Fracking has been made into a taboo and evil word.
However, the process is fairly simple.
When an oil well goes dry, the oil companies make a slurry of liquids and highly spherical silica sand, 95% SiO2. This purity keeps it from breaking down when mixed with gases and oil.
They then send this slurry down the well and blast it into the well. The explosion creates new crevices in the rock formations and often revitalizes an expired well. Rather than drill more wells, the companies can reactivate old wells and make them produce again.
The natural gas and oil has been produced over the course of hundreds of millions of years, and so has the sand that is used to frack. Many of the high grade pure white silica sands are found in the midwest where 200 to 300 million years ago there were oceans with waves that rolled the silica into the spherical shape.
As we know, an egg shape can withstand great pressure, so too, can spherical sand. The importance of the spherical sand is the ability to hold the newly fracture rock crevices open so oil and gas can leak through. The shape is strong but also provides the gaps necessary for oil and gas to pass through them.
fracking leads to crappy water in the wells that are in close proximity to the fracking areas. i lived it. it ruined our well water. and no one came running to help us.
I am certainly against any efforts that ruin clean drinking water or create other environmental hazards. Surface strip mining for lithium and rare earth materials is something to watch closely as well. (which by the way, China owns the vast majority of rare earth mines in the world, including US mines)
It's my understanding that fracking takes place 1 to 2 miles below the surface, well beyond a typical water well for drinking.
Not disagreeing with you and I would feel the exact same way if my water was tainted by contaminants.
Wells that are fracked are existing wells that have already run dry and are reactivated by the process.
See my reply above...that is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT...once the fissures are broken, the slime and oil mix can cock up a real nice water well...that is why it is USED ONLY in certain circumstances...
This is one of the concerns I've had. I believe there can be good applications of fracking but I hear a lot of negative side effects from the practice being done in close proximity to the fracking zones. I'm guessing it needs to be done far enough away from populated areas, but I'm also guessing that the contamination can spread quite far. Not sure what the solution would be since I'm not an expert on the topic.
I'm pro-gas but admittedly have fallen victim to some of the fracking propaganda with water table fouling and strange emissions coming out of the faucets of residents living within nearby fracking zones. What is the truth of this? I want to be pro-fracking because it's another energy solution, but need some of my concerns alleviated.
There probably needs to be some limit on depth (or minimum depth) of fracking to prevent water tables from being fouled. Or possibly distance to populated areas, or both. The oil companies are going to swear it is fine and doesn't affect water but there is too much evidence out there that it does.
Fracking has been made into a taboo and evil word.
However, the process is fairly simple.
When an oil well goes dry, the oil companies make a slurry of liquids and highly spherical silica sand, 95% SiO2. This purity keeps it from breaking down when mixed with gases and oil.
They then send this slurry down the well and blast it into the well. The explosion creates new crevices in the rock formations and often revitalizes an expired well. Rather than drill more wells, the companies can reactivate old wells and make them produce again.
The natural gas and oil has been produced over the course of hundreds of millions of years, and so has the sand that is used to frack. Many of the high grade pure white silica sands are found in the midwest where 200 to 300 million years ago there were oceans with waves that rolled the silica into the spherical shape.
As we know, an egg shape can withstand great pressure, so too, can spherical sand. The importance of the spherical sand is the ability to hold the newly fracture rock crevices open so oil and gas can leak through. The shape is strong but also provides the gaps necessary for oil and gas to pass through them.
fracking leads to crappy water in the wells that are in close proximity to the fracking areas. i lived it. it ruined our well water. and no one came running to help us.
I am certainly against any efforts that ruin clean drinking water or create other environmental hazards. Surface strip mining for lithium and rare earth materials is something to watch closely as well. (which by the way, China owns the vast majority of rare earth mines in the world, including US mines)
It's my understanding that fracking takes place 1 to 2 miles below the surface, well beyond a typical water well for drinking.
Not disagreeing with you and I would feel the exact same way if my water was tainted by contaminants.
Wells that are fracked are existing wells that have already run dry and are reactivated by the process.
See my reply above...that is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT...once the fissures are broken, the slime and oil mix can cock up a real nice water well...that is why it is USED ONLY in certain circumstances...
This is one of the concerns I've had. I believe there can be good applications of fracking but I hear a lot of negative side effects from the practice being done in close proximity to the fracking zones. I'm guessing it needs to be done far enough away from populated areas, but I'm also guessing that the contamination can spread quite far. Not sure what the solution would be since I'm not an expert on the topic.
I'm pro-gas but admittedly have fallen victim to some of the fracking propaganda with water table fouling and strange emissions coming out of the faucets of residents living within nearby fracking zones. What is the truth of this? I want to be pro-fracking because it's another energy solution, but need some of my concerns alleviated.
There probably needs to be some limit on depth (or minimum depth) of fracking to prevent water tables from being fouled. Or possibly distance to populated areas, or both. The oil companies are going to swear it is fine and doesn't affect water but there is too much evidence out there that it does.