We all know hydraulic fracturing involves blasting fluid at the ground with rock-breaking pressure to extract oil and natural gas. But what is that fluid exactly?
The answer, according to environmental information organization SkyTruth, is we don’t know what all of it is. The group presents the issue with a GoogleEarth visualization showing the chemicals used, along with water and sand, in a typical hydraulic fracturing operation laid out in barrels on the lawn of the computer-generated Frack Family.
The color-coded barrels represent different chemicals, including 280 pounds of ammonium persulfate, almost six tons of potassium hydroxide and 41 tons of hydrogen chloride. Another 65 tons, almost half of the total chemicals, are mysteries, with no specific chemical composition provided.
The visualization is based on an analysis by SkyTruth’s David Donahue of the actual composition of fracking fluid used at a single site in Beaver County, Penn., in the middle of the Marcellus Shale, operated by Chesapeake Energy Appalachia L.L.C.
Donahue found that the company reports a large part of the total volume of chemicals used at the site with names like “carbohydrate polymer” or “synthetic organic polymer,” and without identifying numbers that would indicate what they actually are.
The data Donahue used in his analysis comes from FracFocus, a site used by drilling companies to voluntarily disclose aspects of their operations.
The word “voluntarily” is significant here. Rules about what companies must reveal regarding fracking operations are quite limited. In May, the Obama administration issued a proposed rule to begin requiring disclosure of chemicals used in the operations for the first time. But, under pressure by oil and gas interests, the administration shifted the timeline for companies to disclose the composition of fracking fluids from 30 days before starting a well to after they have completed drilling.
Energy Wire reports that the Obama administration is also considering adopting FracFocus as a tool for companies to disclose information about their operations, something a number of states have already agreed to. Some environmentalists say that’s a significant problem in itself because the data on the site is difficult to analyze. It’s presented in PDF form on a well-by-well basis, which makes it tricky for environmental groups, reporters or the public to use it to get a broad picture of the industry.
Photo and video credit: SkyTruth