Hydrofracking

Rhode Island gets most of it’s electricity from natural gas and heats 46% of it’s homes with it (More RI info). With that much of one source being used I think it would be best for the people of Rhode Island to know where it is coming from. Natural gas historically has been found with other sources of fossil fuels such as oil and oil. In recent years new technology has been discovered to increase and rediscover the amount of sources we can get this fuel from. You may have heard of it, Hydrofracking.

Credit to The Politic

Hydrofracking or Hydraulic fracturing has been making headlines in the media, for some health and environmental hazards it has caused. The new technology that has made this possible is the ability to drill horizontal to the surface. It works by drilling down into the ground into areas where natural gas is being stored in the rocks themselves. Once the holes have been drilled, a fracturing fluid mixed with sand is pumped at high pressed into the holes. This causes fractures to form alone the cannel of the hole. The fluid is then pumped out and the sand remains keeping these fractures open.

One of the major problems with this is that at the moment the gas companies to not have to report what is in this fracturing fluid. Many at many of the sights where the gas in being harvested the fluid are being dumped into large storage faculties that are little more then holes in the ground. The fluid can have any number of chemicals that are harmful to the environment and the health of surrounding communities. Right now New York State is the only state where the companies are being forced to release this information.

If the mystery fluid wasn’t enough for you, there have been some instances of natural gas leaking through the rock and getting into aquifers. This has caused problems with peoples drinking water and in some cases people have been able to literally light their water on fire. This leakage is likely cased by the fractures extending farer then the drilling companies had intended.

I know I’ve said a lot of negatives about natural gas so far but I wanted to make sure that I added that I am not opposed natural gas. In fact if I was going to use any fossil fuel natural gas is first on my list. It is clean burning compared to other fossils fuels and is plentiful in the United States. I just feel that if we are going to keep mining this resource some regulations need to be put in place to make it safer.

Just for fun I’ve added a video that’s good for a laugh.