Water for Oil? You can’t drink Oil.
City News (Moule) has a great an outstanding, in depth article on efforts to extract oil and gas in the Southern Tier.
A natural gas-rich rock formation in the Southern Tier could be New York’s next economic bonanza, but without care it could be an environmental bust.
It’s all thanks to Marcellus Shale.
Scientists and energy companies have known about the formation and its natural gas reserves for decades, but it was always more trouble than it was worth to extract the gas.
Now that energy prices have hit once-unimaginable highs - natural gas prices have increased by about 40 percent in the last five years - the reserves are starting to attract domestic developers.
That’s right - about now we are receiving the R&GE voice your choice for Electricity supplier (notice we have no options for Natural Gas supplier) and the cost of natural gas is incredibly high. So - Drilling for gas in the Southern Tier - Marcellus Shale.
Conceptually, the idea of exploring for oil or drilling in New York is OK by me, but nothing is free and the price to be paid needs to be reasonable and the risk needs to be minimal. There are extreme environmental concerns.
In horizontal drilling, a well is bored deep down into the shale layer, and then across in that same layer, making an L shape. Hydraulic fracturing entails injecting a water-based slurry into the well at high pressure, cracking the rock. The idea is to increase the exposed rock surface in the bore hole, which allows more gas to be collected. In other words, it boosts well productivity and therefore makes the well more economical.
But the method will require large amounts of water - between 1 to 5 million gallons per well.
Environmental watchdogs and the state are concerned about where that water will come from; possibilities include wells, lakes, and streams. Under the DEC’s proposed supplemental environmental review, energy companies that want to drill the shale will have to say where they will get the water when they apply for gas well permits.
See, you drill a well and then pump millions of gallons of water into each well making gas extraction easier. You extract the gas and then you have millions of gallons of waste water to dispose of.
In Pennsylvania, companies have been cited for illegally withdrawing water from streams. Improper withdrawals from streams can seriously impact water levels and flow.
But the issues go beyond water use and withdrawals. There are also questions about what will be done with the used water after drilling and the potential for underground aquifer contamination.
Look - aside from the streams and lakes in the Southern Tier - we are sitting on ~20% of the world’s fresh water supply. Yes, that would be the Great Lakes Basin. The water for this drilling process has to come from somewhere - and, as I said, you can’t drink OIL.
The article contains more, much more - it is balanced and discusses New York’s energy goals, the role of State Government, the effect of cut backs in the DEC, - it is a great read.
My take on Marcellus Shale? Not so fast with the, “drill, baby, drill” mantra.
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This article is good in some ways, but I do not think it takes a strong enough stand, or reveals all of the problems with hydro-fracking. It is not only an environmental issue, but also a public health issue. The chemicals used in the drilling process are highly toxic. Many are carcinogens. And in other states where this form of drilling is taking place, these carcinogens have contaminated ground water and aquifers, and made people sick. The nature of the process makes it completely unsafe, and the waste it produces is impossible to treat. It must be banned before it it too late and our water-which is both essential to life and our greatest natural resource-is poisoned.
thanks Lilly, forgot I wrote this post.
Can’t drink the oil and soon we may not be able to drink the water.
Lilly,
Let me refer you to a more recent post:
http://rochesterturning.com/2010/01/01/the-frac-actmarcellus-shalehaliburton/
We’re just starting to examine this and will have more shortly. We are well aware of the dangers of hydrofracturing, but it is looking like Tom Reed, the Republican contender for NY’s 29th congressional seat thinks we should trust the companies who would be doing the drilling to look out for our best interests. For him, it’s full speed ahead, let’s ramp up the jobs in the southern tier and rape and soil the earth to our heart’s delight.