Posted By LambChop
The United States and Great Britain are poised to revolutionize the world economy with the discovery of astronomical proportions of shale and other difficult- to- drill oil fields within the continental United States and Britain. These discoveries will lead to Great Britain having sustainable energy resources for more than a century and the United States transforming to the key world player in energy production. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) will be the future technologies to harness this windfall.
Environmental whackos continue to pretend that fracking is an environmental hazard based on two movies – “Gasland” and Matt Damon’s flop, “Promised Land,” even though environmental report after report continue to debunk the myths, exaggerations and outright lies about the energy extraction method. Forget the fact that Canada has been fracking for 35 years (huh?), the anti-fracking terrorists claim that methane will spout up and blow up homes; that the fracking fluid will poison the environment; and that fracking causes earthquakes. Sadly these lies are gaining traction in the minds of the low information public.
Fracking takes place on average at least one mile BELOW the water table. Geologically speaking, in order for the water table to be affected by the operation, the diluted fluid would have to move upward the distance of the well, through horizontal – not vertical – strata. This cannot happen. Similarly, the controversy about fracking fluid is exaggerated. The reality is that more than 99% of “fracking fluid” is sea water. Yep - ONLY water and sand. The (less than) 1% remaining portion of the fluid is composed of a mixture of chemical compounds closely related to dishwashing liquid. Of course, according to the latest Dawn Dishwashing Liquid commercial, dishwashing liquid in high concentrations is safe for baby ducks who are victims of the terrible crude oil spills. Madge’s revelation, “You’re soaking in it!” has vindicated Palmolive. The irony of this is that fracking is the process to extract natural gas, the only alternative energy source to the much-maligned crude oil, and yet environmentalists still attack the process.
Environmental whackos continue to blame fracking for triggering earthquakes. They claim that the “blasting” of underground rock deposits with water and chemicals violently releases trapped pockets of gas, causing extraordinary seismic events. But a new study in the U.K. has once again proved the claims to be false.
The study concluded ‘it is extremely unlikely that any of us will ever be able to feel an earthquake caused by fracking’ and that the tremor caused by the fracking process is the equivalent of a person “jumping off a ladder.”
According to The Daily Mail UK, after examining hundreds of thousands of gas extraction operations, Professor Richard Davies from Durham University’s Energy Institute, said the risk of fracking resulting in seismic activity that could be felt on the surface is ‘not significant’. The study reported three instances where resulting shocks could be detected by residents above ground. In contrast, they found other man-made activities, such as mining and waste-disposal, are much more likely to trigger noticeable seismic activity.
Lead researcher:
“In almost all cases, the seismic events caused by hydraulic fracturing have been undetectable other than by geoscientists. It is also low compared to other man-made triggers. By comparison, most fracking-related events release a negligible amount of energy roughly equivalent to or even less than someone jumping off a ladder onto the floor. ‘It is extremely unlikely that any of us will ever be able to feel an earthquake caused by fracking.”
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