20

Hydraulic Fracturing: Is Fracking

Worth the Environmental Cost?

Don Carns Jr.

The following letter by Don Carns Jr., a resident of Beans Cove, Pennsylva-
nia, appeared on January 6, 2012, in the Cumberland Times-News, a daily
newspaper that chiefly serves Maryland and adjacent counties of West Virginia.
Because newspapers usually print their material in narrow columns, they often
reparagraph contributions so that a paragraph rarely consists of more than a
sentence or two or three.

Shale Drilling Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen

I will be direct and to the point: Marcellus Shale requires drill-
ing. Drilling requires casing and grout, which can fail, especially when
subjected to 10,000–15,000 PSI, the pressure required for hydraulic
fracking.
Drillers rely on solid bedrock to reinforce the casings for such pres-
sure. But when drilling to the needed depths required to reach the Mar-
cellus Shale, solid rock is not always available. There are areas such as
caves, faults, folds, water tables, joints, and fissures.
All these are encountered and the casing doesn’t have added bed-
rock support. Casings are manmade, and not perfect. They leak from
age, stress, inferior materials, and premature leaks occur.
Failure results in leaks that contaminate subterranean and surface
water. Dimock, Pa., is now without drinking water.
Caves and fissures also carry groundwater. Old mines are voids that 5
can be encountered. One of interest is the Greenbrier Formation, which
runs from Pennsylvania, through Maryland, and into West Virginia.
This band of limestone contains Maryland’s and West Virginia’s
largest cave systems. Piney Mountain, west of LaVale and the source of
LaVale’s wells, had in recent years come under fire concerning Marcellus
Shale drilling.

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 CARNS / SHALE DRILLING IS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN 539

As of now, Maryland has a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling.

Once the “politics” are in place, that will change. Little Allegheny and
Piney Mountains have recently discovered large cave systems within
them. Piney also has recently discovered fault lines.
These mountains have a very active and complex underground
water system, one which feeds the LaVale wells at Red Hill and many
local wells.
If drilling were to occur in these places, disaster could happen at any
time. Ruined wells, ecosystems are destroyed, natural gas seepage into
the large cave systems, and destroyed land streams.
All wells and water sources in any gas well drilling areas should be 10
tested by an independent water testing firm at the expense of those drill-
ing gas wells.
This would establish a baseline to prove water conditions prior to
any gas well drilling.
I live in Beans Cove, Pa., in Clearville, Pa. (thirty miles north of
Cumberland), and Marcellus Shale drilling is well on its way.
Methane problems, contaminated wells, and road destruction due to
the heavy trucks involved with the drilling operation are some of the
many problems being experienced.
The EPA now admits fracking near Pavillion, Wyo., has contami-
nated their groundwater. Penn State Geologist Terry Engelder thinks
precautions will prevent accidents. Well, Mr. Engelder, accidents do hap-
pen. Mr. Engelder, does water flow uphill? Yes, when water is under
10,000 to 15,000 PSI and underground or above. Gravity, under those
conditions, loses its effect. Water and gas will seek its easiest flow path,
and if it is uphill, it will follow.
In closing, consider these facts not mentioned by proponents of Mar- 15
cellus Shale drilling:
Heavy trucks supplying the drill sites travel rural roads which are not
designed to handle such loads. Who pays for the damage? The taxpayer.
Will the gas being produced go to America? No, it will go to the
highest bidder. That is the way of the oil and gas business. Those busi-
nessmen are profiteers, not patriotic.
Earthquakes are generated by fracking as evinced in Ohio on Dec. 21.
Radioactivity is the last subject. Marcellus Shale also contains ura-
nium, yes, uranium, and the radioactive decay of uranium-238 makes it
a source rock for radioactive radon gas.
This released radioactive material is brought to the surface and 20
released in drilling fluids. In the event of a casing failure and reclaimed
fracking fluid seepage, it is also in your drinking water and surface water.
Definitely not a pleasing thought. And more to come.

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 CLINE / UNFOUNDED FEARS ABOUT SHALE GAS OBSCURE FACTS 541

Scott Cline
Responding to the letter by Don Carns Jr., Scott Cline published this letter in the
Cumberland Times-News, on January 25, 2012.

Unfounded Fears about Shale Gas Obscure Facts

The Jan. 6 letter to the Cumberland Times-News entitled “Shale Drill-
ing Is a Disaster Waiting to Happen” was long on fiction and short on
facts.
Natural gas seepage into vast mysterious subterranean cave systems,
casing constructed of inferior materials with no bedrock support, earth-
quakes, radioactive material in drinking water? Geez, where do I begin
to correct this fictional nonsense?
The truth is that the long-term history of gas production and the
science behind it shows that very few accidents have occurred and the
public has far more to fear from road salting, septic systems, and phar-
maceuticals, and household chemicals dumped down drains than it does
from any cumulative effect of oil and gas operations.
Neither the shale fracture stimulation itself nor the production of the
produced water back to the surface through a properly constructed well-
bore poses a risk of fluid migration to sources of drinking water.
The water in rock thousands of feet deep where the fracture stimula- 5
tion occurs is disconnected from our lakes, rivers, and shallow aquifers.
Hydraulic fracturing cannot break through these thousands of feet
of rock all the way up to reach shallow aquifers. Hydraulic fracturing is
simply the very short-lived few-hour application of hydraulic pressure
on the reservoir that creates temporary fractures of a few hundred feet
in vertical height over a mile below the surface.
Pressure is then immediately released and the wellbore becomes a
pressure sink with any available gas and fluids moving to that pressure
sink and up to the surface through the wellbore that has triple or often
quadruple redundant layers of steel casing and cement plus tubing that
protect the shallow groundwater sources.
Once the well is depleted of energy it is plugged with cement and
presents no danger to the groundwater forever.

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 542 20 / HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

Also, radioactive shale cuttings cannot hurt anyone. The extra radio-
activity that people might obtain by standing next to a pile of Marcel-
lus or Utica shale cutting is insignificantly small compared with the dose
that we naturally receive from cosmic radiation, our environment, and
even the food we eat.
And radioactivity is not a threat to our drinking water. All water 10
that returns to the surface is reused, injected, or treated so that drinking
water maintains the mandated standards.
And contrary to the author’s fiction, “fracking” does not cause earth-
quakes as the energy is less than a hammer dropped to the ground.
Small earthquakes have been suspected in a few isolated instances
with industrial waste injection wells but not from hydraulic well fractur-
ing, which is a completely different technology.
In reality shale gas exploration boils down to a temporary traffic nui-
sance that can be solved by working with local communities to minimize
short-term inconveniences and making sure that the water that returns
to the surface through the wellbore is properly stored, transported, and
either recycled or treated.
The long-term benefi ts of shale gas development in terms of reduced
carbon emissions, economic stimulus, and national security far outweigh
these temporary and manageable short-term nuisances.

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 McCLENDON / IS HYDRAULIC FRACTURING GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY? PRO 543

Aubrey K. McClendon
Aubrey K. McClendon, cofounder and CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corporation,
delivered the Keynote Address before the Marcellus Shale Insights Conference in
Philadelphia on September 7, 2011. We reprint the abridged version, as it was
published in CQ Researcher, December 16, 2011.

Is Hydraulic Fracturing Good for the Economy? Pro

According to a newly released study of Marcellus natural gas
development by Penn State University, the shale-gas revolution is the
biggest opportunity to hit Pennsylvania since the steel industry more
than 100 years ago. . . .
Consider these numbers:
• Marcellus natural gas development generated $11 billion in value-
added regional gross domestic product last year. That number will
rise to $13 billion in 2011 and reach $17 billion in 2015. . . .
• Chesapeake [Energy Corp.] has 2.4 million acres under lease
in the Marcellus and has already paid almost $2 billion in lease
bonus and royalties to farmers, families, and townships across
Pennsylvania.
• Direct and indirect employment from this economic boom has
already surpassed 140,000 jobs. . . . Chesapeake alone has about
2,100 employees in the Marcellus and about 1,700 of them were
hired regionally. According to Penn State, further development of
the Marcellus will support 216,000 jobs in 2015. . . .
• If you think this shale discovery and development is like hitting
the lottery, you are right, especially if you happen to be the bud-
get director for Pennsylvania. State and local taxes paid will total
about $1.2 billion this year and are projected to reach $1.4 billion
in 2012. . . .
• Nationally, the numbers only get bigger. Natural gas exploration
and development supports about 3.5 million jobs across the coun-
try and with continued investment can easily add 500,000 more.
By way of example, Chesapeake has added about 3,000 direct
employees nationwide in the first eight months of 2011 alone.
But the benefi ts don’t stop there. Chesapeake has one million min-
eral owners in sixteen states. To put that in perspective, about one in
every 300 Americans has an oil and natural gas lease with Chesapeake.
And they have been very well rewarded. We’ve paid out $9 billion
in lease bonuses over the past fi ve years, about $5 billion in royalties
over the past four years, and another $2 billion in taxes over the past
five years.
And every one of those numbers is going up daily. The lives 5
of millions rest on us getting this issue right and utilizing this
American treasure. . . .

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 544 20 / HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

And remind me, what value [have] these shale gas protestors cre-
ated? What jobs have they created? You know the answer, and so do I,
and it’s time that we contrast what we do for a living [versus] what they
do for a living.

Jannette M. Barth
Jannette M. Barth is an economist with the Pepacton Institute and a member of
the Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy. On August 23, 2011, she offered testimony
at a public hearing of New York State Senator Greg Ball. We give an abridgment,
as published in CQ Researcher, December 16, 2011.

Is Hydraulic Fracturing Good for the Economy? Con

The gas industry is seriously misleading the public and our politi-
cians. They ignore costs and exaggerate benefits. . . . The oil and gas
industry is ten times more capital-intensive than the average industry.
Capital-intensive industries, by definition, are not major job creators. It
would be far better for our economy, and in particular for job creation,
to encourage a more labor-intensive industry.
The studies that claim a positive economic impact from gas drilling
tend to be biased, dated, seriously flawed, or inapplicable to our region.
It’s critical to examine what has been left out of these studies. What costs
have not been taken into account? . . .
The studies funded by the gas industry ignore declines in other
industries that are likely to result from a combination of pollution, a
shift to an industrial landscape, and “crowding out.” Examples of indus-
tries likely to be negatively affected include agriculture, tourism, organic
farming, wine making, hunting, fishing, and river recreation.
The industry-funded studies ignore the fact that there will be dam-
age to infrastructure, especially roads and bridges. In the Fayetteville
Shale region, in Arkansas, the state Highway Department reported that
the gas industry has caused $455 million worth of damage to highways.
Insufficient funds are collected from the industry, and even with a sever-
ance tax it appears that the taxpayers of Arkansas will have to pay more
than $400 million of the road-repair costs.
The costs of drinking-water contamination and land, stream, and air 5
pollution are ignored in the economic impact studies. The cost of mitiga-
tion is ignored and so is the cost in terms of health. . . .

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 BARTH / IS HYDRAULIC FRACTURING GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY? CON 545

Costs to communities are ignored, including costs due to the

increased demand on hospitals, police, fi re departments, and emergency
health services. . . .
Likely declines in property values are ignored. Supporters of gas
drilling say that property values will increase. Rental rates will proba-
bly increase due to the infl ux of transient workers, and hotel occupancy
rates may increase. We have seen this happen in Pennsylvania. The
value of large tracts of land may increase, but single-family homes and
small lots will probably decline in value. . . . Also, some insurance com-
panies are refusing to issue policies on homes with gas wells.
The industry-funded studies take a myopic view. They don’t address
what happens when the gas is gone, and we may be left with contam-
inated drinking water, pollution, an industrial landscape, a population
with failing health, and vanished employment opportunities.

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