tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post1466706031203586330..comments2023-10-04T09:04:40.798-04:00Comments on The Marcellus Effect: EPA Whistleblower Talks "Fracking" with Marcellus Environmental LeadersSue Heavenrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-13036502829406516062010-06-29T11:37:24.134-04:002010-06-29T11:37:24.134-04:00Sue,
The fact that the rank and file at the DEC h...Sue,<br /><br />The fact that the rank and file at the DEC handed in comments to the SGEIS, saying 'This needs more study' is all I needed to be convinced that it needs more study.<br /><br />The entire point of the supplement to the 1992 GEIS was that the DEC recognized that the slickwater fracking is different from the horizontal drilling that they use in the Trenton-Black River (which is a conventional play albeit with sequential reservoirs trapped in en eschelon vertical joints capped by a dolomite layer).<br /><br />It seems odd to me that anyone would expect the oil industry to play fair and not suppress an EPA study. All industries do this. People think that the computer industry isn't suppressing government studies of various stripes? That the recording industry isn't doing this? They food industry? The health care industry? That's just industry for you.<br /><br />Everyone acts like Leo Durocher was right ("Nice guys finish last") although folks like Ben & Jerry and Google seem to prove them wrong.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589237435838390986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-21381501301423970112010-06-28T16:33:24.809-04:002010-06-28T16:33:24.809-04:00Bill, you are right about CBM being different from...Bill, you are right about CBM being different from Marcellus Shale - and that is a huge argument for doing a better "frack" study. If you can't compare CMB to Marcellus, then you can't really rely on a study that was so limited in scope.<br />Also, not to put too fine a point on it, Trenton-Black River (dolomite) and Oriskany & other sandstones are very different from the black shales. So we should not be comparing the kind of stimulation used in those operations with the high-volume hydro-fracking that will be used in the tight shales.<br />More to the point, however, are the accusations that science was suppressed by industry pressure in the 2004 EPA study. We need a good study with good science.Sue Heavenrichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00550259613381458435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2993321373300794743.post-36283855405814975212010-06-28T11:00:58.767-04:002010-06-28T11:00:58.767-04:00Coal bed methane is very different geology from th...Coal bed methane is very different geology from the Marcellus shale. For one thing it is a lot shallower and actually overlaps the groundwater aquifer.<br /><br />I continue to be puzzled that western drilling is so readily compared to eastern drilling. The regulatory environment is completely different. <br /><br />As the film "Split Estate" showed, many western landowners only ever owned the surface of their property, allowing drillers to drive right onto it and do what they want without a lease. <br /><br />Much western drilling also takes place on federal land where states have no jurisdiction and the EPA has never been acknowledged as much of an enforcement organization. Furthermore, many of these very Republican western states have minimal environmental regulations, especially as regards oil and gas, which are indifferently enforced.<br /><br />It is broadly acknowledged that New York is one the most restrictively regulated states in the country, and more regulated than its neighbor Pennsylvania.<br /><br />There is no doubt that the pressure should be kept on the DEC to heavily regulate unconventional gas drilling, but I'm not sure how repeated claims that they are lax, in cahoots with the gas companies and generally bad at their job is going to help anything.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589237435838390986noreply@blogger.com