Fracking Risk?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/03/oklahoma-earthquakes-fracking-waste-water-wells


Seems to follow the No Free Lunch rule.

 

[paddle007]

Darn pesky lube. Things move around that were once secured by friction.

 

[themcfarland]

I am not into exploration side of it, but I managed to track down a non biased geologist and after some time, we got on the subject of this.. Now, his work is in Alaska, not the Southern portion.. His professional opinion was that fracking DOES offer up a two fold problem that might cause the quakes, first the lubrication, but secondly, you are changing the buoyancy and weight of the plates, and earth. something to think about.. I have no idea myself..

 

[I_FLY_LOW]

Changing the buoyancy of the plates and earth? really??? That's like saying adding a tablespoon of salt water to the ocean is going to cause a global flood... really???
They're not injecting that much material into the earth.
The lubrication theory point may have some validity, in my mind, but the other? I don't think so.

 

[Cochise]

Changing the buoyancy of the plates and earth? really??? That's like saying adding a tablespoon of salt water to the ocean is going to cause a global flood... really???
They're not injecting that much material into the earth.
The lubrication theory point may have some validity, in my mind, but the other? I don't think so.

Think of it like dumping a few tons of gravel into a small lake; the water level will definitely rise, probably overflowing the banks. If you pour enough water under the ground, it changes the balance of pressures around and the ground has to shift to regain balance.

As to the OP, I did a lot of reading on this and other domestic oil problems back in '08 when I was trying to figure out just how big of an idiot McCain was.
Environmentalists always said that large-scale fracking could cause exactly these results. The oil industy said "Meh, they're exaggerating. Won't be that bad" The oil lobby beat the environmental lobby when the debate was had in washington, and now we are starting to see the results.
This is one of those subjects that just makes me want to face-palm. The whole subject of domestic oil, really. No, I'm not involved in the industry in any way, this was just one of the first things I ended up looking into when I first became "politically awake".

 

[Jack]

But Nate, some guy who pushes pipe said fracking is cool.

 

[Neil09]

Who here has an electric vehicle?

 

[CBlack]

Who here has an electric vehicle?

They're shopping for them now.

 

[CEHollier]

Who here has an electric vehicle?

The person with a fanny pack and rape whistle.

 

[Fred_G]

The person with a fanny pack and rape whistle.

LMFAO.

 

[Neil09]

I don't think the process is perfect, but I don't have a better solution.

 

[themcfarland]

I was referring to earth as the material itself not the planet.. industry generic term.

 

[Cochise]

I don't think the process is perfect, but I don't have a better solution.

There really is only one solution to the problem. That's for the corporate muckity-mucks of the oil industry and their government cronies to stop being so gawddamn greedy. And that just isn't going to happen. We don't need fracking, we need honest government oversight over the oil companies, their policies and practices.

And on another tangent, WHY are we fracking for oil now, anyway? The US only has X amount of oil in our soil and at the rate we are going through it, all our wells and frack-holes and everything else will be completely dried up before my future grandkids are retirement age. We are leaving nothing for the next generations. Right now, we are simply gambling on the hope that technology will have solved the problem for us by then.

 

[Leonidas]

I think they're going to screw up and split the world in half.

 

[Fred_G]

we need honest government oversight over the oil companies, their policies and practices.

Hmm, the same gubment that has around $17, $18 Trillion in debt, has not passed a budget in a while, and can't seem to build a border fence? Yeah, let's put them in charge of it.

honest government oversight

? OK sorry, but that is just the wrong words to be in one sentence.

 

[Cochise]

Hmm, the same gubment that has around $17, $18 Trillion in debt, has not passed a budget in a while, and can't seem to build a border fence? Yeah, let's put them in charge of it. ? OK sorry, but that is just the wrong words to be in one sentence.

I agree with you completely. That is specifically why I stick the word "honest" in there, because it's the thing we need most and will likely never get.

 

[SpeedRacer]

I don't think the process is perfect, but I don't have a better solution.

Better solution for what?

 

[Jack]

Who here has an electric vehicle?

I do.

 

[Neil09]

Better solution for what?

Get oil/gas out of the ground...

 

[SpeedRacer]

Get oil/gas out of the ground...

Do we need to get oil out of the ground?