FrackingAdministration more actively to support expansion of fracking

The Obama administration is leaning toward offering more active support for the expansion hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, despite the opposition of environmental groups. Last week the U.S. Department of the Interior issued a draft proposal to “establish common-sense safety standards for hydraulic fracturing on public and Indian lands,” and the Department of Energy approved a liquefied natural gas terminal in Freeport, Texas.

The Washington Times notes that fracking is a cost-effective method recovering hydrocarbon fuels from shale rock. The gas is captured when water and sand, along with a small amount of chemicals, are injected under pressure to break the rock and create millions of tiny fissures, releasing the trapped gas or oil. In order to conduct fracturing on a large scale, the drilling is typically done at a minimum depth of 5,000 feet.

The Interior proposal says hydraulic fracturing can be conducted in an environmentally safe manner. The proposal will disclose the chemicals used in the process, and guarantee that gas and fluid will not leak into ground water supplies. The proposal will also offer a water management plan for disposing of the water and fluids used in the process. 

With the boom in fracking, gas prices have dropped from $15 per million British thermal units (Btu) to just $4 per million Btu, and the U.S. nuclear industry is contemplating a future which will not include the expansion it was expecting only a few years ago.

Fracking has been a remarkable success, and other countries are considering using the technology on a large scale. U.S. producers may soon begin to liquefy the gas released by fracking, and sell it overseas to Japan and Europe. The Freeport plant in Texas, for example, is planning to export as much as 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Environmental groups, however, say fracking is dangerous.

“Fracking, a violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations, is known to contaminate drinking water, pollute the air, and cause earthquakes.” A 2011 letter from Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace USA, Climate Protection Campaign, and other groups stated.

The groups urged President Obama to “halt hydraulic fracturing…until and unless the environmental and health impacts of this process are well understood and the public is adequately protected.”

In addition to opposing fracking, these same groups are opposing exporting natural gas.

“Exporting LNG will lead to more drilling — and more drilling means more fracking, more air and water pollution, and more climate fueled weather disasters like last year’s record fires, droughts, and superstorms,” according to Deb Nardone of the Sierra Club

Obama has promised to pursue two goals – energy independence and and environmentally responsible policies – and environmental critics of the administration are saying he is pursuing the former at the cost of the latter. The administration argues, in response, that there is no contradiction between the two goals, and that the proposal by the Interior Department shows this to be the case.