Environment Memo

Wow, we see in the NYTimes, with respect to the DOE’s efforts to examine health effects of hydrofracking: “It would be good to see the subcommittee make recognition of the strong state regulatory system,” said Erik Milito, upstream director at the American Petroleum Institute.

Don’t mess with New York. Now, under the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, an Environmental Impact Statement is required where federal funds are involved. As reported by Courthouse News New York State sued five federal agencies in Federal Court, claiming that plans for “natural gas hydrofracking” in the Delaware River Basin could ruin pristine waters [...]

On hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale and elsewhere, regarding foot-dragging on revealing what chemicals are being injected into the subsurface, Gary Luquette, president of North America exploration and production for Chevron, said it was time for industry to stop dragging its feet on disclosure. “We have used this ‘intellectual property’ issue as a convenient excuse [...]

ClimateProgress nails one fracking bottom line: …. depressed natural gas prices have been blamed for stalling wind, solar PV and solar hot water projects that compete directly with the resource. While a cleaner-burning form of energy like natural gas is much better than burning coal, focusing too heavily on the resource may delay aggressive development [...]

This catchy video from ProPublica video illuminates many, but not all, of the issues surrounding hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus shale and elsewhere:

France is on the way to banning hydrofracking: The French parliament voted in favour of a ban on the controversial practice of extracting shale gas through hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking” Wednesday. The bill still needs to pass before the Senate before it becomes law. … It would be interesting to understand more about how [...]

Natural gas lobbyists are criticizing the Duke-led study slated for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy brings in the best scientists and engineers in the country, so this is no minor publication. How should the gas industry respond? How about sponsoring independent further research along the same lines? [...]

Methane is going to move way faster through the subsurface than will many other compounds, particularly those used in fracking fluids. So, if methane is diffusing or otherwise traveling through the subsurface, other compounds may very well follow, but a far slower rate, possibly taking years or even decades before they show up. There’s a [...]

This could be one to watch.

Maybe this panel appointed by Stephen Chu can compensate for its lack of pollution and pollution control expertise by bringing in some of the right people. It does consist of some fine scientists and environmentalists. And certainly the panel consists of people who are capable of recognizing this lack, and in addressing it they might [...]

Local politics will out, unless there is a federal “bear in the closet.” As an example, we see a new policy at the state Department of Environmental Protection requiring Marcellus shale drilling inspectors to get authorization to issue violations. Enacted March 31 by DEP Secretary Nominee Michael Krancer, the policy requires Marcellus shale inspectors to [...]

May 6, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a Full Committee Field Hearing entitled, ”Pathways to Energy Independence: Hydraulic Fracturing and Other New Technologies” in Bakersfield, CA? The “witnesses” at this hearing appear to be mostly oil and gas PR people, such as one William Whitsitt, Ph.D. who is Devon Energy‘s Executive [...]

Treating fracking water blowback water in the Marcellus shale and elsewhere is getting some press, now from Forbes with an article discussing Osorb, which DOE  tested and found it can remove more than 99 percent of oil and grease from water, and more than 90 percent of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes—also known as BTEX—the volatile [...]

OK, probably not, but how about the Oracle at the Marcellus Shale? It seems the Oracle at Delphi in Greece was explained way back when as being in a trance state … induced by gaseous emissions Now you’re talking! More recently, archaeologists

Maybe someone could patent a tracking fracking fluid. A fracking lawsuit is going on in Canada, with a legal filing stating “As a result, Ms. Ernst’s water is now so contaminated with methane and other chemicals that it can be lit on fire,” said the legal statement. But,

It would be interesting to learn exactly what was in the fracking fluids spilled near Canton, PA, when, as of April 23 Workers stopped the flow of liquid and natural gas from a well that spilled chemical-laced water for two days and were hoping to start on a permanent solution to control the well

While the 2005 Energy Act exempts natural gas drillers, unfortunately,  from many aspects of federal oversight,  gas drilling wastewater that they route to sewage treatment plants (or send to surface waters) is in fact subject to federal control. That’s because individual state’s wastewater treatment discharge programs operate under federal oversight as required by the Clean [...]

I’m sorry, Joe, but your business roots are showing. Your background of course allows you to have opinions, but evaluating hydraulic fracturing, as you’ve done from your pulpit at the NYTimes, is a step into a world of multidisciplinary science and engineering that requires a certain amount of humility (which I’m sure you do have [...]

Why do they call it a “play”?  The real definition (from the OED, below) is revealing. What with nuclear energy going down the tubes, there’s a big focus on gas. (That could be a good thing, because it brings into clear focus needs to understand what is going on with hydrofracking and its environmental consequences.) [...]

The importance of this matter ought not be underestimated by people with concerns about hydrofracking pollution. The EPA has final say-so over  NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) permits, which all sewage treatment plants discharging to surface waters must have. Now, EPA is looking into discharges of fracking wastewater into sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania, [...]

Various energy experts have been propounding the relative merits of natural gas, in light of nuclear energy’s dimming future. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can radically reduce our dependence on all forms of energy, including natural gas, through investments in public transportation, tied to appropriate types of land-use planning. This approach will [...]

This sounds like the beginnings of a rap song: Geologists say it ain’t the hydrofracking That’s got earth rumbling Down in Arkansas. It’s more likely the deep well injection of the Waste fracking fluid. Let me hear it now.

The Buffalo, NY Common Council has banned drilling in the Marcellus shale, in a symbolic, but important grass-roots vote. While Buffalo is where hot wings were invented, they are not winging this one. For example, a SUNY-Buffalo geologist has done some interesting research recently with fracking fluids, showing that when they reacted samples in the [...]

EPA announced a few days ago that its Draft Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources is ready for review (available here as a pdf file). I’m hoping to find time to drill down into it, but so far I’m finding it looks quite good, as far as it [...]

Now the oil drillers are getting in on the fracking act. They are touting the possibility that hydraulic fracturing can economically release oil trapped in rock, as is being done for gas. (Note they’d be doing it even if it wasn’t economical, because down the road, it could be.) Unfortunately, a recent AP article on [...]