Hydraulic Fracturing in the USA

1. Hydraulic Fracturing in theUSA Angela BianconiMegan FlemingGeetika SrivastavaAnastasia StolzSarah Tenison

2. Fracking Introduction:What is it? Angela Bianconi http://us.mg6.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=4b86akru00kju

3. http://www.donnan.com/images/Gas-Drilling-Rig.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ifhDZZ9jUvU/S5_PE8Bf56I/AAAAAAAABaM/_lFbgsbfXX0/s320/Shale+Well+Hickory+Pa.jpg A drill site is prepared, a rig is moved in and drilling begins -Sometimes offered $100,000 to drill on lands of homeowners

4. Multiple barriers of steel casing and cement are installed to protect a freshwater aquifer located 10-1,500 feet below the surface, throughout the life of the well http://www.powerincooperation.com/drilling-and-completion.html http://blog.americanfeast.com/Gasland.png

5. Drilling continues vertically thousands of feet below the surface to the kickoff point. From there, the curved and horizontal sections are drilled laterally thousands of feet into the target formation http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-00hbKm9dSd0/Te_yerme4MI/AAAAAAAACL4/FlFV8gsDToo/s1600/horizontal+hydraulic+fracturing+drilling.jpg

6. In a controlled operation, a specialized mixture of water, sand and chemical additives are injected into the wellbore at sufficient pressure to create small cracks or fractures in the shale

7. Typically, the multistage hydraulic fracturing process is completed over a 2 to 5 day period. After the well is completed and the surface facilities are installed, the well is placed on production for 20-30 years. Portions of the well site not needed for production are restored. http://www.powerincooperation.com/drilling-and-completion.html

8. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1hEfcGJuUQ/TXXNHPs_znI/AAAAAAAAAGg/3V8-4DUReKI/s1600/Natural_Gas_Fracking1.jpghttp://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1hEfcGJuUQ/TXXNHPs_znI/AAAAAAAAAGg/3V8-4DUReKI/s1600/Natural_Gas_Fracking1.jpg http://www.powerincooperation.com/drilling-and-completion.html

9. So, What is Shale? Anastasia Stolz

10. What is Shale? • Shale- Black, low-density, organic-rich rock formed millions of years ago, located thousands of feet below Earth’s surface • Natural gas formed during shale decomposition is trapped in tiny crevices in the shale

12. Fracking: The Good and the Bad Anastasia Stolz

13. Benefits of Fracking • >$1,000,000,000,000 of Natural Gas in the Shale • Creating Jobs in construction and drilling • Independence from foreign oil sources • Cleaner Burning Fuel • Tax Revenues

14. Infrastructural Concerns • Noise Pollution • Property Devaluation • EMS and Emergency Procedures • Road Damage • Increase in Taxes http://cbspittsburgh.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/avellagasexplosion.jpg?w=300

15. Environmental Impacts • Earthquakes • Air Pollution • Land Use • Water Use • Chemicals • Environmental and Health Effects

16. Air Pollution • The process of Hydraulic fracturing causes various chemicals and pollutants to be released into the air • Comes from: • The well • The trucks • Open Air impoundments

17. Land Use • 4-6 Acres are necessary per well • 3-5 years, possibly even longer • Land becomes restricted access • even parks or public land http://www.propublica.org/images/articles/natural_gas/ppal_drilling_signs_0697_470x340_100625.jpg

18. Water Use and Pollution • 1-5 million gallons of water is needed per Frack • Infused with chemicals • 10-20% of water injected comes back up • Waste water treatment plants are ill equipped • Produced Water Open Impoundments • Spills • 1,600 violations in Pennsylvania • Well water contamination

19. Chemicals • Originally proprietary • Studies were done due to people developing various ailments • In 2011, EPA published a comprehensive list of chemicals in Frack Water • 1071 Chemicals counted http://www.rodale.com/files/images/fracking-protest-sign.jpg

20. http://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/class2/hydraulicfracturing/upload/hf_study_plan_110211_final_508.pdfhttp://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/class2/hydraulicfracturing/upload/hf_study_plan_110211_final_508.pdf

21. Examples of chemicals (Split Estate)

22. Governmental Policy Sara Tenison

23. Governmental Policy History • Government policies have influenced the natural gas industry from the get go • Prices of natural gas were unregulated until the 50s. • Became regulated so that companies that owned the wells and the pipelines could not charge unfair prices • The 1973 Congress passed the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978 • discouraged the use of natural gas in favor of coal and renewable fuels • Arab oil embargo heightened Congress’ fear of low oil and gas supplies

24. Governmental Policy History • Congress passed the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA) • Relaxed federal price controls • intended the NGPA to create a national natural gas market and to allow market forces to determine wellhead prices (supply and demand, etc.) • Drilling, production and piping increased • Prices of natural gas increased

25. Governmental Policy History • Pipelines and drilling eventually became less regulated • Allowing for smaller businesses to crop up • Increased competition • Decreased prices • No more “bundles” • Fewer monopolies of large companies

26. Natural Gas in Texas Sara Tenison

28. Use of Natural Gas in Texas • The most common source of energy in the state • Used in fleet vehicles and busses • Reduced 2005 fiscal consumption of gasoline in Texas by 5 million gallons

29. Production of Natural Gas in Texas • Costs of drilling horizontal wells are around 50 percent higher than that for vertical wells. However, the daily production is three to five times higher • In 1993, the chairman of Oryx Energy Co. • Gas in shale or coal beds were previously considered unrecoverable or uneconomic • The rise in gas prices has encouraged exploration • Only when natural gas prices are high is it worth drilling through these sources to harvest the gas. • Drilling in these areas is expected to increase • Texas is nation’s leading producer of natural gas • In 2006, produced 27.8 percent of total U.S. production

31. Barnett Shale • It's a vast rock formation • underlies 5,000 square miles surrounding Fort Worth. • Barnett Shale field is the second-largest natural gas field in the continental U.S. • To date there are more than 12,000 gas wells in the Barnett Shale

32. Barnett Shale Continued In the past decade the number of gas compressors in the Barnett has jumped from a few hundred to 1,300 • -To get the gas to market requires an underground highway of pipelines and compression stations. These big internal combustion engines make noise and put pollutants into the air • -They're getting closer and closer to populated areas

33. Texas Policy • In Texas, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delegated most of its authority over major federal environmental laws to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. • Such as its power over the Clean Air Act • The major exception is oil and gas exploration and production • the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has the EPA’s authority to deal with these matters

34. Texas Policy Continued • The companies have the right under federal law to condemn privately owned land to build the project. • This law covers pipeline companies who receive FERC approval for a project but; • Are unable to negotiate passage or price with the private landowners • Landowners must be fairly compensated  • This practice is largely avoided where possible because of the potential for dispute

35. Texas Fracking Policy • Outside of regular federal policy, Texas has not added very much legislation to regulate fracking • Was one of the first two states to require companies to disclose a list of chemicals used • Still does not require disclosure of proprietary • The state also has required groundwater data at thousands of wells

36. Local Problems • In order to avoid drying up sources of water, most of the water drawn from any water source is returned to where it was gotten • bad because it is polluted by the time it gets back • Complaints of stomach issues, nausea and vomiting • DISH, Texas

37. Dish, Texas • 2sq miles, 150 thousand people • 10 massive gas lines carry a billion cubic feet per day through the town • the pipelines shoot the gas to the air • settles in one of the subdivisions • the people in that subdivision thought they were going to die • local complaints of headaches, diarrhea, nosebleeds, dizziness, muscle spasms and other problems • As a result, DISH conducted its own air quality test • at a cost of 15 percent of the town's annual budget • revealed a toxic mixture of air pollution

38. Dish, Texas • the air from that area had lots of benzene, naphthalene, disulfides, was at 55 times benzene health standards and 105 times disulfide standards (Gasland) • the town petitioned and won the right to install permanent air monitors • one of seven in the entire state of Texas. • cancer and neurotoxins will show effect over a long time of exposure (FracAction) • The mayor just recently moved out of the town, wishing to remove his sons from the poisonous air. • Media calls him “overdramatic”

39. Texas Outlook • US demand for natural gas is expected to keep increasing • Very few epidemiological studies have been done to link complaints and fracking. • Individuals “smell things that don’t make them feel well, but we know nothing about cause-and-effect relationships in these cases” • Some local governments are researching means by which they can drill on existing public land (e.g., parks and cities)

40. Manufacturing Uncertainty • Tobacco Companies used to deny smoking was bad with these same techniques • ExxonMobil waged the most successful global warming denial campaign since the Big Tobacco Companies (sunnysuffolk) • Admitted in 2007: • Used  information laundering • used seemingly independent front groups to wagepublic relations for the company. • Funneled about $16 million to these front groups to manufacture this uncertainty. • Paid scientists to cherry-pick data and misrepresent peer-reviewed scientific evidence • Raised doubt and shifted the focus away from global warming action by questioning if the data was "sound science". • Used its extraordinary access to the Bush Administration to block regulation and shape governmental communications about global warming. • The question must be raised: Is this happening again?

41. Policy in Ohio Geetika Srivastava

42. Unclear • Relatively new Ohio • Not as many well sites compared to other states • Policies ambiguous and unclear as to whose responsibility it is • Major regulators: ODNR and EPA

43. Utica and Marcellus Shale

44. Utica Shale and Marcellus Shale

45. Ohio Department of Natural Resources • Drilling • Production • Reclamation • Brine Disposal • Salt Solution Mining • Underground Injection Well-Monitoring • Issuing permits • Setting designs • Wastewater Management

46. Recent Additions • Notifications from companies • Ensuring casing is properly placed as permitted • Testing of blow-out prevention devices • Monitoring of handling of fluid

47. Does not set guidelines for private property leasing • No mention how often these checks and regulations are required • No mention of reviews

48. Environmental Protection Agency • Requires companies to obtain authorization for drilling near bodies of water • Permits needed to install units for activities that emit air pollutants • Proper containment devices and waste management

49. New Revisions • New permit – more general to deal with inconsistencies in standards from well to well • Emissions limit • Operating restrictions • Monitoring, testing, and reporting • News to be heard on Nov. 28th

50. However • Emissions include: • Internal combustion engines • Dehydration systems • Truck-loading racks • Storage tanks • Flares • Unpaved roadways • Does not include emissions from actual drilling and fracturing • Considered temporary and exempt from air pollution regulations