Beth Schoren | Biology 1010 | BGSU Fall 2015In Ohio alone, in just 3 months horizontal fracking produced 2.5 million barrels of oil and 88 billion cubic feet of natural gas from 504 active wells which then produced 1.38 million barrels of oil brine. That is the by-product of the horizontal fracturing (also referred to as flowback or frac water) that must be disposed of in Class II disposal wells but sometimes is applied to roadways. The total dissolved solids (TDS) salinity in flowback frac water have concentration levels of 200,000 mg/L, compared to 35,000 mg/L seawater. Each well uses up to 4 million gallons of fresh water from streams, lakes, rivers, and reservoirs nearby and only 15 – 20% comes back to the surface.

These are Utica Shale drill location sites in Ohio. These are the locations of the disposal sites.

When looking over these locations it is clear to see that drilling locations are heavily clustered in the Harrison, Carroll and Columbiana County location but the injection wells are located more in Stark,

Portage and Morrow Counties. Carroll Concerned Citizens works now with the University of Cincinnati to monitor water quality since 95% of the residents use well water.

Studies by the University of Cincinnati in October 2014 were done on air quality in Carroll County because of significant odors once drilling started. They found 32 hydrocarbon-based compounds and state that air pollution is worse than downtown Chicago, as reported in the Akron Beacon Journal.

The Beacon also reported on a Federal Grand Jury of Benedict Lupo who dumped over 400,000 gallons of fracking brine into storm drains in Youngstown that lead into the Mahoning River. The Associated Press reported on studies in Washington County, PA of environmental impacts of air quality including dangerous toxins that cause cancer, confusion and brain damage.

The EPA reports that over 5 million people use the Ohio River for drinking supplies and the river is 981 miles long before it enters the Mississippi River. The Watershed itself covers 204,000 sq. mi..

They report that the pollutants in the water are already high and must be reduced to return the River to health.

What happens when these hydraulic fracking practices start to move into the Ohio River?

According to Reuters, in Pennsylvania, Exxon Mobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. was fined by the Attorney General for spilling more than 50,000 gallons of brine into a local waterway from an open valve on a tank.

Energy and Environment Reporting for Texas states on February 20, 2014 that Halliburton Energy

Services was fined $1.8 million for dumping hydrochloric and other acidic waste used to dissolve rock during hydraulic fracturing processes.

These are the temporary lagoons for the brine before it is transported off site to an underground injection wells. Often the brine sits and evaporates and can also overflow with heavy rains. The liners can also be punctured. Not any of this part of the process is healthy for our environment.

This is the location of the Utica and Marcellus Shale boundaries where horizontal hydraulic fracturing might occur in order to recover oil and gas.

Because such large volumes of our fresh drinking water is being destroyed for this energy resource production and its potential to contaminate the remainder of our fresh water supply, we believe an alternative should strongly be considered.

In an alternative to horizontal hydraulic fracturing there have been some ideas being made. A man by the name of Ciris, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry earn from Cleveland’s Case Western University, developed a technology to use coal without burning it in order to double the amount of natural gas normally that comes from shale. His company has already raised $50 million from investors such as Conoco, General Electric and others where they convert coal to methane.

Below is a map of coal resources and coal plants in the United States that could utilize the newest method of gas recovery without burning coal or fracking.

Another alternative technology from a Calgary Alberta based company named GasFrac, is a water-free fracking technology which uses a gel with propane because it retains the sand better, is pumped slower and eliminates the need for water and its removal.

Even without the use of oil or gas production we have extensive Renewable Energy Sources shown here, which is an indication that we should only need fuels for vehicles not for other energy as we have plenty of renewable power sources available.

These are current Power Plants in the United States for:Biomass PowerGeothermal PowerHydroelectric PowerSolar PowerWind PowerWood Power

Works Cited:

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/news/po st/ohio-s-horizontal-shale-wells-reach-new-marks-in-second-quarter

http://oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/portals/oilgas/pdf/EPA-fact-sheets/DrillingforNaturalGasintheMarcellusandUticaShales_EnvironmentalRegulatoryBasics.pdf

http://oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/portals/oilgas/pdf/Class%20II%20Brine%20Injection%20Wells%20of%20Ohio%2011052014.pdf

http://epa.ohio.gov/MarcellusandUticaShale

http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/rpd/conventional_gas.jpg

http://adallonoffshore.com/

http://www.eia.gov/state/maps.cfm?v=Coal

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/24/biotech-whizs-methane-mining-technique-could-be/2/?#article-copy

http://www.urbandesignlab.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/HancockAndTheMarcellusShale.pdf

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zaxCy5lyf7w8.ktszQQ3C0jUQ&ie=UTF8&msa=0&source=embed&ll=40.663973,-77.805176&spn=5.832868,10.437012&z=6

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/carroll-county-air-pollution-higher-than-chicago-study-says-1.533777

http://www.epa.gov/region5/water/wshednps/watersheds.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/exxon-spill-charges-idUSL2N0H712F20130911

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2014/02/20/industry-looks-for-safer-ways-to-drill-with-acid/

http://cirisenergy.com/whatwedo/overview/