Research

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    DEP Marcellus Air Study in SW PA Extended Extra Half Year

    In July 2012 MDN told you about a one-year study of air quality in and around Chartiers Township in Washington County, PA being conducted by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (see PA DEP Announces 1 Year Study on Air Quality in Marcellus). The aim of the study is to determine whether or not Marcellus drilling, pipelines and the MarkWest natural gas processing plant in the Chartiers area causes an unhealthy increase in various air pollutants for residents.

    What has the research found? The DEP says testing so far shows “no levels of any pollutant that would violate federal ambient air quality standards.” However, they’ve decided to extend the study until the end of this year. The one-year study has turned into a one-and-a-half year study. The DEP now expects to file a final report in “Spring 2014″…
    Read More “DEP Marcellus Air Study in SW PA Extended Extra Half Year”

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    UTA Research: High Levels of Arsenic in Water Wells Near Drilling

    dataTechnically this is not a story about the Marcellus or Utica Shale, but it is a story about fracking in shale, and making a splash among anti-drillers, so it deserves our attention and consideration. Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) have just published a peer-reviewed study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology titled, “An evaluation of water quality in private drinking water wells near natural gas extraction sites in the Barnett Shale Formation” (full copy embedded below for MDN subscribers). The study looks at 100 water wells in the Barnett Shale region of north Texas. UTA researchers used data from the 1990s–before horizontal drilling and fracking began in the region–and data from their own tests conducted in 2011.

    What does the data show? It shows about one-third of the water wells have dangerously high levels of arsenic in them–levels that did not exist in the 1990s. The study’s authors theorize the high levels of arsenic can be tied to fracking and drilling, although they are quick to admit the arsenic did not come from drilling fluid contamination. How then, can you blame fracking?…
    Read More “UTA Research: High Levels of Arsenic in Water Wells Near Drilling”

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    USGS: Consider Disposing Nuclear Waste in…Shale?!

    radiationThis is truly rich. While anti-drillers prattle on about how a few gallons of chemicals a mile down in the earth will magically defy gravity and climb uphill through a mile of solid rock to contaminate water supplies (yeah, it NEVER happens), the scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey have written a research paper that says shale is so secure, we ought to consider using it to dispose of spent nuclear waste–stuff that hangs around for millions of years!

    You read the above statement correctly. Scientists at the USGS have just published a paper titled “Can Shale Safely Host U.S. Nuclear Waste?” in EOS, a journal by the American Geophysical Union (full copy embedded below). The conclusion of their investigation into whether or not nuclear waste could be disposed of in shale: “Although shales and similar rocks have not been considered for hosting nuclear waste in the United States, recent research points to them as a very promising option.” Note to emergency rooms throughout the Southern Tier of NY: Prepare to receive large numbers of apoplectic anti-drillers when they read about this…
    Read More “USGS: Consider Disposing Nuclear Waste in…Shale?!”

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    Study Proves Fracking Didn’t Cause Methane in Dimock Water Wells

    A research study appears in the May-June 2013 issue of Groundwater, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, that completely debunks the notion that fracking was the cause of methane contamination in local water wells in Dimock, PA (as famously claimed by Josh Fox and Gasland). The article, titled “Evaluation of Methane Sources in Groundwater in Northeastern Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below), has flown completely under the radar and has received, so far as we can tell, no coverage in the mainstream media. It likely hasn’t been been covered because (a) the findings don’t fit the media narrative that fracking contaminates water, and (b) the study’s lead author is the head geologist for Cabot Oil & Gas, the company accused of contaminating some Dimock water wells with methane from nearby drilling activity.

    The study looks at test results for 1,701 water wells around Susquehanna County, PA (where Dimock is located), both close to and far from shale drilling. What does the cold, hard data show? Methane is everywhere in Susquehanna County groundwater–and it has been for hundreds of years. No wonder Susquehanna County is such a productive gas field for Cabot! The study finds that methane in water is more prevalent in certain locations like valleys. Perhaps most importantly–the study finds no correlation between shale drilling and the level of methane in water wells. There’s no more methane in water wells close to drilling than there is in wells far from it. Science is science, and this study cannot be discounted simply because the wizards at Cabot wrote the report…
    Read More “Study Proves Fracking Didn’t Cause Methane in Dimock Water Wells”

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    BH Launches Well Count Report, Perfect Compliment to Rig Count

    A huge congratulations is in order for Baker Hughes, the oilfield services company that also compiles the enormously useful rig count data that they’ve been sharing, like forever (for the past 70 years!). Big news: Baker Hughes has just launched a new “well count” data service as a compliment to their rig count data. The new well count service counts the number of new wells “spud” (when the drill bit hits the ground and starts chewing away) in a given quarter. The counts are tabulated by shale basin. This is an important new tool for landowners and businesses in the supply chain to use to monitor where drilling is heating up, and where it’s cooling down. Data geeks (like MDN) love this stuff!

    See the very first set of well count reports from Baker Hughes embedded below (along with our commentary)…
    Read More “BH Launches Well Count Report, Perfect Compliment to Rig Count”

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    Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water

    Last week MDN brought you the really important news that preliminary results from a federal study of fracking shows…proves…fracking fluid with chemicals does not magically migrate uphill through a mile of solid rock to the surface to contaminate water (see Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate). In over 50,000 horizontally fracked wells and over 2 million conventionally fracked wells, it’s never been observed. No scientific studies have ever been able to prove it (much as they’ve tried).

    Now we have a study that incontrovertibly proves it doesn’t happen. So what does one Duke University anti-drilling professor with a degree in biology (not geology) say? This study don’t prove nothin’…
    Read More “Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water”

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    Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate

    Stop Press!Those who hate fossil fuels and want to stop all shale drilling because of their irrational beliefs are logic-challenged. Witness their claim/belief that fracking fluid (99.5% water and sand, 0.5% chemicals) pumped a mile or more below the surface will magically travel up to the surface and contaminate groundwater supplies. Never mind that 80% of the fluid disappears into small cracks a mile down. Never mind there’s a mile of solid rock between the fluid and the surface. Never mind there have been more than 50,000 horizontally fracked wells since the early 2000s with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. And never mind there have been more than 2 million vertically fracked wells worldwide over the past 60+ years with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. Anti-drillers cling to their irrational faith that fluid migration has and continues to happen and hucksters like Josh Fox of Gasland and Gasland 2 fame are all too willing to feed their delusion.

    Enter the federal government–specifically the Dept. of Energy (DOE) under Barack H. Obama, no friend of the oil and gas industry. Exactly one year ago the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh began an experiment of injecting tracer chemicals in fracking fluid at an undisclosed drill site with eight wells in Greene County, PA. (The driller cooperating with NETL to conduct the experiment is unidentified, although MDN has a pretty good guess as to who it is–see below.) The NETL monitored (and continues to monitor) the eight wells over the past year and although the data is still preliminary, what have they found? No migration of fracking fluid toward the surface. Zero. It’s called science–but don’t tell Josh Fox and the nuts who believe him…
    Read More “Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate”

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    DOE: Climate Change Affects Fracking & NatGas Too

    The climate, it’s a changin’. Ought to be a song. Yesterday, the Obama Dept. of Energy (DOE) released a new report on American energy sector “vulnerabilities” that come from  mythical man-made global warming (euphemistically renamed “climate change”). The new report is titled, “U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather” (full copy embedded below). It says that unconventional shale drilling either is, or soon will be, affected by global warming from lack of water supplies to use in fracking. It also asserts that as temps rise, less natural gas (and oil) will be used for heating, but more electricity will be used for cooling.

    Here’s the DOE press release announcing the study:
    Read More “DOE: Climate Change Affects Fracking & NatGas Too”

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    OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country

    How many  times have we heard (and believed) that when drilling comes to town, higher housing prices, specifically rent, comes along too. A quick influx of people for a relatively fixed inventory of housing and voilà–high rents. In fact, MDN previously highlighted a study in November 2011 by a cabal of PA colleges that issued a 200-page report on how shale drilling was causing a “housing crisis” in northeastern PA (see New Study Claims Housing Crisis in NE PA from Gas Drilling).

    But what’s this? Researchers at Ohio State University, understandably concerned that a housing shortage may be on the way in eastern Ohio, studied the PA data for 2007-2011, the first four years of PA’s drilling boom. Using government data (objective and unbiased, from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development), OSU researchers found, “…in Pennsylvania, counties experiencing the most shale-related development saw little change in fair market rents…housing vacancy rates and median home values.” A full copy of the OSU report debunking the “shale drilling creates a housing crisis” meme is embedded below.
    Read More “OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country”

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    OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling

    Good news for residents of Garrettsville (Portage County), OH residents: Your drinking water has been and continues to be just fine. The village board commissioned an extensive water testing program to keep an eye on private water wells on the outskirts of Garretsville as a way of spotting any water contamination problems that may happen before they reach the village’s drinking water supplies.

    Village leaders were concerned that nearby Utica Shale drilling and a plethora of frack wastewater injection wells in Portage County may lead to contamination of the village’s water aquifer. Nope. Nothing of the sort has happened, once again proving that shale drilling and injection wells are safe for water, contrary to the bleating of fictional movies like Gasland 2 and anti-drilling protesters like Yoko Ono…
    Read More “OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling”

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    WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling

    The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act, passed and signed into law in December 2011, directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection (WVDEP) to conduct three studies. The third and final study was recently released, titled “Air Quality Impacts Occurring from Horizontal Well Drilling and Related Activities” (full copy embedded below).

    According to the cover letter from the WVDEP, based on the findings in the study, no new regulations are required to control air pollution around drilling sites…
    Read More “WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling”

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    Will Fracking Create “Information Forcing”? What is it Anyway?

    According to an article titled “Hydraulic Fracturing and Information Forcing,” published in the latest issue of the online publication Ohio State Law Journal Furthermore, widespread shale drilling and fracking has begun to “force the systematic production and recording of data, which could lead to broad information forcing efforts.” Those information forcing efforts (information that government might “force” drillers and others to collect) includes baseline contamination data, requirements for better disclosure during drilling, and post-drilling sampling and impact studies. The article was written by Hannah J. Wiseman, assistant professor at the Florida State University College of Law.

    Read the full article below:
    Read More “Will Fracking Create “Information Forcing”? What is it Anyway?”

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    New Report Details Top Legal Issues for Shale Drillers

    What are the biggest legal challenges faced by drillers that operate in shale plays? Energy law firm Steptoe & Johnson knows–and they know because they commissioned a survey of 96 legal services buyers at 56 companies. The result is a new report titled, “Below The Surface: The Legal Challenges of Shale Gas Production” (full copy embedded below).

    Those who responded to the survey primarily have operations in four U.S. shale plays. Guess which two shale plays are at the top? Yep–the Marcellus (81% of respondents operate there) and the Utica (76% operate there). The next closest is the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas (33% operate there). The top legal issue faced by drillers? Real estate…
    Read More “New Report Details Top Legal Issues for Shale Drillers”

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    SW PA Well Water Testing Project Needs Volunteers

    The Washington County Watershed Alliance (WCWA) and Southwest PA Environmental Health Project (SWPA-EHP), with an assist from Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) CREATE lab, are conducting a large-scale project in Washington County, PA to see if Marcellus Shale drilling is affecting water wells in the county. MCWA wants both landowners who live near drilling, and landowners who do not live near drilling, to participate. The program is free and volunteers get a neat little device created by the CMU CREATE lab called a CATTFish that inserts in the back of your toilet–simple and quick.

    Here’s more information about how (and why) to participate in the program, along with a flier from WCWA about the program:
    Read More “SW PA Well Water Testing Project Needs Volunteers”

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    Duke Study #2: Drilling Causes Methane Migration in Water Wells?

    Two years ago researchers at Duke University, funded by the anti-drilling Park Foundation (i.e. agenda-driven science), released research that supposedly showed a link between Marcellus Shale drilling and methane (natural gas) contamination of nearby water wells (see MDN In-depth: Duke University Study Links Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling with Methane Contamination of Water Wells). The research was later shown to be shoddy (see Former PA DEP Officials, Industry Group Point Out Problems with Duke University Study Linking Methane in Water with Fracking).

    Most of the same researchers are back with a second study titled “Increased stray gas abundance in a subset of drinking water wells near Marcellus shale gas extraction” (see full copy embedded below). This time the Duke researchers were sure to keep Park Foundation funding well hidden with no direct grants (to layer on a veneer of impartiality), and on Monday they released a new study with new methodologies and new tests and oh-so-much that is new…and guess what? Same old conclusions. And, same old problems and weaknesses with the research and its conclusions…
    Read More “Duke Study #2: Drilling Causes Methane Migration in Water Wells?”