Comments (34)

• naugresherdalu

  May. 6, 2012 at 2:50pm

  for the information of the people on this show. “fracking” is not a new process concerning wells. It has been used for many years in developing water wells. Sometimes with not so good results. When I was a kid, we had a water well on our place in east Central Texas that was drilled through a natural gas formation. The casing was not sufficient to prevent natural gas escaping into the water. We could actually hold a match close to the stream of water coming out of the pipes and have a blue flame appear. That well was our only source of water for 10 years. The well was a 6 inch well with a 4 inch casing that went down 350 feet to a sand aquifer. When the drillers hit the aquifer, they dropped a couple of sticks of dynamite down the hole to cause the bottom to bell out thus improving the water flow for the well. This is basically the same thing the oil drillers do today.
  The only problem we had with our well was if you didn’t let the water sit for half an hour before you drank it, you would get very bad gas on the stomach.

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• glad2bntx

  Feb. 13, 2012 at 8:18am

  Just a suggestion for the editors at Real News. May want to contact either an industry association, petrophysicist, geologist, reservoir engineer, drilling engineer, etc, when doing a story on fracking. Their knowledge and insight would be helpful to the conversation and education about the process, the recovery of fluids, flowback, treatment, etc. The whole process of drilling and recovery goes to great lengths using best available technology to protect groundwater.

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  • Leader1776

    Mar. 9, 2012 at 5:43pm

    @GLAD2BNTX
    Great idea.

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• rgrig

  Feb. 12, 2012 at 11:19pm

  Another group of people commenting on something they know nothing about. Amy’s statement of not knowing what is in the chemicals added to the frac water. By law you have to have MSDS sheets on location for every chemical on location. Also many oil and gas companies now list that information on their websites and provide the information to the appropriate state agencies. Also one of the other commentators made it sound as if the company is pumping only chemicals down the hole. Ninety -nine percent of what is put in the hole is the chemical H2O which is also known as water. If are going to be reporting the “real news” you need to get your facts straight and not make comments from your baised veiwpoint gathered from main stream news. If the federal government stops fracking their will be people in this country who will die needlessly because the current abundance of cheap energy will go away literally over night and poor people and the elderly who heat and aircondition their homes wil not be able too. Energy prices will necessarily sky rocket. Check out what is happening in Europe this winter.

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• Goldni

  Feb. 12, 2012 at 2:44pm

  People in certain parts of the country have been lighting their water on fire for a hundred years. Way before fracking. So that is a bogus claim.

  Everyone go here:
  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1009530098/fracknation

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• Homeschoolmama

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 11:53pm

  Learning a lot from the comments. I had heard and believed oil was renewable but had never seen the research before. Thanks for the links and info everyone. Now I can share what I’ve learned.

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• RestoreCapitalism

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 3:12pm

  If I was rich like trump or one of those guys, I would invest in converting water into hydrogen as an energy source done at the consumer level. This would make us much less energy dependent. If we could put water in our gas tanks, and use a water supply to power our homes, we wouldn’t have to count on the utility companies so much. This is very doable, but nobody takes it seriously because we are supposed to be dependent on the energy industry. And who can you really trust to bury toxic nuclear waste? And what do you do when the earth is so full of it, you can’t even dig a hole anymore? Right now, we need to drill here and get gas prices down, using our own oil, and get hydrogen technology going as our next energy source.

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  • bikerr

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 4:17pm

    @ RestoreCapitalism—It’s (producing hydrogen ) has been taken seriously. Iceland has been producing hydrogen on a large scale from water by electrolysis for 50 years, making 2,000 tons per year for fertilizers. To power the country’s whole transportation and fishing fleet would require 80,000 to 90,000 tons of hydrogen per year. And that’s just Iceland. I agree other sources should be looked into,but don’t you think if there was money in it TRUMP or others would invest?. Governments do because it is not their money and it hasn’t worked yet.

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  • saranda

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 4:52pm

    you don’t think that using water to power cars mighthave an effect on our already dwindling water resources. do you want us to rely on foreign sources (ie Canada again) for water as well as oil.

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:09pm

    @Saranda: You can use sea water to produce hydrogen, and the by-product is FRESH water…the technology would have the opposite effect of what you expect…

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• mrtinbender

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 1:31pm

  endgamer you are rite about aboitic oil,,problenm is,it is not pc and goes completely against coventional wisdom, such as ity is

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  • saranda

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 4:55pm

    abiotic oil is a theory that no amount of drilling into has proven. unless or until someone drills into this source, it remains just a fools game. and yes, millions have been spent drilling to prove it but to no avail.

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  • endgamer

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 6:20pm

    Russians have had it for years.. It was also found in the Gulf (oil spill), The pressure was 70,000 psi and it blew out everything. They were drilling an illegal well looking for abiotic oil. They found it. THe well was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck01KhuQYmE

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  • endgamer

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 6:24pm

    A little more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOzRq0RAFio

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:17pm

    Conspiracy Theory: The oil companies don’t want us to know the true mechanism by which oil is created. If oil truly is produced abiotically, then Oil would be an abundant RENEWABLE resource., and we would find larger amounts of it…more oil = lower price…

    Also, the ENVIRONMENTALISTS don’t want us to know because it does not fit with their peak oil script, which says we need to switch to alternatives because oil is running out…ACADEMICS cite this same script to get grants for research into alternative fuels….

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  • saranda

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 9:00pm

    @endgamer- working with geophysicists on a daily basis, including some who have worked in russia, has taught mthat the abiotic theory is just that, a theory. you can link to to Yt all day, but real people in the the field dismiss it. a canadian company called aabbax international went bankrupt in the 90,s chasing this theory in ALberta. you are right about there being lots of oil, between the venezuean and canadian oil sands their plenty. the US just needs to not let china etal get access to it first.

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• therover8511

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 10:54am

  Willow is awesome and generally spot on.

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• marthasusan40

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 9:01am

  Thanks Blaze, this is a very fair and balanced debate…Fox should be drooling by now.

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• bobad

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 8:56am

  The earth has been fracing for 4 billion years, and will continue to do so on a scale we frail humans could never come close to duplicating.

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:21pm

    Yes, and when the earth fracs naturally you have something called an EARTHQUAKE…

    I don’t have a problem with frac-ing, but we need to be realistic about possible side effects and BE PREPARED…

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• maynardb61

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:19am

  The technology has been in use for decades without problems! Now all of a sudden the environmentalists come out against it. Why? Because they hate fossil fuel! The drilling occurs thousands of feet below ANY water table and the drill pipe is “sleeved” with a containment to prevent cross contamination from the oil or gas to enter another zone.

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:18pm

    Regardless of safeguards, there have been instances where wells have contaminated groundwater…people could light their water on FIRE…

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  • Goldni

    Feb. 12, 2012 at 2:41pm

    The “lighting their water on fire” claim is not because of fracking. In certain parts of the country people have been doing that for a hundred years. Waaay before fracking.

    Everyone go here:

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1009530098/fracknation

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• Tepeyac

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 6:41am

  How can the chemicals used in fracking be a trade secret? That must be shared knowledge so that it can be scrutinized as to it’s environmental and health effects!

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  • bikerr

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 4:23pm

    @Tepeyac—–Did you know that food coloring is considered a trade secret?. Let the fracking continue.

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• lukerw

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 2:21am

  This is not the “Fracking”… on Battle Star Galactica… but applies!

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• wbalzley

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 2:04am

  OPINION: I say, if oil companies want to Frac, then let them Frac…but also hold them accountable for any damage their actions may cause…Test the soil and water in the area before they begin, and compare samples over time. If the water or soil become contaminated, make them clean it up…

  Use some COMMON SENSE…

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  • bikerr

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 4:04pm

    @wbalzley—There are so many dangers in your solution.
    1.who would do the testing before and after?
    2.Leaves room for terrorist to contaminate the ground/water so as to falsely hang oil companies
    3.You would as a driver of a car/vehicle ,then be responsible for clean up of ANY change in the environment caused by YOUR driving………Not so sure it would work out to much for freedom.

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 7:37pm

    @Bikerr: You raise good points, and there are hundreds more, most of which will have to be addressed by people much smarter then myself.. But here are some COMMON SENSE answers to the points you raise:

    1) You would need several INDEPENDENT testing companies which have no political or financial interests in falsifying information.
    2) Terrorism and espionage are unpredictable and should not factor into the decision
    3) As a consumer, we ARE responsible for the consequences of our decisions whether we like it or not…if the company does not clean it up, the the GOVERNMENT will, and we will be forced to pay for it in TAXES…take your pick…

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  • 1casawizard

    Feb. 17, 2012 at 5:20am

    Fracking is risky on a lot of fronts. Fracking by definition means fracturing the earth. The outcome cannot be determined in all situations. I have well water. There is no county water for over 1 mile. If someone was to frac near me it could poison my well. The frac from 1/2 mile from me could poison my well. What a neighbor does affects me and my neighbors. You know how me and a 20 mile radius plus votes on this crap. Hell to the NO. Try this stuff where you don’t have many people. I’ve been reading about this for a few years, now.

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• absolutelynot

  Feb. 11, 2012 at 1:34am

  If you are against Fracking and any other fossil fuel procuremnt then you should be happy everytime your gasoline and electricity bills go higher because there is a direct correlation between the two. God made all things for the betterment of mankind

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  • wbalzley

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 2:07am

    Then you have no problem building NUCLEAR power plants? God gave us URANIUM, too…we have enough nuclear fuel already to run this country for a THOUSAND years if we used it properly…

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  • endgamer

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 6:33am

    Thorium is a better choice for a nuclear reactor.

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  • endgamer

    Feb. 11, 2012 at 6:41am

    Lastly oil is abiotic and not a fossil fuel.. There is plenty of oil and it will not run out. Google is your friend.

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