Fracking Review

Here's a short overview of fracking:


A question to the EPA as to the current view of the safety of fracking brought this response:

The EPA is currently conducting a study on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water. According to the EPA website, a draft report is expected to be released by 2014. However, a progress report was released in December 2012. According to the progress report executive summary:

The EPA has identified chemicals reportedly used in hydraulic fracturing fluids from 2005 to 2011 and chemicals found in flowback and produced water. Appendix A contains tables with over 1,000 of these chemicals identified. Chemical, physical, and toxicological properties are being compiled for chemicals with known chemical structures. Existing models are being used to estimate properties in cases where information is lacking. At this time, the EPA has not made any judgment about the extent of exposure to these chemicals when used in hydraulic fracturing fluids or found in hydraulic fracturing wastewater, or their potential impacts on drinking water resources.

The following report from the Argonne National Laboratory gives a good overview of the fracking issue: Hydraulic Fracturing and Shale Gas Production: Technology, Impacts, and Regulations. The Summary and Implications section (on page 18) summarizes the potential environmental risks and the proposed methods to overcome them:

Shale gas production represents a large, new potential source of natural gas for the nation. Development of this resource is, however, not without risks to natural resources. Potential impacts include the following:

• Greenhouse gas emissions during completion and production activities,
• Air emissions that affect local air quality during completion and production activities,
• Water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing,
• Induced seismicity from improper management of flowback water,
• Water quality impacts to surface water or aquifer from faulty well design and construction or improper flowback water management, and
• Additional community impacts including noise and light pollution.

Improved science-based assessments of these risks are underway, but early results indicate that the risks can be managed and lowered through existing practices including the following:

• [Reduced emissions completions] that limit [volatile organic compounds], [hazardous air pollutants], and [methane] emissions and reduce flaring,
• Engineering controls and appropriate personal protective equipment to reduce worker exposure to crystalline silica,
• Reusing flowback water to limit fresh water withdrawal requirements and reduce water management burdens,
• Drilling of multiple wells from a single well pad to reduce the footprint of operations,
• Proper siting, design, and construction of gas production and fluid disposal wells, and
• Groundwater quality monitoring coupled with fracturing fluid chemical disclosures.

Please see sections 3.1 – 3.4 (beginning on page 7) of the report for an in-depth discussion of the potential effects to air and water quality from fracking operations.