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 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
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
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
Wikipedia. (2012). Hydraulic fracturing by country. Retrieved April 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing_by_country
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
Hi! Nick
ReplyDeleteDespite a serious topic, I found that quite interesting and should be raised as an educational issue for people who live in NZ. I think many people including me don’t know exactly about the hydraulic fracturing method especially the adverse effect of chemical substances which contaminated in drinking water. Moreover, during the process used a huge amount of fresh water supply as well.
I strongly agree that the hydraulic fracturing methods should be banned in NZ due to potential human health risks. For example, people who live next to these drilling sites are reporting a wide range of adverse health effects including respiratory difficulties, skin rashes, digestive disorders, and neurological problems. There are complaints of foul odors, water pollution, incessant noise and 24 hours per day production (http://chej.org/2012/11/health-effects-associated-with-natural-gas-extraction-using-hydraulic-fracturing-or-fracking/).
However, I have noticed that there is some evidence supporting the statement that there had been 43 hydraulic fracturing activities in 28 wells of Taranaki region with no evidence of any related environmental problems. The report also found that the risk of contaminating freshwater aquifers was very low (http://www.trc.govt.nz/assets/taranaki/region-and-council/council/pdf/hf2011-w.pdf). That means its low range of adverse health effects, is it?
Thus, it illustrations that there is a lot of work to be done by both sides of the argument but since there is a great deal of doubt on the safety, I agree with you, stop until something safer is accessible.
Your layout was very good and well presented. The hyperlinks are visible, relevant and clear. All imagery and videos were clear and informative. The audience would need the background material provided if this topic is new to them. It appears to me that you have provided that effectively and the videos back it up as well.
This is one of the best blogs I’ve seen so far but there are issues you strongly need to address. There are several words in the wrong places for example “form” or “from” which one? Some of the sentences are repeating points already made maybe they should be removed or reworded to support the ones existing already. Check the referencing it looks great but not quite APA yet. But overall these are minor in relation to what the marking criteria requirement. I read your blog on the 4th of May and look forward to see the final written work next week.
Thanks Mew for the great feedback I have a bad habit of writing too much and end up repeating myself, I will look in to that thanks for the heads up on APA I though I did it correctly I will make all the changes tomorrow. I had a look at the link to your report on the council website and its a great report but we need to have more reports provided by independent organisations and with information and figures supplied form neutral parties to insure we are getting a wide range of informative views to see the true picture is what it should be.Thanks again
DeleteHi Mew I've made the changes please let me know what you think. Cheers
DeleteHi Hi Nick!
DeleteI see you have made some changes and the word count is less and the references look correct now. Also,the presentation looks better on the eyes. It's good effort maybe Esther or the others in our class might have some ideas for you.
Cheers!
Thanks Mew :)
DeleteHay Nick,
ReplyDeleteI was a bit hesitant to read your blog because the issue sounds boring lol. But it was very informative and made me realize that this is a serious issue! Although I could'nt view two of the videos due to bad internet connection, you provide ALOT of info about it, which was helpful for me to understand. In the end I agree with your stance on this issue. Great Blog !
:)
Hi Eden,
ReplyDeleteThanks for holding on and reading to the end its great to see you enjoyed the blog. It can be hard to made a deep topic informative and clear without boring the reader. Thanks again for the positive feedback, the internet at uni can be a bit of a drag with video. Thanks:)
Cheers Nick,
Hi Nick, I like your topic. It's so different and original but still so important it todays world. Your blog is very important and made me realise that this is a very important subject. I like that you have made it very clear your stance on this because it makes it easier to read. Personally I didn't really know about fracking so its great to read something that is very informative so I get the general gist of things. Also the video and diagrams are a great addition to a great blog. Your layout is also very well done.
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick
DeleteThanks for reading my blog, its great to find something new that opens our eyes to a different part of life that could be important for the future. Thanks for the great feedback. When you were reading the blog did you find anything wrong with the grammar or was it ok, my biggest problem is grammar structure I hope it was ok.
Thanks again
Kindest Regards
Nick :)
hi nick, i was entirely sure what your topic was about when i first saw it, but as i continued to read i was able to gain new ideas about our economy and enviroment in new zealand. thanks to your informative and detailed explanations i now know what hydraulic fracturing is and the affects on not only new zealand but other countries also. so in the end, i do agree with you in the issues you raised and only hope that new zealand can and will do something about such a serious issue.
ReplyDeletegoodluck :)
Hi Shelby,
DeleteThanks for reading my blog its hard these days to dig through all that information out there to find the true gems that could make or break our economy or environment here in New Zealand. Thanks for the great comments also did you find anything wrong with the grammar, I'm a returning student and grammar is my biggest problem in class but I hope I did ok with it in this blog. Thanks again for your great support.
Kindest Regards,
Nick :)
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, I think your presentation and content is excellent, the whole article is very visually pleasing and you have provided a clear argument, which you have also supported well with in-depth information.
I found one small spacing error you may have over looked in the second paragraph, drill move(Animation of hydraulic fracturing). Also In the section “Risk one Chemical Water Underground”, you could possibly leave a space before and after the graph, but this is only a personal preference.
The sentence “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”could possible be revised or made slightly more fluent. Maybe something like, Water supplies near fracking instillation's in America and Australia have reported contamination which includes chemicals that are the same as the chemicals used by surrounding fracking gas wells.
Your method of referencing is excellent, you have clearly displayed both the hyperlink title and used APA referencing well. Also everything is in a chronological order, which really makes it easy to follow.
Excellent Job Nick, after reading this article I real feel like I now know something about the fracking process and sternly agree with your argument.
Hi Troy,
ReplyDeleteGreat points, grammar is hard thing for me. Its been with me even when I was running my business I use have heps of emails from so many emyployees of mine about my bad grammar so its a hard thing for me to takle but thats while we are here. Thanks again brother,
Kindest Regards,
Nick Baker:)
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteMan, I wouldnt lose to much sleep over it, your entire content is good and the things I noticed are so minor that the do not at all effect your blog at all. I like your article a lot and have learnt a lot of useful things from reading it (both usable in class as well as the whole fracking process).
Keep it up bro!
Hi Nick,
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog. Agree with Troy, nice layout and makes it easy to read.
Easy on the mind videos that give you the down low on whats going on and I would have to agree with you that for NZ its not the best idea. To small a space that if something should go wrong it will affect a lot of people.
They should really spend all that money they make on R&D.