An Overview of the Process and Problems of Shale Gas Drilling using Hydraulic Fracturing ('fracking')
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An Overview of the
Process and Problems
of Shale Gas Drilling
using Hydraulic Fracturing
(‘fracking’)
1
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 - 4
The Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 - 8
The Chemicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 - 11
The Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 - 13
Fracking Accidents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 - 18
Pollution and Sickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 - 22
The Dangers to Livestock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 - 25
Effect on Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 - 28
Property and Land Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 - 30
Moratoriums and Bans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 - 33
Local Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 - 36
The Economic Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 - 38
The Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 - 40
Gas, Dirtier then Coal? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41 - 42
The Rhetoric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 - 49
The Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 - 52
Fracking - A Families Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 - 54
Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 - 56
2
Introduction
3
Fracking Comes to Ireland
The Government recently granted exploration licences for “fracking” over 1453 sq. km in
the Lough Allen Basin and 495 sq. km in the Clare Basin, which includes parts of Kerry
and Cork. There are many environmental issues and Irelandʼs current regulatory
framework does not include fracking.
http://ien.ie/2011/fracking-comes-to-ireland/
This is a map of the areas in North West Ireland that Tamboran are planning to drill. As a
resident living in this area, I am very concerned. This prompted me to do a lot of research
and subsequently put together the following document.
In this document I hope to show the process and potential dangers of shale gas drilling
using the method of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The information used here was
researched online and is based on newspaper articles, government studies, scientific
documents and ordinary people. Each piece of information is followed by a URL so
individuals can research further and make up their own minds about this controversial
topic.
Johanna Dunn
Leitrim Resident
4
The Process
5
Method
A hydraulic fracture is formed by pumping the fracturing fluid into the wellbore at a rate
sufficient to increase the pressure downhole to a value in excess of the fracture gradient of
the formation rock. The pressure causes the formation to crack, allowing the fracturing
fluid to enter and extend the crack farther into the formation. To keep this fracture open
after the injection stops, a solid proppant, commonly a sieved round sand, is added to the
fracture fluid. The propped hydraulic fracture then becomes a high permeability conduit
through which the formation fluids can flow to the well.
Drilling the Well
While hydraulic fracturing can be performed in a vertical well, it is generally performed via
horizontal drilling whereby the terminal drillhole is completed as a 'lateral' that extends
parallel with the rock layer containing the substance to be extracted. For example, laterals
extend 1,500 to 5,000 feet in the Barnett Shale basin.
Fracturing
The fluid injected into the rock is typically a slurry of water, proppants, and chemical
additives. Additionally, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon
dioxide and air can be injected. Various types of proppant include silica sand, resin-coated
sand, and man-made ceramics. Sand containing naturally radioactive minerals is
sometimes used so that the fracture trace along the wellbore can be measured. The
composition of injected fluid is changed during the operation of a well over time, that is
initially acid is used to increase permeability, then proppants are used with a gradual
increase in their size and/or density, and at the end the well is flushed with water under
pressure. Injected fluid is to some degree recovered and stored in pits or containers; it can
be toxic due to the chemical additives and material washed out from the ground. It is
sometimes processed so that part of it can be reused in fracking operations, part released
into the environment after treatment, and some left in the geologic formation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing#Drilling
The Shale Gas Pad
Well pads will be placed every 2-4 km (1-2 miles). and may contain up to 16 wells per pad.
These pads will be made of flattened concrete and take up an area of 12 acres per pad.
These pads will require an access road
suitable for heavy trucks and have a 60 ft
drilling tower and 4 flowback containers
(40ftx40ftx15ft) per well as well as a water pit
the size of a soccer pitch. There will be
machinery of various kinds, including tankers,
trucks, pipelines and containers creating a
heavily industrialised zone.
http://frackingfreeireland.org/info-to-download/power-
point-presentation/
A quiet pad
2.5 acre concrete platform, access road, drill, water pit, trucks, containers and heavy
machinery. One every 2-4 km.
6
A pad being fracked
Pumps lined up to produce the 10,000 to 14,000 psi needed to crack the shale.
Satellite maps of production areas
Wells spaced approx 2.5 km apart
7
Gas Drilling Wastewater
Someone may try to convince you that using 6-million gallons of water for fracing one gas
well doesn't amount to a massive amount of water. Even if they are successful in making
that argument, the next topic becomes flowback or brine.
The Municipal Authority of McKeesport accepts 80,000 gallons per day, which is then
mixed with treated sewage and dumped into the Monongahela River upstream from
Pittsburgh.
Somewhere between 20% and 40% of the water used for hydro-fracing a gas well returns
to the surface as flowback, and later as produced water. In addition to the frac fluids added
by the gas drilling companies, this water picks up other contaminants from deep in the
Earth (~ 7,000 feet deep) with one of the most notable ingredients being salt.
These fluids contain sodium and calcium salts, barium, oil, strontium, iron, numerous
heavy metals, soap, radiation and other components. This fluid combination becomes
brine wastewater, and tanker trucks hauling it are labeled with a RESIDUAL WASTE
placard. Treated brine is also sold for deicing and other applications that utilize calcium
chloride, often being applied to roadways.
Brine wastewater is difficult and expensive to treat, one of the same reasons we aren't
using much ocean water for agriculture and residential applications. The saltiness of this
wastewater creates high levels of TDS (total dissoved solids). Incomplete processing of
this brine wastewater, especially when dumped into rivers used for drinking water, creates
a high TDS situation that causes drinking water treatment plants problems, like
Trihalomethanes. High TDS water reacts with chlorine when it is processed creating these
TTHM's.
The gas industry estimates the amount of high-TDS wastewater needing disposal in
Pennsylvania will increase from 9 million gallons per day in 2009 to 20 million gallons per
day by 2011
In other parts of the United States, gas drilling operations dispose of their wastewater deep
in the ground, by using deep injection wells. However, the geology around Marcellus Shale
doesn't lend itself as well to accepting deep injections, so the wastewater gets dumped
back into waterways.
Of course even if the wastewater is processed by an industrial level processing plant, we
are left with serious questions about the frac fluids that remain in processed drinking water.
Drilling companies argue that frac fluids make up a very small percentage of hydro-fracing,
but even using their numbers frac fluids make up 1,500 gallons of a 3-million gallon well
frac. Let's not forget that many wells can be fraced 10-times or more during the life of the
well, to stimulate further gas production.
8
The Chemicals
9
EPA Finds Secret Fracking Chemicals in Drinking Water
The EPA has discovered numerous pollutants in well water near gas drilling sites, including
chemicals that are used in a controversial technique called hydraulic fracturing.
Responding to years of complaints of water contamination and illnesses from citizens in rural
Wyoming, the EPA investigated the water quality of 39 wells surrounding a small community
besieged by gas drilling. The agency found a range of contaminants, including arsenic, copper,
vanadium, and methane gas in the water.
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/10353
Fracking Chemicals Cited in Congressional Report Stay
Underground
The report, by congressional Democrats, lists 750 chemicals and compounds used by 14 oil and
gas service companies to help extract natural gas from the ground..
That list includes 29 chemicals that are either known or possible carcinogens or are regulated by
the federal government because of other risks to human health. Most of the fluids now used in
hydraulic fracturing are left underground when drilling ends.
The amount of fluid that remains in a well varies depending on local geology. In many cases,
particularly in the Marcellus Shale, more than three-quarters of the fluid is left underground.
http://www.propublica.org/article/fracking-chemicals-cited-in-congressional-report-stay-underground/single
Tamboran's claims of chemical free frack fluid challenged by
expert
Dr Anthony R Ingraffea, a professor of engineering at Cornell University in New York, with 30
years experience in rock fracture mechanics, and who worked directly for the world's leading oil
and gas completion company, Schlumberger, rejects Mr Moorman's claims.
"It is highly unlikely that there could be an economically produced shale gas well of the scale
that is commonly being used in the United States, using only water and sand," he told The Anglo-
Celt. "Highly unlikely.
http://www.anglocelt.ie/news/roundup/articles/2011/08/10/4005993-tamborans-claims-of-chemical-free-frack-
fluid
Fractured Logic: The Peril in “Fracking” Chemicals
The quantities of fracking fluids used in a single well contain so much benzene and other toxics
that they could potentially contaminate more than the amount of water New York state
consumes in a day.
http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2010/01/fractured-logic-the-peril-in-“fracking”-chemicals/
10Fracking chemicals, their uses and hazards.
This is a list of just some of the chemicals currently used in fracking fluids in Australia.
Acetic Acid. pH buffer (used to adjust pH).
Extremely corrosive and flammable. It requires special storage and handling considerations.
Glacial acetic acid causes severe chemical burns to eyes and skin.
Boric Acid. Crosslinker to increase viscosity.
Poison. Chronic poisoning occurs in those who are repeatedly exposed to boric acid. Once used
to disinfect and treat wounds, patients who received such treatment repeatedly got sick, and
some died.
Boric Oxide. Crosslinker to increase viscosity.
Causes severe irritation of upper respiratory tract with coughing, burns, breathing difficulty, and
possible coma. May cause kidney injury.
Hydrochloric Acid. Cleaning of the wellbore prior to fracking.
Extremely corrosive. Inhalation of vapour can cause serious injury. Ingestion may be fatal.
Methanol. Surfactant. Used to aid gas flow.
Swallowing even small amounts has potential to cause blindness or death. Repeated exposure
by inhalation or absorption may cause systemic poisoning, brain disorders, impaired vision and
blindness.
Muriatic Acid. Used for cleaning the well bore.
Irritating and corrosive to living tissue. Exposure to higher levels can cause breathing difficulties,
narrowing of the bronchioles, blue colour of the skin, accumulation of fluid in the lungs and
death.
Quaternary Polyamines. Clay control.
Corrosive, dangerous for the environment. Risk of serious damage to eyes. Very toxic to aquatic
organisms.
Sodium Hydroxide. pH buffer.
Causes severe skin and eye burns. May cause blindness; severe and permanent damage to
gastro-intestinal tract. Inhalation may lead to chemical pneumonitis, pulmonary edema.
Possible coma.
Tetramethyl ammonium chloride. Clay control .
May be fatal if swallowed. Causes dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath, severe hypotension,
shock.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FellowFractivists/doc/181393281901614/
11The Traffic
12Public roads will be destroyed, but the taxpayer must pick up
the cost for repairs.
1380 truck trips, with oil-tanker sized trucks, must occur, on average for any one fracking event
for any one well (and there are many fracking events per well). The wear and tear on roads is
tremendous. Drillers are not required to pay for the costs of needed additional road repair since
it is assumed that the taxpayer will foot the bill.
http://gasdrill.org/
Leaked document warns of heavy truck traffic damage linked
to fracking
The N.Y. Dept. of Transportation believes as much as $222 million in damage to local roads could
occur because of the massive influx of heavy truck traffic necessary to operate fracking wells.
http://www.yourlawyer.com/blog/leaked-document-warns-of-heavy-truck-traffic-damage-linked-to-fracking/
Increased Truck Traffic
"If you look at increased truck traffic, for one fracking job you're talking over 1,000 trucks and
each of the wells on those paths can be fracked up to ten times. So 1,000 times 10 for one well
and if there are 10 wells on that path, it's just astronomical the number of trucks coming in and
out," Brown said.
http://observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/554737/No-fracking-way.html?nav=5047
Our look at Road Damage from heavy truck traffic
One Denton, Texas study determined that for all three phases of a gas well -- drilling, fracing, and
maintenance -- approximately 592 one-way truck trips were required per well. Some individual
trucks weighed as much as 80,000 to 100,000 lbs when fully loaded.
http://www.marcellus-shale.us/road_damage.htm
Fatal accident shows dangers of ʻfrackingʼ
The recent and tragic death of former Dallas High School football player John Jones III who was
killed in a collision by a natural gas drilling vehicle from Arizona, driven by a man from Texas
serves to highlight the extreme dangers of “fracking” vehicles and winding, country roads.
Increased traffic brought about by the natural gas drilling industry will inevitably result in more
traffic collisions and passenger cars are no match for heavy trucks in a crash.
http://www.silobreaker.com/fatal-accident-shows-dangers-of-fracking-5_2264779651530358814
13Fracking Accidents
14Fracking Accident Due to Untrained Workers
Untrained personnel and failure to follow proper well control procedures were the main causes
of the June 3 natural gas blowout at a Pennsylvania hydraulic fracturing site, according to the
state’s DEP investigation.
No one was injured in the Pennsylvania accident, but 35,000 gallons of drilling fluids were
released before it was contained the following day.
“Make no mistake, this could have been a catastrophic incident,” Hanger said. “Had the gas
blowing out of this well ignited, the human cost would have been tragic, and had an explosion
allowed this well to discharge wastewater for days or weeks, the environmental damage would
have been significant.”
http://www.americas-watchdog.com/pa-fracking-accident-due-to-untrained-workers/
'Fracking' Accidents Prompt Calls for Oversight
Last week, three spills of potentially carcinogenic hazardous chemicals at a natural gas drilling
site in Pennsylvania prompted the state’s DEP to suspend Cabot Oil & Gas's operations in the
county.
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20090929/fracking-accidents-prompt-calls-oversight
Fracking accident causes Pennsylvania to quarantine 28 cattle
Officials with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture have confirmed the quarantine of 28 cattle,
believing they may have come in contact with drilling fluids from a nearby natural gas well.
The farm owners of the affected livestock first noticed trouble when grass began dying around
pools of water on their land.
http://accident-injury-blog.com/2010/07/08/fracking-accident-causes-pennsylvania-to-quarantine-28-cattle/
35-mile fluid leak: another fracking accident
In what is but the latest in an all-too-long and frequent string of environmental accidents
involving natural gas drilling, a section of highway was closed after a low-boy trailer leaked an
undetermined amount of frack fluid.
According to police the spill extended as far as 35 to 40 miles. Fluid was leaking from one of a
dozen 100-gallon containers on the trailer as it traveled on the highway..
http://www.workers.org/2010/us/fracking_1021/
15Rise in fracking accidents prompts anti-drilling rallies
Contrary to gas drilling industry claims that hydraulic fracturing is “accident free,” Texas-based
XTO Energy has racked up 31 violations at 20 wells drilled in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania
in 2010.
XTO’s latest accident involved a leak of up to 13,000 gallons of chemically contaminated drilling
wastewater that polluted a stream and a spring... The leak was caused by a valve which was left
open.
Accidents like the one in Lycoming County occur at the rate of nearly one a day at wells across
the Marcellus Shale..
A Scripps Howard News Service investigation of the drilling industry over the last decade found
1,972 violations for pollution and contamination in Ohio.
Pennsylvania officials have issued 8,309 industry-related violations since 2007. The Pennsylvania
Land Trust Association found 1,056 serious environmental violations tied to drilling in the shale
between the start of 2008 and Aug. 20 of this year. Gas companies improperly sealed their wells
50 times, potentially causing gas to migrate into groundwater.
http://www.workers.org/2010/us/fracking_1209/
Pennsylvania Fracking Accident: What Went Wrong
Chesapeake Energy erupted late Tuesday, sending thousands of gallons of chemical-laced and
highly saline water spilling from the drill site, heading over containment berms, racing toward a
tributary of a popular trout-fishing stream and forcing seven families nearby to temporarily
evacuate their homes.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/pennsylvania-fracking-accident-what-went-
wrong-5598621
Fracking truck runs off road; contents spill
The driver of a tanker truck hauling liquid used in the Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing
process was forced off a rural Chartiers Township road Wednesday morning and rolled down an
embankment, spilling much of the 5,000 gallons in the tank.
http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/localnews/10-21-2010-fracking-truck-rolls
Do 110 Pennsylvania Legislators Not Read The New York
Times?
Just last month, two major accidents involving trucks carrying fracking wastewater occurred in
Clinton County, Pennsylvania. In the most recent accident, 3,400 gallons of fracking wastewater
leaked out and seeped into the ground. MSNBC reports that neighbors were advised not to drink
their water, and the truck company provided free bottled water instead.
http://desmogblog.com/do-110-pennsylvania-legislators-not-read-new-york-times
16Will Gas Companies Give Up their Fracking Chemical Secrets?
Hours before the explosion of a natural gas line in San Bruno, CA that killed at least six people on
Thursday, the EPA had asked gas companies to release information on the chemicals used in
fracking (which are now exempt from the Clean Water Act and legally allowed to be kept secret).
Reports of water pollution from fracking are on the rise across the country, ranging from
undrinkable water because of contamination to people finding their tap water is flammable.
The San Bruno fire was brought under control by noon on Friday, but so many questions remain,
not least of which is the very identity of chemicals being drilled into the ground.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/gas-companies-fracking-chemical-secrets.html
DEP Notes 5 Violations for Fracking Spills
The state Department of Environmental Protection slapped five environmental violations on a
natural gas drilling company for spilling nearly 8,000 gallons of a toxic mixture..
The violations address two spills at a Cabot Oil & Gas site last Wednesday that had a harmful
chemical - used to produce natural gas - enter a wetland area and a creek running through the
property.
DEP estimated that 7,800 gallons of the fluid discharged out of a broken pipe on two separate
occasions..
In February, the company received a different major violation notice, also pertaining to the Clean
Streams Law, for causing methane to seep into a local drinking water aquifer in the same rural
community..
http://www.wayneindependent.com/news/x1128380990/DEP-notes-5-violations-for-gas-drilling-spill
Group seeks ounce of fracking prevention
Among the dangers associated with fracking, she said, is possible release of explosive gas such
as methane. A house in Bainbridge, Ohio, actually blew up in 2007 because of this.
http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-34453-group-seeks-ounce-of-fracking-prevention.html
DEP Fines M.R. Dirt Inc. $6,000 for Residual Waste Sludge Spill
The Department of Environmental Protection has fined M.R. Dirt Inc. of Towanda, Bradford
County, $6,000 for a residual waste sludge spill last September..
"M.R. Dirt was clearly negligent because a company employee drove away even though he
observed that the seven tons of gas well drilling wastewater sludge had spilled from his vehicle,”..
http://northcentralpa.com/content/environment/dep-fines-mr-dirt-inc-6000-residual-waste-sludge-spill
17Questions remain in gas well accident
An accident at the Mowry hydraulic fracturing well sent three people to the hospital and sparked
an investigation into how the incident occurred.
Although scanner reports from Wyoming County Communications termed the accident an
"explosion," Brian Grove, a representative from Chesapeake Energy Corp., which owns and
operates the well site, insisted that no explosion occurred during the situation. Instead, Grove
explained, what occurred was a "forceful uplift in tubing," which launched sections of tubing
from the well bore into the derrick.
http://thedailyreview.com/news/questions-remain-in-gas-well-accident-1.580356
Drillers admit dumping water in national forest
Two men from a Kansas oil-drilling firm pleaded guilty today to illegally dumping 200,000
gallons of fracking flowback water down an abandoned well in Pennsylvania’s only national
forest.
http://dothemountain.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/drillers-admit-dumping-water-in-national-forest/
DEP Fines Chesapeake Appalachia LLC for Acid Spill
The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Chesapeake Appalachia LLC and
Schlumberger Technology Corp. $15,557 each for a 295-gallon hydrochloric acid spill..
Chesapeake staff notified DEP on Feb. 9 that a 21,000-gallon tank containing 36 percent
hydrochloric acid was leaking. The acid was used for hydraulic fracturing.
When a DEP inspector arrived at the site, it was determined that the tank had two leaks and was
losing about 7.5 gallons per hour of hydrochloric acid. About 126 tons of contaminated soil had
to be excavated, and more than 13,800 gallons of a hydrochloric acid and water mixture were
removed from the well site.
http://northcentralpa.com/content/dep-fines-chesapeake-appalachia-llc-acid-spill
18Pollution and Sickness
19NY Times on natural gas fracking: “The dangers to the
environment and health are greater than previously
understood.”
The documents reveal that the wastewater, which is sometimes hauled to sewage plants not
designed to treat it and then discharged into rivers that supply drinking water, contains
radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal
regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.
Gas has seeped into underground drinking-water supplies in at least five states. Air pollution
caused by natural-gas drilling is a growing threat, too. Wyoming, for example, failed in 2009 to
meet federal standards for air quality for the first time in its history partly because of the fumes
containing benzene and toluene from roughly 27,000 wells, the vast majority drilled in the past
five years.
In a sparsely populated Sublette County in Wyoming, which has some of the highest
concentrations of wells, vapours reacting to sunlight have contributed to levels of ozone higher
than those recorded in Houston and Los Angeles.
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/02/27/207596/natural-gas-fracking-dangers-environment-health/
Barnett Shale: Tests Find Banned Carcinogen in Air Near
Fracking Sites
State air tests in two communities in the Barnett Shale gas patch found strong evidence that a
cancer-causing chemical — banned for most uses for more than 25 years — was used in
hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells, according to a newspaper investigation.
The Denton Record-Chronicle reported Sunday that air tests by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) found levels of 1,2-dibromoethane, or EDB, at least six times since
December 2010 near natural gas facilities. EDB, formerly used as a fumigant pesticide,
was banned by the U.S. EPA in 1983 for all but minor uses after it was found to cause cancer and
reproductive damage. Four of the six detections were over TCEQ’s safe level for long-term
exposure.
http://www.texassharon.com/2011/08/24/barnett-shale-tests-find-banned-carcinogen-in-air-near-fracking-sites/
'Fracking' for natural gas is polluting ground water, study
concludes
Methane levels were 17 times higher in ground water near areas where shale-gas "fracking"
wells had been drilled in Pennsylvania, compared with areas where no gas drilling had occurred,
a new study has found.
Duke University researchers analysed methane gas in 68 private ground-water wells across five
counties in Pennsylvania and New York. The study cited "evidence for methane contamination of
drinking water associated with shale-gas extraction."
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0509/Fracking-for-natural-gas-is-polluting-ground-water-study-
concludes
20New York Gas Drilling Waste is Radioactive
As New York gears up for a massive expansion of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials
have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It's
radioactive. And they have yet to say how they'll deal with it.
The information comes from New York's Department of Environmental Conservation, which
analysed 13 samples of wastewater brought thousands of feet to the surface from drilling and
found that they contain levels of radium-226, a derivative of uranium, as high as 267 times the
limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to
drink.
http://www.dailyyonder.com/new-york-gas-drilling-fracking-out/2009/11/13/2449
Where to put the hydrofracking wastewater?
With an average of approximately 3 million gallons of hydrofracking solution used per frack, and
with an average of 10% of wastewater returning to the surface as flowback wastewater
(approximately 300,000 gallons), there is genuine concern..
This wastewater is unique among municipal and most industrial wastewaters, as it contains
extremely high levels of salts, technically known as total dissolved solids (TDS). The dissolved
solids include substances such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, chlorine, carbonate, and sulfate.
The waste water often has TDS concentrations as high as 300,000 parts per million, or five to six
times greater than the TDS of seawater.
Even a small amount of salt in freshwater can disrupt an ecosystem. Unable to cope with high
salinity levels, freshwater organisms suffer and eventually die. Naturally occurring radioactive
elements are also flushed up in fracking wastewater; Scientific American sources indicate
concentrations as high as 267 times greater than the allowable limit for drinking water.
http://www.museumoftheearth.org/outreach.php?page=92387/846957/910242
No fracking way
"My husband and I didn't know what was going on with our water until we watched this
documentary on HBO called GasLand. After we watched GasLand he went to check our water to
see if it lit on fire and it did," Natalie Brant of Springville said.
Brant later had her water tested and was told not to drink, bathe or wash dishes or clothes in the
water. Brant is frightened for the health of her eight children.
http://observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/554737/No-fracking-way.html?nav=5047
21Life's not a gas when you live near the wells.
The mayor of Dish in Texas, Calvin Tillman, decided to leave town when his sons repeatedly woke
up at night with mysterious nosebleeds. Tillman had spent his time in office fighting to regulate
natural gas companies that have drilled 60 fracking wells into shale. But when his 5-year-old son
awoke with a severe nosebleed in the middle of a night filled with strong odours from the wells,
he had no choice but to leave.
“He had blood all over his hands, blood on the walls, our house looked somewhat like a murder
scene,” he said. Nosebleeds reported by many residents living near the thousands of wells dotted
around the American landscape are just one reason why fracking is under intense government
scrutiny in the US.
http://www.gasandoil.com/news/features/c18ef7e45f5cc9da78cb43d39d268832
22The Dangers to Livestock
23Oil and gas impacts on livestock health
A veterinarian in western Colorado has been observing health changes in livestock, including
goats, pigs and cattle, that are kept near natural gas production activities. She is particularly
concerned about reproductive changes, including unexplained, dramatic increases in birth
defects, stillbirths, and reduced fertility, where she has ruled out other potential medical causes
through testing. One hog farmer estimates his losses at more than $50,000. We also wrote about
Rick Roles, who observed reproductive changes in his horses and goats, and ranchers in New
Mexico who have lost cattle that were exposed to oil and gas waste.
Other parts of the country are now reporting livestock impacts from oil and gas production. Oil
and gas chemicals are suspected as the cause of the deaths last week of 16 cattle in Louisiana. A
Pennsylvania farmer is concerned about the recent deaths of four cattle. A farmer in Arkansas
told me about her concerns that natural gas production is the cause of death and other health
effects in her cows. Almost 25% of her cattle died when kept in a pasture where three wells were
drilled above the water source - a loss of over $35,000. She has also observed stillbirths, birth
defects, and drastic reductions in milk production. Tests indicated lead, arsenic, barium and
other heavy metals that are above safe levels in their soil and water. A goat farmer in Oklahoma
who is located across the road from oil and gas activities told me that her goats stopped
producing milk; she sold them all and her farm is now in foreclosure.
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amall/oil_and_gas_impacts_on_livesto.html
Fracking With Food: How the Natural Gas Industry Poisons
Cows and Crops
On the morning of May 5, 2010, nobody could say for sure how much fluid had leaked from the
650,000-gallon disposal pit near a natural gas drill pad in Penn. -- not the employees on site; not
the farmers who own the property; not the DEP rep who came to investigate.
Vegetation had died in a 30’ by 40’ patch of pasture nearby. A “wet area” of indeterminate toxicity
had crept out about 200 feet, its puddles shimmering with an oily iridescence. And the cattle: 16
cows, four heifers and eight calves were all found near water containing the heavy metal
strontium. Since slaughtering 28 cattle on mere suspicion can devastate a farmer financially,
nobody knows what, if anything, the cows ingested. They're now sitting in quarantine.
“I’ve already heard from a couple of customers that they’re concerned about the location of a
drill site near my farm – in terms of the quality and safety of my food,” said Greg Swartz, a farmer
in Pennsylvania’s Upper Delaware River Valley. Swartz, who sells all his products locally, fears that
leaked fracking fluid could seep into his soil, bioaccumulate in his plants and cost him his
organic certification. “There very well may be a point where I am not comfortable selling
vegetables from the farm anymore because I’m concerned about water and air contamination
issues,” he said.
Without healthy pasture, Jaffe said, his cows won’t grow. Which means his beef won’t sell. “The
economics of my operation are in part based on how many animals I can graze per acre and get
them to grow fat,” he told me. “And if I have less grass and less protein and less clover, then I have
a problem.
http://www.marcellusprotest.org/node/51
24"No fracking way" in N.Y.
Rotting carcasses of fish, birds, cattle and deer follow fracking sites wherever they may go.
Recently, wastewater from a Marcellus drilling site along the Pennsylvania/West Virginia border
was linked to the mass death of 10,000 fish.
http://www.innworldreport.net/inn/index.php?
option=com_lyftenbloggie&view=entry&year=2011&month=07&day=06&id=11:qno-fracking-wayq-in-
ny&Itemid=77
25Effects on Tourism
26Gas Drilling Turning Quiet Tourist Destination into Industrial
Town
Even though Montrose is nowhere near the beaten track, diligent and dedicated organisers put
the town on the local map by drawing flocks of visitors to popular annual events such as the
Fourth of July parade and festivals celebrating the apple and blueberry harvests, as well as the
production of wine and chocolate.
Committee volunteers have played off the success of Montrose's signature happenings by
focusing on attracting and retaining an organic restaurant, book shop, health food store and
farmers market. Several years prior, members of the Organization had noticed their county's
natural resources, hard by the New York State border, were attracting a different type of resident.
Vibrant young people intent on making their living off the land had started to migrate to this
area with the nickname "Endless Mountains" that reflects its continuous up and down
geography.
Recognising this influx, Susan Griffis McNamara started stocking organic seeds and other
affiliated paraphernalia for these small-scale growers at the hardware store side of her business
that has been in the family for four generations. Other merchants followed suit.
Now, however, Senick, McNamara and other committee members fear narrow rural roadways
clogged with the never-ending grind of drilling-related trucks, and landscapes marred with gas
wells, will be a turnoff to tourists and artisan farmers.
Such extreme uneasiness with risk that has unfolded in places such as Montrose is a familiar tune
to Terry Bossert, the vice president of government affairs for Chief Oil and Gas.
Unlike most industry insiders, he blames both gas companies and anti-drilling advocates for
what he classifies as a lack of candor and balance in their respective arguments. When asked to
comment further on his hypothesis at an April seminar on hydraulic fracturing at the
Environmental Law Institute, he offers up a refreshingly blunt assessment.
"The industry makes [people] believe we'll show up some day," he tells attendees at the
Washington gathering. "By using 'the force' we'll get the gas out of the ground. You'll never know
we're here. Everyone will have jobs and everything will be hunky-dory."
"Well, no, actually what we're going to do is we're going to move in with mobile industrial
plants," he continues. "And we’re going to move them around all throughout your
neighborhood. And if you lived on a road that the only truck that ever went by was the guy
delivering fuel oil to your neighbor, well, that ain't going to be the way it is anymore. For a while,
while we're drilling wells there are going to be a whole lot of trucks going past your house. And
you're not going to like that."
http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110517/fracking-pennsylvania-natural-gas-drilling-marcellus-shale
27Reporterʼs Notebook: Industry Vs. Tourism
The Tioga Central Railroad, a quaint, old fashioned train station tourists flock to every summer.
The company provides scenic train rides in antique cars, and offers specials like the “Ice Cream
Express,” “Happy Hour Express” and dinner-themed trips, where people can roll through Tioga
County’s green hills enjoying the views and the food.
These days, though, tourists have to navigate around industrial trucks and dodge freight cars to
make it to the train station. They need to drive down a road warped by the heavy trucks that
rumble over it every day. A few hundred yards away from the station, along the same rail line, a
major sand depot has sprung up. Freight trains haul in the sand, which gets loaded into tall silos.
Trucks drive underneath, fill their hauls up with sand, and bring it to drilling sites, where the sand
goes into hydraulic fracturing fluid.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2011/07/07/reporters-notebook-industry-vs-tourism/
Baseball Hall of Fame Opposes Fracking in Cooperstown
The Hall, as baseball fans commonly refer to it, recently decided to back the Cooperstown
Chamber of Commerce who established a resolution against fracking back in February by
officially condemning it. The baseball museum, which is in the middle of the Marcellus Shale
region in Otsego County, NY, is concerned about preserving the beauty of Cooperstown, as well
as its legacy as a tourist destination.
“Like the Chamber of Commerce and virtually every other area business, the Museum concludes
that hydrofracking could present an unacceptable risk to the local environment, the economy
and the quality of life for both local residents and tourists.”
The Hall’s announcement emphasizes how the tourism industry in the region would be affected
by fracking’s negative impact. Approximately two million tourists visit Cooperstown every year.
There is tremendous power in dollars, so when businesses are affected, people pay attention.
And they talk… And the word spreads…
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/blogs/baseball-hall-of-fame-opposes-fracking-in-cooperstown/
28Property and Land Values
29Fracking vs. Land Values
Gas leases are generally not acceptable by home mortgage lenders or the FHA. This applies to
anyone where drilling takes place under or near their land, even if there is no well pad on their
land. NY State title insurance is not available if the property is used for gas drilling, a commercial
activity.
Potential home buyers are being negatively influenced by media coverage. They fear toxic
fracking fluids, air pollution, radioactivity, damaged roads and round the clock noise. They are
not going to take the chance of moving to an area where property prices may drop forcing taxes
to rise on those who remain.
The bottom line is that with fracking you won’t be able to sell your land or home unless it’s for
cash. A buyer who needs a mortgage will be out of luck. An owner who needs a home equity or
improvement loan will be shut out. This will drive down home and land prices.
http://www.watershedpost.com/2011/letter-editor-fracking-vs-land-values
Fracking Could Seriously Affect Karooʼs Property Values
The Minister of Water Affairs and Environment will have the power to hold the landowner
completely responsible for any contamination of the soil or water on his property. This will apply
whether or not the owner was responsible for the contamination and even if the owner only
took possession of the property recently.
“The Act could have very serious consequences for South African property values in the areas
alleged to be contaminated. If contamination has occurred or is rumoured to have occurred, it
could have a negative impact on the value of properties throughout the area in which the
contamination is suspected, as new owners could be liable for the bill for both the investigation
and the clean-up operations.”
Watson said, too, that it would be an offence under the law to transfer any contaminated land to
a new owner without informing the purchaser of the contamination and it would be an even
more serious offence, punishable with a fine of R5 million or five years imprisonment, not to
inform the Minister of any known contamination on any property of which you are the owner.
http://gunstons.com/fracking-could-seriously-affect-karoos-property-values-says-attorney/
Frackings Reciepe of Death
It was also found that fracking had had a devastating impact on property prices in areas of
Pennsylvania where it had taken place, with one farmer spoken to saying property values had
dropped by 80%. He had to sell his whole dairy herd and wanted to get out, but could not sell
his land.
http://theweekendpost.com/2011/07/18/frackings-recipe-of-death/
30Moratoriums and Bans
31France Bans Fracking
The French Parliament has voted 287-146 to ban hydraulic fracturing or fracking, a crucial part of
the shale gas extraction process that activists say is harmful to the environment, according to
France24.
http://www.businessinsider.com/france-bans-fracking-2011-5
New South Wales Bans Fracking
The French have turned their back on it. Permanently. And now the NSW government has
temporarily frozen the use of fracking for extracting coals seam gas.
http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/nsws-fracking-ban-where-now
Minister Confirms Ban on Fracking in Quebec
Nathalie Normandeau, Quebec's natural resources minister, announced Wednesday that the
province would no longer authorize hydraulic fracturing operations in the province in the hunt
for oil and gas.
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=6c0f3da4-
f4d1-4b86-99e3-4d0b91cbe46b
South African Cabinet Endorses Fracking Moratorium
Cape Town - The cabinet has endorsed the decision by the mineral resources department to
invoke a moratorium on licences in the Karoo Basin where "fracking" is proposed.
http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Cabinet-endorses-fracking-moratorium-20110421
Governor Puts A One Year Moratorium On Fracking In NJ
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie imposed a one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for
natural gas in the state, pending more research into its safety.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bans-on-natural-gas-fracking-spread-2011-8
Fracking Halted In U.K. Fearing Possible Earthquake
Connection
A mining company has halted drilling for shale gas in England after scientists said two small
earthquakes might be linked to the controversial process, known as "fracking."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/01/cuadrilla-resources-fracking-uk-earthquake_n_869594.html
32Fracking Banned in George Washington National Forest
Horizontal drilling and fracking has been prohibited in the George Washington National Forest,
which houses the entire headwater network of streams supplying the North Fork of the
Shenandoah River, and a major portion of the headwaters of the South Fork of the Shenandoah
River.
The decision to ban fracking came from the Forest Service, which cites fracking’s potential to
impact drinking water as reason for banning the practice.
http://coalseamgasnews.org/?p=1310
NY Assembly Extends Fracking Ban for Another Year
The New York State Assembly on Monday passed a one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing,
a method of natural gas drilling already under a temporary ban in the state due to concerns that
it might pollute drinking water.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/06/us-newyork-fracking-idUSTRE7556RR20110606
Fracking Banned in Buffalo
First Ban on Fracking in New York; Legislation Also Targets Wastewater
Citizens and clean water advocates heralded the Buffalo Common Council’s move to become the
first city in New York State—and the second major city nationwide—to ban hydraulic fracturing
for natural gas. The Common Council passed “Buffalo's Community Protection from Natural Gas
Extraction Ordinance” today by a 9-0 vote, following months of citizen lobbying by Frack Action
Buffalo, a local grassroots group.
http://www.growwny.org/whats-new/485-hydro-fracking-banned-in-buffalo
33Local Opinion
34"Tamboran is giving false promises and can subcontract the actual fracking to another company
who have not made the no chemical pledge. The process will kill fish, burn the ground and
destroy tourism." - Leitrim County Councillor Gerry Dolan (ID)
"What we are facing is outrageous. This area has the richest heritage in Europe and this will ruin
our heritage tourism. I will fight with other councillors to ban this process." - Mayor of
Roscommon Cllr Eugene Murphy (FF)
"Although fracking might bring in a once off €15B to the economy, agriculture brings in €24B
every year." - Independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan (ID)
"It is illegal to put poison in someones tea, but not to put it in the rivers and seas. Why should we
give a multinational [company] a resource that belongs to Ireland? The people need to stand up
and be counted. They might think that in Leitrim we are poor, and maybe we are – but we are
not cheap and we will not be bought off." - Leitrim Councillor Martin Kenny (SF)
www.leitrimobserver.com
If we can not show that the safety of the people and the environment can be safeguarded, then
fracking should be banned. - An Taisce (National Trust for Ireland)
http://www.antaisce.org/transportenergy/Fracking.aspx
"I have been in contact with Mr Moorman to seek a meeting with him to discuss a number of
[these] points and to outline my overall opposition to these plans; this is a very risking process
and there is a huge chance that it will all go wrong, causing untold damage to our local
environment and our economy, particularly the farming and tourism sector."- Phil Flanagan Sinn
Féin MLA for Fermanagh & South Tyrone
http://dearcadheile.blogspot.com/2011/08/flanagan-to-meet-tamboran-over-fracking.html
Corralea Activity Centre Ltd. are making a stand against Fracking in the Cavan and West
Fermanagh area. We are campaigning to make people aware of what “Fracking” is and the effects
it has on the land and water systems.
http://www.activityireland.com/no-fracking/
Aside from sand and chemicals, the process uses phenomenal amounts of water forced at high
pressure into the wells. This part of the process, even if all else is proven safe, will be difficult to
justify in Ireland - a country with water shortages which with climate change will likely increase. -
An Taisce (National Trust for Ireland)
http://www.antaisce.org/transportenergy/Fracking/TechnicalReview.aspx
"such exploration and extraction has the potential for grave environmental damage and danger
to human health and safety. We have seen in north Mayo the conflict that can arise when such
developments, with the potential risks involved, are imposed on local communities. Once again
in these instances, there has been no proper in-depth consultation with local communities who
may be effected by this prospecting and possible extraction of gas.”
“If Fine Gael and Labour think that people will roll over and just accept the current situation they
are sadly mistaken. If they insist on continuing this process they will meet fierce resistance, just
as Shell and the government have faced for the past ten years in north Mayo.” - éirígí Sligeach
activist Gerry Casey
http://www.sligotoday.ie/printable.php?id=15068&PHPSESSID=d162d6ed06e19d08cf6791a7e77c4113
35"I am concerned that the companies who have been licensed to explore gas fields in the
Fermanagh and Leitrim areas will use a technique called 'fracking'.
"This technique has caused major controversy, with several countries banning the procedure and
a similar drilling process being stopped last month in England due to concerns it may have
triggered earth tremors. The process has also been claimed to cause major environmental
damage to surrounding lands and rivers. - Phil Flanagan Sinn Féin Assembly member for
Fermanagh and South Tyrone
http://dearcadheile.blogspot.com/2011/06/concerns-raised-over-fracking-drilling.html
"What is the point of tourist boards spending millions promoting a resource when a
company can ruin all of this?" - Kevin Curried Lough Allen Adventure Centre
"The fracking license will be given unless a backlash is felt. Politicians should know about
this, otherwise they are criminally neglect." - Des Guckian Concerned Resident
"I told people to take the promise with the same pinch of salt as Enda Kenny's promise to
keep Roscommon Hospital A&E open...its not worth a fig!" - Phil Appleby Leitrim
Business Owner
"Aside from the pointless argument of chemicals or no chemicals, lets consider the loss of
agricultural land, the horrific visual impact, traffic congestion in every town in the county,
the potential flowback of radon, radium and methane from gas wells and the inevitability of
water pollution. Our answer remains the same. No Tamboran, no hydraulic fracturing!" -
Mary Rose Geoghegan Concerned Resident
"We should not destroy our land for short term gain." - Aedin McLoughlin B.Sc., Ph.D.
Leitrim Resident
"I live in the danger zone and it is terrifying. The benefit of this process will just be a blip in
our history. Would you risk the lives of your family for €20? There needs to be a national
debate, and at the very least the Government should have a moratorium." - Terry
McDermott Concerned Resident
www.leitrimoberver.com
36The Economic Truth
37Insiders Sound an Alarm Amid a National Gas Rush
Natural gas companies have been placing enormous bets on the wells they are drilling, saying
they will deliver big profits and provide a vast new source of energy for the United States.
But the gas may not be as easy and cheap to extract from shale formations deep underground as
the companies are saying, according to hundreds of industry e-mails and internal documents
and an analysis of data from thousands of wells.
In the e-mails, energy executives, industry lawyers, state geologists and market analysts voice
skepticism about lofty forecasts and question whether companies are intentionally, and even
illegally, overstating the productivity of their wells and the size of their reserves.
“Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an
analyst from PNC Wealth Management, an investment company, wrote to a contractor in a
February e-mail. “Reminds you of dot-coms.”
“The word in the world of independents is that the shale plays are just giant Ponzi schemes and
the economics just do not work,” an analyst from IHS Drilling Data, an energy research company,
wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 28, 2009.
The data show that while there are some very active wells, they are often surrounded by vast
zones of less-productive wells that in some cases cost more to drill and operate than the gas
they produce is worth. Also, the amount of gas produced by many of the successful wells is
falling much faster than initially predicted by energy companies, making it more difficult for
them to turn a profit over the long run.
The e-mails were obtained through open-records requests or provided to The New York Times by
industry consultants and analysts who say they believe that the public perception of shale gas
does not match reality;
A former Enron executive wrote in 2009 while working at an energy company: “I wonder when
they will start telling people these wells are just not what they thought they were going to be?”
He added that the behavior of shale gas companies reminded him of what he saw when he
worked at Enron.
Still, in private exchanges, many industry insiders are skeptical, even cynical, about the industry’s
pronouncements. “All about making money,” an official from Schlumberger, an oil and gas
services company, wrote in a July 2010 e-mail to a former federal regulator about drilling a well
in Europe, where some United States shale companies are hunting for better market
opportunities.
“Looks like crap,” the Schlumberger official wrote about the well’s performance, according to the
regulator, “but operator will flip it based on ‘potential’ and make some money on it.”
“Always a greater sucker,” the e-mail concluded.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/us/26gas.html?_r=3&pagewanted=1
38The Jobs
39Shell admits to packed hall… (fracking) jobs are mainly for
skilled labour.
When pressed on this Golder and Shell conceded that most jobs connected with the natural gas
mining would be skilled and not likely to be sustainable for any significant period of time that
could benefit the unemployed and unskilled Karoo people.
http://sweettorque.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/shell-admits-to-packed-hall-fracking-jobs-are-mainly-for-skilled-
labour/
Hydrofracking = dangerous jobs
There’s no doubt about our need for them, but we’ll believe even known liars if they just whisper
“jobs!” in our hopeful ears.
So here’s the siren song again: JOBS! …in one of the most dangerous businesses there is: gas and
oil. Just ask the people who are defending those who have suffered unimaginable loss trying to
earn a living in gas and oil: Oil and Gas Accidents
People employed in the oil and gas industry are subject to some of the most hazardous
industrial conditions in the US. Serious injuries occur to even the most experienced oil and gas
workers and the severity and duration of injuries, with recovery times that are nearly twice as
long, are far worse than in other industry sectors.
Nearly half of all fatal injuries were attributed to highway motor-vehicle crashes and workers
being struck by machinery or equipment. Gas explosion injuries, fires, chemical burns and
dangerous falls or falling objects or equipment– workers are often hit on the head or back by
tools or equipment—are just a few of the dangers occurring on a regular basis in the oil and gas
industry.
http://walkeastwood.org/hydrofracking-dangerous-jobs/
"No fracking way" in N.Y.
PROPONENTS OF fracking say it will create jobs. But recent reports show that energy companies
have been exaggerating the amount of gas under the U.S. and its profitability, leading to fears
that the so-called "gas boom" could go the way of the "housing boom." While drilling operations
will create jobs, including many that entail transporting and disposing of toxic substances, many
others will be eliminated, particularly in agriculture.
http://www.innworldreport.net/inn/index.php?
option=com_lyftenbloggie&view=entry&year=2011&month=07&day=06&id=11:qno-fracking-wayq-in-
ny&Itemid=77
40Gas, Dirtier then Coal?
41Fracking leaks may make gas 'dirtier' than coal
While natural gas has been touted as a clean-burning fuel that produces less carbon dioxide
than coal, ecologist Robert Howarth warns that we should be more concerned about methane
leaking into the atmosphere during hydraulic fracturing.
Natural gas is mostly methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas, especially in the
short term, with 105 times more warming impact, pound for pound, than carbon dioxide (CO2),
Howarth said, adding that even small leaks make a big difference. He estimated that as much as
8 percent of the methane in shale gas leaks into the air during the lifetime of a hydraulic shale
gas well -- up to twice what escapes from conventional gas production. He noted that the
hydraulic fracturing process lends itself to more leakage because it takes more time to drill the
well, requires more venting and produces more flowback waste, he said.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-fracking-leaks-gas-dirtier-coal.html
Natural Gas Industry Rhetoric Versus Reality
Although gas burns cleaner than coal and oil, the extraction, the processing and transport of
natural gas emit large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG). Methane has a
global warming potential 21 times greater than carbon dioxide on a 100-year scale, and 72 times
greater than carbon dioxide on a 20-year scale. A recent, ongoing Cornell analysis suggests the
footprint of shale gas may be 1.2 to 2.1-fold greater than coal’s on a 20-year timeframe.
Recently the EPA drastically increased estimates of methane leakage from the natural gas
industry. The revised figures estimate emissions from unconventional natural gas operations at
9,000 times higher than previous estimates. Yet, due to inadequate data regarding
unconventional natural gas extraction from resources such as shale gas, the EPA maintains that
these revised figures likely underestimate the total amounts.
Professor Robert Howarth and colleagues from Cornell University, using EPA estimates of
methane leakage from natural gas operations, puts natural gas ahead of coal in terms of GHG
emissions. The EPA recently estimated that fugitive methane from the petroleum and natural gas
sector equals the annual equivalent of 40 million passenger cars.
http://www.desmogblog.com/natural-gas-industry-rhetoric-versus-reality
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