Becca Hedges
Geo 3010-01/Geo 4070-01
Dr. MacLean/Dr. Kaiser
29 Mar. 2017
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Summit 3
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While many people think that the oil and gas industry in the United States came about in the 19th -20th century it actually started with Native Americans, long before any European explorers arrived. The Iroquois’ in western Pennsylvania named it black water and believed it was a gift from the gods. Records indicate that they were the first “oil drillers” around 1410. They would use the oil as mosquito repellant, salve, and as a purge tonic for various illnesses. They extracted it using a very primitive skimming technique nowhere near as invasive or damaging to our environment like it is done today. It was not until 1859 that the industry as we know it today began in Oil Creek Pennsylvania (EPC, 2017). Crude Oil along with other forms from fossil fuels are what produce petroleum. These reserves are some of the most sought after resources that the Earth provides. We use it to provide heat and power sources as well as gasoline. There are hundreds of different items that are made from petroleum only continuing our dependence on them. In 2015 the United States alone consumed 19 million barrels per day (EIA, 2016). Historically the US has been one of the biggest producers of oil. In 2015 we were the third largest producer of crude oil (EPC, 2017). All of the world’s conventional reservoirs of oil and gas have been located. This has brought a need based on demand to explore options of extracting resources from unconventional sources. Within the last 20 years new methods like fracking are allowing these unconventional sources to become available.
Oil and Gas Formation
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Oil and natural gas are formed through processes underground with organic matter containing plants and animals. This process takes an average of 60 million years under various temperature and pressure conditions within a source rock for 50 meters of sediment to become liquid hydrocarbons (Planet Energies, 2015). Specific environments, mostly sedimentary deposits like the ocean floor, riverbeds, and swamps that mix with very fine-grained mud and sand are more likely to have oil and gas deposits. As sediment accumulates at the surface the buried organic matter such as phytoplankton, algae and, other marine organisms experience increasing pressure and temperature turning into a dark waxy substance called kerogen. With the lack of oxygen, organic matter cannot break down and decompose like it would on the surface (Than, 2005). These kerogens, along with long-lasting lipids which are basically fats, make up the raw material that will turn into petroleum (Wolchover, 2011).
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There are three different burial processes in the formation of oil and gas as shown in figure 1. The first process is called diagenesis and is a shallow burial of only a few hundred meters. The heat involved with this process occurs in locations where the temperature of the subsurface is around 50 degrees Celsius or less. This is a zone of oxidation where biogenic natural gas is produced. The second process is called catagenesis. This occurs within a depth of two to three km. The temperature requirement here is typically between 50-150 degrees Celsius. As the pressure increases it expels water trapped within the sediment. The organic matter begins to change into liquid petroleum. The third process is called Metagenesis. This location is associated with depths of three to four km. The temperatures here are greater than 150 degrees Celsius. All of the organic matter at this depth is converted into thermogenic methane (MacLean, 2017). No hydrocarbons are found below a depth of eight to ten km because of the high temperatures of the surrounding environment and typically there would be no kerogen left to break down further. When the organic material is largely composed of animal matter there is usually more oil than gas produced while organic matter largely composed of plant matter usually has more gas than oil being produced (Lallanilla, 2015).
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Over the 60 million years the carbon bonds in the kerogen among other molecules begin to break apart through a process called "cracking" (Than, 2005). Methane, propane, asphaltene and propylene are all examples of petroleum hydrocarbons. Some of the common ones are represented in figure 2. They are different only by the various arrangements that hydrogen and carbon chains can make. These hydrocarbons can exist as a liquid or a gas. This is how they differ between an oil or as a gas. When kerogen becomes a liquid or gas it will expand eventually surrounding and flowing through any available fractures. This expansion leads to an increase of pressure. It will try to migrate from the source rocks to lower pressure areas when possible. Oil and gas typically move upward through permeable rocks like sandstones. It will keep traveling this way until it either reaches the surface creating tar pits or it hits a barrier of an impermeable layer of stone or salt. These barriers are referred to as traps (Wolchover, 2011). These hydrocarbons though created from natural processes can be harmful to life if inhaled and by being release into the atmosphere.
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Oil and gas are found in either conventional or unconventional plays. Both are associated with organic rich shale deposits, viscosity and traps. The differences involve how easy it is to extract and if the deposits have any migration pathways. With conventional plays there is typically a large amount of the resource in one location that a vertical hole can be drilled for the extraction of the substance. These plays are located within high-porosity and high-permeable layers. A typical trap involved here are with anticlines or salt domes (Jackson et. al, 2014). If there is any migration pathways like faults or permeable material the resource could flow many different directions and distances. Unconventional play resources are typically trapped in tiny pockets within the source rock. It cannot readily migrate because of impermeable material. This is where hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” comes in. They must break apart the source rock releasing any resource trapped within the host rock before extraction can take place. If the material is super thick it must be heated up so that the viscosity will decrease (MacLean, 2017).
Mining Processes
Regardless of what type of mining is occurring they all have individual procedures. This is largely due to what specific resource they are trying to extract. Here we will focus on the process associated with fracking. The fracking process begins by drilling a vertical well into the ground. At certain points through this process the drill head is adjusted until a horizontal direction is achieved. During the drilling a mud type mixture is used as a friction reducer. After the well drilling is completed a concoction of water, sand, and chemicals is pumped into the drill hole with 10,000-20,000 psi (Jackson et. al, 2014). The high pressure then breaks the source rock surrounding the resource deposit thus releasing what is trapped inside. The pressurized liquid that was pumped in is pumped back out and taken somewhere off site for long term storage as it is now toxic wastewater. The oil or more often natural gas is then extracted. When all the resource that can be captured is done the mining site is closed and it’s on to the next one. As of 2015 there is an estimated 300,000 hydraulically fractured wells in the US. Over 10,000 of these wells are located in Utah (EIA, 2016).
Impacts
Mining operations have specific risk assessments that must be completed. They must also follow all mitigation plans in order to lessen any potential impacts. As with any mining operation there is always risks involved. These can include water contamination, air quality, noise pollution, eyesores on the landscape, loss of vegetation, various effects on wildlife, and socioeconomic impacts. The process of fracking is relatively new and the fact is we do not fully understand any of the long term consequences (utah.sierraclub.org). There are extensive lists available to the public which include what chemicals are commonly used and why they are used. With oil and gas companies being able to hold proprietary information there is no sure way of knowing what chemicals are really being used. A large concern with chemicals used in mining operations is that they contain very ions such as iodide, bromide, ammonium, and chlorine. These can react with other elements creating carcinogenic material (Little, 2009). This can create problems all on its own especially when it comes down to contamination problems. A question that arises is how do we know if they are using something that are not commonly associated with fracking? Many of the chemicals used in the fracking industry are not commonly analyzed in commercial laboratory setups. This makes it difficult to test for contamination causes. It can also be misleading because many of the chemicals used have more than one name (Vaidyanathan, 2016).
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Some of the major concerns specific to fracking include water usage, contamination of both surface and ground water, problems with water treatment facilities, lack of environmental assessments, monitoring, and regulatory enforcements (foodandwaterwatch.org). There is also limited safeguards to protect surrounding communities from accidents. The Sierra Club in Utah discusses many different common effects of fracking which we will explore in more detail. Currently in Utah there are no regulations requiring monitoring of wastewater disposal sites. Within the country many mining operations have gain several exemptions for things such as wastewater disposal. (sourcewatch.org). This is problematic because we have no information if these injection sites pose potential contamination hazards. As figure 3 shows a large portion of the fracking locations occur on or very near the Ogallala aquifer which is the largest one in the US. This particular aquifer is already being depleted rapidly just from daily use by humans. The additional consumption of it from the fracking industry is only making it worse (Little, 2009).
Impacts: Water Usage
The fracking industry on average consumes up to 9.6 million gallons of water per well and is undoubtedly putting farming and drinking sources at risk especially in arid states. The water usage also highly varies based on the location of the fracking sites. In arid regions fracking can increase the demand for groundwater by 30%. Hydraulically fractured sites also use more water than a convention oil extraction operation. The American Geophysical Union, conducted the first national-scale analysis and map of water use from hydraulic fracturing operations (Magill, 2015). Even though the amount of water that some fracking well sites use is a fraction to the overall US consumption of water just for agricultural purposes, it is still taking available water from practices that are a basic need for life; food. With much of the US in a drought situation is should make sense that our available water should be used appropriately (Magill, 2015). Regardless of the amount of water used the practices of fracking will always be water use intensive.
Impacts: Groundwater
Steel pipe casings and concrete are used to isolate the wellbore thereby keeping the surrounding environment like any nearby groundwater protected. These can fail due to miscalculations or inaccurate cure times of the cement mixtures used. Another factor that is largely ignored or unknown is any preexisting weaknesses within the crust itself. Further weakening these areas could produce unwanted effects such as earthquakes. It lessens the stability of the area. It can also lead to ground water contamination. It does not matter what the operators do or what simulation projections suggest, they cannot control the direction or length of the fractures being created. This could break through the trap that is isolating the deposit desired (Vaidyanathan, 2016). As discussed previously resources will flow upward and fractures are conduits for fluid flow so this can create potential contamination of any nearby water sources. Another feature is the recapture of the wastewater produced is not always 100% retrieved. Some companies only report a 30% recapture of what they put in (EPA, 2016). This can leave toxic material left in the earth system.
Impacts: Surface Water
Surface water of any sort is very susceptible to potential contamination. This can be caused by spills at the well head by negligence like a rush to get home for the day or improper lining of holding ponds. Another way that contamination can occur is from the malfunctioning of equipment. With the transportation of the waste water accidents are always a possibility. Spills at the surface in any setting can continue contamination by traveling downstream or percolating downward from the surface contaminating everything in contact as well as interactions with the atmosphere. Another problem that can occur is called SPC or sustained casing pressure. This can build up and cause the fluids within the well bore to spill over at the well head (Jackson et. al, 2014). There is not sufficient time which the well workers would have to avoid this type of spill. There are few safe guards in place so that potential contaminations don’t occur and when they do they are often not reported. There is also no guarantee that the spills will be properly taken care of. Accidents do happen, and when they happen there needs to be procedures in place that must be acted on quickly to clean up any spills that may occur. These type of regulations and procedures are lacking enforcement (Vaidyanathan, 2016).
Impacts: Wastewater Disposal
When water is no longer clean it can have devastating effect on soils, the atmosphere, and life. Toxic wastewater produced from mining needs to be handled properly. Some types of wastewater can be processed and made clean again but this is a rare fix. Most water treatment facilities are not properly equipped to handle the chemicals commonly associated with mining (Vaidyanathan, 2016). Instead the choice to have long term storage of the wastewater is the most viable option. This is called wastewater injection and is typically done in one of two ways. The first is to pump the wastewater into empty caverns of closed mining operations. The second is the creation of an underground storage area. Both of these options impose many risks. When and area is mined no matter what we are changing the stability of that location. When introducing wastewater back into that location we are once again changing the stability of it. Water in any way just makes the crust of the earth in that area behave differently. Water makes this slicker which in turn is leading to earthquakes. In some locations where wastewater injections have occurred like multiple locations in Oklahoma, earthquakes are occurring in places that have either never or rarely experienced them. Even though they are not typically high magnitude they are shallow which is intense for the local communities. While they are very prepared for tornados that are common to this location, they are not equipped for earthquakes (Man-Made Earthquakes). While earthquakes can seem bad enough remember, there are dangerous chemicals in that water being injected. We cannot know for certain what interactions the addition of chemicals are creating both in the short term and long term. The only way to minimize this hazard is to stop doing it.
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There are many classifications for injection wells. The type used for fracking are a class II and are designated for brine water and other fluids produced during oil and gas extraction processes. According to the USGS website in 2011 the US had 168,089 Class II injection sites, 151,000 were currently operational, and 462 of them reside in Utah (EPA, 2016). About 20% of all injection wells are specifically designated for wastewater from fracking (USGS.gov).
Impacts: Socioeconomic
With any mining operation the risk of a boom and bust situation is present. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the short-term benefits from hydraulic fracking include jobs with good pay, local retail, entertainment, and construction revenue increases. Private property owners also receive leasing royalties. In 2010, the US economy was in trouble. During that time in Williston, North Dakota had zero unemployment! The fracturing boom in this location allowed for this to occur. While shale energy development brings in jobs and revenue, it also increases the cost of living through rising housing, and public services costs. Regional communities that do not have any drilling may also bear costs from air, water, and noise pollution caused by the fracking process. So yes it created jobs, but most of the higher paid positions came from workers who live out of state. Local residents saw the lower end of that deal. Once the fracking job was completed the workers left leaving the locals to deal with the effects (Lallanilla, 2015).
Impacts: Other
Another important feature from fracking is the fact a lot of the chemicals used are volatiles. They can easily obtain a gas state. This can cause local communities to inhale these chemicals. In Death by Fracking by Chris Hedges more than 15 million Americans, many of them children live within one mile of a fracking site. There is daily exposure to this deadly brew of toxins. Within this same article Hedges discusses how in 2015 Vernal Utah began to see a rise of still born deaths. As a result a local midwife was put on trial by the public much like the witch hunts in the early 1690’s. She was eventually chased out of town because the public thought she was to blame. The next year a study was conducted and the still born death toll was declared to be caused by the inhalation of chemicals commonly associated with fracking.
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Another part of the fracking process can lead to stray gases. Much like fractures being conduits for fluid flow so can they be for gasses being released by the fracking process. These stray gases can elevate levels of methane and other aliphatic hydrocarbons such as ethane and propane in shallow water sources. This can pose such hazards as flammable water and explosions at homes and business (Vaidyanathan, 2016). This gas escape can also happen without fracking taking place by naturally produced faults and other weaknesses. However, since fracking became a common practice the reports of communities seeing this has increased.
Determining Contamination Causes
According to a study conducted by a former EPA scientist Dominic Digiulio that was published in Environmental Science and Technology in May 2016, an entire community in Wyoming had their groundwater contaminated. The cause was determined to be from improper storage of wastewater with chemicals commonly used in the fracking industry. When the storage pit was examined they discovered the man made pit was not lined properly which allowed the toxic mixture to seep and percolate through the entire Wind River formation and Basin. The process of determining the contamination took many months to be completed due to the extensive process from sampling to conclusion. It is not an easy process. As discussed previously most commercial labs are not set up to exam many different chemicals.
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One way to determine possible contamination sources is using geochemical analyses. There is a relationship between the 12C and 13C isotopes. These can help determine a difference between thermogenic sources which is higher in 13C and biogenic sources which is higher is 12C. As discussed earlier the different burial processes give us the biogenic which are a shallower process and thermogenic which are a deeper process. Most material desired in the fracking industry will have a higher 13C signature (Jackson et. al, 2014). Other ways to determine if contamination's have occurred is to make comparisons between the relative amounts of methane and other gases that are found in the contamination site with what is being extracted from the well sites or placed into the injection sites (Jackson et al. 2014). If they match chances are they are the cause.
Conclusion
Looking at the larger picture the world is dependent on fossil fuels. With our consumption rates people are always looking for the quick fix. In this case it is the advancements of technology which allows us to obtain reserves once thought to be unavailable. This new found technology increases our dependence on fossil fuels. We are not fixing the problem, we are making it worse. Society has a mentality of all or nothing. Why must we use up something until it’s gone? Then what will we do once it is gone? Unless we do more by ways other than mining for fossil fuels there will be no recourse and the possibility of making a change will no longer be an option. A large problem we are facing is with our lack of knowledge. We do not know the full long term effects of the fracking process. If we keep destroying the earth, the earth may in turn destroy us.
Works Cited
(EIA) US Energy Information Administration. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=oil_use. Web. 26 Mar. 2017
(EPA) “Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States”. Print. 26 Mar. 2017.
(EPC) Early Native American Oil Discoveries. http://www.enopetroleum.com/texasoilboom.html. Web. 25 Mar. 2017
foodandwaterwatch.org
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http://www.livescience.com/34464-what-is-fracking.html. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.
Little, Jane Braxton. “The Ogallala Aquifer: Saving a Vital U.S. Water Source”. Academic Search Premiere. 1 Mar. 2009. Science https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ogallala-aquifer/. 25 Mar. 2017.
MacLean, Johnny. “Burial Processes of Oil and Gas Formation”. Class Lecture. Southern Utah University. Cedar City, Utah. 8 Mar. 2017.
Magill, Bobby. “Study: Water Skyrockets as Fracking Expands”. Climate Central. 1 Jul. 2015. http://www.climatecentral.org/news/fracking-water-use-skyrockets-19177. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
“Man-made Earthquakes”. Secrets of the Earth; Season 2, Episode 6. 24 Nov. 2014. The Weather Channel. TV. 28 Feb. 2017.
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USGS.gov. Web. 10-15 Mar. 2017.
Utah.SierraClub.org. “Utah’s Dirty Energy: Oil and Gas Fracking”. Web. 2 Apr. 2017.
Vaidyanathan, Gayathri. “Fracking Can Contaminate Drinking Water”. Scientific America. 4 Apr. 2016. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fracking-can-contaminate-drinking-water/. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
Wolchover, Natalie. “How Does Oil Form?” LiveScience. 2, Mar. 2011. http://www.livescience.com/33087-how-oil-form-petroleum.html. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.