Hurley Town Board OKs ban on use of fracking fluids on town roads
The Town Board has approved a resolution prohibiting fluids from the natural gas drilling method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, from being used on town roads as a de-icing or dust control agent. The board voted 3-1 in favor of the resolution at a meeting Monday, with Councilman John Dittus opposed and Councilman John Gill absent. “We’re getting close to the chance for snow and ice,” town Supervisor Gary Bellows said. “This will insure that we will not have fracking fluids on the Hurley highways this year.” The resolution contends there is a risk that hydraulic fracturing fluids could contaminate groundwater. “The activity of hydrofracturing of natural gas is known to utilize millions of gallons of fresh, potable water and could be laden with hazardous chemicals injected under great pressure into strata deep into the earth,” the resolution says. “The materials may be washed into adjacent waterways and properties, which in Hurley would include Hurley’s aquifer, New York City watersheds, and the Esopus Creek. The Town Board … is concerned about the safety of using fracking fluids and rejects this activity which may endanger the health and welfare of its citizens and its flora and fauna.” The resolution notes that the town will not allow use of hydraulic fracturing fluids “for any purpose within the precinct of Hurley, whether provided free to the town or imported in any way from any public or private source.”
NYS Senate 52: Senate Candidate Anndrea Starzak Tours Pennsylvania Fracking Sites
A candidate for New York State Senate spent Friday in Pennsylvania to get a first-hand look at fracking operations. Democrat Anndrea Starzak, who is challenging incumbent Republican Tom Libous in the 52nd district, took a tour led by anti-fracking activist Vera Scroggins in Dimock. The two stood across the street from the Costello One well, which has been the center of a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigation into methane leakage. The tour included a visit with neighbors who are using water buffaloes. “Independent studies and health studies that have been backed by major medical organizations in New York State say that we should wait, that there are a lot of indications that fracking has a lot of issues with contamination and with health problems,” said Starzak. http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=35424
The Politics of Fracking: Polarization in New York State
In September, The Earth Institute hosted Tanya Heikkila and Chris Weible of the University of Colorado Denver for a seminar on The Political Landscape of Shale Gas Development and Hydraulic Fracturing in New York. The seminar was attended by students, faculty and staff from across Columbia , and members of the local community. Professors Heikkila and Weible presented the results of their study, funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, looking at fracking perceptions in three study sites: New York , Texas and Colorado . This Sloan Foundation study focused on providing an impartial lens on the politics of the issue through a series of surveys and interviews with “policy actors.” Policy actors were defined as anyone who regularly seeks to influence the politics on hydraulic fracturing, whether from government, NGOs, industry or academia. For their talk at Columbia , Heikkila and Weible focused on the results from New York State , and presented an overview of the kinds of responses they received from policy actors when asked about fracking and the impact of the moratorium. Overall, this study indicates that fracking is controversial because the debate revolves around values. Heikkila and Weible argue that in cases such as these, throwing more technical science at the issue does not necessarily improve the situation or reduce polarization. In the New York State case, the future depends a lot on the status of the moratorium, because, as they note, negotiation won’t happen as long as one side benefits from the status quo. Heikkila and Weible gave some insight into strategies for moving forward, although they admitted that there are no sure-fire solutions for such a contentious topic. They pointed out the importance of openness and transparency as a way to increase overall awareness about the issues at hand. They warned that once people become invested in a position, it is difficult to change their minds. And as one of their interviewees suggested, one way to prevent this phenomenon from occurring is to “get the public involved in debates earlier in the process, and by incorporating easily understandable scientific information in those early stages.” http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/27/politics-fracking-polarization-new-york
Future of Fracking Not Nearly as Bright as Forecasted
Post Carbon Institute has published a report calling into question the production statistics touted by promoters of hydraulic fracturing or fracking. By calculating the production numbers on a well-by-well basis for shale gas and tight oil fields throughout the U.S. , Post Carbon concludes that the future of fracking is not nearly as bright as industry cheerleaders suggest. The report, Drilling Deeper: A Reality Check on U.S. Government Forecasts for a Lasting Tight Oil & Shale Gas Boom, authored by Post Carbon fellow J. David Hughes, updates an earlier report he authored for Post Carbon in 2012. Hughes analyzed the production stats for seven tight oil basins and seven gas basins, which account for 88 percent and 89 percent of current shale gas production.
Among the key findings:
¶ By 2040, production rates from the Bakken Shale and Eagle Ford Shale will be less than a tenth of that projected by the Energy Department. For the top three shale gas fields—the Marcellus Shale, Eagle Ford and Bakken—production rates from these plays will be about a third of the U.S. Energy Infromation Administration (EIA) forecast.
¶ The three year average well decline rates for the seven shale oil basins measured for the report range from an astounding 60 percent to 91 percent. That means over those three years, the amount of oil coming out of the wells decreases by that percentage. This translates to 43 percent to 64 percent of their estimated ultimate recovery dug out during the first three years of the well’s existence.
¶ Four of the seven shale gas basins are already in terminal decline in terms of their well productivity: the Haynesville Shale, Fayetteville Shale, Woodford Shale and Barnett Shale.
¶ The three year average well decline rates for the seven shale gas basins measured for the report ranges between 74 percent to 82 percent.
¶ The average annual decline rates in the seven shale gas basins examined equals between 23 percent and 49 percent. Translation: between one-quarter and one-half of all production in each basin must be replaced annually just to keep running at the same pace on the drilling treadmill and keep getting the same amount of gas out of the earth.
The report’s findings differ vastly from the forward-looking projections published by the EIA, a statistical sub-unit of the U.S.Department of Energy (DOE). http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/27/fracking-forecast-post-carbon
Tracking Fracking in Mississippi
LIBERTY – Amite and Wilkinson counties plan a two-county water district to oversee the use of billions of gallons of water that will be needed for hydraulic fracturing at oil wells. The Amite County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing Friday to tell residents about the plan, The Enterprise-Journal reported. “We want to do two things: We want to make sure the well does not run dry, and we want to benefit the public whose land this is taking place on,” board president Jackie Whittington said. If approved, officials said, it would be the nation’s first public water management district created only because of hydraulic fracturing.
Why There’s a Real Chance My Texas Town Might Ban Fracking
Like my neighbors, I too, have been affected by living close to an industrial gas well. Living near the well and participating in the community’s efforts to protect themselves from it brought me radically into political consciousness. As we struggled against the well, I saw with my own eyes the reality of how local governments and corporations value profit over the well-being of people. The gas industry has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into this election to convince us that this referendum is “irresponsible,” but the history of our struggle with the industry lays bare a tale that has proved much the opposite – an irresponsible industry that has backed residents into a corner with its violent drilling operations. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27014-why-there-s-a-real-chance-my-texas-town-might-ban-fracking
Fracking Companies Using Toxic Benzene in Drilling: Group
Some oil and gas drillers are using benzene, which can cause cancer, in the mix of water and chemicals they shoot underground to free trapped hydrocarbons from shale rock, an environmental watchdog group said today. Benzene isn’t banned in hydraulic fracturing, although diesel is restricted because regulators determined it may have carcinogens, including benzene. Drillers need a permit before using diesel in the fracking mixture that’s blasted into shale with oil and gas deposits; they don’t need one for benzene. The Environmental Integrity Project today said at least six fracking fluid additives contain that compound. “It’s bombs away. You can use benzene in large quantities, just as long as you don’t call it diesel,” said Eric Schaeffer, the Washington-based group’s executive director. Schaeffer said the compound could contaminate drinking water, although the group didn’t provide any evidence today showing such contamination. In 2005, Congress exempted fracking from requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Health advocates called it the “Halliburton loophole,” referring to Halliburton Co. (HAL), the largest provider of fracking services, led by Richard Cheney before he was elected vice president in 2000.
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