Frack Off

[Teatownclown]

"no, it's cause that man in the White House is holdin' up all the pipelines" and "he's totally against the oil industry" ....Tulsa GOP/Teaheads mantra.

[Conan71]

Probably just not at this large of numbers in one place.

I don't have the stats to back it up, but I'm relying on conversations with my step dad from 30-some years ago.  He was a petroleum geologist for Williams then formed an indie company with some other investors, so this was based on his knowledge in the industry.   

He explained early on in oil exploration, before there was a good way to capture and distribute natural gas, they would flare it or just let it vent off.  It was considered a nuisance. 

It's done more often than you would think in rural areas where the oil has vastly more value and it would be considered costly to capture and transport the gas, much as what is happening in ND.  The good news is, there's any number of processes which make methane gas or gasses with similar BTU values.  Sure, it would be nice if they harnessed all the gas they've been finding. If prices were still at 2005 highs like right after Katrina, you wound't see near the amount being vented off.  But when it trades for roughly four times less than it did then, the economics aren't there.  Much as if oil retreated back to $40 a barrel, some of the processes being used like downhole steaming and certain fracking processes wouldn't be economical to recover oil.

The low NG prices are part of the reason Chesapeake Energy has been struggling for a few years.  Well that and it's CEO is a degenerate spender much like Tom Kivisto.  Main difference is either McClendon doesn't engage in shady trading or the house of cards simply hasn't tumbled yet.

[heironymouspasparagus]

If you go west on 412 to Sand Springs, there is a small rocker arm well right about the expressway on the north side that has been around a long time.  There was a flare on that well for many, many years (haven't seen it burn lately, so guess they have stopped) because they couldn't economically capture the gas.  Kind of a "pest product" from many if not most oil wells.  When you pump out the water/oil, the pressure is reduced and that lets gas out.  So, they gotta do something with it.   Burn it!

There are a lot of what is called "coal bed methane" (CBM) wells in the west, where that is exactly the intent - pump out the salt water, reduce pressure on the formation, and let the gas out the back side to be collected and shipped.

[Teatownclown]

The Surprising Connection Between Food and Fracking
In a recent Nation piece, the wonderful Elizabeth Royte teased out the direct links between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and the food supply. In short, extracting natural gas from rock formations by bombarding them with chemical-spiked fluid leaves behind fouled water—and that fouled water can make it into the crops and animals we eat.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2013/01/foodfracking-connection-youve-never-thought-about

I have no problem with fracking that does not enter our water tables and does not foul the top soils.

[Townsend]

So now that the Earthquakes are shown to be linked to drilling maybe Oklahoma should start taxing all oil drilling like Texas and North Dakota.  They do well, we could at least use it to rebuild earthquake damage and our capital building.

Oklahoma earthquake was largest linked to injection wells, new study suggests

http://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2013/03/26/oklahoma-earthquake-was-largest-linked-to-injection-wells-new-study-suggests/

A University of Oklahoma seismologist's research, released today, provides further evidence that Oklahoma's largest-recorded earthquake was triggered by injection wells used by the oil and gas industry. Katie Keranen's findings, published today in the geoscience journal Geology, adds to a growing chorus of scientific evidence suggesting that injection and disposal wells are likely causing an uptick of earthquakes in the continental United States. The analysis suggests that injection-induced earthquakes could be larger than previously thought, and that they could occur on much longer timescales.

[TheArtist]

I have been thinking that there are an awful lot more earthquakes now than when I was a kid (not that I felt all of them lol).  From the article above... More than 1,400 earthquakes were recorded in Oklahoma in 2011, the most seismically active year on record, data show.

And at BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21952428    

This is interesting...    " In April 2012, a study by scientists at the US Geological Survey of the interior of the US found that events of magnitude 3 or greater had "abruptly increased in 2009" from 1.2 per year in the previous 50 years to more than 25 per year -"

Wow that's a big increase.

[Teatownclown]

http://www2.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing#providing

The quakes are one thing...

Yesterday, I read where the nat gas pipelines to our homes will soon be blessed with a new technology that places a power source in our homes alleviating much of the environmental damage from power plants.

Refiner's are another matter....

[DolfanBob]

Woo Hoo! We beat California in the number of Earthquakes.
So now back to fracking. Is this the cause? Lets discuss among ourselves...........again. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2690913/Is-fracking-reason-Oklahoma-earthquakes-year-CALIFORNIA-Geologists-descend-state-test-controversial-drilling-blame.html

[AquaMan]

Its like discussing with North Carolina tobacco farmers whether cigarettes cause cancer.

Or chatting with Iowans about the logic of turning food into fuel.

Perhaps having a round table discussion with college professors about tenure.

You mean like that?

[DolfanBob]

Exactly H2O man. I mentioned the subject to my boss and did not know that he was so passionate about the whole fracking thing. It was like I said the Moon landing was staged in a studio(you know it was right?)

So until a huge Earthquake happens and a Drilling Rig falls in it(in Oklahoma)I'll just keep them dang conspiracy theories to my dang self.

[AquaMan]

I was once subject to that hostage mentality. When I worked for a large oil company we were constantly brainwashed, re-formatted, and fed the oil company mantras. They had us by the nads since our very existence relied on their benevolence. I escaped.

Now, its even more difficult to talk issues with people. They fear they are being monitored online, they fear retaliation, loss of future employment and more. Most people are quite guarded with their remarks lest they be considered as lacking commitment or unstable. Not me. I'm f###ing crazy, retired and outspoken about everything. Life's too short to engage in self deception for very long.

Of course fracking is causing quakes, pre-quake conditions and general ecological mayhem. Climate change is real, Inhofe is not. Cigarettes cause cancer and should be outlawed like radium water. Marijuana should be decriminalized at the very least. Ethanol is a giveaway program for corporate farming and tenure is too easy to get.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Exactly H2O man. I mentioned the subject to my boss and did not know that he was so passionate about the whole fracking thing. It was like I said the Moon landing was staged in a studio(you know it was right?)

Sorry to hear that!!   Hope you can find a job with a rational person some time!!  I wouldn't mind having one of those, too!!

[sauerkraut]

Reminds me of that TV ad- "Frack on, Frack off, The Fracker"!

[Gaspar]

In other news:

DENVER—The organizer of Initiative 75, the grassroots anti-fracking measure, announced Monday that he has folded the statewide campaign after failing to collect enough signatures.http://thecoloradoobserver.com/2014/07/grassroots-anti-fracking-initiative-pulled-due-to-lack-of-support/

Once the legal pot industry outpaces the energy industry in that state it will be easier to get support for such a measure, however it may be more difficult to get people to show up to the polls on the right day.

[Conan71]

I was once subject to that hostage mentality. When I worked for a large oil company we were constantly brainwashed, re-formatted, and fed the oil company mantras. They had us by the nads since our very existence relied on their benevolence. I escaped.

Now, its even more difficult to talk issues with people. They fear they are being monitored online, they fear retaliation, loss of future employment and more. Most people are quite guarded with their remarks lest they be considered as lacking commitment or unstable. Not me. I'm f###ing crazy, retired and outspoken about everything. Life's too short to engage in self deception for very long.

Of course fracking is causing quakes, pre-quake conditions and general ecological mayhem. Climate change is real, Inhofe is not. Cigarettes cause cancer and should be outlawed like radium water. Marijuana should be decriminalized at the very least. Ethanol is a giveaway program for corporate farming and tenure is too easy to get.

Actually, the suspect isn't fracking so much as it is the deep injection wells where they are sending the waste water from fracking operations.  Interesting to note though that they aren't having near the quake activity in other areas where fracking is common now such as North Dakota, around Midland, Tx. or Pennsylvania.