PrintPart 2 - Hydraulic Fracturing Wastewater
To do first
- Read the article "Water Pollution Risk."
- Then read "Chemical Evaluation of Flowback Brine."
- After this, read pages 1-12 of the report "Chemicals Used in Hydraulic Fracturing" and have a look through the Appendix of the chemicals list.
- Challenge: Find three of the chemicals you didn't know about and look them up on Scorecard.
Figure 6.2: A deep fracture/the risks associated with shale fracking: methane and fracking fluid in H2O. 2nd image shows exploited and new gas reserves
Credit: The Boston Globe
These articles provide significant insight into the water pollution risks concerning wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, focusing mainly on the Marcellus Shale region. You will see some common findings emerge in these three readings that pose some concern and elicit recommendations from the authors. Pay attention to these findings.
Significant Principles
- Hydraulic fracturing fluid has significant chemical additives, exposure to which can pose problems to the environment and human health.
- There are places of more certainty and less certainty (more uncertainty) about the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing fluid. Can you discern where the main difference is?
- What other key information is missing from the first two articles on pollution and chemical evaluation that would help decision makers (third article)?
Potential ethical questions for consideration
- What risks are posed by hydraulic fracturing fluids?
- What do you think the response to these risks ought to be?
- Who ought to be mitigating any of these risks?
- Is there enough certainty in the research to support concerns about the risks of wastewater? If not, where could more certainty help?
- What level of disclosure should there be in terms of wastewater fluid (pre and post use) by the industry?
- How are concerns about the future discussed here?