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Boulder County activists concerned about flooded oil, gas wells
Erika Meltzer, Boulder Daily Camera
Inundated along with roads, bridges, houses and farms are thousands of oil and gas wells and associated condensate tanks and ponds in northeast Boulder County and southwest Weld County.
Anti-fracking activists say the industry needs to account for what types of chemicals may be contaminating soil and groundwater in the area around these wells.
The concentration of oil and gas wells in flood-prone areas speaks to one more risk of what they see as a dangerous industry.
Regulators say they agree these well sites could pose a contamination risk, and they will get out to assess the damage as soon as it’s feasible…
(15 September 2013)
U-M technical reports examine hydraulic fracturing in Michigan
Press Release, University of Michigan
University of Michigan researchers today released seven technical reports that together form the most comprehensive Michigan-focused resource on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial natural gas and oil extraction process commonly known as fracking.
The studies, totaling nearly 200 pages, examine seven critical topics related to the use of hydraulic fracturing in Michigan, with an emphasis on high-volume methods: technology, geology and hydrogeology, environment and ecology, public health, policy and law, economics, and public perceptions.
While considerable natural gas reserves are believed to exist in the state and high-volume hydraulic fracturing has the potential to help access them, possible impacts to the environment and to public health must be addressed, the U-M researchers concluded…
Though modern high-volume hydraulic fracturing is not widely used in Michigan today, a main premise of the U-M study is that the technique could become more widespread due to a desire for job creation, economic growth, energy independence and cleaner fuels.
(5 September 2013)
Project Q&A
Link to the technical reports
Shale Energy No Quick Solution
Deepak Gopinath, Asia Sentinal
Judging by the newspaper headlines, a silver bullet against polluting fossil fuels is at hand. With the US on its way to energy self-sufficiency by exploiting shale energy, other countries might follow suit.
But the reality may be a less dramatic and shale oil and gas may not be the magic solution: Although new technologies have transformed the US energy profile, production growth is slowing and attempts to replicate the experience overseas have yet to take off.
The narrative of the shale oil and gas revolution is compelling because it promises so much: cheap, abundant energy, not only for the US but also for the rest of the world, thanks to the presence of rich shale deposits in Russia, China and elsewhere. And, as US President Barack Obama stressed in his climate action plan, shale could help tackle global warming if cleaner-burning natural gas is substituted for coal and oil…
(5 September 2013)
Never-Released Energy Department Report Predicts Increasing Domestic Conflicts over Water, Energy
Sharon Kelly, DeSmogBlog
Never-Released Energy Department Report Predicts Increasing Domestic Conflicts over Water, Energy (via Desmogblog)
Last summer, the United States experienced the worst drought since the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. At the same time, the country was experiencing one of the biggest onshore drilling booms in history, powered by one of the most water-intensive extraction…
