In what passes for news these days, the New York Times published a column written by Sean Lennon. In case you do not recognize the name, he is the son of John Lennon of Beatles fame. Lennon "reports" about the damaging effects of natural gas drilling and warns against allowing it to be done in New York. Here is the key section of his article:
I looked into Pennsylvania, where hundreds of families have been left with ruined drinking water, toxic fumes in the air, industrialized landscapes, thousands of trucks and new roads crosshatching the wilderness, and a devastating and irreversible decline in property value.
Natural gas has been sold as clean energy. But when the gas comes from fracturing bedrock with about five million gallons of toxic water per well, the word “clean” takes on a disturbingly Orwellian tone. Don’t be fooled. Fracking for shale gas is in truth dirty energy. It inevitably leaks toxic chemicals into the air and water. Industry studies show that 5 percent of wells can leak immediately, and 60 percent over 30 years. There is no such thing as pipes and concrete that won’t eventually break down. It releases a cocktail of chemicals from a menu of more than 600 toxic substances, climate-changing methane, radium and, of course, uranium.
It is amazing that the Times would print such rubbish. Actually, if you think about it, it is not amazing, just sad. The Times is more interested in ideological purity than accuracy.
First of all, there have been no instances of "ruined drinking water" as a result of drilling for natural gas in shale formations. The EPA (yes, the Obama EPA) investigated three separate locations where claims of contamination were made. In each instance, the EPA determined that there was no contamination from the gas drilling. There are places in the country where gas is located in shallow seams and leaks into the ground water; such contamination is not due to drilling, however. In fact, drilling in those areas reduces the gas pressure underground and lowers the likelihood of gas being forced into the water supply.
Second, there is also no instance of gas drilling in Pennsylvania putting toxic fumes in the air. Once again, Lennon is just repeating the hype not the facts. The Pennsylvania State government issued a report in 2011 commenting on the effect on air quality of gas drilling. It found no increase in pollution as a result of the drilling.
Third, the idea of "industrialized landscapes" actually tells you that Lennon does not know what he is talking about. Nearly all gas drilling into shale is done by means of what is called horizontal drilling. That means that a well is drilled vertically down for one and a half or two miles. When the target zone is reached, the drill is turned to the side and the well continues horizontally through the shale. Customarily six or more wells are drilled from one drill pad and they go off in different directions once the horizontal turn is made. That means that there is one small drill pad no bigger than the site of a house that provides drill coverage for an area of about a square mile. Once the drilling is complete, there is a small installation left at the site; this is the size of a small shed. It is about as far from an industrial landscape as one can get. But of course, these are facts, and Lennon does not care about facts.
Fourth, Lennon next goes to the claim that each well results in five million gallons of contaminated water. Clearly, Lennon has not bothered to even read about the proposed drilling in New York. The New York Landowners Association has proposed having the drilling done using the Gasfrac process. It uses no water at all. The wells are fractured by a process that uses propane, and the propane is all recovered back from the well when the procedure is finished. Lennon's estimate of five million gallons of contaminated water per well is off by five million gallons per well.
Fifth, Lennon complains about the release of radon and uranium. This is another mistake on his part. In the past, environmentalists complained that the water used in fracking would dissolve radioactive minerals buried deep in the earth and bring them to the surface as the water was pumped from the well. That theory was tested by the state of Pennsylvania. No instance was found of increased radioactivity in any of the water used for fracking. Further, since the New York wells that Lennon is discussing would use the GasFrac method, no water at all would come to the surface. That means no radon and no uranium. Lennon is completely wrong.
Finally, Lennon goes off the deep end discussing "leaking" wells. He's wrong. Natural gas is highly combustible. That is why it is used for fuel. That is why it is piped into people's homes to use in stoves and furnaces. The technology to control leaks is very good. If sixty percent of wells actually leaked (as Lennon claims) we would see a large number of well explosions each year. There are none because the wells do not leak.
I know that Lennon had a famous father. It did not make him an expert in drilling. Maybe his dad sang that all you need is love, but if you want to talk about drilling for natural gas, love is not enough. You need facts and they had better be correct.
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