Sustainability and Built Systems

Spring 2014

Tag: fracking

New info on fracking in PA shows it might be much worse for the environment

April 15, 2014 / / 0 Comments

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/unexpected-loose-gas-from-fracking/950/

A survey of hydraulic fracturing sites in Pennsylvania revealed drilling operations releasing plumes of methane 100 to 1,000 times the rate the EPA expects from that stage of drilling, according to a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Natural gas as an energy source for electric-ity production is less of a contributor to global warming than coal only if less than 3.2 percent of methane escapes during production. Recent measurements estimate that between 2.3 percent and 17.3 percent of gas escapes.

Fracking and Quaking

March 14, 2014 / / 0 Comments

This article, published in the New York Times, addresses the potential link between fracking and earthquakes occurring nearby.  Poland Township in Ohio experienced two earthquakes in one day that were estimated to have originated within less than a mile from a fracking site.  Work was halted while it is determined “whether drilling operations induced the earthquakes,” but this isn’t the first time fracking has been tied to earthquakes in the vicinity (Fountain, 4).  Fracking has been linked to earthquakes in “Ohio, Arkansas, Oklahoma and other states, and in several countries” in the past (Fountain, 4).

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