Natual Gas

More Problems for the Shale-Gas Industry

By Bryan Walsh | @bryanrwalsh | May 10, 2011 | +

My Going Green column this week covers a new study that contains the strongest independent scientific case yet that shale-gas production can contaminate nearby water wells. A team of Duke researchers examined groundwater wells in northeastern Pennsylvania and New York state—the gasland I visited for our recent cover story on shale—and found evidence that methane levels were 17 times higher in wells that were close to shale gas operations. While the study isn’t perfect—the gas industry argues that without baseline data, it’s hard to assign blame to drilling—it raises questions that gas companies need to answer, at the very moment when the federal government is taking a hard look at the shale industry. You can download a PDF of the study here, and find a PDF of a white paper the Duke researchers put together that includes smart recommendations for future research and regulation of shale gas.

Related Topics: contamination, fracking, gasland, methane, natural gas, Pennsylvania, regulation, shale gas, Natual Gas

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  • http://miastrada.wordpress.com miastrada

    Rarely mentioned is the fundamental fact that natural gas becomes plentiful, not because of technology, but because of a market price makes it look probable that discovering and extracting it will be profitable.

    There is a second important fact which is that there is a time delay from the time of widespread commitment to drilling projects and the proof of large reserves. Thus, when the price of natural gas was over $7 (per MMBTU) for a sustained period of time, there was a large expansion of drilling for that commodity. When the resulting glut drove the price to $4, that expansion became a large contraction.

    With the addition of more regulation and stipulation of less damaging processes, the price to entice investment could go up to something more than the $7 that worked a few years ago.

    Might we wonder if some folks anxious to stop the use of coal would encourage shifting to natural gas, without concern that this could work into much increased electricity prices and general economic calamity.

    The big joke is the electric vehicle, which seems to be enjoying favor from those searching for climate solutions, will become far less attractive when electricity prices go up substantially.

    The ultimate joke is that the electric vehicle depending on the grid will be entirely tied to coal until the last coal fired power plant accessible to that grid is scrapped.

  • http://miastrada.wordpress.com miastrada

    An Economist magazine article linked to in another discussion of natural gas here at ecocentric (I think) stated that $9 per MMBTU was the economically viable price point for developing shale gas resources.

    See: http://www.economist.com/node/15022457

    An energy analyst, Mr. Thomas, was quoted saying such a key numerical fact.

    Heat from coal comes at a price ranging from $1 to $3 per MMBTU depending on transportation and type of coal. In the USA there is a thousand years of reserves at current usage rates, and the price point for acquiring this source of heat varies much more gradually over a very long time period. At $9 per MMBTU the USA coal reserves will last hundreds up to perhaps a thousand of years.

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