No fracking in Wayne National Forest, changes to BLM rules
Friday, August 22, 2014
The Athens News reports that fracking won’t be taking place in the Wayne National Forest after the U.S. Department of the Interior decided against allowing drilling in the forest.
Anti-fracking protesters wrote letters opposing drilling in the forest, but those letters were dismissed once the parcels were deleted from the sale.
The Bureau of Land Management has changed rules regarding drilling on public land, including well regulation and fluid management. The previous rules, from 1983, didn’t deal with fracking.
From The Athens News:
“According to the BLM, about 90 percent of wells drilled on federal and Indian lands use some form of hydraulic fracturing, but the agency’s 30-year-old current rules ‘were not written to address modern hydraulic fracturing activities,’ and needed to be updated.”
Via: The Athens News > Protest dismissed, but no drilling in Wayne anyway
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Shale FAQ
What is fracking?
Fracking is a slang term for hydraulic fracturing. Fracturing is a process by which highly pressurized fluid is pumped thousands of feet into the ground to fracture rock formations. The goal is to release the natural gas that’s locked inside the rock.
Is it safe?
What most concerns people about fracturing is ground water contamination. The worry is that fractures underground, caused by the process, will extending upwards and into aquifers, releasing gas and chemicals into the ground water supply. There’s been no confirmed reports of such a thing happening. Though surface spills and drill site blowouts can lead to localized environmental concerns.
Will my water catch on fire?
Flammable water is caused by the release of methane gas into a drinking water supply. Methane gas occurs naturally and can be released by any kind of drilling, including water wells. In Pennsylvania officials fined Chesapeake Energy $1 million for contaminating ground water with methane. It was determined that the company had not properly cemented it’s boreholes and gas migrated up the well, between rock and into aquifers.