Tag: "fracking"

United States to be #1 Energy Producer by 2020

At the current rate of energy resource production, the United States is set to surpass Saudi Arabia and become the top oil producer in the world as early as the year 2020. The U.S. also has huge natural gas reserves that are larger than Russia’s reserves.

Energy booms are also happening in Canada and Mexico. North America will soon be a major energy market player in the world. As regulations and restrictions to oil and gas exportation are lifted, the U.S. will be able to provide places, such as Europe, with much needed energy resources and relief.

The U.S. oil/gas trade balance:

  • Deficit of $354Bn in 2011
  • Breakeven by 2018
  • Surplus of over $80Bn in 2020

Rising oil and gas production and exportation in North America will greatly reduce any and all imports and completely change the entire geopolitical energy and power structure in the world.

Dec 01, 2014 | 5 comments | by

The KEEP Energy Act

If it were not for the $300 billion boost to the U.S. economy and the more than two million jobs added each year from the oil and gas industry, we could have been in a second Great Depression. To add to this economic boom, the 114th Congress can quickly pass new legislation, such as the KEEP Energy Act according to Mark P. Mills in today’s Forbes.

KEEP is an acronym for Keystone, EPA, Exports and Production.

  • Keystone XL pipeline approval would be a very important symbolic victory for the United States and its allies. The pipeline would also add thousands of more jobs.
  • The Environmental Protection Agency needs to be reined in. The EPA’ rules and regulations threaten the economy and is gearing up for new rules for the fracking boom.
  • The oil and gas export ban over the past several decades, has not made sense for one of our most basic values of free global access to trade. There is even more reason to end this obsolete ban with our allies in Europe and elsewhere in great need for these energy supplies.
  • Energy production could increase much more if the federal government opened more lands to drilling and if there was more investments made in technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Nov 10, 2014 | 4 comments | by

New Fracking Process Benefits Environment

A new step that removes salt from the water that is used for the fracking process makes the water reusable. Researchers at MIT and in Saudi Arabia can now add a new step to fracking called electro dialysis.

Produced water from fossil-fuel wells can have salinity three to six times greater than that of seawater; the new research indicates that this salt can be effectively removed through a succession of stages of electro dialysis.

The idea would not be to purify the water sufficiently to make it potable, the researchers say. Rather, it could be cleaned up enough to enable its reuse as part of the hydraulic fracturing fluid injected in subsequent wells, significantly reducing the water needed from other sources.

Lienhard explains that if you’re trying to make pure water, electro dialysis becomes less and less efficient as the water gets less saline, because it requires that electric current flow through the water itself: Salty water conducts electricity well, but pure water does not.

While the electro dialysis technology is available, new fracking equipment is needed that will utilize the new step. This new step will help recycle water that can be used again for fracking and will draw less resources from water starved states like Texas.

Oct 27, 2014 | 4 comments | by

Another Call to Export American Energy

Yet another “call”, this time from Roll Call, to export energy from the United States and joins many who support lifting the ban and regulations on our energy industry to export. With the U.S. now producing more oil and natural gas than Russian and Saudi Arabia, over 11 million barrels a day, lifting the U.S. oil export ban would:

  • Add over $1 trillion in government revenues by 2030.
  • Reduce fuel prices at the pump.
  • Create 300,000 more jobs a year.

The current hydraulic fracking and American energy boom is reducing oil imports by 22 percent next year. Also, this American energy boom could also reduce the oil imports of European countries. The United States could replace Russia title as “Europe’s gas station” and provide all of Europe’s energy needs.

Oct 20, 2014 | 7 comments | by

Lower Energy Prices Help Many Americans Stay Warm

Many Americans struggle during the winter with expensive and excessive consumption of energy resources to keep warm. Inflated energy prices really puts a strain on many families and their budgets. However, this upcoming winter will be a bit easier to get through, thanks to the fracking boom.

  • Propane prices are 24 percent and consumption is 13 percent lower.
  • Oil price reduction allows a 15 percent reduction in heating oil energy spending.
  • Homes will use 10 percent less gas and 5 percent gas bill reduction.

The recent fracking boom has not only lowered energy prices for consumers, but also benefited the United States economy. Fracking’s benefits are very important to American consumers. This benefit will increase as fracking technology advances and the option to export our natural resources becomes more of a reality.

Oct 08, 2014 | 2 comments | by

Water Desalination Efforts Can Really Benefit Texas

Water issues are becoming a growing problem for many places around the United States, especially in Texas. Droughts and a population boom are continuing to put more pressure on the state’s water supply. On top of that, the process of fracking (very popular in Texas) uses lots of water that is turned into waste water. The process of desalination can turn waste water, brackish water and even sea water into water that can be used as drinking water, irrigation and other uses.

An article by William McKenzie of the George Bush Institute in the Dallas Morning News highlights the desalination efforts in Texas, with a focus on the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Plant in El Paso.

He includes some recommendations for Texas:

  • The Texas Water Development Board can hire more geologists to research brackish water.
  • Communities can work on efforts to recycle brackish water.
  • Private/Public desalination plant partnerships, like in California, can provide enough water to millions of residents.
Aug 27, 2014 | Leave a Comment | by

Fracking Provides a Safe and Environmentally Friendly Energy Source

As recently as a decade ago, many scientists believed the U.S. was running out of oil. Peak oil was a major concern and many questioned whether the U.S. way of life was at risk. Hydraulic fracturing (fracking), developed more than 60 years ago, has eliminated fears of running out of oil. Although fracking was impractical and very expensive when first developed, it has become more feasible in the last few years due to technological advancements and rising oil prices over the last decade, leading to an 800% increase in shale gas production over the last decade. Fracking has led to an economic resurgence in many places across the country. And while oil and gas has to be removed correctly, using gas collected by fracking reduces greenhouse gases more than burning coal.

But that is not enough for some environmental groups who see fracking as a dangerous detour on a path to 100% renewables. The Green Party has complained that fracking squanders water. While fracking does use water, the amount of water used to drill all 3,000 Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania (and obviously not all are being drilled at the same time) equals the amount of water used by residents of Pittsburg in one year. Additionally, fracking is using the water once consumed by shuttered industries such as steel manufacturing which have been offshored or curtailed by the EPA. In fact of the 9.5 billion gallons of water used daily in Pennsylvania, natural gas consumes 1.9 million gallons or two thousandths of one percent.

Others claim natural gas is dirty. Actually natural gas is much cleaner to burn than oil or gasoline. It emits half as much carbon dioxide, less than one third the sulfur oxides and one percent as much sulfur oxide as coal. While the fracking process does release some excess methane, a good portion can be prevented by sealing condensers, pipelines and wellheads.

Fracking will not cause water wells to blow-up as in did in the movie Gasland. In the movie, the Colorado home’s well was actually drilled directly into a naturally occurring pocket of methane. The drilling occurred before any fracking in the area. Hollywood is not in the business of fact checking. As long as companies use stronger cement and processing casings to ensure an impermeable seal, the methane cannot move into anyone’s home.

Finally, some claim that fracking will lead to radioactive drinking water. While shale has a radioactive isotope, tests of treated water and brine in New York and Pennsylvania found no elevated radiation levels. The treatment of water used in fracking makes the presence of significant amounts of radiation impossible.

While fracking requires following strict protocols, the natural gas supplied has been a boon for the United States. Fracking is cleaner than oil and coal, increases energy supplies and enhances economic activity. Some of the purported claims of the anti-fracking crowd are scare tactics created by those who have an economic incentive to see fracking fail.

Jul 02, 2014 | 4 comments | by

Fact-Check: Fracking Water Contamination in Texas

Last year, a number of complaints were filed to the Railroad Commission of Texas District 7B Office concerning the apparent increase in methane in the water wells in Parker County, Texas. The complaints claimed that the contamination was the result of the nearby activities of the Barnett Shale production and fracking.

A blog post this week on Ring of Fire’s website titled “Scientists: Fracking Linked to Groundwater Contamination” states in its opening paragraphs:

Last week a Texas TV station broke the news that new independent scientific analysis refutes the claim by the oil and gas industry that “there’s never been a confirmed case of fracking polluting drinking water.”

WFAA, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, reported that two independent scientists using data from Texas regulators confirmed fracking in Parker County, TX by Range Resources polluted resident Steve Lipsky’s drinking water with dangerous levels of methane from the Barnett Shale.

However, the “data” that Ecowatch and Earthworks is referring to states the complete opposite in the conclusion of the Railroad Commission of Texas Water Well Complaint Investigation Report:

Based on the information described above, Commission staff has determined that the evidence is insufficient to conclude that Barnett Shale production activities have caused or contributed to methane contamination in the aquifer beneath the neighborhood.

Earthworks, Ecowatch and others are really trying to stir up fear of the process of fracking. However, they lack the scientific evidence that they claim to have. It is just sad that they claim one thing, and a fact-check proves another.

Jun 11, 2014 | 1 comment | by

Fracking Bans Continue to Proliferate

The city government of Denton, TX has recently voted to impose a temporary moratorium on any new fracking wells until September of this year, and it is looking to make it permanent. They would not be the first community to do so.

Food and Water Watch, a non-profit NGO, tracks the number of communities across the nation that ban fracking operations. Three states (New Jersey, New York and Vermont) and the District of Columbia have all banned fracking. Indeed, over 400 counties and municipalities across 21 states have also passed anti-fracking measures.

Such bans arise from safety concerns, including groundwater contamination. Yet, an Institute of Energy Resource report reveals that even though over 1 million fracking wells having been drilled in the U.S., the EPA has not found any confirmed incidents of groundwater contamination from fracking. Even Lisa Jackson, then head of the EPA, has stated, “In no case have we made a definitive determination that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter groundwater.”

While the risks from fracking operations are often overblown, the benefits of fracking to the American economy and the environment are not:

  • A Penn State University study found that between 2007 to 2010, Pennsylvania state sales tax revenues declined by 3.8%. While state sales taxes increased by 11.4% on average among those counties with high numbers of fracking wells, it decreased by 6.6% on average in those counties without any fracking wells.
  • The Institute for Energy Research estimates that in the near-term, over half a million jobs and $32 billion in wages will be added to the nation’s payrolls annually, which is an average income level of nearly $60,000. State and local tax revenues would increase by more than $10 billion annually. Further, the federal government stands to add $24 billion dollars in tax revenues annually, which would help offset our persistent federal deficit spending problem.
  • A U.S. Energy Information Administration report reveals that oil and gas industry employment grew by 40% between 2007 and 2012, which far outpaced the 1% rate of employment growth in the U.S. economy during that same period.
  • An EPA report estimates that greenhouse gas production from power generation has fallen by 11%, due largely to energy companies switching to burning natural gas for power generation instead of burning coal and oil. Aggregate U.S. carbon dioxide emissions have fallen from a peak of 7.3 billion metric tons emitted in 2007 to 6.5 billion metric tons emitted in 2012. This is a market response to lower natural gas prices caused by increased gas production from fracking.

One can only hope that the remaining communities located over oil shale areas will weigh the benefits and costs more carefully before considering a local fracking ban.

May 19, 2014 | Leave a Comment | by

Hoard and Use Some Resources, Export the Rest

President Obama’s administration approved expanding natural gas exports back in 2011 and 2013. Cheniere Energy Inc’s Sabine Pass facility will begin exporting to countries in 2015, Freeport LNG in 2017 at up to 1.4 billion cubic feet a day of liquefied natural gas and Cameron LNG, LLC has been added this year to export up to 1.7 billion cubic feet a day.

The United States has an abundant amount of natural resources that we are not using and may never use if technology keeps improving our energy consumption. A recent technological advancement, fracking, increased the volume of a number of our energy sources such as natural gas and oil. In a recent NCPA issue brief, the clear advantage fracking is for America’s energy needs are explained:

Just 15 years ago, analysts predicted America had only 60 years of natural gas supplies available at then current rates of use. Today, natural gas consumption is much higher, and fracking has increased estimated reserves to 100 years or more.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) that can hold up to 727 million barrels of crude oil only. Refined oil reserves do not exist in the United States. If our existing refineries went offline, we would have to import refined petroleum products. This defeats the purpose of having an “emergency” stockpile of petroleum reserves. What good is the oil if you cannot use it? There should be a Strategic Refined Petroleum Reserve (SRPR) of at least equal in size for real emergencies.

We have an abundant amount of natural resources that we are not using and may never use. Resources like our natural gas and oil are very valuable and can be easily exported. We would then boost our nation’s economy and have the money needed to improve the technology at a faster rate making our energy use more efficient.

Mar 17, 2014 | 5 comments | by
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