Industry can’t keep their story straight. They get things all mixed up when talking about hydraulic fracturing. The questions are simple:
- Hydraulic fracturing: Precise or imprecise?
- Horizontal hydraulic fracturing: oil technology or new technology?
On slide #6 they clear up one of the frequent lies industry and our regulators like to tell us: They have been hydraulic fracturing gas wells for 60 years. That’s only partially true.
Initially, the Barnett Shale was developed with vertical wells.
Horizontal wells were introduced in 2002 and have become the dominant well design choice.
There’s more at the link above that shows just how new this technology is.
Well now they’re starting to drill in Tennessee in the Chattanooga Shale. They have a brand new shiny website singing the praises of the “new stimulation techniques like fracturing and horizontal drilling.”
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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There's a lot to this fracking crap. In the old days there was vertical wells (rather shallow) with "horizontal fracking"–where the fracture permeriated horizontally from the bottom of the well. Now, with deeper shale drilling the fracking tends to permeate vertically from the source, whether the well is drilled as a vertical, horizontal, or deviated well.
When Josh Fox was on CNN the other day, along with the mouthpiece from Energy In Depth, I'm fairly certain the mouthpiece stated that hydraulic fracturing has been safely used for more than 60 years. If you have the video link, you should check it out.
Oh yes, it been used for a long time (60 years seems OK). It's just that with the deeper shale wells, the fracture tents to be a vertical fracture which means that the "cracks" go largely upward from the bottom of the well. These cracks, associated with deep well vertical fracks tend to go upwards and can damage casing/casing cement/casing connectors and go upward to usable water aquifers–and therin lies one of the basic problems.