A panel is being formed by the US Energy Department’s Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) to study the potential risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fraccing) for shale gas production.
The decision has been taken in the light of mounting public concern over North America’s latest energy fashion – a fashion that has in a few years dramatically restored domestic gas production.
The panel’s work has already begun. Its members, drawn from the US Energy Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Interior Department, as well as experts from industry and environmental organisations, are due to report on their findings this summer.
“The subcommittee will work to identify, within 90 days, any immediate steps that can be taken to improve the safety and environmental performance of fraccing, and to develop, within six months, consensus on practices for shale extraction to ensure the protection of public health and the environment,” SEAB said in a statement.
Another fraccing study is also being conducted by the EPA. According to the Energy Department, this EPA study and the upcoming panel review are expected to provide state governments with a means of determining whether their regulations are adequate to keep fraccing operations safe for the public and the environment.
Other SEAB recommendations include disclosure of the fracturing chemicals employed, and public meetings to discuss expansion of shale development on US federal lands.
While the work is borne out of mounting negative sentiment, it has also been suggested that the “white light of a thorough federal study” might just settle some of the dust around the issue. Indeed a series of regional public meetings is already under way to discuss the use of fracturing techniques to simulate gas production on federal lands.
Meanwhile, last month, Deborah Kittner, a University of Cincinnati doctoral student in geography, presented What’s the Fraccing Problem? Extraction Industry’s Neglect of the Locals in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Region, at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers.
Fraccing involves using millions of gallons of water, sand and a chemical cocktail to break up organic-rich shale to release natural gas resources.
Kittner’s research examined the industry in Pennsylvania, known as the “sweet spot” for this resource, because of the abundance of natural gas. However, the steel town of Pittsburgh has now outlawed fraccing in its city limits as has Buffalo, (New York), amid concerns that chemical leaks could contaminate groundwater, wells and other water resources.
The chemical cocktail used in the process is actually relatively small. The mixture is about 95% water, nearly 5% sand and the rest chemical, yet Kittner says some of those chemicals are known toxins and carcinogens, hence the “not in my backyard” backlash from communities that can be prospects for drilling.
The flow-back water from drilling is naturally a very salty brine, prone to bacterial growth, and potentially contaminated with heavy metals, Kittner says. In addition, there’s the question of how to properly dispose of millions of gallons of contaminated water, and concerns about trucking it on rural country roads.
Kittner says that the industry is “working to be environmentally responsible, and can become frustrated at companies that do otherwise”. “I think that the study that the EPA is doing is going to be really helpful, and the industry – however reluctant it is towards new regulations – is working with the EPA on this,” she added.