Texas Counties Struggle to Repair Road Damage

Like or Dislike:

0

0

Hydraulic fracturing facts:

–Targets “tight gas” formations- large reservoirs of natural gas which are trapped in bedrock deep below the surface (2000-6000 ft down). They drill down to depth and then they drill horizontally to access the reserves.

–Bedrock is shattered using large quantities of water/chemical mixture at high pressure.

–Liquid is pumped down a shaft lined with cement– this is a casing used to keep the harmful chemicals from leaching out of the well and contaminating aquifers, nearby groundwater sources, water wells etc. If the fluid pressure is high enough to shatter bedrock 6,000 ft below the surface and cause localized earthquakes, one wonders how a cement casing–presuming there are no initial gaps or breaches along the full 6,000 ft length–can hold up to the same pressures without compromising the integrity of the casing.

–One drill site may have many wells– 2-20 per site. Each well may have to be fractured multiple times over a 30-year life span. 1-6 frackings per 30 years are needed to keep the gas flowing. The Johnson County bedrock is noted to be very hard; this hardness necessitates a “multi-frack” approach.

–Each subsequent hydraulic fracturing of a well requires more water than the previous one.

–Each deep shale well requires 2 to 9 million gallons of water. This water cannot be recycled.

–Each well requires hundreds of tanker truck trips to haul the water with some estimates of 320-1440 truck trips per well.

–Johnson County has more than 4000 wells.