The main way they have begun drilling for oil is a technique called "oil fracking". Literally fracturing the rocky ground in order to release the oil and gasses from below. The massive drills go down vertically first to find the oil or gas pockets - hundreds or thousands of feet down. They then send the drill relatively horizontally, once they have reached their destination, a LARGE amount of water, chemicals, sand, and fracking compound (whatever that is?!!) is pumped at high pressures and velocities down into the ground, fracturing the rock. The fractured rock is much easier to extract the oil out of,
which is the main reason companies like this method of extraction.
Thats awesome that they found a relatively safe way to extract the oil, Right? Except there are lots of little side-effects... and these little side-effects have to potential to pile up and cause some MAJOR problems…
The "little" side-effects:
- The natural groundwater we use for irrigation, and wells can become contaminated with the chemicals and sand and fracking compound. Quite easily actually…
- The pipes are not necessarily leak proof.. so some of the methane gasses leak into the air. which, you know, is kind of just wasting possible energy…
- the chemicals used can be pretty toxic in large exposures.
- Lots of contaminated waste water, which they do their best to filer and purify, but there ends up being noticeable amounts of waste water.
- And then, for all of you structural engineers, you know that as you take a large amount of mass out of the ground, there then is a loss in support, that is not prone to collapse, but is always a possibility. (and small earthquakes are not uncommon)
WELLL…. As a bio-systems engineering major I can't help but think about other possible ways to acquire the energy we need, by NOT hurting our environment in the process.. And I know Oil Drilling is needed, and they are doing their best to keep it as eco-friendly as possible (what little that is). But, all of these side-effects are why we are trying so hard to find new forms of fuels and energy. So that we don't ruin the area we live in, or contaminate the food our animals eat, or use dirty water to hydrate our crops. The whole nodak area has been a great reminder to the country that we really do need to keep looking for these new fuels and can't stop until we find something that will be economically feasible and that does not take a toll on our lives as well.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting and informative post. I learned more about this concept from your blog post. Thank you for sharing. I also didn't realize there are that many side effects to this type of oil extraction-wow! I like how you included pictures too! Have a good day!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very informative post. I really enjoyed reading about this process. I learned about oil-fracking in geology last year and found it to be very interesting. You did an excellent job relating this concern to your degree in bio-systems engineering. This concept can be difficult to understand, and the included pictures helped illustrate the idea perfectly. Great job!
ReplyDeleteBorn an raised in Williston. Good to see someone talking about it, but most of the Fracking environmental issues have been debunked. Fracking mostly produces salt water as waste and that water is injected back into the ground with natural mud to fill the gap left by extraction. Very very small amounts of chemicals involved.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of the term "fracking" before but I did not fully understand what it meant. This post is very informative and explains fracking and the side effects very well. I also liked how you tied in your field of bio-systems engineering with how fracking hurts the environment. Overall good post!
ReplyDeleteI am also worried about what will happen to ND after the oil boom/fracking is all finished. Not being from ND, but I have family out in that area, and I knew of the beauty of that area before the oil boom. I fear that that area will be but a shell of what it use to be. And so many people seem completely oblivious to the environmental damage that we are doing to the region. Its all about the money, and our addiction to oil.
ReplyDeleteOpinions aside, I thought you organized your article very well, the pictures were particularly informative, they helped convey your message as well as help describe fracking. Well done.