Methane and Fracking, part 2

Here is the conclusion to chapter 7: Methane and Fracking.

Here's the link to the first part and the other threads to all the chapters of my book, Fever Rising.

Methane and Fracking, part 1

Chapter 7: Methane and Fracking, Continued

Before I go on, let’s go back to school for a sec and discuss what methane is. There are three types of methane gas. First, there is thermogenic methane, which is gas that is believed to be formed from organic matter (plants and animals) that over millions of years compresses deep under the earth’s crust under high pressure. As time goes on, the organic matter slips further below the surface underneath sediments. The closer to the surface, it is believed to be under a lower temperature and forms into oil, but, the deeper the matter, the temperatures are much higher and it forms into natural gas. Basically, the compression and the higher temperatures break down carbon bonds in the organic matter creating natural gas and sometimes, the deeper under the crust, pure methane deposits.

Microorganisms also create methane, known as biogenic methane. These little bugs are called methanogens. These tiny organisms produce methane by chemically breaking down organic matter. These bugs usually live near the surface of the earth in areas without oxygen. They also live in the intestines of animals, including humans. Landfills also produce a lot of this gas. Most biogenic methane, when created, is lost to the atmosphere.

The third way methane is produced is the abiogenic process. Deep under the earth’s crust are hydrogen-rich gases and carbon molecules that slowly rise to the surface interacting with minerals as they do. In this oxygen-less environment, elements such as nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide are produced through the interaction. These gases will themselves slowly move towards the surface under a great deal of high pressure and then, similar to thermogenic methane, the process creates methane deposits.

Now that these methane deposits have formed deep under the surface, they will themselves slowly seep to the surface through loose, shale-type rock and other materials. Some of the deposits will make it to the surface at which time, one of two things will happen. They normally dissipate or enter the atmosphere. This gas would be harmless in the atmosphere because of its short life-cycle of nine years, but, I believe too much methane is building up faster than the life-cycle will allow it to dissipate.

Most of the deposits formed down deep will get trapped under ground. Sedimentary rock contains the gases where they can’t penetrate through the layer on top of them. Some of these traps can be very large and hold a lot of methane deposits. They are called reservoirs. To bring this gas back up to the surface, a hole must be drilled through that thick layer of rock and the gas is released under high pressure.

There is a December, 2012, article from National Geographic, written by Marianne Lavelle, which has a lot of information on how much economical impact fracking has had and will have in the future. The article details how much natural gas we are producing. It’s a lengthy article with a lot of information about gas vents in the Arctic. In the first section it talks about the thousands of methane bubbles found on frozen lakes in the Arctic. They break the ice and as the methane gas bubble bursts, they light them on fire. I suggest reading the entire article at;
ngm.nationalgeographic.com...

“Burn natural gas and it warms your house. But let it leak, from fracked wells or the melting Arctic, and it warms the whole planet,” from the article.

According to the article, since 2005, when fracking began, gas production from deep shales has increased more than tenfold; it now accounts for more than a third of total production. The article stated that we surpassed our oil record-producing days of the early 1970’s and, within a decade the United States will be a net exporter of natural gas. The Department of Energy projects that U.S. gas production will rise rapidly and that shale gas will make up half of the total energy production by 2035.

“And deep shales are not the last methane source. DOE and the industry are trying to figure out how to tap the largest one of all—the methane hydrates that lie frozen under vast areas of seafloor and Arctic permafrost,” the article stated. “Worldwide, hydrates may contain more energy than all other fossil fuels combined. They’re usually snow-white and look like ice, but they’re strange stuff, and extracting the methane is tricky. Each molecule is trapped in a cage of water molecules that’s stable only at high pressure and low temperatures; change either just a bit, and the cage crumbles. The escaping methane balloons in volume by a factor of 164.”

The National Geographic article also examines the leveling off of methane release from 1999 to 2006. The article claimed that researchers credited Asian rice farmers because they began draining their paddies during the growing season to conserve water. This process reduced methane emissions. Researchers also claim that the oil industry may have helped the leveling off because they started capturing and selling methane it used to simply vent. Whatever caused the methane emission levels to decrease in the late 1990’s isn’t working anymore. In fact, when the emission began again in 2007, the skyrocketed past previous levels.

“Many observers believe it’s no coincidence that the number of wells punched into deep shales has been soaring too,” the article stated.

Is it too late to stop the boom? Many countries around the world have already banned fracking. Several countries that started have recently put a moratorium on it until further studies can be performed to make sure that it’s not contaminating the water supply, degrading landscapes and causing other possible health effects. Here in the United States, the boom in fracking has become a huge part of the economy and I’m sure it’s much too late to stop now unless concrete evidence can be presented that it’s harmful to us and our environment in more ways than one. Plenty of evidence is already staring us in the face. Earthquakes are caused by fracking, as well as contamination to water supplies.

These shale rocks lie just below the water table and the drilling process goes right through the water. The gas is extracted from the rocks, then pumped up to the surface, but there is a horizontal drilling process once the depth is reached and that’s where the rocks are punctured that free the gas. The methane then rises up through the rocks and is sent out to the surface. How much of that gas continues to rise straight up and right into that water table?

Continued...

The fracking industry claims that the process is safe for drinking water but one family in Ohio would disagree. A fireball erupted from their kitchen sink after putting a lighter to water coming out of it. The gas company tested the water, which showed some signs of methane, prior to drilling a well in the field near their home. The company told the family that the levels were acceptable and safe. After the drilling began and the fire erupted, tests now show the methane levels and chloride had doubled. The family no longer uses the water for drinking or cooking, even refusing to give it to their pets, but they still bath the children in this explodable water.

According to a WKYC-TV news report on January 13, 2013, the Kline family said it was around Christmas time they noticed their water started fizzing. Debby Kline then put a lit candle to the sink.

"Oh, I was so scared. It just was a huge explosion, the entire sink went up to the ceiling," Debby said in the news report. The Kline's water was full of methane gas.

"Methane levels have more than doubled and we're wondering if this is all just coincidental," Jason said.

Mountaineer Keystone LLC Director of Security Operations, Anthony Aulicino, wrote in an email:
"Ohio Department of Natural Resources regulations require pre-drill testing of well water within 1500 feet of a proposed drill site. Superseding regulations, we tested Mrs. Kline's residence, which lies over the required distance. At Mrs. Kline's request, we funded an independent lab of her choosing. Those results showed elevated methane levels in her well water existed prior to the start of any drilling activity."

After this incident, the Ohio DNR tested the water and it registered a level of 22, which, 28 is considered hazardous. The original test showed their water at a 9.

The Kline’s were never told if the shale gas well was the cause. The gas company, of course, claimed it was natural. Never the less, the family was left with the problem and the gas company never rectified it. They were told to install explosive gas meters, carbon monoxide meters and a vented well cap with a riser. That would only detect methane, but it wouldn’t remove it. All of the recommendations and a methane separator would cost thousands of dollars and the family said they couldn’t afford it.

ODNR responded in an email:
"Methane is naturally occurring in this portion of the state, and the water well in question was found to be drilled into shale, which may have led to these increased levels. At this time, the investigation is ongoing. These types of occurrences highlight the need for the stringent regulations and water testing requirements ODNR insisted be included in Senate Bill 315 last year. As a regulatory authority, ODNR will continue to investigate all claims of water contamination."

After all this, the family can’t use their fireplace, and they won’t give tap water to their pets, but yet, they still have to bathe in the water. They have to use bottle water for drinking and cooking.

"We're putting our kids in the bathtub every night in this explodable water. We don't know the consequences of sitting in gas water, but we just don't have a choice." Debby told WKYC-TV.

I believe there is just too much cash being pumped out of the ground in the form of methane gas to see it stop any time soon. Fracking has created jobs. It’s created revenues for state governments in the form of taxes. Land owners have made money from leasing to the gas companies to install drills. Politicians have now jumped on the band wagon that we are becoming more energy independent. Regular folk have seen drastic reductions in their winter heating bills. And, countries around the world are lining up and placing their bids on all that gas coming out of the ground. Our natural gas companies are preparing ways to transport the gas overseas and this is going to be big business. Very big business and that’s like a runaway freight train…not much is going to stop that.

There are other hazards to the natural gas industry that are being overlooked. For instance, there is little awareness of the fact there were 151 methane gas pipeline incidents in the year 2012 that resulted in nine deaths and 28 injuries. Some of these explosions and fires make headlines but most are forgotten.

Iris Marie Bloom wrote an article about the negatives of pipeline construction that was posted at protectingourwaters.wordpress.com on December 17, 2012, titled “Another Fireball: Blowouts, explosions and fires.”
“Pipelines do more than explode. Pipeline construction fells trees and degrades water, while pipelines leak methane into the atmosphere, destroy land and livelihoods, and put lives at risk,” Bloom said.

Bloom claims that at least 40% of methane from fracking goes overseas and that another sizable portion is used to create chemical-based fertilizer. A great deal of the methane is then used for toxic purposes, such as making plastic bags and manufacturing.

“Just enough will be thrown in for residential use to help the industry get popular buy-in for their argument that it makes sense to burn up our climate in order to heat homes. But what they’re really doing is pushing back hard against wind, solar, geothermal, and the large-scale practical changes needed right now to avert no-holds-barred climate change,” the article stated.

Bloom also discussed how all of the pipeline explosions, dramatic blowouts and other types of fires associated with fracking, aren’t receiving any media attention. She explained that there were multiple reports of a massive explosion in Pennsylvania, whereby residents said that they saw a huge fireball and felt their homes shake. This incident didn’t even appear in the media.

“We have to take action based on the sobering message contained in these escalating fires and in the ice – in the tracks of glaciers which have now melted as much in ten years as they melted in the previous one hundred.

“Because of methane, fracking accelerates climate change. Because of methane, 151 pipeline incidents occurred so far in 2012 — not including any of the fracking blowouts, fireballs and other incidents at well pads. Methane is not a bridge fuel, it’s a deadly fossil fuel that will frack our future unless we change course now,” Bloom said.

By Jonny Mnemonic
There ARE methane well blowouts. Maybe that's what blew up the oil rig in the Gulf in 2010. I think as the volcanic activity increases and more magma gets closer to the surface, these are becoming more common, as pressure increases. It won't just bubble up in places where we're NOT, it'll bubble up everywhere, including where we drill, so you'd kinda expect to see more methane well blowouts and the like.

But I don't blame them for drilling and fracking every liter of gas they can, or oil. Because whatever gas and oil they DON'T dig up and put in barrels, I think it’s going to come up anyway, by itself, and simply go into the atmosphere or the environment, causing more fires and explosions, heating the planet up more, which makes the hydrogen sulfide spewing bacteria grow their territory more, etc.

Continued...

Maybe on the surface all the drilling and fracking looks like 'it's all about money', but underneath that, it's about mitigation of the calamity that is already upon us. We dig it up or it incinerates us or leads to more poisonings. They can't tell us that without telling us just how dire things are though and they clearly don't want to do that. They can deal with corpses easier than scared people; I guess that's the thinking. A few mass graves here, a bit of mass fatality planning there, tada, problem solved. While I sorta understand that, I can't say I'm all on board with that, because scared people can get past their fear, but dead people can't get past being dead.

For the pipeline explosions, I think maybe biogenic sulfide corrosion is eating away at concrete and steel, then you get leaks and explosions, not to mention buildings and parking garages collapsing, bridges collapsing, etc. Been a lot of that this past year. I don't dwell on that stuff because...I didn't predict it! Heh, didn't learn about biogenic sulfide corrosion until later. Doesn't mean it's not happening or that I'm not watching though!

Not to mention the earthquakes…

There are many who believe, with plenty of evidence in their support, that fracking is causing earthquakes. Instances abound in which officials believe certain quakes were caused by specific wells of the wastewater disposal from all the chemically enhanced water used to pump into the fractures. In Arkansas, for example, regulators shut down four disposal wells after a 2011 series of earthquakes broke out near the town of Guy. One of those quakes was as large as a 4.7 on the Richter scale.

Since then, at least in Arkansas, companies are regulated to prove the drill site is geologically structured for a well and that the site is not near any known faults. There was no doubt in their minds that the four disposal wells had caused the seismic activity. Many other states are also imposing stricter regulations in light of the mounting evidence.

From 2000 to 2011 there was a six-fold increase in earthquakes through the United States. In the heartland, there used to be an average of only 21 seismic events per year. There were 50 quakes in 2009, 87 in 2010 and 134 in 2011. The numbers continue to climb.

Those proponents of the possibility that quakes are caused by fracking, claim that a study was done for 30 months beginning in 2010. They examined all the quakes in Oklahoma singling out any that were within five miles of a well and happened within three weeks of the start of the well. The study claims that only 2% of the quakes were within those start dates of an operation.

Of course, the seismologist behind the study, John Laws, works for the oil and gas companies in the area. Laws claims that there isn’t enough pressure generated from a frack well to cause an earthquake. He said that it would take 10 frack jobs simultaneously to even match one-hundredth of what nature does when generating an earthquake. He claimed that this increase in earthquakes, up from 50 in Oklahoma in 2000 to over 1,000 quakes in 2010, is just an uptick in activity in the earth’s crust.

But, in recent studies, officials believe that it’s the wastewater disposal wells that may actually be causing the quakes and not the actual drilling for the gas. A USGS team found that the increase in quakes in Oklahoma and other parts of the Midwest may be linked to fracking.

According to an article that appeared at globalresearch.ca in April of 2012, “Sharp rise in U.S. earthquakes almost certainly man-made, USGS scientists report,” some quakes may be caused by the original fracking (injection of fluid mixture into the earth to release the methane), but more of the quakes appear to be caused by re-injecting the wastewater deep underground.

“Our analysis showed that shortly after hydraulic fracturing began small earthquakes started occurring, and more than 50 were identified, of which 43 were large enough to be located. Most of these earthquakes occurred within a 24 hour period after hydraulic fracturing operations had ceased,” The USGS reported. They said that the rate of escalation of these earthquakes would be unprecedented on a natural level without it being volcanic or in the absence of a main shock. There was neither of these occurrences in Oklahoma. There’s no volcano and there’s no major slip on a fault line. Yet, the Oklahoma earthquakes continue to increase. In the first three months of 2014, there were over 1,000 quakes in Oklahoma.

Ohio regulators also found that earthquakes in their state were “almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth.”

The oil and gas industry denies any relation between the increased earthquakes in the heartland of America and their fracking operations, despite the explosion of fracking wells coinciding with the abrupt rise in earthquakes over the past seven years.

One ATS poster discussing the sinkhole epidemic wondered if maybe the fracking may also be connected to sinkholes since there is more and more evidence to connect the quakes and fracking.

Post by Jusvistn
AboveTopSecret.com
The Above Network, LLC
Dangerous Gas may be the cause of super-charged, mass die-offs, quakes and more
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Has there been given any thought to the excessive gas drilling and fracking? I just can't help but think that as they suck the pressurized gas out of the earth and replace with chemical mixed water that it has to be disrupting the balance of the earth in some way. Maybe it sounds far fetched, but seems that these sink holes have started happening more and more frequently once the big gas boom went crazy. There is some concern and speculation that the fracking is causing earthquakes, so maybe there is a correlation to the sink holes as well? I know that all of the official stories say that fracking doesn't cause earth quakes, but yet the gas company knocked on my door and asked if they could put a seismograph in my back yard. If no relation, why the monitoring?

Whether related to fracking or not, there are just too many things going on of late to dismiss these happenings as mere coincidence and awareness due to news traveling faster and to more people.

Earthquakes in odd areas,
Sink holes opening up all over the world,
wild weather, increased storm intensity,
dormant volcanoes waking up and active volcanoes that are starting to become more active,
bird die offs
fish die offs
animals - both wild and domestic acting strangely
people acting strangely (going crazy, babbling & incoherent thoughts, the whole zombie like reports)
strange light anomalies in the skies
strange earth/sky noises

You can't tell me that these are all not related to something! What, I'm not sure, but whether folks think watching the LA sinkhole is important or not to them, it is to me and should be to far more people including the TPTB.

Continued...

Here is another post in the same thread from a girl who lives in Shreveport, LA and has been paying attention to the rise in quakes and other phenomenon in her area.

Post by Shrevegal
AboveTopSecret.com
The Above Network, LLC
Dangerous Gas may be the cause of super-charged, mass die-offs, quakes and more
www.abovetopsecret.com...
I have been living in this area for over 25 years now and I can tell you that I definitely feel fracking has been the cause of many problems here in this state and in Texas as well. There are a lot more tremblors in both areas of late...not huge ones but nevertheless... especially in the Bayou Corne location. This once beautiful state has changed drastically thanks to the oil/gas/fracking situation. I had to leave a few properties I owned because of fracking taking over and believe me, that process does a lot to change the land near these wells and drilling areas. The ground constantly shakes/vibrates from the drilling and explosions that occur during the process. When you can feel your property shimmie and shake all the time you just have to know the ground and shale and water is being affected big-time. Stands to reason that the process can and does create sinkholes and other types of damage as well. There are wells even in town areas and neighborhoods, hard to believe but true. I fear this entire state is going to have a terrible disaster eventually as a consequence of all that has been mentioned.

A local woman in Haughton, a town near Camp Minden where we had that explosion and so forth, has stated she has been seeing "bubbling" in her swampy land/yard area as she has several acres. Another sinkhole in the making? That's in NW Louisiana now. Not too far from Shreveport.

In my opinion, fracking is dangerous to the future of humanity. I don’t believe that we can drill miles below the surface and create violent punches into ancient rock without there being some sort of repercussion, then store millions upon millions of chemically-enhanced wastewater into other areas in those deep depths. I’ve previously asked is it just mere coincidence that the methane levels in the atmosphere started skyrocketing the same time hundreds of thousands of hydraulic fracturing wells were drilled throughout North America. Consider the fact that it’s not just the wells that are losing methane as it enters the atmosphere, but what about the actual fracturing of the crust during each of these earthquakes. They have to be releasing an unknown amount of methane gas into the atmosphere. This may also explain many of the unexplainable explosions and sonic booms being reported around the country, many of which are occurring in fracking areas.

Only time will tell, I guess. How much time we have to tell remains unanswered!

I await the next installments of your book, and again I will do a small quote on what really made me sit up and think.

We dig it up or it incinerates us or leads to more poisonings. They can't tell us that without telling us just how dire things are though and they clearly don't want to do that. They can deal with corpses easier than scared people; I guess that's the thinking. A few mass graves here, a bit of mass fatality planning there, tada, problem solved. While I sorta understand that, I can't say I'm all on board with that, because scared people can get past their fear, but dead people can't get past being dead.

S&F
Regards, Iwinder

a reply to: Rezlooper

Rezlooper - I am SO enjoying your writing and the information. Thank you so much. This is fascinating and so generous of you to allow us to read it.

You are amazing to share such info with the world instead of just wanting to make a profit.

originally posted by: ccseagull
a reply to: Rezlooper

Rezlooper - I am SO enjoying your writing and the information. Thank you so much. This is fascinating and so generous of you to allow us to read it.

You are amazing to share such info with the world instead of just wanting to make a profit.

Thanks for that seagull, it means a lot.

Fracking continues to cause enormous environmental challenges. Now they have discovered a large methane mass over the Southwest skies (above major fracking operations) so if you see birds falling out the sky you know why.

Link

originally posted by: glend
Fracking continues to cause enormous environmental challenges. Now they have discovered a large methane mass over the Southwest skies (above major fracking operations) so if you see birds falling out the sky you know why.

Link

Correct you are, I just finished reading that article this morning and REZ and his chapters of the book came to mind faster then a thought.
Thanks for posting that link.
Regards, Iwinder

No, fracking wasn't affected by Russian hackers or so bogus environmentalist campaigners. The fracking industry was damaged by the west's own decision to lower oil prices aiming at hurting Russia. By manipulating oil prices lower than what they were 3 years ago, the west has made regular oil too cheap fro fracking oil or fracking gas to be competitive on the market.