FRACKING BLUES, first note (English Version.) The origin and perception problems of this non-new fossil fuel extraction technique
From: Science News, Volume of fracking fluid pumped underground tied to Canada quakes. By Carolyn Gramling 2:16 pm, January 18, 2018. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/volume-fracking-fluid-pumped-underground-tied-canada-quakesVisited December 10, 2018.
The information issues
In the complex perceptions exchanges, opinions, claims and regrets about hydraulic fracturing, attention is struck by the information maladies, like lack of information, cherry-picked information, and disinformation of accessible sources, the media, the governments, and the conservation groups. Also, call the attention of the apparent misinformation of the academy and the oil and gas industry itself that should be called to correct false perceptions[1].
In the oil industry, it is common for professional associations, companies and the government to generate measures to prevent further incidents in response to every event. Each incident causes industrial standards to be created or updated to avoid repetition; and with that, the internal costs of doing business increased. Often these measures become relatively detailed regulations accepted by law in different countries.
This continuous update is why in the oil industry’s conflicts and solutions generate constant regulatory change. Some of the industry's complaints are due to the instability of the regulatory framework. Besides, managers are being flattered by society and the media; meanwhile, on the other hand, they are subject to public scrutiny and the constant litany of political, economic, social and environmental issues that they must solve. Cynicism is indeed part of their job position status, but they also have a high responsibility to investors and the law.
Since the hydrofracture technique comes from the coordination of previous technologies, regulatory authorities and large companies have been surprised by public demand for more regulations on things already in the law[2]. Indeed scattered, but mostly already covered in industrial standards and the law.
Moreover, the uncertainty will grow for industrialists, investors, politicians, and rulers. The fossil fuel industry, shortly, will lose revenue streams and must find a formula that combines technology, markets, resource management, and citizen participation to achieve an energy transition without jeopardizing current economic and governance structures.
In the economic mismatch that may arise, there are particular risks of unbalance or destruction of economic structures with possible loss of life and ecosystems. You can be very poor, with a country swimming in oil.
Paradoxes
Leaving aside the above mismatch, two themes produce discouragement: first, the paradox of ignorance and rejection of technological and human achievement behind the technique pejoratively called fracking; and the second, ignoring the role that Natural Gas can play as a transitional fuel by improving the current economic structure.
The first paradox is to find that opposition to the hydro-fracture technique for the exploitation of natural gas and oil originates from the technological advances of the oil industry. In general, the public and the media are unaware that oil industry concentrates the most human capacity for research and technological development. More than any other industry in the world.
In this industry, standards and regulations focus on risk prevention, emergency care, and insurance to cover the costs of recovery and claiming environmental damage. This dedication demonstrates a seriousness in handling matters that are only surpassed by the aeronautical and space industry. The above does not detract from the enormous damage to the industry's failures, nor do the measures taken to make life losses less critical; but they show a coherent work discipline.
Unsurprisingly, there is no perfect world; and it can be argued that the oil industry will not be prepared to deal with an emergency that could occur by developing hydraulic fracturing; and that it will also not have adequate contingency assurance. However, this observation, which is the most crucial in the environmental context, is the least employed by activists.
In practice the oil industry manages two environments: 1) the underground environment that with the right technology can be known and managed; and 2), the superficial environment that is quite "re-recalled" by human and political conflicts; misinformation, resource, and territory use problems; ownership, access rights and economical use of resources; economic inequality; environmental management; and on top of all this, climate change.
Tackling climate change (CC) requires generating economic opportunities at all levels on carbon emissions and other greenhouse gases. Globally, there will be variations in regulatory frameworks that will make future use of fossil fuel resources more expensive. The extra costs for fossil fuels will be caused mainly by paying carbon and gas taxes to discourage undesirable GHG emitting technologies.
However, there are no magic solutions, no free travel or free lunch, and we are reminded of it by environmentalists and economists.
Wind Energy kills many more birds than Alberta tailings ponds. Cartoon by Malcolm Mayes. September 2017
Also, here is the second paradox: an analysis of scenarios (albeit incomplete and uncontrolled) indicates that the most efficient way for an energy transition can be by creating technological and economic capacity around natural gas, hydrogen, and other gases as the tax on CO2 emissions and other GHG increases. This policy must be maintained while the economy transitions to zero-balance and carbon-free energy sources. It must be recognized that these technologies also have environmental costs, different and lower risks, but they do. So here comes hydraulic fracturing.
The real basis for the controversy
Fracking is controversial mainly due to 1- the perception that a large number of natural resources are required to do it; 2- potential adverse effects on air, water and soil; 3- the public perception about the technical risks; and perhaps the more important, 4- the concept of exacerbating CO2 emissions when their effect on the atmosphere needs to be reduced.
In the face of the need for adaptation to climate change, there are a majority of organizations and countries that recognize the urgency of taking adaptation measures; and it is known that positions to ignore climate change are opportunistic and demagogic. Among those who question the reality of CC, however, is the fossil fuel industry playing two cards; one to actively deny climate change or openly ignore it while lobbying for its benefit.
It seems that several of the large corporations are not interested in their position on climate change being clear and have been leaving different traces. What type of information malady are using is not clear.
Some complex situations
The cost of perforate one well with hydrofracture is close to $15 million with full access to the pipeline, industrial and environmental services. If you do not have this access, the costs go up. When the industry project the development of a field with multiple wells, prices drop by scale factor and savings in the unified handling of components of the surface environment and the underground environment, sharing technologies in both environments (surface and underground) can carry the much lower cost. Each company has its numbers, but the reduction in volume costs is substantial. Moreover, each drilling zone has different expenses that include the costs of social and environmental licensing.
In addition to this, the number of specialized directional drilling towers with their experts is limited. American industry is one step ahead of other countries in hydrofracturing and has generated significant competitive advantages.
If national economies focus the transition in the direction of natural gas, CO2 emissions can be captured and re-injected into oil mantle once exploited, or they can be taken into methanol chemistry processes, carbonation, fuels synthetics, and the like. It is also possible to use controlled photosynthesis to fix CO2 by creating biomass utilizing a battery of pigments and enzymes to produce synthetic biomass.
All these techniques await the economic advantage that the released carbon tax will give them. Behind this carbon market are the big companies in the fossil fuel industry.
Several countries and companies have been silent in the face of fracking with what creates an effect of silence and misinformation. While they remain active in the use of fracking, we will have to follow the strategies of companies and multinationals of fossil fuels.
Myth Busting
After a detailed and extensive analysis of fracking, none of the effects and impacts of the technique can be said to be new, perhaps except for the use of the chemical glutaraldehyde[3]. This chemical is mainly for hospital use; it is used to limit bacterial growths, build up bacterial metabolism products and reduce corrosion. Glutaraldehyde is an additive to stop bacterial development inside the pipes to avoid obstructions and limit bacterial corrosion.
Hydrofracture does not use toxic solvents such as toluene. The industry avoids the use of toluene due to common sense and its high cost. The use of other solvents also is antieconomic.
The use of radioactive materials is false. The only technique that uses instruments with any radioactivity is pipe inspection. All reported high levels are due to natural occurrences of radioactive elements in the soil, at low concentrations, outside of dangerous levels.
In general, surface-drawn materials have the same conditions, are handled and disposed of in the same way as current oil drilling products, already well regulated.
Like current drillings, activists have doubts about the effectiveness of control mechanisms, poor citizen participation, inadequate information on rights and responsibilities, the absence of environmental inspectors, the lack of adequate monitoring, the lack of timely and open communication to all, as well as other sifts of environmental authority and so on. However, all these claims are part of the country regulatory climate extensively to other industries and are not particular aspects of fracking.
The most complicated aspect appears when the manipulation of information creates situations of distress and confusion among the public. There are actors interested in taking advantage of the situation. Some want to position themselves ideologically among green groups, pose as political savers, or among counter-economic or state-to-get-by-the-law groups. Others, for example, are just looking for acceptance and membership in a group that makes some sense for their life.
In some cases, it is possible that the noise coming from fracking be in part the effect of poorly realized environmental studies, poorly developed social plans, and weak social institutions.
The case of tremors is genuine, but these local tremors occur in all conditions in which the extraction of liquids and gases create a vacuum in the geological strata.
Minor tremors by settlement occur in cities such as Tehran in Iran and Las Vegas in the USA that settle several decimeters a year from aquifer exploitation; or in the middle East American because of settlements in various oil formations. In the oil industry the activities of injecting wastewater or hydro-fracture water results in the reverse case, also with the generation of local tremors.
In any case, the amount of energy released is less than that released by large dams in local micro fault and geological fault systems. The experience of the hydropower industry shows that these tremors are local, of low magnitude, and little energy is released. However, the most notable local quake is recent (November 2018) occurred in Canada, with a surface magnitude of 4.5 Richter. Because of it, British Columbia in Canada has a moratorium on hydrofracture in the region between Saint Johns and Dawson Creek in the Pace River Basin until 2021. It is expected to review the effects of the activity on the tremor and design a protectin and recovery plans for mining, hydropower and oil industry.
The fantastic video of turning on an open water key and then set it on fire is a false attribution[4]. The gas comes from a natural gas bag commonly found by drinking water well drillers, who routinely provide aerators to prevent gas and poor taste water. The local authority has denied the explanations provided by the promoters of the video.
Origin of the fracking idea and origin of the resource
The concept of hydraulic fracturing comes from the English industrial revolution. William Murdoch in the early 19th century studied how to extract natural gas from coal mines, partly to alleviate the problems of mine explosions and partly as a source for lighting gas.
He eventually concluded that removing gases from coal veins was neither practical nor economical. Later, he began street lighting in London in 1815 with gas obtained from partial combustion of coal.
Natural gas extracted from organic mineral deposits is a mixture of gases where methane predominates with varying amounts of ethane, propane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, helium a, d argon. Methane and hydrogen are colourless, odourless, flammable and lighter than air; and mixed with the oxygen in the air are explosive.
CH4 formula methane is found in all organic mineral deposits (oil, bitumen, coal, shale and slates) as it is attached to carbon-rich materials by force of Van der Waals. It is itself an abundant resource, but it requires technology and investment.
Now we know that the origin of oil and coal is biological. From planetary thawing after the global glaciation of Baykonurian to the Permian, there were no organisms with a metabolism capable of digesting complex sugars such as cellulose and waxes and other organic compounds.
The lack of metabolic enzymes for cellulose and lignin is why the organic materials accumulated up to the Permian. Then compressed, transformed by pressure, temperature and some microbial activity this material becomes natural gas, oil, coal, shale, slates, limestones, and marbles. Much of the oil, natural gas, and coal we used came from the geological eras between the Ediacaran 635 million years ago and the Permian 252 million years ago. Finally in the Permian, fungi and some microorganisms developed enzymes that allowed an efficient metabolism to process cellulose and other organic matter. So the conditions for natural material accumulation changed mainly to anaerobic media.
In general, conventional oil fields are forming a reservoir between layers confined by waterproof rock mantles. Traditionally exploited deposits have three layers: up gas, in half oil and downstream generally very salty.
End Notes
[3] Glutaraldehyde is a disinfectant used in the medical industry since the 1960s. It is used in the disinfection of hospitals, medical equipment for its ability to control spores and viruses; and to remove warts. The two-year detailed study of the National Toxicology Program U.S. Department of Health and Human Service concludes that "there was no evidence of carcinogenic activity of glutaraldehyde." https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/htdocs/lt_rpts/tr490.pdf
[4] Michael Economides. Don't Be Swayed By Faucets On Fire And Other Anti-Fracking Propaganda, Forbes. 32,325 views Mar 7, 2011, 12:16 pm https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/03/07/dont-be-swayed-by-faucets-on-fire-and-other-anti-fracking-propaganda/#2c19ff1c165f for a more transparent idea search on Google: "new york Times hydraulic fracturing" However, the only video has three times my visits that sum all visits to reports and impartial news.
[5] Lobbying capacity and capture of positions in local government and international institutions called "lobbying" in English.
[6] These are general observations that should be handled with caution. Exploratory analysis using the alternative scenarios technique reveals that the technology that interacts with a more significant number of possible scenarios is natural gas as the primary energy resource for the transition to the emissions balance (Emissions - Catches 0).
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