Updates
October 12, 2012: same story from Oil and Gas Journal.
A study commissioned by Plains Exploration & Production Co. concluded hydraulic fracturing of two test wells at Inglewood oil field in Los Angeles County, Calif., indicated no detectable evidence that it might induce earthquakes or have negative consequences on groundwater quality, a consultant reported.
Carno Entrix of Los Angeles conducted the study, and the California Department of Conservation posted the study on its web site.
California is expected to release a draft of fracing rules soon. Don Drysdale, spokesman with the Department of Conservation, told OGJ that it will be “several weeks” before a draft is issued.
So, we await the "California" rules. Can hardly wait.
Original Post
As you read the story below, note that this story is coming out of California. The governor of New York needs to read this study. One can only imagine all the "politically-correct" talk that must have emanated from the study team prior to releasing their findings.
A huge thank you to a reader for alerting me to this story. I had not seen it yet, and I scan the
LA Times several times during the day.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fracking-baldwin-hills-20121010,0,5707434.story
I generally don't "cut and paste" so much from a story, but this is a huge story, and if the story at the source is archived, I want to be able to see the story twenty years from now.
A long-awaited study released Wednesday says the controversial oil extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, would not harm the environment if used at the Inglewood Oil Field in the Baldwin Hills area.
The yearlong study included several issues raised by residents living around the field, such as the potential risks for groundwater contamination, air pollution and increased seismic activity.
For months, water wells on the 1,200-acre field were monitored.
Data from ground and air monitors were collected and analyzed, but no effects were recorded before or after the technique was used, the study says.
"There were eight contributing studies addressing such things as vibrations at the surface, microseismic activity at depth, noise, ground movement measurements, subsidence, groundwater quality, methane in both soil and groundwater," said Dan Tormey, technical director and principal at Cardno Entrix, the environmental consulting firm that conducted the study.
"Each was a study that contributed to the [overall] hydraulic fracturing study."
Plains Exploration and Production Co., the owner and operator of the oil field, paid for the review as part of a settlement agreement with Culver City and environmental and community groups.
The report was reviewed by two independent firms selected by the company and Los Angeles County.
The 206-page study is the first of its kind in the state. It comes at a time when environmental and community groups are urging lawmakers to ban fracking, a technique that fractures rock formations to release trapped oil and natural gas. The process involves a high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemical additives into the drill site's wellbore.
Please go to the linked story to get the rest of the details.
Now, we await the comments from those suggesting the study was flawed. And, oh, by the way, who is
Cardno Entrix? Who funds them? Who is on the Board of Directors? What experience do they have in fracking? Did they study enough wells? Did they hold any meetings in Las Vegas? Was Al Gore invited to present opposing data? Did they consider the life-time carbon footprint from planning to production to shipment to consumer use of fossil fuel facilitated by fracking? Did they consider the impact on endangered species in downtown Los Angeles?
Seriously, it should be noted the number of studies done and the number of wells tested in this California study, compared to the two wells, and then one well, tested by the EPA in Wyoming (see "
shenanigans in Wyoming").
