Utah Focus, October 2011
TRUTH from page 3
than conventional oil and gas wells and unconventional shale oil and gas wells Even dealing with shallower coal-bed methane wells, the EPA found no confirmed cases of groundwater contamination being linked to the injection of fracking fluid into nearby wells or subsequent underground movement of fracking fluids. The 2009 GWPC study made similar findings; again, finding no instance of groundwater contamination from fracking. Further, the studies performed by the EPA and the GWPC demonstrate the effectiveness of current federal and state laws and regulations meant to protect groundwater resources potentially affected by fracking — regulations that govern every stage of the drilling process, including initial permitting, well construction, well production, wastewater disposal, and reclamation of the oil or gas well. The simple truth is that fracking is safe, and if oil and natural gas development is carried out by responsible operators who comply with federal and state regulations, there is very little risk of adverse environmental effects. However, surface spills, improper wastewater disposal, poorly constructed well casing and cement jobs or improperly abandoned production wells, will always pose some risk to groundwater sources, but the fracking process is not the culprit in these circumstances. According to estimates by the Energy Information Administration, the United States contains 2,552 trillion cubic feet of potential natural gas reserves. This is enough gas to supply the United States for approximately 110 years. As for oil reserves, with the ever-increasing commercial viability of oil shale development, again due to advancements in fracking, the Green River Formation alone, located within Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, contains the equivalent of six trillion barrels of oil. Of these six trillion barrels of oil, the Department of Energy estimates that 1.38 trillion barrels are potentially recoverable. To put that into perspective, 1.3 trillion barrels of oil is equivalent to more than five times the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. The strategic and economic importance of this resource cannot be overstated. Reducing our country’s dependence on foreign sources of energy has been a stated objective of both Republican and Democratic Presidents since the Nixon administration. The film “Gasland,” and the negative messages presented by media outlets that have come in its wake, fail to tell the true story of hydraulic fracturing, and fail to accurately portray its safeness. Further, the media outlets fail to properly portray the critical role that fracking plays in the current and future development of oil and natural gas. To put it bluntly, elimination of fracking would eliminate the industry’s ability to economically develop the vast oil and natural gas reserves in this country, would eliminate tens of thousands of jobs nationwide, and would bring to a halt any progress towards energy independence in the U.S. The idea that fracking could be
banned, and that oil and natural gas development could return to the status quo, is a misguided idea — fracking is the status quo. To ban fracking would ban any meaningful future development of this country’s oil and gas resources, a fact that opponents of fracking know all too well. Both A. John Davis and Ryan R. Jibson are attorneys in the Salt Lake City office of Holland & Hart. Davis focuses his practice on energy and natural resources law, with an emphasis in oil and gas, mining, public land, and geothermal energy. He can be reached at (801) 799-5887. Jibson concentrates his practice on commercial litigation, with an emphasis on litigation involving public lands management, oil and gas development, mining operations, and general corporate matters. He can be reached at (801) 799-5967.
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