EPA to study impact of ‘hydraulic fracturing’ on groundwater supplies

I’ve been looking at the effects “hydraulic fracturing” has on the environment. It’s been a surprise to learn the federal government has done relatively little research on horizontal drilling methods predominantly being used to extract resources from the earth, be it oil or natural gas or some other natural element. The method blasts chemicals, sand and water into the ground. This makes it easier to pump sought-after minerals to the surface. Right now, drilling companies pump a proprietary blend of chemicals into the earth. The companies don’t have to reveal what they are putting into the ground. (Watch the video trailer. The spokeswoman equates proprietary measures to safeguarding a chocolate recipe).

Rep. Camille “Bud” George of Clearfield, Penn., is calling for a measure to require “more inspections of Marcellus wells and expand to 2,500 feet (from 1,000 feet) the ‘pollution zone’ in which groundwater contamination is presumed to be caused by a well operator,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “George also would require drillers to disclose the specific chemical concentrations of their fracking fluid. Many drillers withhold that information, arguing it’s proprietary. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told Congress last week that he, too, is considering requiring drillers to disclose the chemicals used in fracking.”

I found this Environmental Protection Agency “fracking” reportfrom June 2004 title “Evaluation of Impacts to Underground Sources of Drinking Water by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs.”

Here’s an excerpt: “Available scientific literature indicates that hydraulic fracturing fluid performance became a prevalent research topic in the late 1980s and the 1990s. Most of the literature pertaining to fracturing fluids relates to the fluids’ operational efficiency rather than their potential environmental or human health impacts. There is very little documented research on the environmental impacts that result from the injection and migration of these fluids into subsurface formations, soils, and USDWs.”

The EPA announced in March it would study fracking and whether it is a danger to groundwater supplies. An editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer states: “fracking does carry potential risks to the environment. Those concerns are causing government officials elsewhere to proceed cautiously…New York state has imposed a moratorium on Marcellus wells until it completes an environmental-impact assessment.”

While the EPA is set to study hydraulic fractionation practices, the method is being used by drilling companies across the Bakken Formation, a 25,000 square foot oil swath underlying eastern Montana and western North Dakota and the Fort Berthold Reservation.

More on this, later.

Jodi Rave