A Study in Pennsylvania and New York Found that Methane Concentrations Were 17 Times Higher (and Potentially Dangerous) in Water Wells Near Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing Sites than Concentrations in Wells More than 1 Kilometer Away — Another Demonstration of the Public’s Forced Subservience to Self-Interested Corporations and Lax Government

10 May 2011

So obviously dangerous that even a demented monkey would think twice

Hydraulic fracturing rock in order to extract natural gas and oil is a good example of letting industry do whatever it wants, without first requiring that it lay an adequate health and safety foundation for unproven techniques.

It should be obvious to anyone with even minimal geologic knowledge that hydraulic fracturing poses significant theoretical risks for aquifer and water-well contamination. Fracturing rock layers risks unwelcome migration of whatever one is attempting to extract, along with the materials one uses to create the fractures.

It is clearly impossible to reliably predict the pattern, direction, and length of the fractures that “fracking” creates. Much less the migration of gas and fluids along them and then through overlying rock layers.

Evidence surfaces when you look for it

Stephen Osborn research group took a look at the issue:

In this study, we analyzed groundwater from 68 private water wells from 36- to 190-m deep in northeast Pennsylvania (Catskill and Lockhaven formations) and upstate New York (Genesee formation), including measurements of dissolved salts, water isotopes (18O and 2H), and isotopes of dissolved constituents (carbon, boron, and radium).

Of the 68 wells, 60 were also analyzed for dissolved-gas concentrations of methane and higher-chain hydrocarbons and for carbon and hydrogen isotope ratios of methane.

Although dissolved methane in drinking water is not currently classified as a health hazard for ingestion, it is an asphyxiant in enclosed spaces and an explosion and fire hazard.

© 2011 Stephen G. Osborn, Avner Vengosh, Nathaniel R. Warner, and Robert B. Jackson, Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [PNAS], DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1100682108 (early online publication, 09 May 2011) (paragraph split, footnotes omitted)

A generalized government failure to communicate, much less regulate

The authors noted that hydraulic fracturing is poorly regulated at the federal level.

Fracture wastes are not covered under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, fracturing is not regulated under the Safe Water drinking Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency just asks for voluntary reporting of the chemical components of fracturing fluids.

So who cares if we blow ourselves up, or asphyxiate, while trying to take a drink of water?

The research team found:

Methane concentrations were 17-times higher on average (19.2 mg CH4 L-1) in shallow

wells from active drilling and extraction areas than in wells from nonactive areas . . . .

The average methane concentration in shallow groundwater in active drilling areas fell within the defined action level (10–28 mg L-1) for hazard mitigation recommended by the US Office of the Interior, and our maximum observed value of 64 mg L-1 is well above this hazard level.

On the positive side, there was no sign that fracturing fluids or deep rock brines had migrated into the well water.

So, in this instance — although we might turn ourselves into crispy critters or explosive gas bags, we won’t be poisoned with a salt overdose or de-health-i-fied with a toxic cocktail of unidentified chemicals.

The scientists concluded that mandated data collection is minimally necessary

We believe that systematic and independent data on groundwater quality, including dissolved-gas concentrations and isotopic compositions, should be collected before drilling operations begin in a region, as is already done in some states.

Ideally, these data should be made available for public analysis, recognizing the privacy concerns that accompany this issue.

The moral?

The theoretical dangers in hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas are so clear that that our nation’s failure to requlate fracking serves as an indicator of just how much the oil and gas industry owns the democratic institutions that supposedly serve the American people.

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