Introduction
to Hydraulic Fracturing 101
With Pictures of the Impact of DrillingOne emerging threat to the pristine environment
of the Finger Lakes region is the drilling of deep wells to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.
When drilling for natural gas, energy companies
use a process known as "hydraulic fracturing" to inject chemicals into the ground in order to break-up sand and
rock formations. By breaking up sand and rock, they can more easily extract oil and gas from the ground. Over the productive
life of of the well, it may be fractured every 12 months or so.
The problem is that the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing may be toxic
to humans. Efforts by several environmental advocacy organizations to obtain chemical compositions of hydraulic fracturing
fluids have not been successful. Oil and gas companies will not reveal what they say is proprietary information and the government
doesn’t require them to do so. Very small quantities of toxic chemicals are capable of contaminating
millions of gallons of water. Only a few tablespoons of some chemicals could contaminate millions of gallons of ground
water at concentrations that would render it undrinkable. Although much of the injected fracturing fluids are pumped out of
the ground, 20% to 30% of the fluids may remain in the ground. It is unclear how contaminated water brought to the surface
will be handled and treated.
