Study: Fracking Does not Pollute Groundwater
A study conducted by the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin concludes that hydraulic fracturing in shale formations “has no direct connection” to groundwater contamination.
The study released Thursday, found that many problems attributed to hydraulic fracturing “are related to processes common to all oil and gas drilling operations,” such as drilling pipe inadequately cased in concrete.
Many reports of contamination can be traced to above-ground spills or other mishandling of wastewater produced from shale drilling and not from hydraulic fracturing, Charles “Chip” Groat, an Energy Institute associate director who led the project, said in a statement.
“These problems are not unique to hydraulic fracturing,” Groat said.
The study was viewed as vindication by the energy industry, which long has said there's no direct link between hydraulic fracturing and contamination of groundwater. But industry critics said the study needs to be vetted by independent experts. Critics noted some aspects of drilling can lead to groundwater contamination.
The report said, for example, that surface spills in natural gas development pose greater risks to groundwater than does hydraulic fracturing, and that there are gaps in the regulation of well casing (pipe), water disposal and storage.
The institute's research team looked at reports of groundwater contamination in three shale plays: the Barnett Shale in North Texas; the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, New York and parts of Appalachia; and the Haynesville Shale in western Louisiana and northeastern Texas.
Energy Institute spokesman Gary Rasp said no industry funds paid for the study, and that money for the study “comes from the university directly. That's all kinds of different sources.”
The study was authored by an interdisciplinary team of experts, he said, noting that the Environmental Defense Fund helped to develop the scope of work and methodology for the study.
Scott Anderson of the Austin office of the EDF wrote in a blog that although the study didn't confirm any cases of drinking water contamination caused by fracking, that “does not mean such contamination is impossible or that hydraulic fracturing chemicals can't get loose in the environment in other ways (such as through spills of produced water).”
The study mentions there are ways “natural gas development that can pose significant environmental risk,” Anderson wrote.
Rasp said the study hasn't yet undergone peer review, but “it's definitely going to be.”
A summary of the study's major findings:
Among the findings of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin's study on hydraulic fracturing and contamination:
• Hydraulic fracturing has no direct connection to groundwater contamination.
• Water contamination often traces to above-ground spills.
• Water contamination may be caused by failures of the well's pipe or concrete casing.
• Methane found in water wells in some shale areas may be traced to natural sources present before hydraulic fracturing.
• Surface spills of fracturing fluids appear to pose greater risk to groundwater than fracking itself.
LINK to te full study HERE