Don’t Frack with Cackalack!
What is Hydro-Fracturing?
Hydraulic Fracturing is a relatively new technique that injects millions of gallons of clean water, proppants, and chemicals deep (5,000-20,000 ft) into shale rock formations, fracturing it, to release natural gas. Proppants are small particles such as sand or synthetic beads, that hold open the newly-created fractures so that released gas can flow towards the well.
Horizontal hydrofracking is a means of tapping shale deposits containing natural gas that were previously inaccessible by conventional drilling. Vertical hydrofracking is used to extend the life of an existing well once its productivity starts to run out, sort of a last resort. Horizontal fracking differs in that it uses a mixture of 596 chemicals, many of them proprietary, and millions of gallons of water per frack. This water then becomes contaminated and must be cleaned and disposed of.
How is Hydro-Fracking relevant to North Carolina?
While hydro-fracking is currently illegal in North Carolina, the legislature is aggressively pursuing bills that would permit for the study, and eventual legalization of, hydro-fracking. There are 12 counties that could potentially be affected by fracking in North Carolina: Stokes, Rockingham, Granville, Orange, Durham, Chatham, Wake, Lee, Moore, Richmond, Montgomery, Anson, Davie and Yadkin.
Although the fracking companies are not required to release a list of chemicals, scientists have identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Ozone plumes have also increased near hydro-fracking sites due to the release of toxic chemicals into the air.
Generally, 1-8 million gallons of clean water are used to frack a well. Each well can be fracked up to 18 times. The average household uses only 109,500 gallons of water each year. The VOCs are evaporated out of the wastewater before it is trucked to a water treatment facility, releasing the leftover chemicals back into our drinking water. Since North Carolina has consistently extreme droughts coupled with large agricultural areas the potential for groundwater contamination as a result of fracking could be disasterous.
What the Gas Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know
-Gas drilling is a boom-bust industry. Profits are short lived, with little money staying in the community. While some reap financial benefits, the entire community must pay for damages and to clean up a degraded environment.
-The new technique of hydro-fracking for natural gas has only been in use since 2005 since Congress exempted it from the Clean Water Act.
-To open a small business in your neighborhood, you would be required to do an Environmental Impact Study, but none has ever been conducted for any of these hydro-fracking operations.
-Natural gas is not a bridge fuel; it is a non- renewable fossil fuel. Natural gas production forces government’s focus away from a comprehensive energy policy and diverts investment funds away from developing renewable energy sources. It does not promote conservation.
-Gas drilling is not about American energy independence; foreign companies are currently obtaining local leases, and gas is being sold on the international market.
-Exemptions, deregulation, government cutbacks, and lack of accountability have undermined the ability of state and national agencies, such as the NC DENR and EPA, to provide adequate protection against the environmental, economic, and social abuses of natural gas development.
-Inadequate state and federal oversight has put the responsibility on local governments and home-town municipal attorneys to deal with multinational gas corporations and their vast and well paid legal teams.
This is not just an issue for rural landowners;
Drinkable water and breathable air are at stake for all North Carolinians.
For more information on fracking and to see what other communities are doing to stop it, check out:
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