Tagged: hydrofracking

The past few days have been busy ones in the world of natural gas extraction:

• New hydrofracking rules from the Department of Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were met with complaints from both sides.
• A New York environmental group is questioning whether the state's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) believes wastewater is a real concern.
• And the EPA withheld a study on aquifer contamination in Wyoming at the request of the governor - who then used the delay to prepare a smear campaign.

Here's details on each:

There's a boom in natural gas production in the United States, a boom so big the market is having trouble absorbing it all.

The unusually warm weather this winter is one reason for the excess, since it reduced the need for people to burn gas to heat their homes. A bigger reason, however, is the huge increase in gas production made possible by new methods of coaxing gas out of shale rock formations.

Peter Ricchiuti, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans and an expert on oil and gas production, says the normal supply-and-demand laws of economics aren't working as they used to in the industry.

According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, 13 states: 

• Are unsure or don't know where some of their natural gas pipelines are located, or
• Have little or no information on pipeline reliability.

But according to New York officials, we're not one of them.

The recent announcement by Shell Chemical, that it plans to build an ethane cracker near Pittsburgh, figures to be a huge boon for the economy in Western Pennsylvania.

An ethane cracker processes ethane from natural gas operations into ethylene for making plastics.

The new plant is a multi-billion dollar investment, and the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia all lobbied to bring it to their states.

New York's shared border with Pennsylvania makes it seem logical that the new plant in western Pennsylvania would add to demand for natural gas from New York.

But it won't.

Why is there such a big fuss over fracking?

According to Karen Moreau, who heads the New York State Petroleum Council, environmentalists have stirred up the controversy as a fundraising tool.

“It’s part of a movement to enrich the environmental groups,” she says, “Because through hysteria, and creating an environment of fear, it certainly does cause people to support the mission of some of these groups.”

Environmentalists, obviously, disagree with that assertion.

Niagara Falls, N.Y. has banned the treatment of fracking fluid.

The move comes after the Niagara Falls Water Board was openly considering treating fracking fluid from wells in Pennsylvania and Ohio in order to boost the city’s finances.

The liquid is a toxic mix of chemicals and heavy metals used during the controversial natural gas drilling technique.