Contains the keyword background
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 Wilson, 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.
Our mission is to explore life beneath the seafloor and make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.
In a provocative 1992 essay, Thomas Gold postulated the existence of a "deep, hot biosphere", supported by geological energy sources. The potential for the oceanic deep biosphere to influence global biogeochemical processes scales with the size of the subseafloor as a habitat.
See: Probe Earth's Interior with Advanced Radiation Sources
The ramifications of a massive buried biosphere of "intraterrestrial microbes" are significant, leading to paradigm shifts in our thinking in the biosciences and geosciences.
"Despite an intense focus on discovering abiotic hydrocarbon sources in natural settings, only a handful of sites convincingly suggest that abiotic organic synthesis occurs within the geosphere...
...The crux of this topic is that currently there is no foolproof approach to distinguishing abiotic versus biotic organic synthesis. Thus, it is especially important to be cognizant of the possibilities and limitations of abiotic hydrocarbon production when considering a deep subsurface biosphere where the organic matter may be synthesized by both abiotic and biotic processes." (Proskurowski, 2010)
See: Life in the Oceans | The Why Files.
See: The Sloan - Deep Carbon Observatory (DCO)
The Deep Carbon Observatory is a program of the Carnegie Institution for Science, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The Sloan - DCO mission includes the fostering of international cooperation in addressing global-scale questions, including the nature and extent of deep microbial life, the fluxes of carbon dioxide from the world's volcanoes, and the distribution and characteristics of deep hydrocarbon reservoirs.
The DCO is currently composed of four science directorates: Deep Life; Reservoirs and Fluxes; Energy, Environment, and Climate; and Physics and Chemistry of Carbon.
Gold, Thomas. The Deep Hot Biosphere : The Myth of Fossil Fuels. New York: Springer | Copernicus, 1998.
Goncharov, Alexander. “Unanswered Questions in Deep Carbon Research” presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting keynote | Sloan Deep Carbon Cycle Workshop, Carnegie Institution, Geophysical Laboratory | Washington, D.C., May 15, 2008. (PDF 4.4 MB)
Proskurowski, G. “Abiogenic Hydrocarbon Production at the Geosphere-Biosphere Interface via Serpentinization Reactions” in Timmis, Kenneth N., ed. Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 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
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.
See: Hearing Set to Shut Down Well Drilling in [Delaware River Basin] Watershed. January 19-26, 2011.
UPDATE: Damascus Citizens. December 16, 2010. e-mail correspondence.
Last week the gas industry withdrew from an important
hearing intended to challenge 14 "test wells" within
the Upper Delaware Watershed region.
The industry withdrew its multiple challenges to our
assertions of the inherent dangers to public health
posed by their drilling activities. At this time we
are reviewing our legal options...
Delaware RiverKeeper Network (DRN), Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS) and Nockamixon Township are co-appellants in Consolidated Administrative Hearings before the Delaware River Basin Commission.
This fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs you.
Dirceted by Daniel Bird.
Music and sound design by Hecq.
See: The Story of Stuff | With Annie Leonard
Tides Foundation is proud to present The Story of Stuff — a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns that calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world.
Narrated and created by activist Annie Leonard, the film tells an engaging story about 'all our stuff' where it comes from and where it goes when we throw it away.
Tides Foundation and The Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption partnered with Free Range Studios to produce the film and the website, www.storyofstuff.com
The website includes faith-based teaching guides.
See: Beach Lake United Methodist Church. "Gas Drilling Discussion (Suggested Agenda for) : Biblical and Theological Considerations".
You can watch the film here:
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.
Independent vibrant, Canadian online magazine based in British Columbia.
Earlier this year at Two Island Lake north of Fort Nelson, two corporations, Encana and Apache, blasted an estimated 5.6 million barrels worth of water along with 111 million pounds of sand and unknown chemicals to fracture apart dense formations of shale over a 100 day period, or what Parfitt calls "the world's largest natural gas extraction effort of its kind."
...Many experts argue that shale gas could retire coal-fired plants or slow down the deployment of wind and solar projects altogether. Others contend that shale formations deplete too quickly to offer secure supplies for the future. At the same time, the "shale gale" has also created abiding controversies about water use, groundwater contamination and the regulation of the industry from Wyoming to Quebec.
Fracture Lines, commissioned by the Program on Water Issues at University of Toronto's Munk Centre, not only sheds light on the scale of development from British Columbia to New Brunswick but highlights industry's largely unregulated water use.
"In the absence of public reporting on fracking chemicals, industry water withdrawals and full mapping of the nation's aquifers, rapid shale gas development could potentially threaten important water resources if not fracture the country's water security," concludes Parfitt. (Parfitt, 2010)
Parfitt, B. Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s Water be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas? Program on Water Issues Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, September 15, 2010.
Frac Trucks... some call them soup trucks, kettle trucks or frack trucks. Some of these tanker trailers are used to haul frac sand or cement for gas well casings. Whatever the name or use of these various trucks, they usually catch your attention when they are parked roadside or travelling down the highway as oversize loads.
All kinds of weird plumbing, pipes and gauges not seen in everyday life. Some carry containers of frac fluids or other devices that you never saw anything quite like before. Equipment used for installing and fracking Marcellus Shale gas wells.
The world’s leading scientists agree that the planet is warming and that human activities—especially the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests—are a big part of the cause.
See: Pew Environment Group: Global Warming
In a 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the international group of scientists charged with reviewing, validating and summarizing the latest research concluded that the warming of the climate system is unequivocal. They stated that it is 90 percent certain that human-generated greenhouse gases account for most of the warming in the past 50 years.
Many published scientific reports have documented the actual observed impacts of a warming planet—including dramatic melting of the Arctic ice cap, shifting wildlife habitats, increased evidence of wildfires, heat waves and more intense storms. Americans are now seeing the impacts of global warming in their backyards. The warming trend poses serious risks to the economy and the environment.
Pew uses two approaches to address climate change: science and policy analysis and advocacy campaigns.
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a leading policy and research institute. It advances debate through analysis, public education and a cooperative approach with business. The center launched in 1998.
The Pew Campaign on Global Warming is aimed at adoption of a national policy to reduce emissions throughout the economy, and the Pew Campaign for Fuel Efficiency seeks more stringent fuel efficiency standards for the nation’s cars and trucks.
See: Global Warming Frequently Asked Questions | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
See: Pew Environment Group (PEG) Factsheet: Industry Opposition to Government Regulation (PDF), October 14, 2010.
