Pickens Plan - Effects On The Environment

Effects On The Environment

Further information: Environmental effects of wind power

By shifting a percentage of electricity production from natural gas combustion to carbon neutral wind generation, Pickens' Plan claims that it would significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electricity production. Vehicles combusting natural gas instead of gasoline would produce about 25% less CO₂ for the same amount of energy. Combustion of gasoline also produces much larger amounts of nitrogen oxides (NOx, which cause smog) and other air pollutants than combustion of natural gas.

One of the big issues that has many people concerned is hydraulic fracturing (AKA: "Fracking") to obtain the gas from porous shale. Natural gas companies claim that fracking is safe and has gone on for decades, but there are a lot of people who disagree with the safety of fracking operations, and worry about the recent proliferation of fracking.

During the drilling process, water tables are pierced by the drilling process and concrete is pumped in to line the wells and protect the water supplies. The possible problem is that many earth quakes in a given area, of a magnitude of over 3 points on the Richter Scale or higher, may damage these concrete liners and leave water supplies vulnerable to the poisonous chemicals used in the fracking process. Natural gas and flammable chemicals might then enter a water supply and make the water itself flammable, leading to what is called "Flaming Faucets". A home where the water has been contaminated can catch fire and with a flammable water supply may not be able to be put out using conventional fire fighting techniques, as well as possibly making occupants very ill.

A Duke University study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2011 examined methane in groundwater in Pennsylvania and New York states overlying the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale. It determined that groundwater tended to contain much higher concentrations of methane near fracking wells, with potential explosion hazard; the methane's isotopic signatures and other geochemical indicators were consistent with it originating in the fracked deep shale formations, rather than any other source.

Complaints from a few residents on water quality in a developed natural gas field prompted an EPA groundwater investigation in Wyoming. The EPA reported detections of methane and other chemicals such as phthalates in private water wells. In Pavillion, Wyoming, the EPA discovered traces of methane and foaming agents in several water wells near a gas rig, though it suggested these chemicals might have come from cleaning products. Many people have doubts that cleaning products could create such a contamination. In DISH, Texas, elevated levels of disulphides, benzene, xylenes, and naphthalene have been detected in the air, alongside numerous local complaints of headaches, diarrhea, nosebleeds, dizziness, muscle spasms and other problems.

Groundwater contamination doesn't always come directly from injecting fracking chemicals deep into shale rock formations well below water aquifers, but also may come from waste water evaporation ponds and poorly constructed pipelines taking the waste water and chemicals to processing facilities. The evaporation ponds can allow the volatile chemicals in the waste water to evaporate into the atmosphere and when it rains these ponds tend to overflow and the runoff eventually makes its way into groundwater systems. Another way groundwater gets contaminated relating to fracking is from the temporary, and poorly constructed pipelines to transport the waste water to water treatment plants. These pipelines can leak and in some cases break in a section all together allowing the waste water and fracking chemicals to flow into groundwater systems. The transportation by trucks and storage of fracking chemicals allows for groundwater to become contaminated when accidents happen during transportation to the fracking site or to its disposal destination.

Epidemiological studies that might confirm or rule out any connection between these complaints and fracking are virtually non-existent. Individuals "smell things that don't make them feel well, but we know nothing about cause-and-effect relationships in these cases." In Garfield County, Colorado, another area with a high concentration of drilling rigs, volatile organic compound emissions increased 30% between 2004 and 2006; during the same period there was a rash of health complaints from local residents. The health effects of VOCs are largely unquantified, so any causal relationship is difficult to ascertain; however, some of these chemicals are suspected carcinogens and neurotoxins. Investigators from the Colorado School of Public Health performed a study in Garfield regarding potential adverse health effects, and concluded that residents near gas wells might suffer chemical exposures, accidents from industry operations, and psychological impacts such as depression, anxiety, and stress. This study (the only one of its kind to date) was never published, owing to disagreements between community members and the drilling company over the study's methods.

In 2010, the film Gasland premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The filmmaker claims that chemicals including toxins, known carcinogens, and heavy metals polluted the ground water near well sites in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Colorado. A 2011 report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology addressed groundwater contamination, noting "There has been concern that these fractures can also penetrate shallow freshwater zones and contaminate them with fracturing fluid, but there is no evidence that this is occurring. There is, however, evidence of natural gas migration into freshwater zones in some areas, most likely as a result of substandard well completion practices by a few operators. There are additional environmental challenges in the area of water management, particularly the effective disposal of fracture fluids". This study encourages the use of industry best practices to prevent such events from recurring.

There are many people now trying to make solid connections between contaminated water supplies and natural gas fracking, but ground water contamination is one of many possible environmental concerns raised by natural gas fracking operations. Air pollution, radioactivity, and fracking induced earth quakes, are all concerns of anti-fracking individuals and groups. Where the claimed significant reduction in carbon dioxide from vehicles using natural gas as a vehicle fuel, the actual drilling and production of natural gas may negate many of the reductions in CO₂ emissions.