Fracking

Other News and current events
1

I am a bit confused about this fracking in the Karoo business. It’s a bit like global warming - it depends on whose story you are reading whether is is good or bad. Anybody here know the facts? How bad is it?

2

http://the-undercurrent.com/we-have-nothing-to-fear-but-the-fear-of-fracking/

is a fairly concise take on the matter, with a dollop of skepticism thrown in. Seems the main concern is the introduction of chemicals into the substrata.

Rigil

3

See also here.

'Luthon64

4

My main concern is the miasma of corruption that hangs around all mining activities in South Africa. In all probability, once again a small number of fat cats will make huge sums of money without actually adding any value to anything.

With the fracking itself I have no quarrels.

5

The problem is that we don’t know how bad it is yet. What raises suspicion is legislation in the US that protects the extraction companies from disclosing the chemical composition of hydraulic fracturing liquids.

The case studies include reports of hundreds of cows dying as well as stillborn and stunted calves after exposure to hydraulic fracturing spills from dumping of the fluid into streams and from workers slitting the lining of a wastewater impoundment (evaporation ponds) so that it would drain and be able to accept more waste. The wastewater then drained into a pasture and a pond. The study noted that it was difficult to assess health impact because of the industry’s strategic lobbying efforts that resulted in legislation allowing them to keep the proprietary chemicals in the fluid secret, protecting them from being held legally responsible for contamination. Bamberger stated that if you don’t know what chemicals are, you can’t conduct pre-drilling tests and establish a baseline to prove that chemicals found postdrilling are from hydraulic fracturing.[26] The researchers recommended requiring disclosure of all hydraulic fracturing fluids
Link

6

Now this is why I am confused. The links provided by Rigel and Mefiante reads that all is more or less OK but the above is not OK. So now what? I think there are probably some problems and when corners are cut… but what is worse - fraking or coal? Braivds is of course right - here is a new gravy train in town.

7

Anything I’ve seen about it has been pretty horrific - in fact it’s been hard to find anything positive. The documentary Gasland is about fracking in the US but if you think of those events happening in the Karoo its terrifying.

http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

Some of the critical responses and alleged inaccuracies have been made into a counter documentary call Truthland - http://www.truthlandmovie.com/

8

Brian Dunning did a podcast about it. More balanced maybe than gas land. The fact is that the methane in the ground water can happen normally
and in the case of the movie they make it sound that it was caused by the fracking.

9

Thanks I’ll check it out - the other problems were with the waste gases from condensate tanks and the unlisted chemicals used in the process and the problem of “produced water” - residents nearby were found to have levels of benzene in their blood, and illnesses in residents and pets such as hair loss, tumours and migraines had increased significantly. the environmental problems were the extreme amount of water needed for each pump - something like 400 million gallons and 1000’s of truck journeys for bringing equipment etc… that all had an impact.

also in America the whole process of fracking and it’s waste was exempt from the Clean Water Act and many other environmental laws so the companies such as Halliburton were not accountable for any problems caused.