The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC) is a community resource that provides information to the public about gas drilling and production in the Barnett Shale region in North Texas.
Fact Sheets & Presentations | About Ed Ireland, Ph.D. | Newsletter Archive
MYTH vs TRUTH
MYTH: Fracking pollutes water.
TRUTH: Tim Kustic, California Div. of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, said in 2012: “There is no evidence of harm from fracking in groundwater in California at this point in time. And it has been going on for many years.”
California Div. of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources
MYTH: Fracking is dangerous.
TRUTH: Mark Nechodom, Director of California Department of Conservation, said in 2013: “In California it [fracking] has been used for 60 years, and actively used for 40 years, and in California there has been not one record of reported damage directly to the use of hydraulic fracturing.”
EPA
MYTH: Texas Commission on Environmental Air Quality has stated there is more air pollution coming from the energy industry in Dallas-Fort Worth than all the cars and trucks in the area.
TRUTH: This claim relies on a study conducted in 2009 by then SMU Professor Al Armendariz that has been thoroughly debunked by the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council.
Barnett Shale Energy Education Council
MYTH: The Colorado study that suggested methane leakage rates from oil and gas systems were twice as high as previously thought.
TRUTH: Methane leakage claims have become anti-drilling activists’ answer to the impressive and undeniable reductions in American greenhouse gas emissions that have resulted from an increased use in natural gas.
energyindepth.org
MYTH: Earthquakes and sinkholes in the area are due to hydraulic fracturing.
TRUTH: The National Research Council put it best: “hydraulic fracturing a well as presently implemented for shale gas recovery does not pose a high risk for inducing felt seismic events.”
energyindepth.org
MYTH: Natural gas developed from shale increases net greenhouse gas emissions.
TRUTH: From 1990 through 2010 the natural gas industry reduced methane emissions by about 20 percent, while natural gas production has grown by nearly 40 percent.
Source: U.S. EPA, Associated Press, EPA Methane Report Further Divides Fracking Camps
MYTH: A 2012 University of Colorado Denver School of Public Health study that allegedly demonstrated an increase in cancer among people living within 1/2 mile from a site.
TRUTH: The cancer risks identified in the study (which EID debunked here) are actually in line with or well below the risk for the entire U.S. population, regardless of where they live.
energyindepth.org
@BSEECThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released their latest Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) data report, updated to Sept. 1, 2013. The report shows that U.S. greenhouse emissions have continued to decline, in keeping with the trend that began in 2009.
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There are many myths circulating that natural gas wells are not regulated. It is also believed that they have some how been made exempt from various regulations. In actuality, federal and state laws and regulations heavily regulate natural gas drilling and production. This chart shows the federal laws...
Hydraulic fracturing fluid is made up of different components. Two intergovernmental agencies, the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, manage the website www.fracfocus.org, which provides information to the public about the fluids...
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), each year there are millions of earthquakes across the world; however, most are undetected due to being in remote areas or being low on the Richter scale (usually below 2.0).
In the past 20 years, the number of known earthquakes around the world has been on...
North Texans know a lot about tornadoes and golf ball-size hail storms, but when it comes to earthquakes, many Texans are experiencing them for the first time. Our first instinct is to ask what is causing them and what do we need to do to stop them. With oil and gas operations near the areas of the recent earthquakes near Eagle Mountain Lake, some have naturally turned to questioning whether...
On February 24, 2014, the EPA released its latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory, which shows that methane emissions from natural gas systems have declined significantly in recent years, thanks to new technologies and voluntary efforts by oil...
Actually, this is a trick question, because you do. If you live in the United States, you definitely use natural gas – hundreds of times a day. How so, you say?
The most well-known uses of natural gas are for heating homes and providing fuel for water heaters. Some backyard grills burn natural gas. But even if you don’t use any of these, you still consume natural gas.
Do you have...
You’ve heard plenty of talk related to fracking and alleged groundwater contamination, but what do the experts – the people in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry – say about it?
From:...
North Texans know a lot about tornadoes and golf ball-size hail storms, but when it comes to earthquakes, many Texans are experiencing them for the first time. Our first instinct is to ask what is causing them and what we need to do to stop them.
Starting in late 2013, the Reno-Azle region in North Texas experienced...
The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC) and its website are entering their seventh year of operation. When drilling rigs started moving into the city of Fort Worth, the major of Fort Worth at the time, Mike Moncrief, suggested that the companies operating in the Barnett Shale should establish a community service organization to provide energy...
Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, have their benefits, and they are great sources of intermittent power; however, as contributing Forbes writer David Blackmon highlights, these renewable energy sources of electric power generation are not reliable. If the sun is not shining or if the wind is not blowing, then there must be a backup power source to avoid frequent...
A new and important study of the air quality in the Barnett Shale was released by Houston-based ToxStrategies, Inc. This study, published in the peer-reviewed “Science of The Total Environment,” is the first large-scale evaluation based on extensive measurements of ambient air in a shale gas producing area. The...
An important study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found no link between hydraulic fracturing and childhood cancer. The study was independently peer reviewed and the authors claimed no conflicts of interest.
The study sought to "evaluate...
There are many myths circulating about the supposed lack of regulation in the oil and gas industry. In a Forbes article, "Shale Oil And Gas Development Is Heavily Regulated," David Blackmon confronts these false accusations head on. Blackmon argues against Josh Fox's claim in the documentary film "Gasland" that the oil and gas industry is somehow above or exempt from federal...
