Fracking: The Haliburton Loophole That Poisons America's Drinking Water

Josh Fox, director of "Gasland," joins Sam Seder to discuss the film and Fracking, which was first developed by Halliburton (who else?) over 50 years ago, involves drilling a deep, L-shaped well (in the case of horizontal fracking) into an area believed to contain natural gas, then pumping in millions of gallons of water, sand, and chemicals (known as fracking fluid) to crack the earth around the gas deposit, allowing the gas to escape so it can be captured closer to the surface. However, natural gas as well as the toxic chemicals found in fracking fluid can make their way into aquifers used to supply drinking water, effectively poisoning wells and making tap water combustible. To listen to the rest of this interview, go to http://majority.fm/2011/01/12/wednesday-january-12-2011/

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[DisturbedHavok]

I'm sure the Conservatives and Libertarians will claim that it is government regulation that is to blame for companies doing this. Of course, as usual, they miss the ACTUAL point which is - corporations are every bit as capable of being evil as government is, but unlike government, we have NO power over who runs corporations. We do have a say over the government and THAT is why the government needs to intervene (not pretend to intervene) on our behalf to stop this type of bullshit.

[grendelcatt]

just what we need, burning water.(ugh)

[rhodium1233]

spread the word folks!

[blakmira]

@NeilBlanchard The EPA as a concept is wonderful...until you realize it's the fox watching the henhouse.

The EPA is one of the most corrupt agencies in the US (and there are many). It has become the protection agency of the oil & gas polluters. Just who do you think thought up & implemented the Halliburton Loophole, hmmm?

We need to scrap this corrupt agency & replace it with an unbiased grassroots watchdog not paid off by Big Oil & Gas who own the gov't!

[NeilBlanchard]

Let's get rid of the Halliburton Loophole, shall we?!

Rainbow oil slicks and sharp-smelling tap water sounds like something we all should be drinking!

Mmmm benzene... acetone... toluene... naphthalene...

Taking a shower? Open the windows and turn on a fan -- otherwise your house might explode!

And we don't need the EPA? Really?

Neil

[TheConshuscriterion]

If it so clean then how can people light there water on fire from the tap?? Would you drink that water?? I sure wouldn't! I realize their are many different perspectives but as a relative layman to the studies being done on fracking I still believe it is unsafe! As well I believe it upsets the natural balance of earths geology! As I understand it when some drilling pads are done with the 'produced water' is pumped back into the well to avoid creating a potentially explosive vacuum!! Dangerous!

[NimonGralock]

@literategoatherder Almost forgot - Typical chemicals in a borate fracture fluid (most common)

Guar Gelling Agent - from the Guar bean - typically slurried in a mineral oil solution

Crosslinker - Typically a boric acid (Borax)

pH Buffer - a caustic or other pH increaseing agent

Clay Control - Usually in the form of KCl water concentration of 3%

Surfactant - Basically dish soap to reduce water surface tension

Breaker - typically oxidizer (Ammonium Persulfate)

Proppant - typically sand

[NimonGralock]

@literategoatherder

Also the GAB does go to depths of 3,000 m but a majority (over 80% is less than 75 m).

Typical wells in Australia are at the depth of 2,800 - 3,500 m which avoids the depth of much of the GAB and very few are even near the deeper parts of the GAB.

Do you have any other information on this one incident (BTW Australia alone has sevearl thousand wells that are in operation and nearly a thousand are fractured each year - since the 60's) as I like to read more in it.

[NimonGralock]

@literategoatherder

Not having a water analysis of the contaminated water I can not give a better guess than that as the new story is very elusive on hard details.

But I still stand with my statement that Oil and Gas companies to not intend to fracture into any aquafer and go to great lengths to avoid it (after all they will lose hydrocarbons if they do so and will produce water which is classified as a hazardous material and that is expensive to dispose of).

[NimonGralock]

@literategoatherder

Coal Bed Methane (Coal Seam Gas) is methane that is trapped in coal. To release the gas a the coal requires water to pass over it causing the coal to breakdown and release the gas. Coal has next to no permeability but huge gas storeage capacity. So to produce this gas you need to dewater the formation. IF QGC extend into the GAB, the GAB may have flowed into the fracture causing the gas to release and thus contaminating the GAB.

[NimonGralock]

@literategoatherder

b) The had outdated US MSDS on the chemicals pumped

What the articles I have read (5 sites that are mirrors of each other) fail to note is that the "30" chemicals used are never all used at the same time, in fact it is rare to have more than 6 at any one time and those are mixed in small concentrations (typically .1 - .5 percent of the fluid) which even reduces the contamination more. What more than likely happened is the following.