Potentially Harmful Chemicals Used in Pa. Drilling
Associated Press
28 June 2010
By Marc Levy Writer
HARRISBURG, Pa.—More than two years after the start of a natural gas
drilling boom, Pennsylvania is making public a complete list of the
chemicals used to extract the gas from deep underground amid rising
public fears of potential water contamination and increased scrutiny of
the fast-growing industry.
Compounds associated with neurological problems, cancer and other
serious health effects are among the chemicals being used to drill the
wells, although state and industry officials say there is no evidence
that the activity is polluting drinking water.
The Associated Press obtained the list from the state Department of
Environmental Protection, which assembled what is believed to be the
first complete catalog of chemicals being used to drill in
Pennsylvania's gas-rich Marcellus Shale. The department hopes to post
it online soon.
It counts more than 80 chemicals being used by the industry in a
process called hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," as it pursues the
gas in the mile-deep shale.
Many of the compounds are present in consumer products, such as salt,
cosmetics, gasoline, pesticides, solvents, glues, paints and tobacco
smoke.
Environmental advocates worry the chemicals are poisoning underground
drinking water sources. However, environmental officials say they know
of no examples in Pennsylvania or elsewhere.
"If we thought there was any frack fluid getting into fresh drinking
water ... I think we'd have to have a very serious conversation about
prohibiting the activity completely," said Scott Perry, the director of
the department's Bureau of Oil and Gas Management.
Conrad Volz, who directs the University of Pittsburgh's Department of
Environmental and Occupational Health, said state and federal agencies
haven't done enough research to come to that conclusion.
A decades-old technology, hydraulic fracturing was coming under
increased scrutiny even before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Its spread from states such as Texas, Colorado and Wyoming to heavily
populated watersheds on the East Coast has led to worries about water
contamination and calls for federal regulation.
Hydraulic fracturing is exempt from the federal Safe Drinking Water
Act, leaving states to regulate the activity. In New York state,
regulators have effectively held up drilling on the Marcellus Shale
while they consider new regulations. Last year, they published a list
of more than 250 chemicals that could potentially be used there.
In Pennsylvania, where approximately 1,500 Marcellus Shale wells have
been drilled and many thousands more are expected in the coming years,
the state is working to buttress its regulations even as rigs poke
holes in large swaths of the state.
Last week, HBO aired a documentary called "Gasland" that portrayed the
natural gas industry as an environmental menace that spoils water, air
and lives. The industry has challenged the film's veracity, saying it
botches facts, exaggerates evidence and spotlights citizens whose
claims already have been investigated and debunked.
Pennsylvania assembled the list in recent months from information the
industry is required to disclose and decided to prepare it for the
public as public interest grew, Perry said.
Industry officials say the chemicals pose no threat because they are
handled safely and are heavily diluted when they are injected under
heavy pressure with water and sand into a well. Industry officials say
the chemicals account for less than 1 percent of the fluid that is
blasted underground.
The mixture breaks up the shale some 5,000 to 8,000 feet down and props
open the cracks to allow the gas trapped inside to flow up the well to
the surface.
One compound, naphthalene, is classified by the federal Environmental
Protection Agency as a possible human carcinogen.
The EPA said central nervous system depression has been reported in
people who get high levels of toluene by deliberately inhaling paint or
glue.
In its online guidelines on xylene, the U.S. Occupational Safety and
Health Administration cites an industrial hygiene and toxicology text
that says chronic exposure to xylene may cause central nervous system
depression, anemia, liver damage and more.
The chemicals are used to reduce friction, kill algae and break down
mineral deposits in the well. Various well services firms make
different proprietary blends of the solutions and supply them to the
drilling companies, which blend them with water at the well site before
pumping them underground.
In recent years, some makers of the solutions have sought to replace
toxic ingredients with "green" or food-based additives. For instance,
Range Resources Corp., one of the most active drilling companies in
Pennsylvania, is close to rolling out a 100 percent biodegradable
friction reducer, spokesman Matt Pitzarella said Monday.