Can someone explain what damages are caused by NG fracking?

I know its bad, but why?

Do the water and other materials create some kind of toxic sludge that goes into the water table?

and since the practice is exempt from clean-water regulations, that makes it even worse.

If you haven't seen the documentary "Gasland", it's definitely worth watching!!

Aka Aquifer?

NG. Is there a way to get NG and avoid toxicity to endviroment?

I heard a study once, however, that was trying to make a Fuel Consumption Buffer Filter - that would screen out 99.999% of the greenhouse gasses.

If we're going to have to live with Carbon Emissions, we should at least try to find a more efficient way of going about it.

Available on Netflix.

GasLand (2010)
In this Oscar-nominated documentary, director Josh Fox journeys across America to examine the negative effects of natural-gas drilling, from poisoned water sources to kitchen sinks that burst into flame to unhealthy animals and people. Is natural gas a viable alternative to the country's dwindling energy resources, or do the potential harmful consequences outweigh the positives? Fox's film raises these and many more probing questions.
Cast: Josh Fox, Aubrey K. McClendon
Director: Josh Fox
Genre: Documentary
Format: DVD
Available from Netflix

Really great movie.

And one other thing - these companies are moving into semi-rural residential areas, and offering homeowners ten to thirty thousand bucks up front for the right to drill on their land. And offer the homeowner all sorts of reassurances that nothing bad will occur.

But then the homeowner realizes that underground hydraulic explosions are part of the drilling process. The home and its foundation are damaged.

They go to the tap to drink water, and a kerosene-smelling liquid flows out of the tap. And if they put a flame under it, it explodes!

But of course the larger problem is that the operations themselves require hundred thousands if not millions of gallons of water per operation. Water that will be forever contaminated, in order to give the American public a "cheap naturally occurring fuel to use for their homes." But if you factor in the water cost, it is no longer cheap.

And then the aquifers themselves become contaminated due to the drilling operations. This would not be allowed, except the Cheney/Bush Energy Act of 2005 allowed for all environmental standards and provisions to be tossed aside in terms of pursuing the natural gas.

often a couple of times before any fracking takes place. Plus, surface sections of shale gas wells (vertical hole) are never selected to be put into production when the well is brought in to completion, so are never perforated or staged. Which makes sense if you think about it; wells in shale plays are always drilled laterally through the target zone withing the formation. Surface water tables are unaffected. (Edited to add: and nobody should be drinking from a well that's source is a surface water table...stupid, stupid, stupid). Deep water or aquifers are potentially at risk of contamination, but that's all dependent upon the communication between the stratigraphic layer being fracked and overlying/underlying potential hydrographic strata. Generally, we should always err on the side of caution, and permits shouldn't be issued where there is any possibility of a municipal drinking water supply (aquifer) being affected by drilling, but we all know that doesn't happen. Gasland is riddled with inaccuracies and hokum, and I wish those guys had taken the time to make a better movie.

(aquifer) being affected"

So poisoning water that isn't, at the moment, being used as a municipal water source is just fine?

In another 30 years people will look back at fracking as one of the stupidest ways of accessing NG we could possibly come up with.

Better getting it now, cheap and dirty, than wait for a couple decades to find a sustainable, non-poisonous means.

Permits shouldn't be issued where there is any possibility of a municipal drinking water supply or a potential drinking water supply being affected.

Happy now? Sheesh....try to answer the OP's question and get slammed for donating my time. Long live the DU!

Thee is NO fresh water which is not potential drinking water.

If it is being pumped from the aquifer to water crops - it goes to people. If it sits in the aquifer for a hundred years, it will be pumped up and go to people a hundred years from now.

You think the oil/energy wars today are interesting? In another 20 years the BIG wars will be for water. There is NO excuse for poisoning water anywhere, at any time - particularly on the excuse that we aren't using that water at this moment.

We don't know how global climate change is going to affect us. There's a lot of guesses, but nobody knows. Where you are living today could be like the Sahel in ten years - and people are going to be looking for water in places that are being ignored today.

There is no safe place to pollute.

Thanks for explaining the hydrologic cycle to me. I had no idea that's how it worked. What'd I waste all those years and tens of thousands of dollars on getting a geology degree and my professional geologist's license. It would've been a lot quicker to just listen to you. Where were you all these years?

(of course, only if nobody's watching)?

Don't throw your damn degrees at me - REFUTE MY ARGUMENT.

All I can discern is that you think that all natural gas exploration should be shut down, and want to attack me personally for it....is this correct? Your initial reply to my post was an ad hominem directed at me. I then amended my post (somewhat sarcastically, admittedly) to reflect what you apparently wished that it had said. Then you came at me with another ad hom. I then complained again about you unleashing personal attacks on me, and not addressing the OP. So what are you really about with this?

Read what I fucking wrote.

Did I say I oppose natural gas? Anywhere?

I said that FRACKING is a fucking crime against the earth. Nowhere did I attack you - I attacked FRACKING as being an ecological mistake which results in poisoning the aquifers. Then, instead of addressing FRACKING you try aruging 'from authority' - as if your degrees somehow invalidate what I said.

Where's the ad hom there? Do you know what an ad hom is? How is 'you think poisoning non-municipal water is OK?' is an ad hom? It's called a "question". I was simply trying to clarify what YOU just said - that we should avoid damaging municipal water sources. Making that distinction indicates you are fine with poisoning water that we are not going to immediately consume.

Is that REALLY your position? If so, how do you justify it?

Have a nice rant.

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That would be built into the design of any new building

The trick was that they would forcibly ventilate dirt, deeply, I remember

Why couldn't we use this to get NG? Something that didn't force it all out at once, but just sucked it out of the ground

Granted, it may not be as fast as fracking, but it is one way that doesn't cause a clear and present danger (aquafer - I *get* it)

Deep large confined (artesian) aquifers only occur in areas where there are deep layers of sediment such as on the coastal plain or old lake/inland sea beds. So if there is no municipal water the residents actually have no choice. And there are water table wells all over Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia which are not contaminated and have been providing potable water for years. Basically in the piedmont and mountains, the only sources of water are either water table wells or surface water (often what municipalities use but they treat it of course)

You might want to check the depositional facies of inland basins, though....most aren't subaqueous. Think of the deposition happenning right now in North America; there are more sediments being deposited on land that will lithify than in the sum of all surface fresh water on the continent. Also, most areas actually are above sweet aquifers, just not cheaply accessible. Drilling is expensive, especially if the target (sweet aquifer) happens to be below volcanic intrusions or very deep. Recharge zones can be outcropped at surface hundreds or thousands of miles away.

...exemption is enough to give one pause. Why would they need this exemption if they can do it without hurting the water tables?

Young man who made the movie "Gaslands"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45BK-XiJZsg

Great interview.

Source of water for fracking - in some areas water supplies have been depleted.

Disposal of fracking water - the industry doesn't have the greatest record on this. They have ruined some small waste water treatment plants which weren't equipped to handle the chemicals. There are allegations that some companies have disposed of fracking water by spraying it on unpaved roads. In some areas stored fracking water in lagoons has become an issue when the lagoons leaked or overflowed during heavy rainfall. There are allegations that fracking water killed a creek near the WV PA border as a result of improperly treated water being dumped into the creek. There is apparently technology to recycle fracking water which is kind of a possible obvious solution to both the source and disposal issue.

Drilling bores not properly sealed off from water tables and aquifers - this is not thought to be a major issue today because the technology is not that complex to prevent it.

Migration of methane into aquifers. Well heads have actually blown up. This apparently has occurred in NY and PA - the gas companies for the most part deny that fracking is to blame but there is at least circumstantial evidence that there may be a connection.

Destruction of rural roads with trucks and heavy equipment. This has apparently been a big problem in Northern Pennsylvania and rural jurisdictions do not seem to have any clout to force the gas companies to do much about it. They apparently have to repair the roads once they are finished drilling in an area but in the meantime it has caused a lot of grief for local people.

http://dontfrackwithny.com/the-problems-with-fracking-in-new-york-state/

Wyoming is also experiencing severe and similar problems.

My own state hasn't had a lot of trouble yet, as vertical wells are still the cheapest way to get to our considerable reserves.

"I need volunteers. I want to inject, by needle, a substance in your arm. I won’t tell you what is in it.
Just know that I’ve been doing it for years.
There have been no reported side effects from the liquid that goes into your arm, but there never has been any long term studies to see if the liquid will cause long term damage.
The needles are sometimes dirty, and can cause a rash and irritation on the surface of the skin.
If you do get a rash, I will make a monetary settlement with you, but then, you must never tell anyone.
Of course I will pay you.
Do I have any volunteers?"

how much are you paying the volunteers? I could use some extra cash.