The news lately has (unusually) featured observations of earthquake swarms occurring at and near sites where fracking is done: usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/man-made-earthquakes/ Research is ongoing, but it has long been known that injecting liquids into fault regions can cause earthquakes. Now, the process of pumping a high-pressure mixture of toxic chemicals and water underground to fracture deep shale rock formations and releasing natural gas (primarily methane) may be contributing to other geophysical perturbations, local air pollution and global warming: science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/09oct_methanehotspot/ Many chemicals known to be used in hydraulic fracturing fluid, as well as the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released during the gas drilling process, are extremely toxic. The frequency with which these toxic gases pollute the air around fracking operations, is cause for concern. Additionally, recent studies show that natural gas operations leak high rates of methane—an extremely potent greenhouse gas—meaning that natural gas is emerging as a leading driver of climate change. VOCs and ozone pollution have been detected at dangerous levels at fracking sites in Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, South Dakota, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Utah. Calculations suggest that methane leakage exceeding about 6% negates any greenhouse advantage over coal. Leakage is probably in the 10% and up region. Methane is oxidized to CO2 in the atmosphere in about 10-years, and then the CO2 is here for thousands of years. It’s a shame to threaten our natural gas bonanza, which is a big factor in our fossil fuel independence. But these are the observations.
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 23:12:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015