# What's the Fracing Truth? (gas drilling)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [June 22, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130 "2010-06-22T15:13:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/1 "2010-06-22T15:13:37Z")
I just watched GasLand (I think), a documentry on the practice of drilling for gas with the process known as fracturing or “fracing”. It was more than a little disconcerting seeing the burning tapwater at homes near some drilling sites. Not to mention illness in animals and people where there previously had been none. The idea that the drilling companies are hiding what chemicals (many of which are known or suspected carcinogens) they are using behing the shield of “Proprietery Information” and have been exempted from the Clean Water Act doesn’t pass the smell test both, literally and figuratively. The companies cite a 2004 EPA study as proof that what they are doing is safe. But even the authors of the study say “Hey! That’s NOT what we said and the study was limited in scope and doesn’t apply here”. The companies also say that “You can’t prove that we are the source of the contamination. It may be just a coincidence.” Home and landowners that they have settled with are subject to non-disclosure agreements. It seems that the companies have bought their silence. So just what is going on here? Is this an over-reaction by a very few number of people or an environmental disaster in the making with lobbyists and big energy keeping the politicians in line? Anyone care to defend the industry?
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### Author:  [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/2 "2010-06-22T15:36:02Z")
For anyone interested, Jon Stewart had Josh Fox on last night (Mon, 06/22). It’s on the [front page](http://www.thedailyshow.com/) right now, but I get a “not found” when trying to load it specifically.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/3 "2010-06-23T03:20:32Z")
saw the Daily Show segment, but have not seen the documentary.
I should point out there is a non-zero risk of groundwater contamination on any oil or gas well. The setting (and cementing) of a surface casing string is a standard practice to mitigate this risk, and, I believe, is mandated by regulation in most US locations. There are normally additional intermediate casing strings placed in the well at greater depths.
For me the case for such contamination hinges on whether it can be shown that there is communication between the shale zones subjected to the frac treatment and the near-surface formations containing groundwater. It should be noted that the producing zones and surface formations are normally separated by thousands of vertical feet.
I’d have to do a bit of research to verify this, but I believe many of these shale wells are completed with a horizontal section through the producing formation. For me, the most likely potential routes for the contamination are: 1) via direct communication from the producing zone to the formations containing groundwater, probably though some combination of the induced fractures and pre-existing faults; 2) via poor-quality cementing on the back side of the casings, allowing leakage to surface formations. If number 2), this problem is not inherently limited to shale wells.
So, not outside the realm of possibility, but it does not appear that there have been widespread complaints of gas or frac fluids reaching groundwater supplies from wells drilled without induced fracturing, so something related to the frac process seems more likely, if the problem is in fact widespread.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/4 "2010-06-23T03:28:19Z")
Sorry, last sentence should have read, “…gas or **produced** fluids reaching groundwater supplies…”
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### Author:  [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/5 "2010-07-09T15:02:45Z")
[Here](http://tudor.na.bdvision.ipreo.com/NSightWeb_v2.00/Handlers/Document.ashx?i=3f75f7a499e04937a119654b5c87f45d) is a report on frac’ing from Tudor Pickering. Although the report is 65 pages, there is a short 3.5 page summary at the beginning. A small excerpt from that summary is as follows.
[QUOTE=Report]
The national conversation about fracing will continue to be loaded with disingenuous arguments–and
we found both sides guilty. Environmentalists use the term “fracing” for alleged sins not directly tied to
the completion technique. They are claiming there is no oversight for drilling processes which the states,
in fact, do regulate. They claim there is no information about the content of frac fluids, when much of it
is disclosed to regulators. Why, then, are they demonizing a 60‐year‐old technique, instead of sloppy
waste handling? It plays better politically. Fracing was exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in a
2005 bill originally supported by then‐Vice President Dick Cheney and his former company Halliburton.
The industry is guilty of lack of rigor too. It keeps repeating the mantra that “not a single case” has tied
hydraulic fracturing to drinking water contamination. That’s useful in a lawsuit, but not in the court of
public opinion. Spills, well blowouts and inadequate treatment of flowback water‐‐none of it fracing per
se‐‐have caused trouble for some communities and impacted some water supplies. States have learned
from trial and error that they need to take greater care disposing of produced water from fraced wells
because it has much higher salinity and other impurities than freshwater. Drilling in shale rock
sometimes brings to the surface naturally occurring radioactive material that municipal water treatment
plants are not designed to handle.
Over time, the conversation will shift from a hard‐to‐prove allegation—that fracing fluid can migrate
from deep underground to contaminate shallow aquifers—to a broader, more addressable set of
objections. Drilling opponents argue that fracturing fluids injected 5,000 to 12,000 feet underground
can defy gravity and rock mechanics and migrate thousands of feet upward through solid rock.
Petroleum engineers and geologists mostly say it’s impossible, but their financial interest in the debate
draws skepticism. Meanwhile, credible concerns remain about well design and waste‐handling.
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@HISSNLISSN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HISSNLISSN)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2010, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/6 "2010-07-11T06:21:49Z")
So how does tap water get contaminated to the point where you can set it on fire? Serious question, I don’t think it was explained well enough in the film.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/7 "2010-07-11T14:15:02Z")
> [@HISSNLISSN](#):
>
> So how does tap water get contaminated to the point where you can set it on fire? Serious question, I don’t think it was explained well enough in the film.
The water in question contains methane. In this case there apparently is communication (a flow path) between a methane-bearing shale formation and the near-surface formations containing the fresh-water aquifer. The methane degasses from the water at the tap and if the concentration is greater than 5% in air, it can be ignited.
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### Author:  [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/8 "2010-07-11T14:35:56Z")
[Here’s the Daily Show bit with Josh Fox](http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-21-2010/josh-fox)
As a property owner in Sullivan County, NY (one of the areas proposed for Marcellus shale NG drilling) and a NYC resident and consumer of drinking water from that area, I watched Gasland with interest. I know I thought natural gas drilling was a matter of simply sinking a hole in the ground, tapping into a pocket of gas and siphoning off the gas. What’s the harm in that, right?
One of the problems is that area is terribly distressed economically, so people might be eager to short-sightedly cash in on NG drilling.
[QUOTE=HISSNLISSN]
So how does tap water get contaminated to the point where you can set it on fire? Serious question, I don’t think it was explained well enough in the film.
[/QUOTE]
I looked for an [industry site debunking](http://www.energyindepth.org/2010/06/debunking-gasland/) of Gasland and found one at Energy in Depth (EID) .
> [@](#):
>
> Mike Markham: Fox blames flammable faucet in Fort Lupton, Colo. on natural gas development
>
> ```
> * But that’s not true according to the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC). “Dissolved methane in well water appears to be biogenic [naturally occurring] in origin. … There are no indications of oil & gas related impacts to water well.” (complaint resolved 9/30/08, signed by John Axelson of COGCC)
>
> * Context from our friends at ProPublica: “Drinking water with methane, the largest component of natural gas, isn’t necessarily harmful. The gas itself isn’t toxic — the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t even regulate it — and it escapes from water quickly, like bubbles in a soda.” (Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, 4/22/09)
>
> ```
IMO the industry site doesn’t adequately address the before drilling and after drilling sections of GasLand esp. with regards to ground water contamination and health effects. Drillers apparently went to great lengths to restore clean drinking water to those affected by their practices. This isn’t touched on by the debunking article.
Here’s more from[the ProPublica article](http://www.propublica.org/article/colorado-study-links-methane-in-water-drilling-422) EID cites:
> [@](#):
>
> While the search for clues continues in Weld County [where the flaming faucet guy lives], investigations about methane contamination in Garfield County and other parts of the country have clearly tied the contamination to energy development, strengthening arguments across the country that drilling can put drinking water at risk.
> […]
> When an accident happens, the blame can usually be traced to a lone bad apple – some contractor who didn’t follow regulations, they say. Those arguments helped the gas drilling industry win rare exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act when Congress enacted the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
>
> Now an exhaustive examination of a methane problem on Colorado’s Western Slope is offering a strong scientific repudiation of that argument. Released in December by Garfield County, the report concludes that gas drilling has degraded water in dozens of water wells.
>
> The three-year study used sophisticated scientific techniques to match methane from water to the same rock layer – a mile and a half underground - where gas companies are drilling. The scientists didn’t determine which gas wells caused the problem or say exactly how the gas reached the water, but they indicated with more clarity than ever before that a system of interconnected natural fractures and faults could stretch from deep underground gas layers to the surface. They called for more research into how the industry’s practice of forcefully fracturing those deep layers might increase the risk of contaminants making their way up into an aquifer.
>
> “It challenges the view that natural gas, and the suite of hydrocarbons that exist around it, is isolated from water supplies by its extreme depth,” said Judith Jordan, the oil and gas liaison for Garfield County who has worked as a hydrogeologist with DuPont and as a lawyer with Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection. “It is highly unlikely that methane would have migrated through natural faults and fractures and coincidentally arrived in domestic wells at the same time oil and gas development started, after having been down there …for over 65 million years.”
Gives me the heebie-jeebies.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [July 11, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/9 "2010-07-11T15:17:20Z")
You can always trust the industry involved to give a fair and honest assessment. It is pure coincidence that where hydraulic fracturing occurs the ground water gets polluted. Like in the gulf, the BOP assessments have been spot on. You can always rely on those making tons money off something to be fair.
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### Author:  [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)
#### Post date: [July 12, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/10 "2010-07-12T22:37:16Z")
Scientific American has run [a number of articles](http://www.scientificamerican.com/search/index.cfm?q=marcellus&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit) over the past couple years about natural gas drilling and “fracking” in particular. They even have [one specifically about _Gasland_](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hbo-documentary-its-a-gas). Some are better than others, but _en toto_ they generally give a pretty well balanced and scientific view of the issue. Probably better than random bloggers and documentaries.
Enjoy,
Steven
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/11 "2010-07-23T14:50:48Z")
I just watched Gasland on HBO VOD. A thought provoking film, even subtracting the hype.
It seems to me that the “can’t migrate through thousands of feet of rock” argument against aquifer contamination misses an important point - the well bore has provided a shortcut between gas and water strata. If the well bore is not properly sealed/cemented, both hydrocarbons and ‘produced water’ could easily migrate.
Here is a SciAm article which predates the film. [Does Natural Gas Drilling Make Water Burn? - Scientific American](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=natural-gas-make-water-burn)
I recommend the film - if you get a chance, watch it.
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### Author:  [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2010, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/12 "2010-07-27T00:03:22Z")
> [@jasg](#):
>
> It seems to me that the “can’t migrate through thousands of feet of rock” argument against aquifer contamination misses an important point - the well bore has provided a shortcut between gas and water strata. If the well bore is not properly sealed/cemented, both hydrocarbons and ‘produced water’ could easily migrate.
It doesn’t seem like the “can’t migrate through thousands of feet of rock” people are missing the point. If the issue is of a not properly sealed well bore, then the issue is not damning to hydraulic fracturing, it’s damning to the well design or completion of the well. Nothing about the frac process should be causing any problems; it’s a proven process. If you want to argue that the produced water is not being handled correctly or that there are well bore integrity issues, that seems to be a completely separate issue.
To draw an analogy, if a certain ingredient in pepsi is poisonous and making people sick, don’t say there is a problem with selling pepsi in aluminum cans and call for a moratorium on aluminum cans; call for a removal of the poisonous ingredient.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/13 "2010-07-28T18:43:36Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#):
>
> To draw an analogy, if a certain ingredient in pepsi is poisonous and making people sick, don’t say there is a problem with selling pepsi in aluminum cans and call for a moratorium on aluminum cans; call for a removal of the poisonous ingredient.
I don’t care for that analogy, although I agree that in it, the aluminum can is not the problem. To me, a better analogy is that the canning machinery occasionally introduces a toxic lubricant into the soft drink.
In that case, I would expect a moratorium on aluminum cans until the canning process is of free of toxic contaminants.
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### Author:  [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/14 "2010-07-28T21:50:44Z")
> [@jasg](#):
>
> > [@LonghornDave](#):
> >
> > To draw an analogy, if a certain ingredient in pepsi is poisonous and making people sick, don’t say there is a problem with selling pepsi in aluminum cans and call for a moratorium on aluminum cans; call for a removal of the poisonous ingredient.
>
> I don’t care for that analogy, although I agree that in it, the aluminum can is not the problem. To me, a better analogy is that the canning machinery occasionally introduces a toxic lubricant into the soft drink.
>
> In that case, I would expect a moratorium on aluminum cans until the canning process is of free of toxic contaminants.
The problem with that is that it is not the issue that occasionally hydralic fracturing a well causes the contamination of the water supply. It is that occasionally poor well completion techniques or poor water handling cause a contamination. The fact that these wells have been frac’d is not contributing to the problem. Therefore, calling for a moratorium on frac’ing is not a reasonable response. Tighter regulations on what is causing the problem is appropriate.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/15 "2010-07-28T23:20:45Z")
> [@LonghornDave](#):
>
> > [@jasg](#):
> >
> > > [@LonghornDave](#):
> > >
> > > To draw an analogy, if a certain ingredient in pepsi is poisonous and making people sick, don’t say there is a problem with selling pepsi in aluminum cans and call for a moratorium on aluminum cans; call for a removal of the poisonous ingredient.
> >
> > I don’t care for that analogy, although I agree that in it, the aluminum can is not the problem. To me, a better analogy is that the canning machinery occasionally introduces a toxic lubricant into the soft drink.
> >
> > In that case, I would expect a moratorium on aluminum cans until the canning process is of free of toxic contaminants.
>
> The problem with that is that it is not the issue that occasionally hydralic fracturing a well causes the contamination of the water supply. It is that occasionally poor well completion techniques or poor water handling cause a contamination. The fact that these wells have been frac’d is not contributing to the problem. Therefore, calling for a moratorium on frac’ing is not a reasonable response. Tighter regulations on what is causing the problem is appropriate.
Ok, for this discussion, I’ll allow that fracturing is fine - but how do you separate gas recovery via hydraulic fracturing from well completion / fluid handling? They all seem to be required for a properly functioning well.
Tighter regulations might help, but better technology could help too - all the regulations in the world are useless if the failures still occur. It is good that the EPA has started a study of this. In the meantime, how about having hydraulic fracturing operations adhere to normal industrial standards per the Clean Water Act as a start?
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### Author:  [@peterh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peterh)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/16 "2010-11-19T14:26:05Z")
This is all heating up at the moment and the EPA has subpoenaed Hallburton for the contents of the fracking fluid which they are being very cagey about revealing. Instills a lot of confidence! They won’t tell anyone what the additives - “which make up only 1% of the fluid” contain.Great. . CBS report here [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727\_162-20022247-10391695.html](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20022247-10391695.html) & and there is another documentary from PBS here - [watercontamination-from-shale.com](http://watercontamination-from-shale.com) - if you’re interested, similar to Gasland, about “The Real Price of Gas”.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/17 "2010-11-19T16:56:34Z")
For the record, my parents (both upper state PA in origin) describe being able to ignite holes cut in the pond ice in their youth. This would be in the 1930’s.
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### Author:  [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/18 "2010-11-19T17:20:44Z")
And records of tarballs washing up on the gulf coast go back to before Columbus, not just BP. That doesn’t mean the Deepwater Horizon blowout is nothing to be concerned about.
If these practices are causing pollution of drinking water and private residences, then they should be modified. If nature causes some mix of the gas reservoirs and natural water sources, that’s just a fact of life we have no control over. But knowingly polluting should be discouraged/banned.
Enjoy,
Steven
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### Author:  [@LonghornDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonghornDave)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/19 "2010-11-20T02:52:22Z")
> [@peterh](#):
>
> This is all heating up at the moment and the EPA has subpoenaed Hallburton for the contents of the fracking fluid which they are being very cagey about revealing. Instills a lot of confidence! They won’t tell anyone what the additives - “which make up only 1% of the fluid” contain.Great. . CBS report here [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727\_162-20022247-10391695.html](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20022247-10391695.html) & and there is another documentary from PBS here - [watercontamination-from-shale.com](http://watercontamination-from-shale.com) - if you’re interested, similar to Gasland, about “The Real Price of Gas”.
Here is a Halliburton [press release](http://www.halliburton.com/public/news/pubsdata/press_release/2010/corpnws_111510.html?SRC=MP) from Monday.
[QUOTE=Halliburton]
Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids Highlighted on Microsite
As part of this effort, the Company also announced the launch of new content on the microsite designed to provide the public with information related to the identity and common uses of the additives and constituents generally involved in the hydraulic fracturing process – additives that typically comprise less than one-half of one-percent of the total water-and-sand-based solution.
“Halliburton has just made available new web pages to emphasize our forthright disclosure of the additives and constituents that are used for several typical wells in Pennsylvania. We believe this effort represents an important and substantive contribution to the broader long-term imperative of transparency,” Adams added.
While the initial focus of the additive disclosure pages are limited to activities taking place in Pennsylvania, where development of the Marcellus Shale is already well-underway, the Company is committed to continuing to provide hydraulic fracturing fluid disclosure information for every U.S. state in which Halliburton’s fracture stimulation services are in use.
[/QUOTE]
[Here](http://www.halliburton.com/public/projects/pubsdata/Hydraulic_Fracturing/fluids_disclosure.html) is the section of the Halliburton website which lists exactly what chemicals are in their Pennsylvania Marcellus shale frac fluids.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130/20 "2010-11-20T03:24:53Z")
In other news regarding the Marcellus Shale, the Pittsburgh City Council is [attempting](http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10321/1103877-53.stm) to ban fracing in the city. Probably won’t withstand veto or legal challenges, but interesting from a populist point of view.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-fracing-truth-gas-drilling/544130.md?page=2)