e By Tina Beers Please read this list of quick facts from Jim Emberger: Hydraulic fracturing (‘Fracking’) of rock with water and pressure to release gas has been long used in conventional, gas wells, but to get gas from hard shale, a new combination of techniques are required. Wells are drilled horizontally for many kilometres, massive volumes of water laced with toxic/carcinogenic chemicals are used, and well pads are closely clustered, each containing up to 20 wells. It requires thousands of wells to be drilled and creates an industrialized landscape. This new method is barely more than 10 years old Water usage. Each shale gas well pad can have up to 20 wells. Each well can be ‘fracked’ a dozen times or more. Each frack uses 4 millions litres of fresh water. A developed gas field can have thousands of wells. Wastewater. The water left after a frack is highly toxic and sometimes radioactive. It cannot safely be used for other purposes. All means of disposal have associated problems. The two most popular methods are banned in NB for health and environmental reasons, and currently no method has been selected for disposal. Chemicals – Amount. The industry says the percentage of chemicals used is small, but because the volume used is so great, the amount of chemicals is great. A frack using 4 million litres of water, of which only 1 percent is chemicals, still results in 40,000 litres of chemicals injected into the earth. Chemicals – Health. A large portion of the chemicals used in fracking fluid cause serious negative health effects: cancer, damage to brain and nervous systems, immune and cardiovascular systems, kidneys, liver, eyes, skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive system. Water pollution by chemicals Fracking fluid and other drilling chemicals enter waterways via spills, pipeline breaks, well blowouts, defective well casings, truck accidents and floods. All are regular occurrences everywhere shale gas is produced. Poisoned waters kill farm animals, wildlife, fish and all vegetation. Air pollution. Shale gas chemicals creates record breaking amounts of ground-level ozone that have been documented as traveling over 300 km from its source. Ozone causes irreparable lung damage. Studies have documented high risk of cancer and other diseases for those living within one half a mile from a gas well. Poisoned water. Drilling has caused contamination from methane in water wells within a kilometre of a gas well, and by naturally occurring toxic chemicals within 3 km. Fracking chemicals enter water from spills, well blowouts, truck accidents, and wastewater dumping. Roads, Bridges and Traffic. A single well pad requires thousands of heavy truck trips, operating 24/7, destroying roads and bridges, causing accidents, impacting emergency vehicles and costing millions. Local Effects. Farming, fishing, hunting, tourism and agriculture will suffer losses. Stress on health care systems will increase. Property values will decrease, and getting mortgages or insurance may be difficult. Cost of living will increase. Shale gas is a boom-bust economy that leaves areas worse off than when they started. Jobs. Gas rig and drilling jobs are specialized and short term, and will mostly be filled by trained people from elsewhere. Locals will get temporary jobs such as truck drivers and security guards. Shale gas wells generally produce for only a few years, so the industry creates a boom and bust economy.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 05:26:31 +0000
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