Fracking is unearthing surprise bacteria | Health, Medical, and Science Updates

Fracking is unearthing surprise bacteria | Health, Medical, and Science Updates:

Hmmm....

I'm not sure that many of us have been thinking about this? What is living in the oil and gas before we extract it from the wells?

This study starts to bring that to the (fore)ground. It is interesting that some of these guys do better, much better, related to the fracking process and/or being brought to the surface.

Hmmm... And I always thought the the main risks from fracking were: water contamination and possibly the increased chance for earthquakes.?


'via Blog this'

EPA is finally going to conduct a big Environmental Study on Gas Fracking

There has been a painfully slow move to NatGas in the US, even though we appear to have centuries worth of it using new fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques.

The one holdup, kinda, is being blamed on the possible environmental impact from gas drilling. (As if it could be worse than oil with its BP Gulf and Exxon Yellowstone spills in the last two years.)

So the EPA is conducting a few big studies.

With NatGas at a price of $1 (to $2) for the equivalent of a gallon of diesel in vehicle fuel ($4/gal), many people argue that it's a "no brainer" decision for the US to switch to NatGas. But inertia and the massive interests in the current oil & coal economy seem to have us doing the “no brain” part of a far better decision than imported oil or much dirtier/deadly coal.

Check out the Utica Shale and Marcellus Shale information… The Utica Shale formation that is below the Marcellus is just now becoming commercially available using new drilling techniques that have really been worked out since about 2005.

http://geology.com