Oil and gas companies intend to expand the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing to U.S. oil fields, according to an Associated Press report.
Also known as "fracking", the process involves pumping massive amounts of water, sand and chemicals into underground rock formations to release trapped natural gas.
The practice has been banned in New York, while the EPA conducts a study to determine whether or not it poses a risk to subterranean water supplies and environmental health.
Fracking is responsible for the rejuvenation of the domestic natural gas industry, opening access to large supplies of previously inaccessible natural gas. And now extraction companies plan to put it to use to recover additional crude oil in North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California.
Analysts and oil executives say fracking in these areas could boost domestic oil production an additional 2 million barrels a day by 2015–more than is currently drawn from the gulf of Mexico.
The news will undoubtedly deepen the rift between Americans who want to boost domestic oil production to reduce imports and those who are wary of causing irreparable harm to the environment.
In Related News…
In the first salvo of a new congressional battle over global warming, House Republicans charged Wednesday that emissions rules sought by the Obama administration would mean "higher prices and fewer jobs."
Read about EPA administrator Lisa Jackson’s first Congressional testimony before the Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee at the link below. (AP story)
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If methane produced by fracking is leaking into aquifers and wells, then it surely also is leaking into the air. How much methane will leak into the air if natural gas shale formations in the U.S. and around the world are fully developed? There is good reason for concern about that question: methane has 20 to 30 times the heat trapping potency as carbon dioxide. How will that impact IPCC forecasts, timelines and margins of safety for mitigation and adaptation? See http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/heat-waves-global-warming.php