As I write this paper, the United Nations Rio 20 conference on Sustainable Development begins. Ban Ki Moon has described this as the most important conference ever to take place. It concerns us all.
Fracking or hydraulic fracturing is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release natural gas inside.
Shale is the most abundant sedimentary rock in our earth. It is easily split open and will release natural gas formed from the organic matter trapped in it during its formation. In conventional oil drilling, the oil and gas released has migrated from the shale and become trapped in pores of rock, such as sandstone. In fracking, the shale is split open to release the natural gas which remains trapped in tiny pore spaces in the rock.
In the 1990’s it was realized, that as peak oil approached, new methods of releasing the natural gas trapped in the shale must be developed. The possibility to unlock very significant deposits of natural gas became readily available when fracking was developed. In this process the natural gas in the shale rock is released by pumping in water, under pressure high enough, to fracture the shale. Following the fracturing of the shale, the gas is liberated and will flow to the well. This technique is known as “hydraulic fracturing” and now referred to as “fracking”.
There are several stages to this process.
1. It is necessary to drill vertically down to the shale, maybe up to 10 000 feet.
2. Then the drill must be turned through 90 degrees in order to progress horizontally through the shale rock. This method is known as “horizontal drilling”.
3. The fracking fluid is then pumped into the well under pressure.
4. When the mixture reaches the end of the well, the high pressure causes the shale rock to crack, creating fissures, releasing the natural gas which then flows into the well.
5. As there is a limit to the output from any attempt to release gas through fracturing, repeated attempts are necessary to complete, as far as possible extraction of the gas. This is referred to as re-fracking.
Fracking is proposed in Ireland for the Lough Allen and Clare Basins. The Lough Allen Basin covers an area of 8000 square miles. It includes parts of counties Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo as well as Fermanagh and Tyrone, which are in another jurisdiction. The Clare Basin encompasses parts of Counties Clare, Cork, Kerry and Limerick. In total 12 counties will be directly affected.
Fracking is good for development and includes such outcomes as high skill jobs, tax revenue, independent and assured supply of gas to the country, stable energy prices.
If this is so then why is there any opposition to this process?
There are several aspects to be considered,
1. the infra-structure required, (pipes, wells, roads, housing, etc),
2. the process and raw materials,(water, chemicals, etc) and
3. the end products,(waste water, seepage, and the remains after each well has been used).
It takes several million of gallons of water to complete each fracturing job. But the water is not put through the pipes alone, it is mixed with sand and chemicals to create a fracking fluid. The sand is used in order to keep the fissures in the shale open. Thousands of gallons of chemicals are used per fracturing job. Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid; these chemicals have been described as “unnamed, unknown, unmentionable, a toxic cocktail, proprietary (which means they are known only to the company for commercial reasons). The industry says they, the chemicals, form a very small part – less than 1% – the water/sand mixture. If millions of gallons of water are used in the process, then even half of 1% of water/sand mixture is thousands of gallons. (Half of 1% million is 5000, so if 1 million gallons of water is used, 5000 gallons of chemicals are required. This is a very conservative figure, in terms of the quantity of water used and the percentage of chemicals, and used for demonstration purposes only). These chemicals will need to be brought to the place of use, and stored. I am sure I need not detail the infrastructure required in North Leitrim for that.
Further, in Leitrim alone 2000 wells and 600 drill pads are proposed, and 2000km of pipelines will be required to carry away the raw gas.
Fracking produces a limited quantity of the gas available and the process will be repeated.
Only some, less than 50%, fracking fluid is recovered and may be stored in open pits while waiting removal to elsewhere. It will affect the quality of the air in the vicinity as it evaporates. The rest of the toxic fluid is left in the ground. It is not biodegradable. These materials are radioactive and carcinogenic.
It has been found that following fracking, methane gas and toxic chemicals leak out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater, and water wells. Uranium and radium have also leaked from the wells. It may leak out from the ground. It has been documented that where fracking takes place land is destroyed, animals suffer mutations, and people suffer sensory, respiratory and neurological damage.
The gas/oil producers will say that natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than other fossil fuels. It is not cleaner in its life cycle. The life cycle cost in terms of carbon dioxide, CO2 and Methane emission in the development of natural gas by this process, is at least as dirty as coal.
The oil companies will pay the farmers and owners to lease the land for the fracking but it, the fracking, will leave the land un-useable as far into the future as we can see, when the natural gas has been extracted. The price of fracking is numerous environmental, safety and health hazards, human health as well as animal health.
The dangers of fracking are documented worldwide. Following the series of earthquakes in Birmingham last year, the UK temporarily put a halt to the fracking close by, as it was believed they were linked to the exploration activity in Lancashire.
France has banned fracking, and Bulgaria, as well as a number of regions in the United States, including New York and Vermont.
Natural gas, as I have said is not environmentally friendly as it is a fossil fuel and so releases carbon dioxide.
More serious are probably the hazards associated with fracking itself. I understand the centre for the Lough Allen Basin is to be Drumshanbo. What will be the consequences of bringing to a town, such as Drumshanbo the infra-structure required for the fracking: the water- millions of gallons, the chemicals, the piping for fracking and the piping for removing the gas, the effect on the local water system, the consequences as the new wells are opened and the older ones left open releasing gases from the fracking fluid into the air, the state of the land when the fracking is completed?
Proponents of fracking say the waste water generated in the process can be disposed of or treated safely. Opponents say run-off, industrial accidents and cost-cutting, make contamination inevitable.
It has been claimed that the drilling was not always as deep as promised, and in cases was not even below the aquifer making pollution of the water system inevitable.
The oil companies state that where the pipe passes through the level of the aquifer it is made of steel and encased in cement. There is documentation that this was either not always done or so badly done that it did not withstand the pressure of the fracking fluid.
In the US there is a study of fracking’s impact on drinking water and ground water resources due out later this year. This study is being carried out by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Before I list resources available on the internet let me quote from Patrick Kavanagh. He writes:
Green, blue, yellow red-
God is down in the swamps and marshes..
The raving flowers looked up in the face
of the One and the Endless, the Mind that has baulked
the profoundest of mortals.
(Extract from The One by Patrick Kavanagh)
Resources
There is a great deal of information available on the internet, and visuals on Youtube.
Examples include
1. Fracking Explained with Animation
2. Fracking Hell: The untold story
3. Jessica Ernst speaking in Glenfarne 24th February, 2012
Jessica is from Alberta, she is a scientist and environmentalist, who has worked in the oil and gas industry. She is at present engaged in a legal case consequent on the destruction of her well and water system. There is a great deal from Jessica on the internet and YouTube.
1, 2 and 3 can be accessed through the browser on Youtube, or through your internet browser. (I use google)
4. Several town councils have voted against fracking taking place in their area. You should be able to check this on the internet or by asking one of your councillors
5. I notice as I check these details that the Leitrim Observer is giving considerable space to fracking. They speak (28th June, 2012) of the dismay that some business people in Manorhamilton received €20 000 from Tambouran, the company with the licence for exploring in Lough Allen Basin. This way of dividing communities is spoken of by Jessica.
6. I have a copy of the DVD ‘Gasland’ an award winning film on Fracking by Josh Fox. If any sisters or communities wish to borrow it just let me know. You need to be able to play a US production on your machine, alternatively it is available on ‘Youtube’ or through your browser. The Sky is Pink is similarly available.
7. To view a source of academically peer reviewed documents, please click here
8. To view a detailed list of groups active on the issue, please click here
9. Fracking Free Ireland distributes a newsletter regularly
10. NO FRACKING IRELAND is the Facebook page most widely used.
11. Greg Palast Talks to Ireland, (He is an investigative reporter) can be seen below
12. People in the UK who might like to view the network page for activists there, please click here. Josh Fox’s more recent video ‘The Sky Is Pink’ can be accessed very easily from this.
Denise O’Brien
(Board member UNANIMA International)
Our Lady’s Bower, Athlone
Congregation
