ban fracking outright and claim the practice is too dangerous to regulate,” he said. “That is not our position. But I do know the range of various groups’ positions all derive from an extreme concern about the impacts of fracking.” In the absence of a moratorium on fracking, NRDC says the state must aggressively regulate it, from requir- ing disclosure of the chemicals used to updating well construction standards, a complete accounting of the amount of water used and wastewater gener- ated and an assessment of all the wells within the radius of a fracking area to make sure they cannot act as con- duits of contaminants to groundwater sources.
Parker said a reasoned, practical approach is necessary to judge the lengths to which regulatory oversight is necessary.
“I think before committing to a
huge, expensive, long-term monitor- ing program speculatively looking for evidence of oil and gas well impacts … there should be some sort of pilot project to evaluate whether or not the current practices in the oil and gas industry, including hydraulic fracturing, are adequate to protect groundwater resources,” he said. “And since 80 percent of the oil and gas production in the state occurs in Kern County in the Tulare Lake region, the hydrologic re- gion in the state which also happens to be the most significant area of overdraft and groundwater extraction-related subsidence as well as the location of three significant groundwater banks, this would be a logical area to look a little more closely initially. This could include some sort of systematic random, statistically based groundwater monitor- ing effort to look at the groundwater be- tween where the groundwater industry currently monitors and the bottom of underground sources of drinking water.” A “parallel path” could be the
formation of an expert panel to pre- liminarily evaluate the protection, potential and risk of contamination of groundwater resources in California from oil industry practices, including fracking, Parker said.
September/October 2012
“This panel also could look at the potential for collaborative part- nerships between government and industry, including technology transfer from research and product develop- ment to industry deployment, to better assess and optimize our water and energy resources in a more integrated fashion, in the context of oil resources production, water and energy demand,” he said.
Industry insiders believe answers
exist to improve the handling of wastewater generated by fracking. “It’s a combination of technology and water management to deal with this,” said Pinero with Veolia Water North America. “It’s a modular approach – a small footprint, centralized application, the re-use of water. We need fast, cheap treatment with a low discharge.” In their report, members of the NRC noted that more needs to be known about the correlation between fracking activities and earthquakes. “ … with the potential for increased numbers of induced seismic events due to expanding energy development, gov- ernment agencies and research institu- tions may not have sufficient resources to address unexpected events,” the members said. “Forward-looking inter- agency cooperation to address potential induced seismicity is warranted.” Oil industry representatives will continue to tout the importance of fracking within the energy supply portfolio as well as the existing record of accomplishment.
“Our mantra is, ‘please look at the
facts, the science and the experience in California as we develop regulations and not this emotional noise that’s been created around this issue,’” Hull said. Located as he is in the middle of an
oil-producing region, Johnson is acutely aware of the energy-water nexus and the need to protect water resources. “Fresh groundwater, oil and natural gas have been produced here for a long time,” he said. “If handled properly, the two fluids shouldn’t interact with each other. We don’t want to hamper the energy industry; we just want to make sure groundwater is protected.” ❖
“Fresh groundwater, oil and natural gas have been produced here for a long time. If handled properly, the two fluids shouldn’t interact with each other.”