisions that affect his former clients. Moreover, Griles isn’t likely to be disciplined, even when he brazenly supports industry interests over the judgments of government experts.
After all, just about every other senior official at Interior, including Secretary Gale Norton, has a similar résumé. So it’s a very good bet that the new rules on mining-waste disposal don’t reflect a careful economic analysis of the pros and cons...
See: Ed Swartz: The Grass Isn't Growing
See: Stripping the West, a NOW Converstion with Bill Moyers.
See C-Span Book TV Oct. 2, 2004. Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America. Chapter: "Dick, Dubya, and Wyoming Methane." (152)
This video shows a Grandfather changing the water filter on his well water in Prenter, WV. Coal Waste has been injected into abandoned underground mines near his house. See sludgesafety.org for more info on coal slurry.
Hydrofracking involves storing gas underground and disposing of fracking sludge in abandoned mines, both a potential threat to groundwater.
See Aurora Lights article on Coal Mining's effect on clean water in West Virginia.
By Sabrina Shankman and Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica - February 19, 2010.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif.
"Two of the largest companies involved in natural gas drilling have acknowledged pumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of diesel-based fluids into the ground in the process of hydraulic fracturing , raising further concerns that existing state and federal regulations don't adequately protect drinking water from drilling."
Source: Energy and Commerce Committee Investigates Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing
Decreasing our dependence on foreign, using clean energy and bringing jobs to poor US communities are all good reasons to drill for natural gas. In fact, gas drilling is experiencing a boom around the United States from Pennsylvania to Colorado. However, the people of Dimock, PA are experiencing the unfortunate side effects, their water is being contaminated!
Cornell University Cooperative Extension. Landowner Information. Links to Landowner Coalitions, Key Points for Property Owners, Gas Rights and Right-of-Way Leasing Considerations for Farms. Woodlands, and more.
See also: Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE): Natural Gas Resource Center
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability is a grassroots group in Damascus, PA. located within the Upper Delaware Basin Watershed.
Site includes excellent links to petition sites, working activist organizations, experts, environmental lawyers, blogs, photographs, and primary documents inlcuding transcripts to testimonials covering the brief history of gas drilling in the U.S..
Dusty Horwitt. (2009). "Drilling Around the Law Report." Environmental Working Group. 24 pages.
Contains extensive bibliography.
Companies that drill for natural gas and oil are skirting federal law and injecting toxic petroleum distillates into thousands of wells, threatening drinking water supplies from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. Federal and state regulators, meanwhile, largely look the other way.
--The mission of the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. EWG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles. Includes the EWG Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) organization that advocates on Capitol Hill for health-protective and subsidy-shifting policies.
Joaquin Sapien and Sabrina Shankman. December 29, 2009 ProPublica.
"Environmentalists, state regulators and even energy companies agree that the problem most likely to slow natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale in New York is safely disposing of the billions of gallons of contaminated wastewater the industry will produce."
Wyoming rancher Ed Swartz is feeling the affects of environmental de-regulation. Hear his story.
Ed Swartz
Gillette, WY
Added: January 18, 2009
Co-Presenting Sponsor: The Fledgling Fund supports the creation and dissemination of innovative media projects that can play critical roles in igniting social change.
The Fledgling Fund believes that film and other creative media can often demonstrate what statistics can not, can create broad understandings of social problems, and can inspire both civic dialogue and concrete action.
1976 video clip of M King Hubbert speaking about world oil depletion and explaining the concept of peak oil.
See article on the Energy Policy Act (2005).
Summary Points:
EPA’s central authority to protect drinking water is drawn from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
The SDWA requires EPA to set legal limits on the levels of certain contaminants in drinking water.
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) also requires EPA to protect underground sources of drinking water (USDWs) from contamination caused by underground injection.
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§1421 provides minimum standards for underground injection.
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§1422 provides for state primary enforcement authority.
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§1425 provides for alternative showing of effectiveness of program by state Underground Injection Control (UIC) Programs (Oil and Gas wells only).
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§1431 contains provisions to address imminent and substantial endangerment.
Activities not regulated under Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Provisions for UIC (Sections 1421, 1422, and 1425).
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Oil and gas production activities.
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Hydraulic fracturing (except use of diesel) per 2005 Energy Policy Act.
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Natural gas storage.
States may choose to regulate these activities.
Surface water discharges are regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
- Threats to water quality
- Inadequate regulation of hydraulic fracturing (including the Halliburton loophole)
- Hydraulic fracturing 101
- More facts, news, other information
Hydraulic fracturing is a common technique used to stimulate the production of oil and natural gas. Typically, fluids are injected underground at high pressures, the formations fracture, and the oil or gas flows more freely out of the formation. Some of the injected fluids remain trapped underground.
A number of these fluids, such as diesel fuel, qualify as hazardous materials and carcinogens, and are toxic enough to contaminate groundwater resources. Read more details in the Oil and Gas Accontability Project's (OGAP) basic primer on hydraulic fracturing.
Washington, D.C. based environmental advocacy group. Website includes link to video, Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination, from Democracy Now! It includes an interview with ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten. 9/3/09.
Binghamton University. (2009). This research guide provides online, print, and database suggestions to research Marcellus Shale gas drilling. Last updated July 13, 2010.
Geology.com. Marcellus Shale - Appalachian Basin Natural Gas Play. New research results surprise everyone on the potential of this well-known Devonian black shale. Super Giant Field in the Appalachians? Includes charts and diagrams.
Fredericks, Carrie. 2007. Natural gas. Fueling the future. Detroit [Mich.]: Greenhaven Press. Discusses advantages and disadvantages of using natural as an energy supplier.
