Duxbury shares information on fracing with Orrville Lions Club
July 8, 2013
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Geo-science educator Jim Duxbury shared information about fracing (the proper spelling according to Duxbury) with the Orrville Lions Club June 25. Fracing comes from the word fracture, which is part of any drilling process used to obtaining liquid or gas petroleum from deep in the Earth.
Duxbury shared, While all wells are fraced in some manner, conventional drilling bores down vertically only, while unconventional drilling (fracing) not only can drill horizontally once the right layer is reached, but explosives are set off on the horizontal plane to fracture the shale. Then two to nine million gallons of drilling fluids, chemicals and sand are pumped into the well to open further and stabilize the fracturing. This is known as hydraulic fracturing.
Current layers of interest for fracing in the Ohio region are the Marcellus (~4500) and the Utica (~8500) shale layers. Natural gas needs to be refined before it can be used to form the many products used from it.
There are many steps to securing and refining the natural gas as well as removing water and waste materials from the well. According to the Energy Bill of 2005, in order to encourage the exploration of new energy sources, environmental regulations within the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act and others, do not apply as in other industries. Additionally, there are concerns about higher levels of methane found in wells near fracing sites (17 times according to National Academy of Science), as well as loss to the atmosphere through leaks and venting of this nonrenewable energy supply, said Duxbury.
The next meeting of the Orrville Lions Club will be an organizational meeting of club members only July 9. Officer Smith and K-9 companion Freddie will be the guests July 23, at 7:45 a.m. in the Community Room of Orrville/Aultman Hospital. The public is always welcome.
