Tuesday, May 8, 2012

New York Times: New Proposal on Fracking Gives Ground to Industry


By JOHN M. BRODER Published: May 4, 2012

[excerpted] "The Obama administration on Friday issued a proposed rule governing hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on public lands that will for the first time require disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

But in a significant concession to the oil industry, companies will have to reveal the composition of fluids only after they have completed drilling — a sharp change from the government’s original proposal, which would have required disclosure of the chemicals 30 days before a well could be started.

The pullback on the rule followed a series of meetings at the White House after the original regulation was proposed in February. Lobbyists representing oil industry trade associations and individual major producers like ExxonMobil, XTO Energy, Apache, Samson Resources and Anadarko Petroleum met with officials of the Office of Management and Budget, who reworked the rule to address industry concerns about overlapping state regulations and the cost of compliance..."

MAJIA HERE: Unbelievable!

Fracking is hazardous for multiple reasons:

Fracking fluids and processes can contaminate water supplies:

Fracking and the Environment: Natural Gas Drilling, Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Contamination http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/3/fracking_and_the_environment_natural_gasn

Study: Fracking Chemicals Can Migrate to Drinking Water Supplies Within YearsBy Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica 06 May 12
http://www.propublica.org/article/new-study-predicts-frack-fluids-can-migrate-to-aquifers-within-years

[excerpt] "A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale... the study, using computer modeling, concluded that natural faults and fractures in the Marcellus, exacerbated by the effects of fracking itself, could allow chemicals to reach the surface in as little as "just a few years."

 'Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,' said the study's author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include the federal government and environmental groups.
'The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,' he said. 'Fluids could move from most any injection process.'" [end quote]

Majia Here: Fracking exhausts fresh water supplies because so much water is required for the fracking process:
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/fracking-headlines-predict-future.html

In a troubling development, a Pennsylvania law was passed that bans physicians from warning communities about the health effects of fracking
http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/law-bans-physicians-from-warning.html

Additional Posts on Fracking

http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/wsj-agency-to-set-standards-on-fracking.html

http://majiasblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/fracking-nightmare.html

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