ProPublica: Exxon Ad Makes Gas Drilling Seem Simpler—and Safer—Than it Really Is

These ads are simply everywhere and generate a "last channel" response from my remote.


Exxon Ad Makes Gas Drilling Seem Simpler—and Safer—Than it Really Is
by Nicholas Kusnetz
ProPublica, May 25, 2011, 12:44 p.m.


ExxonMobil has been running a series of ads aimed at assuring people that shale gas drilling is safe. One of those ads, a full-page spread in Monday's New York Times and Washington Post, shows what a well looks like as it extends more than a mile and a half beneath the surface. It includes a close-up of the layers of steel and cement that are supposed to protect the surrounding earth from the gas and fluids inside the well pipe.

The ad, which depicts a gas well in the Marcellus Shale, implies that these layers of protection extend all the way down the well. But in the vast majority of horizontal wells, they do not. An Exxon spokeswoman acknowledged that fact in an email.

"The ad is a graphic that compresses over a mile into 18 inches and the enlarged area depicts the casing layers protecting the fresh water aquifer," she said, adding that all of Exxon's Marcellus wells are surrounded by multiple layers of steel and cement near the surface.

The ad makes for a good moment to remind people that most states require multiple layers of casing for only a short distance underground, so they can protect shallow aquifers. After that, a well may have only one casing layer for a short way, and then no casing at all. Some wells run for thousands of feet through rock and dirt with no cement or additional steel barrier at all. Only at the very bottom are they again encased in protective cement.

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http://www.propublica.org/article/exxon-ad-makes-gas-drilling-seem-simpler-and-safer-than-it-really-is