Study finds that fracking itself does not pollute groundwater
\nBy Vicki Vaughan
\nUpdated 12:30\u00a0a.m., Friday, February 17, 2012<\/p>\n
Hydraulic fracturing in shale formations \u201chas no direct connection\u201d to groundwater contamination, a study released Thursday\u00a0concluded.<\/p>\n
The study, conducted by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, found that many problems attributed to hydraulic fracturing \u201care related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations,\u201d such as drilling pipe inadequately cased in\u00a0concrete.<\/p>\n
Many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale drilling and not from hydraulic fracturing, Charles \u201cChip\u201d Groat, an Energy Institute associate director who led the project, said in a\u00a0statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese problems are not unique to hydraulic fracturing,\u201d Groat\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
In hydraulic fracturing, a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped into a well under high pressure to help release natural gas and oil from shale\u00a0rock.<\/p>\n
The study was hailed by the energy industry, which long has said there’s no direct link between hydraulic fracturing and contamination of groundwater. But industry critics said the study needs to be vetted by independent experts. And critics were heartened that the study noted some aspects of drilling can lead to groundwater\u00a0contamination.<\/p>\n
The institute’s research team looked at reports of groundwater contamination in three shale plays: the Barnett Shale in North Texas; the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and parts of Appalachia; and the Haynesville Shale in western Louisiana and northeastern\u00a0Texas.<\/p>\n
The study didn’t look at the Eagle Ford Shale formation south of San\u00a0Antonio.<\/p>\n
Justin Furnace, president of the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association, said the study \u201cechoes what we as an association have been saying: the process is very safe and has been in place for 60\u00a0years.\u201d
\nRep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, said he hasn’t seen the study, but \u201cthe fact of the matter is there has not been one contaminated well from the hydraulic fracturing process, not\u00a0one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Olson sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s been over 50 years this thing has been going on, and there hasn’t been one documented case. This study seems to say just exactly what the record has said, basically it’s human error or something that’s common to all drilling operations,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
The UT Energy Institute’s report stands in stark contrast to a draft report released in December from the Environmental Protection Agency, which said its examination of a hydraulic fracturing site in Pavillion, Wyo., found hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals associated with natural gas production in deep water\u00a0wells.
\nCritics of the new Energy Institute study were skeptical of its results and cited the EPA\u00a0study.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to know more about the study,\u201d said Sister Elizabeth Riebschlaeger of Cuero, who has organized community meetings in DeWitt County because she’s concerned about the effects of hydraulic\u00a0fracturing.
\n\u201cIt’s difficult for researchers to be objective if their university receives a lot of grants and funds from the industry,\u201d she said. \u201cHow many grants does that university get from oil and gas\u00a0operations?\u201d<\/p>\n
North Texas activist Sharon Wilson said that without baseline, or initial, testing of groundwater it’s hard to know if fracking causes contamination. She said she’d like baseline testing to be required\u00a0nationwide.<\/p>\n
Energy Institute spokesman Gary Rasp said no industry funds paid for the study, and that money for the study \u201ccomes from the university directly. That’s all kinds of different\u00a0sources.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study was authored by an interdisciplinary team of experts, he\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
Rasp noted that the Environmental Defense Fund helped to develop the scope of work and methodology for the\u00a0study.<\/p>\n
Scott Anderson of the Austin office of the EDF wrote in a blog that although the study didn’t confirm any cases of drinking water contamination caused by fracking, that \u201cdoes not mean such contamination is impossible or that hydraulic fracturing chemicals can’t get loose in the environment in other ways (such as through spills of produced\u00a0water).\u201d<\/p>\n
The study mentions there are ways \u201cnatural gas development that can pose significant environmental risk,\u201d he\u00a0wrote.<\/p>\n
The report said, for example, that surface spills in natural gas development pose greater risks to groundwater than does hydraulic fracturing, and that there are gaps in the regulation of well casing (pipe), water disposal and\u00a0storage.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee, said \u201cit would be great\u201d if the study could be submitted for peer review to the EPA and to independent\u00a0scientists.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut even with that said, the University of Texas doesn’t know every chemical that has been put into the water every place,\u201d Markey said. \u201cIt’s nonpublic information in many instances, so it would be difficult to evaluate\u00a0that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rasp said the study hasn’t yet undergone peer review, but \u201cit’s definitely going to\u00a0be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Puneet Kollipara contributed from Hearst’s Washington Bureau.
\nvvaughan@express-news.net<\/p>\n
Read more: http:\/\/www.mysanantonio.com\/news\/local_news\/article\/Study-finds-that-fracking-itself-does-not-pollute-3337782.php#ixzz1mel8xE8x<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Study finds that fracking itself does not pollute groundwater By Vicki Vaughan Updated 12:30\u00a0a.m., Friday, February 17, 2012 Hydraulic fracturing in shale formations \u201chas no direct connection\u201d to groundwater contamination, a study released Thursday\u00a0concluded. The study, conducted by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, found that many problems attributed to hydraulic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-energy","7":"category-water","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}