Fracking Blackpool

[MargaretR]

Fracking Blackpool

No that isn't substitute swearing.
Blackpool uneasy at prospect of 'fracking' boom on its coastline - Home News, UK - The Independent
so significant are the deposits and so huge the rewards, the industry could be on the verge of major expansion not just across Lancashire but the whole of the UK

There is methane in the shale rock under Lancashire and fracking is the method used to get it out.
The method is banned in France.
A mix of water containing toxic chemicals is pumped into the shale to fragment the rock.
Not all that water comes out with the methane, so the groundwater gets contaminated.
Gas clouds occur at the well head - toxic clouds.
The underground 'booms' as the shale fragments are reported as 'disturbingly loud' by people who live in areas of the world where this practice is used.

If any wells are contemplated in our area we should oppose that operation.
The largest fracking operation that I am aware of is being done in the mid west USA and has destabalised the New Madrid faultline.(increased earthquake risk)
We may not have the same risks as they do but you should know a hazard when you see one, and this is one.

Up In Flames: Cameron's pledge to lead the greenest government ever - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent
It is not as environmentally friendly as it looks.

[MargaretR]

More news - note my emphasis in the news extract.
If it wasn't a hazard it wouldn't be SECRET

Results of controversial 'fracking' for shale gas in UK will be kept secret | Business | The Guardian

The results of the first attempt to extract shale gas in the UK using a controversial technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking", will be kept secret for four years, the Guardian has learned.

[DaveinGermany]

You're getting as bad as C'mon with your highlighted sensationalism Marg. Taken from the vary same article you posted :-

"They get four years to look around – that [four-year period] is protecting their commercial opportunity." He added that it was normal practice for oil and gas exploration companies to keep such commercial information confidential for a period.

If it wasn't commercial it wouldn't be secret ! Much has been written & placed in the public domain about the actual process & its effects, from this various Governments have to balance the Countries ability to be fuel self sufficient or reliant on foreign imports, plus the benefits against the negatives.

This isn't an ideal World so everything can't be perfect & suit everyone, some measure of calculated risk is present in every, everyday action & we've just got to get on with it, that or go back to the stone age ! (Which wasn't exactly risk free either. )

[MargaretR]

Whether the reasons for secrecy are commercial or otherwise, the fact is that it has environmental disaster potential.



Natural gas fracking can make local well water explosive
extracts -
"A study, released yesterday by PNAS, now shows that fracking may be contaminating local groundwater with enough methane to pose a risk of explosion"
...!there are many old and abandoned drill sites in the area, and fracking may have opened a pathway for gas to escape into these wells."

(potential to leak into old mineworkings?)

[MargaretR]

PS -

[DaveinGermany]

The words "can, may & potential" feature strongly in these reports & reviews, that doesn't mean it's inevitable there'll be problems Marge. Admittedly cases have been reported where there are adverse effects, but what you don't get reported are the operations where everything has gone to plan & there's no difficulties, non events don't get headlines do they ?

How many thousand times a day do people do dangerous things eh ? Dangerous goods & tanker transporters, everyday thousands are running the length & breadth of the Country, no one bats an eyelid & it's a routine part of daily life, you don't see the headlines "X thousand Dangerous cargoes transported today !" but if one breaks down or worse blows up the "Meedja" are straight on the case with their hyperbole is what I'm saying. Let the lads get on with the job & let's await the outcome before we start to shout too loudly.

[MargaretR]

Some risks are neccessary - this one isn't

[***Mr D***]

Was reading about this the other day, dosent sound to good.

[***Mr D***]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

PS -

Wow.

[MargaretR]

I have watched the ones you have posted and will be watching the rest on youtube.
I am alarmed when it was made clear that a reverse osmosis filtration system does not remove all the pollutants.
Our municipal water purification systems are less efficient than reverse osmosis (which is regarded as the ultimate method)
The toxicity effects that the people there are experiencing is far worse than even I imagined.

Until now I thought that the increased earthquake risk for the Madrid Fault (which runs from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico) was the main threat.

Low magnitude quakes have greatly increased in volume since fracking began.
The big quake of 1812 was magnitude 7
1812 New Madrid earthquake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- this fracking could trigger another big one.



What is interesting to note is the New Madrid fault is NOT on the junction of tectonic plates - neither are we. We just have a maze of old mine workings - many of are which unmapped - which could fill with methane, and eventually leak out at the surface in the most unexpected places.

What's under your house?

[***Mr D***]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

What's under your house?

I know of a few properties in Accrington with vent shafts in there yard/gardens.

Like you say a maze of mine workings.

[MargaretR]

Those poor sods in USA!

The more I look, the more the risk -
15 Nuclear Reactors on New Madrid Fault Line -- Society's Child -- Sott.net

[Bee]

Blackpool is C-O-O-L!!!!!!!.

[MargaretR]

I have found the record of the parliamentary discussion of the shale gas
issue dated Feb '11

Here it is

It is a lengthy record of conversation between geologists and politicians.
An undue emphasis seemed to be placed on the financial aspects, but
environmental issues were discussed too.

I provide an extract of particular local interest -

Nigel Smith: Cuadrilla, they started with a big licence in
Lancashire and it covers all of what we call the Permo-Triassic Basin, the
West Lancs Basin, which stretches from the coast to Pendle Hill and the
Carboniferous outcrops. They have got three wells they are going to put
down. They have already drilled one. They have got two more that are about
five kilometres apart. They are going to start in one area where they think
they have got a good-where is the best target. If it is not successful there
they will try somewhere else within their licence.

More info here



The secrecy for 4 years is to protect stock market values

paras which are noteworthy -

Cuadrilla Resources, a US private equity backed firm, told
MPs at the energy and climate change committee that it will begin this month
to pump 1,200 cubic metres of highly pressurised water mixed with chemicals
and sand nearly 3,000 metres underground into an onshore shale gas reservoir
near Blackpool.

Cuadrilla began exploratory drilling at the first of
several test wells at Preese Hall Farm, Weeton, just inland from Blackpool,
in August. When the fracking begins this month, 1,200 cubic metres of water
mixed with chemicals - equivalent to about two and a half Olympic-sized
swimming pools - will be pumped horizontally along the reservoir to fracture
open the rock

( they are buying water from United Utilities)

The collected water, rock chips and drilling mud would
need to be sent to landfill. He said that based on geological seismic
surveys, the company could predict what happens to the fractured gas and
waste water mix but admitted: "You never have control. Fractures will always
go into the path of least resistance.

(so the waste from the operation is going to landfill.)

It seems Blackpool council granted the licence without much prior thought

The company has made its operations in the North Sea
available for visits from energy experts and politicians and done some media
interviews. But the chairman of Blackpool Green party, Philip Mitchell, said
the company had not directly engaged with the local community or held any
public meetings to explain its activities. He also criticised the licensing
and planning approval regulations, which predate the use of high-volume
hydraulic fracturing and do not place special requirements on unconventional
producers such as Cuadrilla

I have concluded that Lancashire is being used as a guinea pig for
these shale gas extraction methods - which isn't quite playing cricket is
it?
....and the decision on whether to extend the fracking to other companies
and other areas is deferred for 4 years.

[Gobbiner17]

Don't know if you already have seen this but Pendle Hill is also in danger of being wrecked.