Fracking given go-ahead by government. Fracking 'likely cause' of quakes. This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. What is fracking? Is fracking taking place in the UK? Has test drilling been completed? What are the advantages of fracking? Image source, Reuters. Fracking has driven down gas prices in the US. Why is it controversial? Image source, PA. What does the government say? An anti-fracking protester writes messages on a wall in Lancashire.
What about National Parks? Claire Marshall explains how fracking could be done in national parks. NS Energy is using cookies We use them to give you the best experience. Continue Learn More X. Home » Shale » Analysis. Remember me. Don't have an account? What is fracking and how is shale gas extracted? NS Energy takes a closer look at what fracking involves What is fracking and why is it such a contentious subject in the UK?
A diagram of how fracking works The Oil and Gas Authority report also claimed it was not possible to predict the magnitude of earthquakes that the process might trigger in future. Here, we break down what fracking involves. A drilling rig used for fracking in the USA What is fracking? Explaining hydraulic fracturing Fracking is a type of drilling technique that involves fracturing rock deep underground in order to extract shale gas — a natural fuel that is trapped within shale formations.
When fracking does occur in California, it differs from elsewhere in the United States, as it often occurs at shallower depths and in closer proximity to drinking water sources, increasing the risk of water contamination. Nevertheless, the Trump administration has made moves to open more than one million acres of public land in the state—much of which supplies water for agricultural and urban areas—to oil and gas drilling. This boom in production has come at a cost, however, particularly to land, air, and water resources.
According to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, drilling and fracking operations in the Bakken oil and gas fields alone contributed as much as 3 percent of global emissions of ethane a greenhouse gas and precursor for ozone formation. Although fracking is typically associated with big producers like Texas, states with far more limited oil and gas reserves are affected too.
According to an expert report obtained by NRDC, both current production and the prospects for future expansion in Florida are minimal.
Aquifers—crucial sources of drinking water—are vulnerable to contamination because large areas are characterized by sandy soils and porous limestone.
Since Florida oil fields generally lie deeper than the shallow aquifers that provide the state with fresh drinking water, acidizing techniques threaten groundwater resources. Additionally, wastewater from acidizing techniques can contain hazardous pollutants and pose threats to underground aquifers.
Proposals for a statewide legislative ban on fracking and acidizing techniques have been introduced, with bipartisan support, in both houses of the state legislature. Dozens of counties and municipalities have already said no to fracking within their respective borders—and for good reason. Oil and gas production threatens public lands, natural resources, wildlife, water supplies, and Florida tourism, a vastly larger industry in the state than oil.
Although evidence continues to mount about the negative impact of fracking on our water, air, and health, the industry remains seriously underregulated. Oil and gas operations benefit from a range of exemptions or limitations in regulatory coverage within the bedrock environmental statutes that are meant to protect Americans from contaminated water, hazardous waste, and polluted air.
Unless diesel is used in the fracking fluid, it exempts hydraulic fracturing from regulation under the Underground Injection Control Program of the Safe Drinking Water Act , the law protecting our drinking water from pollutants.
Such oil and gas exploration and production wastes could include used fracking fluids, produced water, and many other types of waste.
The industry also enjoys a loophole in the Clean Air Act that exempts oil and gas wells, compressor stations, and pump stations from aggregation as major sources that would otherwise have to implement pollution controls once emissions hit a certain threshold. As to the Clean Water Act , Congress exempted stormwater runoff from oil and gas exploration, production, processing, or treatment operations or transmission facilities from certain permitting requirements, provided that such stormwater is not contaminated.
Bills seeking to close these and other statutory loopholes and exemptions were introduced in Congress in but have made little progress. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is aggressively opening up more public land to fracking and proposing rollbacks of existing regulations on oil and gas operations. The rules, which have been held up in the courts, impose safeguards to protect water supplies from fracking on federal lands—safeguards that health and environmental advocates already believe do not go far enough.
Stricter federal oversight of the oil and gas industry would go a long way toward protecting our communities and environment, but state and local agencies can also play a significant role in governing the industry. As a counterbalance to the Halliburton loophole, for example, many states have some level of fracking chemical disclosure laws on the books though companies often manage to skirt even those. For the most part, however, states have failed to provide adequate oversight of fracking operations, with regulations often left largely unenforced and few if any requirements to notify the public of violations and spills.
But not every state is ignoring the science. Some— New York , Maryland , and Vermont —have banned fracking altogether and others, like California and Colorado, are taking important steps to provide meaningful oversight. As the science increasingly shows , the extraction of natural gas or oil via fracking can release significant amounts of air and water pollution that imperil the health of our communities and environment.
It is for this reason that many municipalities have rallied against the fracking industry. Instead of increasing our dependence on fracking and fossil fuels, the United States needs to continue to transition toward a truly clean energy economy. As the latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC warns, the world needs to quickly wean itself off fossil fuels—on a global scale—to avoid the catastrophic effects of a changing climate.
How Governor Stitt teamed up with the head of the EPA to keep tribes from regulating fracking and industrial pollution on their own lands. NRDC and other environmental and public health groups are suing to stop an extraction project the first of its kind in the United States proposed by the Estonian company Enefit. Oil and gas operations leak this potent greenhouse gas far more than previously thought, and par for the course the Trump administration is making the situation worse. Native American activists in northwest New Mexico are putting up a firm resistance as the U.
Bureau of Land Management hands over their homeland to allies in the oil and gas industry. Proposed regulations would still allow wastewater to be disposed of in the watershed, with risks to both drinking water and the environment.
Earthquakes, spills, and groundwater contamination—wastewater wells come with many risks and few rewards for Trumbull County residents. Will more frack-free forests follow? Mining, drilling, and burning dirty energy are harming the environment and our health. But the percentages can vary by region — in Texas, it's about 1 percent. That raises the question of whether it can stress local water supplies. In dry regions of Texas or Colorado, fracking operations can put a fair bit of stress on local water sources.
But that's not universal. In the Marcellus region in the East, by contrast, studies have found that there's no danger of a water shortage. Fracking is currently regulated by the states, who have very different rules on everything from the disclosure of chemicals to wastewater treatment to well casings.
You can find a number of useful maps showing the state of play for different fracking regulations at Resources for the Future. This map, for instance, shows how different states regulate the injection of wastewater underground.
Missouri has no regulations, whereas North Carolina has a statewide ban:. One major issue is whether the US federal government should get more involved in fracking regulations. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued rules requiring oil and gas companies to limit air pollution from fracking operations, and it is currently studying groundwater contamination. But, for now, the feds have tread lightly. And Congress has exempted fracking from certain provisions of the Clean Water Act.
Some states and localities, meanwhile, have proposed blanket bans on fracking. New York state, for instance, has had a moratorium since Here's a longer list of regulations in the United States.
Fracking itself has rarely been linked to earthquakes though Ohio is investigating this. But the disposal of all the wastewater used in fracking has been known to cause tremors. Once a well is fracked, there are thousands of gallons of wastewater left over. Companies often dispose of that chemical-laced water by pumping it into separate underground "injection wells. If those rocks lie near a geologic fault, that could trigger a tremor. At least, that's the theory. One study by the U.
Geologic Survey found that earthquakes were on the rise in areas where wastewater injection was increasing. A follow-up study found that wastewater injection likely caused a earthquake in Oklahoma. It's worth noting that not all injection wells are associated with earthquakes, and many of these events were minor tremors. Still, there are plenty of questions about whether these earthquakes could get stronger as fracking expands. As of , the United States had billion barrels of oil and 2, trillion cubic feet of natural gas that was "technically recoverable.
This is oil and gas that we currently have the technology to access. But that doesn't mean we'll actually extract all that oil and gas.
A lot depends on economic conditions. If prices go higher, then it will become more profitable for companies to drill for more oil and gas.
But if prices fall, it becomes less profitable and they might just leave it in the ground. That's why many analysts focus on a different measure, known as "proved reserves" — the stuff we could recover given existing technology and economic conditions. By that measure, there are 29 billion barrels of oil and To put that all into perspective, the United States consumed about 7 billion barrels of oil and 26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in So that means we have anywhere from a 13 years' supply of natural gas to an 84 years' supply.
It all depends. Lots of things. About 93 percent of the fuel we use for transportation comes from oil. And natural gas is currently used to provide about one-third of the nation's electricity. Here's a more precise breakdown:. Oil: The U. Roughly 87 percent is turned into fuel for cars, trucks, and airplanes. Some of the oil is refined into home heating fuel. The rest is used for a wide array of industrial purposes to make chemicals, paints, plastics, greases, asphalt, and so forth.
Natural gas: The United States consumed about 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in About 36 percent of that was used to generate electricity at power plants.
Another 28 percent was used to heat homes and buildings. And the rest was used for various industrial purposes generating electricity or heat to help produce everything from steel to paper to food. For the past few decades, the United States has been a major importer of oil and natural gas.
But thanks to the fracking boom, the country is now in a position to sell some of its newfound abundance to other countries. But that would require changing certain laws — and doing so is controversial. Natural gas: If companies want to ship natural gas to other countries, they need to get a permit from the Department of Energy to do so they get one automatically if the United States has a free trade agreement with that country.
More and more companies are applying for export permits these days and building shipping terminals. Opponents of these plans say that increased exports could lead to increases in the price of natural gas for Americans, hurting consumers and domestic manufacturers.
See here for more detail. Oil: Ever since the s, it has been illegal for companies to export crude oil abroad with a few exceptions. In the wake of the fracking boom, many oil companies want to revise these laws, claiming that these restrictions are depressing prices and hurting their business. Opponents of exports argue, among other things, that this could raise gasoline prices for some drivers in the Midwest.
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