Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on June 24, 2010 at 1:53

Gilbert, Gasland is not an accurate depiction of the process of hydraulic fracture stimulation. Some of the more sensational portions of Gasland are point source surface pollution which has no direct linkage to the fracture stimulation process. State drilling regulations have a purposeful focus on the aquifer portions of the stratigraphic column and casing/cementing designs address that focus. The fracture stimulation employed in the Haynesville Shale Play takes place a depths of 11,000 to 13,000' which is about 9,000 to 11,000' below the aquifers in NW. LA. Regulations and enforcement are important for even those of us who support the development of the Haynesville Shale. And living in an area with a one hundred year history of oil and gas exploration and production makes most of us less than naive concerning the process in general. I wish for the debate to go forward but not with the inaccuracies and tone of Gasland. I watched the PBS Frontline program on Gasland weeks ago and recognized it for the sensational hatchet job that it is. I suspected that it's sensational one-sided portrayal would be irresistible to the media.

Permalink Reply by W P on June 24, 2010 at 2:37

I guess we should stop farming also since the pesticides could get into the water supply! We can all just exist on sugar water pumped in our viens by IV. OOPS they use chemicals to farm Sugar Cane as well. I guess we will have to use Synthetic sugar, wait that is a chemical and has been said to cause cancer hmmmm.

Permalink Reply by Gilbert Hetherwick Jr on June 24, 2010 at 3:02

Farmers have to abide by the Federal Clean Air and Water Acts enacted by Richard Nixon. This keeps dangerous chemicals out of the ground and air and that along with a "cap / trade" bill ALSO enacted by Republican Richard Nixon STOPPED the "acid rain" that was devastating parts of North America. But since the 2005 energy bill exempted the oil and gas industry from these same restrictions that the farmers you mention here must abide by, they can now pump huge volumes of poisonous chemicals into the earth. In ways unprecedented before by the gas industry (because it would have been illegal.... for a reason). Gas / Shale drilling, along with Deep Water Off Shore drilling are the last gasp of a dying industry. Unfortunately we have to drink and breath as the exhale with each gasp.....

Permalink Reply by drilltheshale on June 24, 2010 at 11:12

Dude, farmers get some pretty good breaks from federal regulation. You do know that the infamous "dead zone" that occurs seasonally in the Gulf is due mainly to agricultural runoff.

Permalink Reply by LP on June 27, 2010 at 2:14

Gilbert,
I don't know if you are a resident of NY State but if you are, I'm sure you're concerned about the amount of energy that is consumed by that state. No doubt you would want to conserve energy in as many ways as possible, such as turning off the lights in Times Square, Broadway and in all locations where energy is "wasted" on advertisement and entertainment. Baseball, football and basketball games certainly are not necessary to life. Theater and concerts can be shut down. Musical instruments that use electricity are a huge waste of energy.
All of these energy wastes should be eliminated or suspended until they can be supplied by solar, wind or some "green" energy source.
As it stands, New York State uses very little "green" energy. As you can see from the chart below, New York has moved slightly toward that goal, using more Nuclear energy and more natural gas and slightly less coal and petroleum. I'm sure the good, responsible people of NY state will be storing their nuclear radioactive waste within the state, rather than shipping it off to another state.
After all of the unnecessary power consumption in NY is turned off, please do let us know how things are going with your "green" economy. With all the major media located in NY City shut down, we may not know how good things are going for you.

Permalink Reply by Terry L. Antee on June 24, 2010 at 3:05

This movie is to get the American people to support government take over of the oil industry. Nothing else. Vote to get these socialist out in Nov.

Permalink Reply by Gilbert Hetherwick Jr on June 24, 2010 at 3:09

The U.S. government doesn't have to take over the energy business. The Chinese are so "eating out lunch" on solar development...... it will be THEM that puts American energy companies out of business. They are powering up their whole "out back" and taking places with no electricity and "leap frogging" our technology into the 21st century. Which will soon bring the cost of solar WAY down for the rest of the world. Every day new houses go up all around me totally run by the sun. It's not a pipe dream (the way the future of oil and gas is).

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on June 24, 2010 at 3:11

Debunking Gasland

http://www.energyindepth.org/2010/06/debunking-gasland/

Excerpt:

Misstating the Law

(6:05) “What I didn’t know was that the 2005 energy bill pushed through Congress by Dick Cheney exempts the oil and natural gas industries from Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Superfund law, and about a dozen other environmental and Democratic regulations.”

* This assertion, every part of it, is false. The oil and natural gas industry is regulated under every single one of these laws — under provisions of each that are relevant to its operations. See this fact sheet for a fuller explanation of that.

* The process of hydraulic fracturing, to which Fox appears to be making reference here, has never in its 60-year history been regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). It has, however, been regulated ably and aggressively by the states, which have compiled an impressive record of enforcement and oversight in the many decades in which they have been engaged in the practice.

* Far from being “pushed through Congress by Dick Cheney,” the Energy Policy Act of 2005 earned the support of nearly three-quarters of the U.S. Senate (74 “yea” votes), including the top Democrat on the Energy Committee; current Interior secretary Ken Salazar, then a senator from Colorado; and a former junior senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. In the U.S. House, 75 Democrats joined 200 Republicans in supporting the final bill, including the top Democratic members on both the Energy & Commerce and Resources Committees.

Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on June 24, 2010 at 3:36

Skip:

Maybe we should introduce him to TXSharon... They might hit it off.

Hydraulic fracturing has been used in NW LA for almost as long as the technology has been around, and considering the operating history of Mitchell Energy in the area (who helped innovate the techniques being used currently), NW LA has probably seen thousands of wells operated in which hydraulic fracturing has been employed.

Anybody know of someone's water well becoming a natural gas well?

If you watch Gasland, one would conclude that it happens every time someone fracs a well.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on June 24, 2010 at 3:44

Dion: I would never do that to any member including Mr. Hetherwick.

Permalink Reply by Dion Warr, CPL on June 24, 2010 at 3:55

Oh come now, Skip, can't you see them Silent Springing across the fruited plain, gasping for unpolluted air, reciting odes to Theo Colborn and Rachel Carson, and going from town to town erecting windmills and solar panel arrays?

Permalink Reply by Gilbert Hetherwick Jr on June 24, 2010 at 3:59

I will stop here and go away. But why should ANYONE trust information on a web site sponsored by the gas industry itself? It is GREAT to hear that there have been no problems in Louisiana. Let's hope it stays that way. At least maybe the top half of the state will get saved from the oil and gas industry. The bottom half is of course.... "toast"...... The casing on that well is starting to come apart. The relief wells may not work at all. Which means they may NOT be able to stop it. Which will mean there will be oil all the way to Scandinavia eventually. And of course the world economy will also collapse. Good work guys! BYE!

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