Raven Rocks and Shale Gas (aka fracking)
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Raven Rocks is located deep in the active shale gas region of Ohio and most of the land in our area has been leased. In 2011, when the leasing activity was in full swing, we issued the following statement.
Raven Rocks Statement
on Shale Gas Extraction
Above and below:
Eisenbarth well pad fire in neighboring Monroe County, Ohio
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The following is taken from a brochure that Raven Rocks member John Morgan prepared for Concerned Barnesville Area Residents (CBAR), as part of their campaign to protect the town's water supply from the risks of shale gas operations.
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Leaking Wells: The chronic, insidious risk
that gets worse over time There is general agreement among experts that the cement jobs which seal the annulus between the well casing and the bore hole is the weak link in protecting drinking water aquifers from fugitive methane emissions and chemical contamination from shale wells. Dr. Anthony Ingraffea of Cornell University says it is an intrinsically problematic part of the operation. His peer-reviewed paper titled “Fluid Migration Mechanisms due to Faulty Well Design and/or Construction: An Overview and Recent Experiences in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Play” (PNAS 2013) states: “Operator-wide statistics in Pennsylvania show that over 6% of new wells drilled in each of the past three years have compromised structural integrity. This apparently low failure rate should be seen in the context of a full buildout in the Pennsylvania Marcellus of at least 100,000 wells, and in the entire Marcellus, including New York, of twice that number. Therefore, based on recent statistical evidence, one could expect at least 10,000 new wells with compromised structural integrity.” It also explains that this is likely only the tip of the iceberg, because the failure rates increase as wells age, to about 50% in as few as 17 years. Statistical evidence of water contamination A 2013 study links hydraulic fracturing for natural gas to elevated methane levels in water supplies in Pennsylvania. Methane concentrations were six times higher and ethane concentrations were 23 times higher at homes within a kilometer of a shale gas well. “The methane, ethane and propane data, and new evidence from hydrocarbon and helium isotopes, all suggest that drilling has affected some homeowners’ water,” said co-author Robert B. Jackson, a professor of environmental sciences at Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. Water consumption and disposal The industry reminds us that hydraulic fracturing is “nothing new.” However, the volume of water and chemicals required for slickwater hydraulic fracturing of shale wells is 100 to 200 times the 20,000 – 80,000 gallons that was required to frack a vertical well. Horizontal Marcellus wells require an average of 4.3 million gallons of water in the Susquehanna River Basin of Pennsylvania. Utica shale wells in Belmont County, Ohio, are using 10.7 million gallons on average (data from the fracfocus website as of May, 2015). The volume and complexity of the chemicals required is also much greater, at least 7500 gallons of chemicals per Marcellus well, leaving the water permanently polluted. Mario Salazar, an engineer who worked for 25 years as a technical expert with the EPA’s underground injection program, says of the risks from leaking injection wells: “In 10 to 100 years we are going to find out that most of our groundwater is polluted. . . . A lot of people are going to get sick, and a lot of people may die.” (Scientific American “Are Fracking Wastewater Wells Poisoning the Ground Beneath Our Feet?”) |
In Pennsylvania, where permitting of waste injection wells is handled by the federal EPA, it takes over two years to issue a permit and there are only eight injection wells. Ohio law, operating under a loophole in the federal law, mandates that ODNR issue injection well permits in 30 days or less. The result is over 200 injection wells in Ohio, making us the low cost dumping ground for shale waste from neighboring states.
Long term risks for a short term fix? When shale gas development began over a decade ago, there were no studies on its health and environmental impacts. Today, in addition to the circumstantial and anecdotal evidence of harm, there is a rapidly growing body of over 400 peer-reviewed papers on the subject. There is no excuse for continuing to ignore the evidence. Shale wells reach peak production and go into terminal decline almost immediately after coming into production. The only way production can be maintained is by constantly drilling new wells, thus increasing the risks. Geological experts at the University of Texas and Canadian geologist David Hughes have independently done the two most detailed analyses of all shale wells through 2013. They come to similar conclusions: that shale gas production in the U.S. is likely to peak by 2022 or sooner. Four of the seven shale gas “plays” in the U.S. are already in terminal decline. Most polluting industries of the past have been concentrated in geographically limited areas. The shale gas industry is unprecedented in the way it is spreading industrial scale risk broadly across the landscape. Future generations will not look kindly on our having consumed the short term gain while leaving behind a toxic legacy. Wouldn’t it be wise to make careful risk/benefit assessment before we go all the way? |
Peer-reviewed studies on water contamination from shale gas operations
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When commercial shale gas development began over a decade ago, there were no studies available on its potential health and environmental impacts. Today, in addition to the abundance of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence of harm, there is a rapidly growing body of peer-reviewed papers on the subject, as illustrated in the graphic on the following page. A selection of three of these papers is attached. Perhaps there was an excuse for ignoring these issues in the past, when the studies didn’t exist. If that was ever the case, surely it is no longer.
Pennsylvania has documented 243 cases of water well contamination from shale gas operations since 2007. This is almost certainly a substantial under count. |
A Public Herald report states: “After a 30-month analysis, a Public Herald investigation has uncovered 9 ways that officials at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have kept drinking water contamination across Pennsylvania “off the books” since fracking began in 2004.” http://publicherald.org/public-herald-30-month-report-finds-dep-fracking-complaint-investigations-are-cooked/
An analysis and link to a database of all peer-reviewed papers published through 2014 on health and environment impacts from shale gas and oil can be found at http://psehealthyenergy.org/data/Database_Analysis_FINAL2.pdf |