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Fracknation

brock ratcliff

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That looks interesting! Funny to see a dude with a British accent doing something that doesn't appear to be "GREEN".
 

at1010

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I wish my buddy was on this forum,

He has a 4.0 gpa from Marietta's petroleum engineering school. Needless to say he is extremely smart, and knows a ton about fracking. I have discussed it with him, but I am curious to see what others on here think.
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
I don't know much about it to be honest, the movie that is. My only hope is that it is an accurate assessment of fracking. We just discussed the idiocy of people and fracking tonight at dinner. The myths and propaganda are as outlandish with fracking as it is with any other hot bed issue out there.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
I don't know much about it to be honest, the movie that is. My only hope is that it is an accurate assessment of fracking. We just discussed the idiocy of people and fracking tonight at dinner. The myths and propaganda are as outlandish with fracking as it is with any other hot bed issue out there.

I am sure of it. I have heard bits and pieces from relatives working in this field and from you guys on TOO in the field. I see it as a positive. Hope the show is not a slanted piece of propaganda.
 

Ohiosam

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11,708
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Mahoning Co.
While nothing is zero risk I have yet to see much to worry about from horizontal drilling. This area had a ton of verticle gas wells and they were all fracked and there were few problems with those. From what I've seen so far the level of professionalism and attention to detail from the companies involved is impressive. On the other hand those on the opisite side of the debate is see scare tactics, exaggeration if not out right lies and innuendo.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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It's an independent film made by donations from generous people to combat Josh Fox's Gasland (which is on Netflix if anyone would like to watch it).

That said, I'm sure it's produced by the Koch Brothers, Haliburton, and the Marcellus Shale Coalition...or maybe that's what Matt Damon and 'The Promised Land' wants you to believe.
 

Huckleberry Finn

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While nothing is zero risk I have yet to see much to worry about from horizontal drilling. This area had a ton of verticle gas wells and they were all fracked and there were few problems with those. From what I've seen so far the level of professionalism and attention to detail from the companies involved is impressive. On the other hand those on the opisite side of the debate is see scare tactics, exaggeration if not out right lies and innuendo.

Yea because those fracking fluids 8-12k feet below the ground defy gravity and are going to seep into your water well that's at 200 feet....
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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200 ft HA! I get water from a spring and 2 60 ft wells.

Exactly. Mom and Dad's goes to 125...deepest well in the county or so they say. Granted, spillage of fracking fluids will and can happen with fluids released and ground level and the occasional casing leak...both of those things can, have, and will happen with shallow gas and oil wells.

Sam, I sent you a PM...
 

CJD3

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NE Ohio
Between the cement, steel casing and 6000-8000 vertical depth, I can't see how any water source can be affected.
 

Hedgelj

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Mohicanish
The one potential bad thing I have heard about fracking is the use of the water in them. I know they can reuse the water "x" number of times but its still a lot of water and there is only so much water we have.
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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The one potential bad thing I have heard about fracking is the use of the water in them. I know they can reuse the water "x" number of times but its still a lot of water and there is only so much water we have.

Here you go:
water-use-pie-chart.jpg
Source: Fracfocus

Oh, and the water in Carroll County is still good ;)
water.jpg
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
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Mahoning Co.
I've heard some different numbers of the amount of water need to facture a well, from 1 to 5 million gallons per well. That sounds like a lot but for perspective every acre in Ohio recieves a million gallons of rainfall in a year. Much of it ends up running into the Ohio river or Lake Erie.
 

Jackalope

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I've heard some different numbers of the amount of water need to facture a well, from 1 to 5 million gallons per well. That sounds like a lot but for perspective every acre in Ohio recieves a million gallons of rainfall in a year. Much of it ends up running into the Ohio river or Lake Erie.

Add right down the Mississippi into the Gulf where the pesticide and fertilizer runoff has created a dead zone averaging 6,000 square miles.

While I don't believe everything bad that's about fracking by the Antis, I also don't believe the rainbows and butterflies by the oil and natural gas companies and their sponsors. The truth lies somewhere in between. And lets be honest, the oil and natural gas industry hasn't exactly been their own best friend when it comes to fracking fluid. If it was just water then some wouldn't have a problem releasing the fracking fluid formula, something many of them claim to be company confidential and a trade secret.

As for fluids 8-12K below the surface not being capable of impacting water sources above it I don't buy it for a moment. Diamonds are formed over 100 miles below the surface yet over time they rise through kimberlite pipes.. And these are rocks, not fluid.

Personally I don't believe either side has a full grasp on the impacts of fracking. I think they both find what they need to in order to support their agenda. One thing is for certain though caustic chemicals like those used in the past such a diesel fuel sure don't give the oil and natural gas companies much credibility today, and that's nobodies fault but their own.
 

Carpn

*Supporting Member*
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Wooster
Fracking ain't new. Its been a integral part of well maintenance and production for a long time. It cracks me up when people in my area say they hope no Fracking happens when the new wells come . I hafta bite my tounge not to tell em we regularly refrack storage wells in this area as part of regular maintenance.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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Appalachia
I know better than to do this because you are always right, but I'll do it anyways...

If I give you a pressure washer under 5,000 psi and ask you to blast through 2 miles of rock, how long do you figure that will take you? FOREVER! And we only do that for 30 days, then get a good bit of the water back which is probably disposed of or reused. Huck is right when he says the majority of issues are caused by poor operating procedures on the surface, not from the actual fracking. The notion that water injected 2 miles below the surface, under layer upon layer of solid rock, will return to ruin your water well is pure nonsense IMO. If you beg to differ, I invite you to retest the 100+ water wells we have tested in Wetzel County, WV in the past two decades that surround the frack jobs we've done at much shallower depths than any Marcellus or Utica well. All those wells surround frack jobs that are 3K feet down and not once in the history of our drilling program have we ruined a water well from contaminants that can be linked to frack water seepage. All the instances of well water contamination were the direct result of improper operating procedures on the surface.

In regards to fracking fluids, we frack with 99.5% water and sand. We use a little bit of acid on the front end to "clean the pipes" so to speak. There is also some detergent and a clay stabilizer in there. So .5% of our solution is "chemical" in nature. Unless you consider the other 99.5% chemical sense water is a "chemical". But the notion that people are fracking entirely or mostly on caustic chemicals is a misnomer. It happens, but the vast majority of the industry is doing is the proper way and those who are not, are not properly representing the industry.

I'm not saying it is impossible for fracking to impact the water tables via seepage from those depths, but it is highly unlikely and virtually defies physics. If and when it does return to surface via natural migration through the dozens of rock formations between here and there, or some other remote possibility like "kimberlite pipes" (which are very rare and only found in areas known for volcanic activity whether it be past or present) we will all be long, long gone.