Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing - Assignment Example

Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing The hydraulic fracturing process involves breaking of rocks using large water quantities as well as sand and chemicals so as to obtain gas. Fracking involves digging of deep vertical well bores until you reach oil and gas surfaces (Hoffman, 2012). Afterwards, the drilling process is positioned in a horizontal way and a cement casing is installed to act as a conduit of huge quantity of water, fracking fluid, chemicals and sand required to break the rock and shale. Horizontal orientation increases chances of environment pollution. A Horizontal well will make the lateral part of a horizontal hydrofracking penetrate surface water sources, such as, lakes, rivers and streams (Northrup, 2010). This will increase the chance of contaminating water bodies through faulting to fracking fluids and natural gas. At times, some explosives are used to open up the bedrock. The fractures enable drillers to obtain oil and gas from the solid rock structures. Research conducted by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that a small percentage of methane gas produced escapes to the environment (Stephen, et al. 2011). There are other air pollutants released to the atmosphere during the drilling process, as well as the construction and operation of the well site. Air is polluted during transportation of materials and equipments and disposal of waste materials. Common pollutants produced during the drilling process comprise; Benzene, Toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene, dust, nitrogen oxides, smog, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde (Hoffman, 2012These pollutants can cause cancer, nervous system illness, birth defects, death and short-term diseases. According to osha.gov (nd) Crystalline silica produced by sand can cause silicosis lung ailment if inhaled by an individual. Workers are prone to inhaling this harmful gas even if they wore protective equipments. Well drillers use chemical addictives to drill mud, slurries and fluids needed for the fracking procedure. The wells produce large volumes of toxic fluid containing radioactive material, hydrocarbons and brine water (Belcher, Resnikoff, 2013). The issues is where to dispose the toxic water as the amount of wastewater is increasing at a rapid rate due to the expansion of fracking in the Marcellus shale constructions and globally. The fracking procedure creates fissures that can form underground pathways for harmful gases and chemicals. Waste water can be stored on the site, in an injection well and open air ponds near the fracking site (Horton, 2012). Transporting the waste to another location poses a great contamination risk. Air pollution occurs beyond the actual fracking site and transportation route. Methane is one of the by-products of natural gas drilling and it is among the most harmful gases that cause climate change (Stephen, et al, 2011). According to The environmental Protection Agency and the United States Geological Survey residents complained that hydrofracking had contaminated their groundwater. Three oil production firms located in Fort Peck Reservation were forced by the Environmental Protection Agency to compensate the City Of Poplar for water infrastructure expenses incurred due to oil drilling contamination (Hoffman, 2012). The Oil Companies tried to appeal the EPA orders, however; a federal judge forced them to rectify their violations. Contamination can also occur due to faulty design or construction of the cement well casings. This resulted to an explosion in BP gulf. The regulatory jurisdiction of states controls the storage of waste water. Some of the states impose weak or nonexistent regulations for protecting the environment (Hoffman, 2012). Journalists reported massive oil spills in North Dakota while some cases go unreported. The Associated press reported an increase in the quantity of chemically polluted soil from the drilling waste over the last few years. Steve Tillotson, the assistant Director of the North Dakota waste management department, informed reporters that huge trucks are transporting oilfield waste to other facilities daily (Hoffman, 2012). People have been affected by the increased oil spills at the site and during transportation resulting to water pollution throughout the year. Transporting radioactive, flowback and brine components to injection wells is a critical issue (Horton, 2012). Flowback fluids on the earth surface contain tiny pieces of radioactive sedimentations. Most separation techniques fail to clear all the toxic chemicals from solid contents. In case of an accident, the materials can spill into rivers resulting to serious environment and fresh water contamination. An ExxonMobil pipeline leaked thousands of gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River nearby Billings. The pipeline had been transporting tar sand oil from Canada. The tar oil is low quality and highly toxic. This caused great damage to the river. QUESTION 2 Hydraulic fracturing pollutes the environment because of the toxic chemicals used during the fracturing process (Puko, 2013). Toxic chemicals are also released to the environment during well construction. The fluid removed from the well during oil and gas separation contains harmful chemicals used in the drilling procedures as well as toxic metals, radioactive materials, Hazardous air pollutants and volatile organic compounds. There exist several pathways during the fracking procedure that allow release of toxic and radioactive materials to the environment. Toxic and radioactive materials should be handled carefully during the entire fracking procedure. Acording to Dachille (nd) The shale formation process comprises natural gas, hydrogen sulphide, organic acids, carbon dioxide, trace elements, VOCs as well as naturally forming radioactive materials such as the radium, uranium and thorium. Low quality cementing and well casings results to release of these chemicals into water during the injection procedure. There is a possibility of flowback whereby the initial fracking fluids and naturally forming toxic and radioactive materials flowback to the surface after the fracking procedure. The flowback procedure can take several weeks and only a small percentage of fluid can be recovered during the Marcellus shale (Dachille, nd). Containment/evaporation pits and storage tanks are used to store the recovered fluids. There is a high risk of polluting drinking water tanks In case of poor well construction and poorly constructed pits can led to contamination of surface waters. The final phase of the fracking process involves treatment and disposal of flowback fluids. Water can be used again or released into surface waters after the treatment process. Currently, all publicly owned treatment facilities do not have the capacity to treat fracking wastewaters, particularly the radioactive elements. Research article published in the New York Times confirmed that rivers and streams contain high levels of radium, benzene and radium radioactive elements. This is due to substandard treatment at facilities before the wastewaters are released into surface waters. Harmful gases and fluids usually flowback onto the earth surface for a period of time after the initial fracking procedure. Separating the combination of gas and water is costly during this period. The options available include venting which involves releasing the gas directly into the environment or flaring which involves burning the gases after its emitted. According to EPA, these methods are responsible for releasing large volumes of air into the atmosphere. Flaring process results to reduction of VOCs and HAPs production, but increases emission of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide (Dachille, nd). During the well construction process, tri-ethylene glycol dehydrators are used in order to remove water. These elements cause emission of VOCs and HAPs into the environment. Condensate tanks are used when wells produce liquid hydrocarbons. These tanks emit vapours of these toxic and radioactive materials into the environment. To evaporate fracking flowbacks and dehydration unit wastewater, evaporation pits are utilized. The initial fracking components as well as chemical compounds occurring naturally in the gas such as benzene, hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide and toluene that may have mixed with the fluid are usually released into the atmosphere through evaporation process. To ensure the process takes the shortest time possible, Misters are used to spray flowback and wastewater. Question 3 Many Agencies facilitate fossil energy development instead of regulating it. Federal authorities responsible for the public health may also collaborate with big business harming the environment. For instance, The Minerals Management Service employees were found to be using drugs such as cocaine and marijuana and had sexual encounters with oil and gas employees. The community would recommend that the authorities adopt precautionary measures. These measures should ensure that a company seeking to introduce new chemicals or technologies proves that the chemicals will not be poisonous. The company should prove their actions will not pollute water, result to climate change, and cause cancer for employees or people living near the drilling sites (Howarth et al, 2011). Currently, the existing policies invert such logic, rather than compelling the victim get into legal fight with influential and politically powerful firms. It is essential to pass more strong regulations at the national level. These should include repeal of oil and gas exemptions from the safe Drinking water Act (Hoffman, 2012). Companies should be prohibited from getting federal and land drilling certificates if found to be violating the clean water and air regulations. The authorities should also strictly control the flaring of natural gases. Executing carbon tax would ensure that Energy Companies avoid releasing pollutants to the environment as well as the community. Adopting of legitimate national Energy regulations that cover a large scope and science based can help to prevent harmful effects of fracturing process. Current policies focus on short-term benefits derived from the fracturing process. For instance, Germany has increased clean energy use in the last few years. Complex technologies can be applied to create a clean energy policy that could ensure replacement of the third world fossil energy model. According to Hoffman (2012) the spector of climate change makes the heightened pursuit of carbon based fuel an irrational policy predicted to be more costly then the initial costs needed to move to clean energy technologies. References Belcher. M., Resnikoff. M. 2013. Hydraulic fracturing Radiological concerns for Ohio; radioactive waste management associates Dachille. K. nd. The Network for Public Health Law; Environmental Impacts Associated With Hydraulic Fracturing Hoffman . J. 2012. Potential Health and Environmental Effects of Hydrofracking in the Williston Basin, Montana; Retrieved from http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/hydrofracking_w.html Horton. S. 2012. Disposal of hydrofracking waste fluid by injection into subsurface aquifers triggers earthquake swarm in central Arkansas with potential for damaging earthquake Seismological Research Letters. Howarth. R. et al.2011. Methane and greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations. Climatic Change Letters. Northrup. J. 2010. The Unique Environmental Impacts of Horizontally Hydrofracking Shale. Puko, T. 2013. Radioactive Fracking Debris Triggers Worries At Dump Sites. Trib Live Business; Retrieved from; http://triblive.com/business/headlines/3945499-74/gas-radiation-radioactivity Stephen. G. et al. 2011. Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing. https://www.osha.gov/dts/hazardalerts/hydraulic_frac_hazard_alert.pdf Read More