Shale

In 2005, the Energy Act gave Big Oil the right to slowly destroy our lands, impact our personal health, and to make huge sums of money extracting shale gas from both private and public owned lands, all under the disguise of energy independence. The act contains an exception loophole called the Halliburton Loophole. It is time for this loophole to be closed; for the protection of the health and for the safety of the country. According to Kate Sheppard, Senior Reporter and environment and energy…

The Marcellus Shale, the United States’ largest natural gas field and one of the largest in the world, is a huge sedimentary rock thousands of feet below Earth’s surface and is millions of years old. The natural gas was created over those millions of years is a byproduct of the decomposing materials, the mud and organic material that composes the rock. The Marcellus Shale stretches from upstate New York, goes south through Pennsylvania and West Virginia, through a small part of Maryland, then…

wells drilled through the shale formation. Hydraulic fracturing works by creating fractures in the rock formation that stimulate the flow of natural gas. Wells are drilled vertically hundreds to thousands of feet below the land surface and include horizontal or directional sections extending thousands of feet. Fractures are created by pumping large quantities of fluids at high pressure…

With a traditional vertical well, energy companies would only be able to get the gas directly next to the well in some rocks. Fracking allows access to natural gas trapped in impermeable rocks such as shale. A fractured well starts in much the same way as a traditional one. The engineer drills straight down towards the target of bed rock and then turns the drill horizontally to make an L-shape deep under the surface. At that point, millions of gallons…

The concept of Oil Fracking was first tapped into by Col. Edward Roberts, a civil war veteran. During the battle of Fredericksburg VA he drew the concept from exploding artillery into a narrow canal obstructing the battlefield (Manfreda J.). In 1866, Robert patented the “Exploding Torpedo”. A long rod shaped self- propelled underwater missile was packed into an iron case with 15-20 pounds of powder (Manfreda J.). Underground the case was placed right above the oil reserve, the wire on land was…

Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga County, Pennsylvania. The Lock Haven Formation underlies the Catskill Formation composed of primarily of gray to red sandstone and overlies the Brallier Formation composed of olive gray to dark thick laminated marine shale. Also the Lock Haven Formation is composed of Devonian aged (480 million years old)…

Hydraulic fracturing is the process used to fracture shale rock deposits, allowing the extraction oil and natural gas from deep below the earth’s surface. The drilling and fracturing process produces large amounts of contaminated wastewater that is pressurized and forced back into the ground deep below the earth’s surface. Over the last several years there have been many debates over the dangers of “Fracking” and the economic impact. There are a lot of concerns from environmental groups and…

extracting shale oil has always been a challenge for the producers. In case, if the price of a barrel of fossil oil is less than the cost price of a barrel of shale oil extraction, that means the production process of shale oil and sell it uneconomical. Production costs vary depending on the oil wells location, ranging from $ 23 to $ 60 and the average is estimated at $ 36. The difference is due to the quality of the rock, the depth of the well, and the cost of transportation, so the shale oil…

Some believe that this America’s shale revolution is economically beneficial and an indicator of its journey to energy independence. David Brooks, an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times argues in his article, “Shale Gas Revolution”, that the U.S. shale gas industry has produced more than half a million new jobs, not only in traditional areas but also in “economically-wounded” locations such as western Pennsylvania and Ohio. He also advocates for America’s decreased reliance on foreign…

Willow Springs Park runs through the Cherry Hill fault zone and has a history of artesian flowing springs. This paired with 90 years of oil production, a new urban farm, and Coastal Sage Scrub (CSS) community makes the park a uniquely diverse environment. The purpose of conducting research at Willow Springs Park is to monitor the growth of CSS, which consists of low-growing shrubs, many of which are summer deciduous, with some succulents and long-lived grasses, sages, buckwheats, etc. CSS…