Fracking, thousands of spills and accidents in US oil and gas wells

Spills of polluted fluids and chemicals from 16% of unconventional hydrocarbon wells

According to the study of "Unconventional Oil and Gas Spills: Risks, Mitigation Priorities, and State Reporting Requirements" published by Environmental Science & Technology by a team of US researchers led by Laureen Patterson of the Harvard Law School's Environmental Policy Initiative, the situation of the pollution generated by the USA fracking wells is serious: every year, from 2 to 16% of oil and gas wells exploited by the fracking technique in Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Pennsylvania there have been spills of hydrocarbons, water filled with chemicals, fluids of hydraulic fracturing and other substances. The largest spillage tested by the study resulted in the leak of 100,000 liters of polluting liquids.

The study dealt with unconventional oil and gas spills in 31,481 wells operated by fracking technique in the 4 US states between 2005 and 2014, identifying 6,648 spills over the past 10 years. In all states, the first three years of a well's life, during drilling and hydraulic fracturing, have had the highest production volumes but also the highest risk of spillage. A significant part of the spills (from 26% in Colorado to 53% in North Dakota) occur in wells that have suffered more than one spill, "Which suggests that wells in which spillages have already occurred deserve more attention," they say researchers.

Figures that worsen many of the previous study, "Environmental Impact Assessment of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources" of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on fracking in 8 US states between 2006 and 2012, which had concluded that there were 457 spills.

Patterson, interviewed by BBC News, explains why this strong difference: "The EPA has only looked at spills during the same process of hydraulic fracturing, which take place only in a period ranging from a few days to a few weeks. We have investigated spills in unconventional wells from the time of perforation throughout the production, which could last decades. "

In North Dakota, there were 4.453 accidents 

recorded

 , much more than in Pennsylvania, Colorado and New Mexico, and this can be explained with the different types of reporting. In North Dakota there must be reported any spill over 42 gallons, while in Colorado and New Mexico starts from 210 gallons.

Most of the spills occur during the first three years of wells activity and about 50% of spills occur from the pipelines for the transport of polluted fluids.

"The causes are quite different," says Patterson. "Equipment failures are the major factor, loading and unloading of trucks with material is a far more common human error than in other places."

. Researchers are convinced that "making state data on spills more consistent and accessible could provide stakeholders with important information on where to target efforts to identify and prevent 

future

 losses. However, reporting obligations differ between states, which requires considerable effort to make the data usable in order to be able to analyze them. "

Another author of the study, Kate Konschnik, also of the Harvard Law School, concludes: "Analysis like this is really important to defining and reducing the risks for water supply and human health. Writing state regulations for reporting these factors in mind is crucial to ensuring that correct data is available in the industry, the states and the research community, and in an accessible form. "

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17.6 million Americans live near oil and gas wells and fracking

Those who live within 1 Km from active wells are more at risk of cardiac and neurological problems, cancer and malformation at birth

Physicians, Scientists and Engineers (Why) for Healthy Energy is a non-profit research institute that provides scientific and technical information based on the health, environmental and climatic impacts of energy production and use and is now published on Environmental Perspectives Health  the study "Towards Consistent Methodology to Quantify Populations in Proximity in Oil and Gas Development: A National Spatial Analysis and Review of Environmental and Climate Dimensions of Energy Production and Use," which shows that "approximately 17.6 million Americans live within a kilometer of an active oil or gas well ". The study, conducted with researchers at the California-Berkley University and Havey Mudd Collegs, is the first US census on the number of people living near petroleum and gas production sites, both traditional and fracking wells .

The Why recall that previous studies "have found that active oil and gas production degrades the quality of air, surface water and groundwater; Contaminate soil and increase exposure to noise and light pollution. According to separate studies, when people live within one kilometer of these activities, they have a greater risk of being hospitalized for numerous medical problems, including heart and neurological problems, tumors, and increased incidence and severity of asthma. Neighborhood proximity to these activities has also been associated with birth problems, including premature birth, lower birth weight, neural tube defects, and congenital heart defects.

Yet so far, only a few studies have been published to quantify populations living near petroleum and gas stations and these studies did not link pollutant emissions to certain types of oil and gas production activities.

The study's main author, Eliza Czolowski, explains, "Our study was designed specifically to determine how many Americans saw increased health risks from potential exposure to pollutants emitted by petroleum and gas activities."

In addition to computing the total population of the Usa exposed, researchers analyzed exposure in the various US states by highlighting those with particularly high percentages of population living close to active wells. West Virginia was the most risky state, with 50% of residents living near an active oil or gas well. Right after Oklahoma, it's 47%. La Czolowski. It points out that "When a member on two of a population is potentially exposed to a health risk, this becomes a concern for public health."

Nearly a quarter of Ohioans - 24% - live alongside active wells. MA is the Texas true to most people at risk: 4.5 million. Near live ponds they live 1.4 million children up to 5 years old, a subgroup very vulnerable to environmental exposures

The researchers examined both hydraulic fracturing techniques (fracking) and traditional wells, and Czolowski noted that "Despite the differences in conventional and non-conventional oil production techniques, the health risks can be very similar. Many atmospheric pollutants, including benzene, formaldehyde and particulate matter, are emitted from both conventional and non-conventional activities because they are co-produced with oil and gas, not specifically because a well is fractured hydraulically. Also the emissions of atmospheric pollutants from associated activities, such as drilling wells and truck traffic, are not specific to hydraulic fracturing. "

The researchers point out that some of the data they requested were not available and therefore encourage further studies that follow similarly stringent methodologies, focusing in particular on public health, and taking into ACCOUNT variables excluded from their study, such as population density and activities.

The study concludes that "Given the large number of individuals and the large percentage of populations potentially exposed to pollutants emitted by petroleum and gas activities, protection standards and policies should be considered. Health protection policies may include minimum distances between these activities and places where they live, play and study people, as well as a widespread deployment of the best available technologies to reduce air pollution. "

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How Much Methane Hydrates in the Earth

One can not fail to make a nod in the described picture, to a perspective that in the long run could potentially mitigate concerns, at least on the physical consistency of METAN's resources .

We're talking about HYDRATES of NATURAL GAS : solid compounds formed by water and gas (mostly CNG ), similar in appearance to dry ice.

It is estimated that in the oceans there are about 60 billion of billions of cubic meters of HYDRATES gas, from which, potentially you could get METHANE far exceed 100 times RESERVES estimated to CNG .

The HYDRATES of NATURAL GAS (or gas hydrates) are widespread in large areas of the planet.

They are predominantly formed under low temperature conditions and high pressures typical of oceanic seabed; but are also present in polar and sub-polar continental areas.

They are the result of the decomposition of organic material by the microorganisms present in the sediments, a process that determines the formation of METHANE .

In particularly low temperatures and high pressures - parameters that occur precisely in the seabed or in the areas covered by icy soil - METHANE molecules remain trapped in the ice resulting in hydrated gases.

The main sources of HYDROGEN gas are located along the margins of virtually all ocean platforms, at depths of between 500 and 4000 meters, with thicknesses of even hundreds of meters.

Any commercial exploitation of this hidden treasure at the bottom of the sea is anything but simple.

The problems are due not only to the marine environment and to the depth of the deposits, but above all to the difficulty of managing the present METHANE to bring it to the surface.

Hydrated gases are of metastable nature: if they change the ambient temperature and pressure conditions they pass quickly from solid to gaseous state, dissociating violently into the two water and methane components .

The problem is currently being investigated in many countries, with particular focus on Japan, Canada, the USA and Norway.

Italy is also doing research, thanks in particular to the activity of the National Oceanographic and Experimental Geophysical Institute (OGS), which has been involved in the development of geophysical methods for the purpose of identifying and quantifying the presence of hydrated gases for about ten years.

Research is carried out in numerous ocean areas, including Antarctica, where OCT researchers have recently discovered the first continental WATER gas field .

As for the concrete possibility of recovering this METAN and considering it as an energy reserve for the future, the first steps are moving now and there are still no short-term solutions that can be expected, even if the technological issues to solve do not seem to be prohibitive.

Apart from the great POTENTIAL of available energy, the greatest incentive for research into possible exploitable GIRATI gas fields is represented by their already widespread geographic location, which makes them particularly attractive at a time when, in the international energy market growing geopolitical variable.

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