An introduction to fracking
There's talk of fracking starting down the road, 5 miles from where I live, and I thought what the frack is fracking? Will I like it? So I looked it up.Fracking is the process of drilling deep into the earth’s surface, then using high-impact liquid to fracture bedrock and bring gas or oil (or anything handy that we find while down there) to the surface.
Neat, tidy, no impact on the surrounding areas whatsoever, and relatively cheap. The US has done a lot of it, the UK wants to try too.
So if I want to set up a little fracking in my back yard, here’s my shopping list:
Water. LOTS. Budget on a million gallons for a single well. Fortunately we’re a wet little island and unlikely to run out, but hey, we’re used to hosepipe bans in the summer anyway. So we can well spare the water.
Sand and chemicals to mix – approx. 40 000 gallons of chemicals for that million gallons. Lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol hydrochloric acid, formaldehyde. Oh, stop looking worried, they may be lethal but don’t worry, they are only released way, WAY below ground level, 10 thousand feet down, under high pressure.
True, the recovered waste fluid is left in open pits to evaporate into the atmosphere, but that’s only 30 to 50% of the fracking fluid anyway. Those who are pro fracking assure us that all the dangerous carcinogenic chemicals know to stay below ground and not come up to evaporate into our air. Just as well, don’t want those around. Bad enough that people have the nerve to smoke within 100 feet of you, risking your health and all.
The rest – 50 to 70% of a million gallons of water - stays below ground, and those chemicals are non-biodegradable. Still, 10 thousand feet down. Not our problem.
Oh, and there might, just might, be the occasional tremor or two. In 2011, energy company Cuadrilla suspended test fracking operations in Lancashire, after two earthquakes of 1.5 and 2.2 magnitude hit the area. However there is no conclusive proof that the high-pressure fracturing of bedrock had any link whatsoever to the tremors.
All in all, we should go for it. Win-win. No risk, no fuss, no mess, practically free for the taking, and what could possibly go wrong?
Excuse me, I have to go pack.
Comments (74)
Scotland right....
Tell them to energise the water before using it and whisper words of love to it.
Yes, I am entering the battle against fracking, and I would have to hear a LOT of good reports to make me think there is anything good about it at all. We're already being promised so many controls and safeguards here in the UK it can no longer be considered a cheap option.
I know it is being hailed as the best thing since sliced bread but as you say - hmmm -
I have and will take to streets if needs be. people power.
Unfortunately new safe, clean forms of energy will not emerge whilst oil is so cheap, not referring here to what we pay at the pumps as most of that's tax, but the cost of actually producing it, at present such technology would require subsidy & due to pressure from oil companies I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen
But how's this for a placard? If fracking gets up your nose, picket -
I'm laughing because if I don't I might really be out there ranting and getting myself locked up as a raving loony.
I can't believe vehicle emissions are taxed to the skies, smoking is banned everywhere because of the dangers of passive smoke, but hey, let's throw a few tons of waste chemicals into the atmosphere. We can always blame those pesky smokers and drivers when people start turning purple and falling over.
I'm not sure even filtering my water would be enough. Triple filters, after I boiled it for 10 minutes?
Now you are a keyboard Warrior so you can write intellectual pros and cons and distribute your writing to the masses to get them to vote the Fraking out.... just don't get snotty !!
I am just not quite sure... I am skeptical. Would just like the Govt. to stop putting flouride into water, and clean up the old pipes.
Scotland has beautiful water... like spring. It tastes good anyway.
I went out with a Geologist in the 80s . He worked on North Sea oil all the time... it has been nearly depleted now.
I don't have the answers Biff, but fracking isnot one of them no more than nuclear blasting are safe, in deserts.
I just think there are people behind desks, scientists, paid to come up with sustainable energy solutions.
As Sands said OPEC has been holding down the price of oil, most believe in an attempt to shut down fracking operations, North Sea etc, by making them too expensive, it doesn't take much imagination to see what comes next once all other means of extraction are dismantled, market forces will set the price & hello to the £20 gallon of petrol
It's a bit like - to me - a restaurant in a town discovering a new recipe everyone wants. They start by selling it at a good price. Six other restaurants start stocking that dish - the price drops a bit, but they're all making a living. Next thing you know every restaurant in town is battling to serve it, the price of ingredients rockets because of the demand, the price drops to stay in competition, and restaurants crash and burn financially.
Meanwhile, just down the road, a chef just discovered a new recipe. And - repeat.
Too simplistic. I know. But I already said. Daft as a brush and idealistic.
US will find another reason to invade ....ooops there goes my mouth again. Rothchilds own most of the countries now.... except for Iraq and a few other ones with oil... if that sound disjointed, its because it's too long for a blog.
I agree, the world will be mayhem if we run out of oil...
I have a great affinity with Scotland. Love the Landscape. Gawd, I sound like prince Charles.
we're very close to alternatives another 10-15 years oil will not be in demand.....I know of a company who is close to building the first commercial plant converting isobutanol from natural gas. This is a major development in the world or alternative fuels.....
There's a wee bit of Scots in most of us, they do say. 5 million Scots here, 50 million worldwide ...
Anyway, I didn't think I'd get many comments at all and do very much appreciate the reaction. I'm deeply sorry the UK has discovered it has shale reserves because I hoped famous British ingenuity would instead say to hell with being held to ransom for fossil fuels, we can and will find alternatives.
So much for famous British ingenuity. Is there anything left to boast about at all? We're so desperate to play big games with the big boys that we've forgotten we used to invent the games in the first place.
There's a single bus route in the UK where the buses run on human waste converted into biofuel. Taking that route instantly became known as 'hopping the number 2 bus'
And blimey we have an inexhaustible supply of THAT. The more people we have, the better our fuel reserves would be.
I wonder, though, could I harness my dog to a little cart?