Documentary “Blowout” Follows Climate Cost of Oil Boom from Fracking to Exports

Remember The First Time Colorado Tried Fracking With A Nuclear Bomb?

History is all that remains. The Plowshares Program faded away, its fate sealed by the lack of commercial success, public consciousness about radioactivity and the will of state voters. After the subsequent Project Rio Blanco experiment faced similar scrutiny, Coloradans approved a constitutional amendment in 1974 that requires voter approval before any nuclear device is detonated in the state. That leaves the Centennial State as a unique place where the people hold the power to grant permission for both new taxes and nuclear bombs.

Holy Frack! indeed.

President Trump's latest round of increased tariffs on goods imported from China just bankrupted a bunch more US frackers as benchmark oil prices corrected.   <vbg>


Proposition:  President Trump is collaborating with OPEC + Russia as only enhanced oil price volatility driven by increasing economic uncertainty can reign in US shale oil growth.   In the absence of Trump's trade wars, I reckon benchmark oil prices would currently be $10 to $20 higher.  Trump's sanctions on Iran and Venezuela are helping to keep oil prices relatively high. 

Proposition:  From the perspective of some enviro-activists, Trump is a GREAT friend.  Why?  Well, economic growth is seen as positively correlated with increased environmental damage.  By deliberating sabotaging global economic growth, Trump is helping the environment (at least short-term).

Naturally these enviro-activists are not familiar with the Environmental Kuznets curve.

 haresfur wrote:
 
Numerous good points in that post haresfur.  Though I would go further and state that some activists are radically overstating /exaggerating/making up the risks of fracking IMO.  That said, additional studies, on going monitoring (for earth tremors etc.),  as well as demanding and enforceable regulations are all required. 

Serious regulations create a level playing field for operators.

On the upstream side of the oil & gas industry, I can think of a few activities I would definitely seek to avoid in my backyard but directional drilling and fracking are not one of them.  

One thing the industry needs to do in some jurisdictions is recognize the 'inconvenience' of fracking and mitigate that.  The noise, the traffic, the dust and the pounding of rural roads that were never designed to accommodate so many heavy trucks are all things that the industry and government should pro-actively take care without waiting for the public to start vociferously complaining.  This was, perhaps still is, a problem in parts of the NE USA.  

A general rule for business:  costs should not be transferred onto the public.

Fracking has revolutionized the extraction of oil and gas in just a few years, but this highly efficient method comes with environmental and health risks. Now, a new metastudy details its adverse effects on the local environment, the climate and human health.

 R_P wrote:
 
What an odd headline since the current fracking controversy is over gas production from within the "tight" rock formations rather than oil from conventional reservoirs. Although nearly all oil produced these days uses different methods to enhance the recovery, including hydraulic fracturing.

As for producing less than projected, there can be a lot of reasons for that, particularly when using relatively new technology in new areas and formations. I'm sure you can find the whole range from, 'that's not what we expected' to 'What? you believed what we told you? Well, never trust your recruiter"

My personal feeling is that the risks of fracking are overstated although should continue to be studied and assessed.  But most importantly, it should be compared to the risks and hazards of alternatives like coal. And I  believe that we are better off maximising the yield from developments rather than grabbing the stuff that is easy to get and then running off to crap up a new area.

Fracking’s Secret Problem—Oil Wells Aren’t Producing as Much as Forecast
Data analysis reveals thousands of locations are yielding less than their owners projected to investors; ‘illusory picture’ of prospects

More False Claims About Fracking

Ten tremors jolt North Texas in less than 26 hours

Oh and I am sure it had nothing to do with Fracking. 

What could go wrong?
Pittsburgh airport to host fracking sites starting this month

The floundering Pittsburgh International Airport is expected to soon begin earning nearly a quarter of its annual operating budget by letting a local energy company conduct fracking operations deep under the once booming air traffic hub.

 kurtster wrote:

In June 2011, the EPA conducted a review of other aspects of California's injection well program and found enforcement, testing and oversight problems so significant that the agency demanded California improve its regulations and warned that the state's authority could be revoked.

Maybe Mr. Bohlen, state oil and gas supervisor, is just looking "where the sun don't shine"...

 RichardPrins wrote:  

...
 To date, they said, they have not yet found any of the more regulated aquifers to have been contaminated.

"We do not have any direct evidence any drinking water has been affected," wrote Steve Bohlen, the state oil and gas supervisor

California Halts Injection of Fracking Waste, Warning It May Be Contaminating Aquifers

State’s drought has forced farmers to rely on groundwater, even as California aquifers have been intentionally polluted due to exemptions for oil industry.

California officials have ordered an emergency shut-down of 11 oil and gas waste injection sites and a review more than 100 others in the state's drought-wracked Central Valley out of fear that companies may have been pumping fracking fluids and other toxic waste into drinking water aquifers there.

The state's Division of Oil and Gas and Geothermal Resources on July 7 issued cease and desist orders to seven energy companies warning that they may be injecting their waste into aquifers that could be a source of drinking water, and stating that their waste disposal "poses danger to life, health, property, and natural resources." The orders were first reported by the Bakersfield Californian, and the state has confirmed with ProPublica that its investigation is expanding to look at additional wells. (...)

My wife has been on this one for months, of all of the things mankind is doing, Fracking just may be the worst:

Oklahoma at risk for damaging earthquake, but is fracking to blame?

 islander wrote: 

 islander wrote: 
Wait...are we going back to the chocolate futures conversation?

 haresfur wrote: 
This guy is clearly an amateur. I would have had my board of directors cut me a check for at least 3X the reduced value of my property due to any industry operations (or maybe just due to anything at all). Who did this guys employment contract?  I bet he still eats brown M&Ms. 

 Coaxial wrote: 
I don't know.  It makes perfect sense to me.  I mean, he owns an insanely expensive house.  That means there is a lot of property value to lose.  So the average person in a modest home won't lose as much. Besides, not living in an Ivory Tower, they are probably used to trucks going by all the time.  I mean, what's the point of being ultra-rich if you have to put up with some of the same things as everyone else?  

 RichardPrins wrote: 
That is fracking hilarious.