Current Fracking methods Should be Banned in NZ

Introduction

Current methods of international Hydraulic fracturing or Fracking should be banned in New Zealand. Fracking is a popular method in the power industry to obtain natural gas from shale rock on land. This Blog is not against Gas production or usage as an energy source its against methods that posses high risks to the environment and other land based industries that we cant control or predict. The current method comes with such risks which this authors opinion is too dangerous in New Zealand and should be banned. We will look at the basics of production. The parts of the production method of Fracking that are a risk to New Zealand through environmental and industry factors. Finally the conclusion that is fortified by the facts that current methods of fracking are dangerous and should be banned in New Zealand.


   This video is a great way to bring your self up to date on what its all about in 4 minutes flat.

The Current Methods

Scientists know that large amounts of natural gas is trapped in shale rock formations approximately 1 mile deep. Once a site is found, a drill is used to create a hole with freshwater based fluids to help the drill move(Animation of hydraulic fracturing). Once the hole is made protective casing of concert and other materials is made to protect any water sources between the surface and shale rock. When the drilling has reached the shale rock it goes vertical until the required distance is reached then protective casing is put in.
Then a perforating gun is used that fires off small explosive charges to create small cracks in the shale rock. Then water, sand and some chemicals are used at high pressure to create the process of hydraulic fracturing through the cracks made by the perforation gun. 19,000,000 litres of water  is an approximation of what is used to create the fracture only 1% to 0.5 % of the fluid is chemicals which contains 596+ chemicals  This creates fractures and they stay open due to the sand pumped into them. Then production can begin, this is where gas comes up and is collected for usage along with 15% to 30% of the original water used for the fracturing process of the shale rock. The gas is collected for production and the waste water is collected in pools by the site to be collected for dumped back into the ground rock, taken to a treatment plant or evaporated in to the air. This is the basic concept of the production of gas but there are risks with the water mixed with chemicals that are too dangerous in my opinion lets examine the two key risks involving the chemical water.

Risk one Chemical Water Underground

Through the analysis of the basic concept of fracking, the process of fracturing the shale rock with the Chemical laced water has risks due to the lack of control over what happens during the cracking process. We have established through what information is available that 1,000,000 gallons (3.785,000 litres via conversion calculator) to 7,000,000( 26,497,883liters via conversion calculator ) of water mixed with chemicals is used per frack of a well and the Miner can frack a well multiple times if required. Through another source we have established approximately the breakdown of the content as 90% water, 9.5% sand and chemical additives approx 0.5%. Water supplies near fracking instillation's in America and Australia have reported contamination with some chemicals that are the same in the fracking fluid used by near by gas wells. Based on the process described only 30% approx of the processed water can be recovered the rest stays in the ground below is a chart created with the figures obtained using a simple calculator to see each part in more realistic size.

Processed fluids used for fracking
Fluids per frack	3,785,000 Litres	26,497,883litres
Water	90%( 3,406,500 litres)	90%(23,848,095litres)
Sand	9.5%( 356,575 litres)	9.5%(2,517,299litres)
Chemicals	0.5% (18,925 litres)	0.5%(132,489.5litres)
thus with 30% recovered processed water we have about 13 tons to 93 tons of chemicals in the ground

Water supplies are not shielded by the fracking process it self, only the drilling process with its protective walls keep water supplies safe.There have been reports that point out the risk due the nz current ground activity and risks to the containment's ease of travel in the earth.  With no physical protection for the fracking process it self the risk is high and in America the risk has lead to contamination of water supplies which is something we don't want to happen here, thus I believe this part of the process should be band in New Zealand.

Water with gas mixed with it due to fracture leakage in to water supply

Gas mining on public owned land in America

Risk two Chemical Water Returned to the Surface.

We have established the high risk of the produced water in the ground used in the fracking of the shale rock can lead to water table contamination. We also know approx 30% of the produced water is recovered by the miners when gas production begins. What happens to this produced water depends on fracking processed used. The current practices are storage of the water in a pit near the mining site usually only with a plastic lining to protect the ground. The water is then sprayed into the air to encourage evaporation of the water and chemicals in the air but if its in the air, people or animals could breath it in and it could come back down to the ground in the from of acid rain. The produced water can be taken to a treatment plants but currently there are none in New Zealand that can treat the produced water. Through the above methods there is limited protection form the chemicals in the produced water coming backing or affecting the environment or water supplies. The main method used in New Zealand and international is injecting the water back into the earth through another mining well there is limited knowledge of where it flows to or how long it takes to flow to different locations or water ways. This is a great risk and in my opinion this current methods should be banned. 

Conclusion

This Blog has shown that the water used for the fracturing part of the mining of natural gas has very high risks to it related to chemical contamination when its in the ground and during recovery of the produced water. Its this bloggers opinion that current international practices lack sufficient safe guards to control or prevent the risks to the environment and local industries that rely on the local water table. Thus we should ban these practices of the fracking process in New Zealand.

References 

Animation of hydraulic fracturing
Marathon Oil Group. (2012, April 26). Animation of Hydraulic Fracturing (fracking). Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY34PQUiwOQ

Ban fracking Europe
Greens EFA. (2012, August 28). Ban fracking and shale gas in Europe before its too late. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHUMCGmjGsM

Cabot oil and gas fracking info
Cabot Oil Limited. (2012). The truth about hydraulic fracturing. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.cabotog.com/pdfs/MulliganFracing_PTI.pdf

Fracking Australia 
Independent Australia. (2013). Archive for: Fracking. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.independentaustralia.net/tag/fracking/

Fracking Canada
The Council of Canadians. (2006). Stop fracking in Canada. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://canadians.org/water/issues/fracking/index.html

Fracking chemicals
Wikipedia. (2011). List of additives for hydraulic fracturing. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_for_hydraulic_fracturing

Fracking facts
Jirving. (2011, June 28). The Fracking Facts [web log post]. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.frackingfacts.com.au/blog/

Fracking info news reports
Rowell, C. (2012, January 23). Hydraulic Fracturing: It'll ROCK your world. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.mindthesciencegap.org/2012/01/23/hydraulic-fracturing-itll-rock-your-world/

Fracking nz news
Davison, I. (2012, November 27). No need for fracking ban in New Zealand - Commissioner. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10850290

Fracking Russia 
Sourcwatch. (2013, February 26). Russia and fracking. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Russia_and_fracking

Gaslands Documentary
CMGOpMgr. (2010, May 5). GASLAND Trailer 2010. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8

Government review of Fracking in NZ
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. (2012, November). Evaluating the environmental impacts of fracking in New Zealand. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.pce.parliament.nz/assets/Uploads/Fracking-interim-web.pdf

Where in the world are we fracking?
Wikipedia. (2012). Hydraulic fracturing by country. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing_by_country

Wiki Fracking information
Wikipedia. (2012). Hydraulic fracturing. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

5 facts you need to know about fracking
Zerbe, L. (n. d.). 5 Facts about Fracking every family needs to know. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://www.rodale.com/fracking-2?page=0,0