Tuesday, June 26, 2012

New EPA Guidelines: To Frack or Not to Frack?

The somewhat controversial practice of hydraulic fracking has gotten its fair share of news headlines lately, for better or for worse.  While the intricacies and scientific technicalities of fracking perhaps are better left to another day, this blog post provides a quick and dirty guide to the debate over fracking and its environmental repercussions.

Hydraulic fracking is a process which has been around since the 1940s, but has gained international attention recently due in part to the energy crisis, and in part to the enhanced science we have available today to make it an economically feasible method to release natural gas from deep within the earth.  On one hand, fracking gives us access to an energy source which otherwise was inaccessible to us.  On the other hand, opponents argue that fracking will lead to increased groundwater contamination and potential unknown other pollutants being released into the air, groundwater, and soil.

Fracking involves pumping a liquid into an existing wellbore, generally located in shale rocks or coal beds.  The fracking liquid being pumped into the rock increases the pressure and forces the rock to crack.  The liquid extends deeper into the crack, which further extends the crack until it reaches the natural gas deep beneath the earth's surface, releasing the gas upward into the well area where it can be captured and piped out as an energy source.  Different liquids can be used as fracking liquids, but the most common is a mix of water and chemical additives.  Fracking liquids are also used to inject sand and other solids to stabilize the cracks without losing the permeability that allows the gas to rise up.  These solids are called "proppants."  These wells are then "tapped" to catch the natural gas that is released.  During the tapping and fracking processes, trace amounts of natural gas, methane, volatile organic compounds ("VOCs"), and other fracking fumes may be released.

In April, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") passed new rules regarding fracking under the Clean Air Act ("CAA").  See the EPA's news release here. However, the rules do not take effect until 2015. Once the new rules go into effect, they will require the industry to perform a process called "green completion" to trap the fumes that are currently being released into the air. Certain states, such as Wyoming and Colorado already require green completion.  The EPA's CAA fracking rules are a step in the right direction to control VOC and methane gas air contamination while allowing companies to develop needed cutting-edge oil and gas drilling technologies to release new stores of energy.  As an added benefit, it is believed the industry will be able to sell the gases captured during green completion to recoup some of the costs incurred in becoming compliant with the rules by 2015.

On May 4, 2012, the EPA released a draft of a new guidance to follow if diesel fuel is used as the fracking fluid.  You can read this draft here.  This draft was published in large part in response to concerns about groundwater when diesel is injected into the ground.  EPA is holding a public meeting on the proposed draft on June 29, 2012 in Washington, D.C.  The draft is open to public comment until July 9, 2012.