Fracking risks overstated, say U of Texas researchers

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin say the controversial practice of “hydraulic fracturing,” or “fracking”, may not be to blame for environmental problems such as water contamination.

Fracking is where water, chemicals and sand are pumped at high pressure underground to pry open pockets of natural gas.

In a report presented last week to the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), the scientists say that drinking water contamination said to be caused by “fracking” may in fact result from other issues close to ground surface. These could include gas leaks from old wells, cracks in casing pipes and poor drilling structures.

The scientists also addressed the frequent charge that fracking causes small earthquakes. Charles Groat, principal investigator for the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, said such quakes are associated with conventional drilling operations, not hydraulic fracturing.

His colleague, Danny Reible, said the study’s conclusions point to the need for better enforcement of local and state regulations in terms of water runoff, worsening droughts and ground disruption caused by drilling.

Meanwhile the US Environmental Protection Agency is re-examining a recent study in Wyoming that found hydraulic fracturing caused water contamination.

“We have absolutely no indication now that drinking water is at risk,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson about the study, according to the Ithaca Journal.

On Dec. 8 the EPA released a draft report showing well contaminants linked to hydraulic fracturing in the the Pavillion natural gas field of Wyoming, about 370 kilometres northeast of Salt Lake City.

Encana, a natural gas producer operating in basins from from northeast British Columbia to east Texas, refutes the study by the EPA.

Fracking technology has dramatically increased natural-gas extraction and made it economically viable, thus changing the economics of natural gas. The glut of natural gas on the North American market caused largely by shale gas extraction (natural gas extracted from shale deposits) has plummetted prices to near-decade lows. The United States, once dependent on imports of liquefied natural gas, is now likely to become a gas exporter, The Economist noted in a recent expose on the subject. Europe, where natural gas prices are higher, is looking to replicate the US shale-gas boom, but extraction costs there are higher because the deposits tend to be deeper, said The Economist.