11 January 2012 | Linton Nightingale
Energy, Europe, North America

 

UK scientists claim that fracking will not cause dangerous earthquakes if safeguarded properly.

Scientists have claimed this week that the controversial process of fracking, used in the extraction natural gas and oil, in the UK will not cause significant earthquakes and will pose little danger to the environment if given appropriate safeguards.

Speaking at an event in London, Mike Stephenson, the Head of Energy Science at the British Geological Survey, claimed that the majority of geologists believe that the drilling for shale gas is a relatively safe activity. “We think the risk is pretty low and we have the scientific tools to tell if there is a problem,” he said.

The process of hydraulic fracturing, or “Fracking”, involves drilling into dense shale rocks that contain natural gas and then injecting at high pressure a mixture of chemical-laced water and sand into the rock. The process enables gas to escape through tiny fissures created by the high pressure injection, with the gas being captured in a deep underground well. The gas is then brought to the surface via the well where it can be piped off.

Fracking is becoming an increasingly common method of extracting natural gas, especially in the United States where the process has boomed in recent years. As a result the country is now the largest producer of natural gas in the world. However, fracking in the United States has never been far from controversy, with the method not only being linked to an increase in seismic activity but also to the contamination of water supplies. Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it was considering retesting the water of the Pennsylvanian town of Dimock following complaints from residents that the water was not fit for human consumption. Linking the process to sizeable earthquakes and seismic activity has also not been far away from the headlines in recent months, after scientists in the United States admitted that fracking at deep-well sites in Youngstown was the likely cause of a magnitude 4.0 earthquake in Ohio on New Year’s Eve.

Despite scientists from the United States citing fracking as the probable cause for the Ohio quake, Peter Styles, a professor of applied and environmental geophysics at UK’s Keele University, claims that the process is unlikely to start earthquakes stronger than that of magnitude 3.3 and higher. A level, he adds, that will not cause significant damage to property. The dangers of fracking in the UK, seemingly dismissed by Professor Styles, is not a new debate here either, just ask energy group AJ Lucas who were forced to suspend their drilling in the northwest of England last year. The Australian firm were said to be responsible for no fewer than 50 seismic events in a region were quakes seldom occur. Fracking in the UK though, much like the United States, could be set for a boom, with the news that there may be considerably more shale gas in the UK than previously thought. Stephenson says that the British Geological Survey is currently reviewing its estimates for onshore shale gas resources.

Owing much to the legal situation in the United States and the tightly guarded nature of the industry, the dangers of fracking have been difficult to gauge. However, a study into the dangers of the process is currently being undertaken by the EPA in the United States and is likely to provide much needed answers. A preliminary report is due now, while the full report is expected to be published in 2014.

 

Image 01: ecoswitch.com

Image 02: Adam Dubrowa | Wikimedia Commons

Image 03: Progress Ohio | Flickr

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