Fracking cheap source of fuel or environmental nightmare?

So what is fracking anyway?

Sounds like fun! What's all the fuss about?

So does fracking contaminate groundwater or not?

For the full story see the linked BBC news article below
Fracking contamination downplayed

Remember those earthquakes that killed 185 people in Christchurch last year? Guess what's happening there?


Water pollution in the Canterbury region is already a massive environmental issue because of run-off from dairy farming.

I honestly don't know what our government is thinking, and I don't know how to react except shouting, "What the fuck!?" all the time.

Aw come on guys all of those synthetic glycol esters contaminating the Wyoming water supply are totally naturally-occurring. It's time to sue Mother Nature for patent infringement!

Yeah, I like how U of Texas is claiming that the entire region above the Marcellus Shale was already contaminated with before fracking even began there. These things just happen whereever drilling occurs, but it's not the drilling, it's just the environment. That is to say that drilling doesn't cause contamination, it's the environment. Oh, and those micro quakes? We just don't know enough to say that there is a causal link (so let's pretend there isn't and drill more instead).

Did they really just state, essentially, "Everyone else is polluting too!"?

This is how our government is reacting, too. We can't know for certain what is causing the micro quakes that just happen to occur in every region that has fracking, so we don't see any reason not to give out permits for fracking in the area of our country that is most sensitive to earthquakes...

Talking of earthquakes and sources of energy, I read an article ages ago which claimed that there had been an increased incidence of earthquakes in China as a result of dam building (for hydroelectric power). I think that the article was suggesting that weight of the water in the dam had caused seismic disturbances.

Watch this if you don't like reading

EDIT: wtf is up with embedding?[YOUTUBE]http://youtu.be/timfvNgr_Q4[/YOUTUBE]..
anyway, here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=timfvNgr_Q4

You can't embed a youtu.be video, only youtube.com videos. (You could embed the second link, in other words.)

Oh that one..thanks

If you haven't already seen it, Gasland is definitely worth checking out.

Ohio Natural Gas Activity Halted After 4.0 Earthquake

Fracking has also become a contentious issue in the UK.

There are pressing economic and political reasons to frack. North Sea gas has reached peak production meaning the the UK will increasingly need to import gas to meet its domestic needs. The linked Parliamentary Postnote "The future of UK gas supplies" (published in 2004) estimates that by 2020 the UK will be dependent on imports to meet 80% of domestic demand.

The UK currently imports a lot of gas from Norway. In the future the UK could become dependent on Russian gas supplies. Folks in the Ukraine could tell you a thing or two about their experience of Russian gas supply customer service. Bearing in mind Russia's history of playing silly buggers with the gas supply to the Ukraine, it is obvious just how tempting the allure cheap, abundant fracking gas (an estimated 200 trillion cubic feet of gas under the ground in Lancashire, for example) must be for the UK government.

Even if the political reliability of foreign suppliers weren't an issue, the simple economics of supply and demand mean that as existing supplies gas get used up, new supplies are needed. Without new sources of gas, the supply of gas will decrease and the price will increase (assuming that demand does not decrease due to consumers switching to other sources of fuel/energy). Rising gas prices could cause political instability (especially during Winter in a country largely dependent on gas for domestic heating... cue front page tabloid newspaper stories about elderly people dying of cold due to high gas prices). Consequently, any UK government wishing to be re-elected needs to be mindful of gas prices.

In addition to this, a fracking industry could provide thousands of jobs. In the current economic climate, it is politically expedient for the government to be seen to be encouraging the development of an industry that could create thousands of jobs.

However, just as environmental concerns have been raised by folks in the USA, concerns have also been raised in the UK. Fracking gas may be cheap but will the public be prepared to pay the environmental cost? Will politicians be happy to be seen to be backing an industry that is perceived to cause earthquakes and water pollution? Perhaps it isn't quite so politically expedient to be backing fracking after all.

Anti-fracking demo in Enniskillen
MLAs back motion to halt fracking
Three charged after Lancashire fracking protest
Vale of Glamorgan refuses fracking gas test drilling
'Fracking threat' to Bath's hot springs, says council
New groups protest at shale gas
Blackpool Shale Gas drilling suspended after quake
The Labour Party calls for shale gas drilling halt

Meanwhile fracking has also come under scrutiny in other parts of Europe and has been banned in France and Bulgaria.

France Vote Outlaws ‘Fracking’ Shale for Natural Gas, Oil Extraction

Bulgaria bans shale gas drilling with 'fracking' method

That's messed up. As if that area hasn't been through enough already. I visited Christchurch back in November 2010 & thought it was a beautiful city. I would love to go back some day.

Yes.

Beat me to it.

And again I wish English distinguished between Logical-OR and XOR.

You're such a nerd! Either one, but not both together.

Why liberals really hate fracking and coal.



http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2012/08/natural-gas-not-corporations-killing-solar-power-1.html

Are these LEC's, if so, for which market, and what type of electrical generation/heating technologies are being figured in? If modern carbon sequestration turbine generators are being used to generate electricity, the cost of natural gas actually climbs quite a bit higher. The same holds true for coal powered generators. Often natural gas and coal $/kWh don't figure actual cradle to grave costs, particularly in conventional energy applications - we've yet to see the full environmental cost for these GHG emitting sources of energy, not to mention the long-term ecological damage resulting from these extractive processes, so these figures are largely misleading. In fact, some context is badly needed here...

If you go to the source page for the figures in that graph, you'll notice that they've given coal and natural gas the best cost estimates from the range provided, while wind and solar figures have largely been fudged (so much for "Real Clear Science"). The article you've cited also fails to mention the potential environmental and health costs of the GHG producing sources of energy (yet their somewhat cheesy source page actually does). The source page also mentions that the cost of solar is soon expected to reach 3.5 ¢/kWh as prices continue to decline (and it should be noted that engineers have largely mastered the silicone supply issue, meanwhile other issues - like dealing with IR resistance - have largely been resolved, meanwhile PV continues to realize other efficiency and balance of design improvements).

Thankfully, the page you've cited does mention that the $/kWh cost for commercial electricity producers is not the same as the cost to the consumer, and it's worth noting that solar has already reached grid parity in several energy markets (and heck, even small-scale investment in a solar energy credit program can help offset local electrical provider costs in markets where solar is not currently available). That's what I'd call market viability.

Finally, the cost of NG is going to likely to rise closer to that of oil once the American surplus of LNG inevitably floods the hungry European and Asian markets (where prices are now trading as high as oil). True, we're currently seeing a glut of NG due to the facking bonanza, but producers are already getting hungrier, closing off valves at wellheads and to trying to quickly establish an export market to stabilize a higher price point.

Cheap and dirty may be your style Stocky, but then I'd expect as much from a oily troll.

It's like you're not even trying any more.

Right.

A good documentary on this issue that I would recommend is called "Gasland." Very good doc and very informative.

As well as the fact we don't like the water we drink to catch fire, or give us a tumor the size of a grapefuit. I mean most people I would think would tend to be against that, no matter party affiliation.

Hmm, funny you should mention that. I'd be inclined to agree.

*facesmack*
Sorry....I was on my phone when I posted and clearly didn't see. I fail haha.