Russ Steele
This first time I heard the word “fracking” was in the oil fields of Wyoming in the 1950s, I had run out of money for college and was taking off the spring semester to build up my bank account. I had been hired as a welders helper and was full of questions about oil and gas production. The contractor was installing gas lines between the well heads and the collection network which took the natural gas to the pumping station.
I noticed that once the drill rig moved to the next location, big red Halliburton or Schlumberger trucks surrounded the well head. I learned that they were “fracking the well.” These big trucks and their giant pumps forced fluids down the well to fracture the rock layers to increase gas production. These wells were still the old fashion vertical wells, the horizontal well technology would come later. The point I am making is that “fracking” has been around for over 50 years.
Horizontal drilling and “fracking” is now making formally unproductive shale formations highly productive sources of natural gas, increasing American natural gas reserves by trillions of cubic feet. Over 250 years of supply at current consumption and know reserves. The Marcellus Shale formation primarily under Pennsylvania and New York, has an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of reserves, it is widely believed to be the second-largest natural gas field ever discovered. Other shale formations are shown on this map.
This is all good news for an energy starved nation. That is is unless you are a global warmer, and you realize that shale gas makes your claims that we are running out of fossil fuel and we must be developing renewables to survive is just a big lie. The problem is these renewables are vastly more expensive than shale gas. So, the going green warmers have decided to demonize shale gas which is dependent on “fracking.” To do this they are charging that “fracking” pollutes the ground water with carcinogens.
Millions of gallons of potentially hazardous chemicals and known carcinogens were injected into wells by leading oil and gas service companies from 2005 to 2009, a report by three House Democrats said Saturday.
The report said 29 of the chemicals injected were known or suspected human carcinogens. They either were regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act as risks to human health or listed as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.
This report was issued by Reps. Henry Waxman of California, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado, all dedicated global warmers. More at msnbc.com
There is a big problem with the report. Fracking takes place 6,000 to 8,000 feet below the water table. See this graphic.
However, warmers have never let the facts or good science get in the way of their social engineering mission. They are not going to let cheap shale gas upset their political and economic apple cart. In the coming year you will see more and more stories about the danger of “fracking” and why it must be stopped. The Democrats and and their environmentalist venture capitalist buddies do not want you have access to cheap shale gas, they have already invested too much money and politics into expensive renewable energy.
Do your home work and do not buy into this latest environmentalist scare. Fracking is below the water table and has been going on for 50 plus years. Only now that it threatens the warmers and their renewable energy investments has it become an environmental problem. Stay Tuned.
