Tuesday, February 5, 2013
According to a recent Associated Press article, the oil and gas industry is busy developing nontoxic fracking fluids, a move designed to ease environmental concerns.
Halliburton Inc. developed a product called CleanStim. The fluid uses only food-industry ingredients.
Fracking fluids are pumped into well sites at high pressures to fracture shale deposits deep below the surface. Some of the fluid remains underground, the rest is brought back to the surface and is either treated as special water-treatment facilities or moved and pumped into deep-injection wells.
What has environmental groups and residents worried is the chemicals contained in the fluid. Many recipes are mostly water and sand, but the fluid can contain hydrochloric acid and other hazardous components.
The contamination of groundwater is what is worrisome, though there’s never been a report of such an incident happening.
There’s been some reports of livestock falling ill after coming into contact with fracking fluids. These livestock came into contact with the fluid after a spill.
Halliburton isn’t the only company working on more environmentally friendly fracking fluids.
Farm and Dairy, a weekly newspaper located in Salem, Ohio, has been reporting on topics that interest farmers and landowners since 1914. Through the Shale Gas Reporter, we are dedicated to giving our readers unbiased and reliable information on shale gas development.
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