Big Money Drives Up the Betting on the Marcellus Shale

[Robbien]

Source: NYT

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Halliburton is building a permanent outpost here on the edge of a one of the 21st century's biggest energy booms.

. . .

But far from the Gulf Coast and outside of the media spotlight, Halliburton and the oil and gas industry are spending billions of dollars in preparation for decades of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The 95,000-square-mile sheet of natural gas-rich sediment sprawls across Pennsylvania, southern New York, West Virginia and eastern Ohio.

. . .

"Companies see how close the shale gas is to the Northeast consumer markets," says Alay Patel, an upstream research analyst for Wood Mackenzie. "They see a long-term source where the cost of supply is really low compared to what they see in other areas of the Lower 48."

Drillers blast water, sand and chemicals 8,000 feet into the ground, creating the pressure needed to crack the shale and release the gas. On today's industrial drilling sites, plumes of smog-forming pollutants escape from trucks, generators, condensate tanks and compressor stations.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/07/08/08climatewire-big-money-drives-up-the-betting-on-the-marce-22075.html

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Plans for 30,000 wells in 10 years


In the five page long article pollution caused by this mining was mentioned just once, in the last paragraph of the excerpt above. No mention was made of the exemption to the Clean Air and Water Act fracking has obtained.

[thereismore]

1. If we could replace some coal-burning plants with gas-fired ones, that would be good. nt

[Robbien]

2. Why replace a fossil fuel with another fossil fuel?

What's good about that? Sure, burning natural gas is cleaner than burning coal, but extracting natural gas is much more deadly to ground water.

Solar/Wind/Tidal are the only good choices here.

[thereismore]

7. It's cleaner. Much cleaner. Has side effects, of course. Lesser evil perhaps. nt

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. look up 'Fracking'...

this is in NO WAY a good idea.

[thereismore]

8. I did. And you are right. nt

[deathrind]

4. Gas Land

Watch the HBO doc "Gas Land" to find out just how bad this is.

[Alhena]

5. They showed tap water that you could light on fire

very eye-opening documentary.

[benld74]

6. GASLAND! Watch IT, Rent it, PAss the word on it, New York water supply is next on its hit list,,,