Oil Shale Research Paper

Feeds the LaVale wells at Red Hill and many local wells. If drilling were to occur in

Texas has always been proud of their heritage and their industry. The boost in the economy is much appreciated by Texas, and our government appears to be hushed by the counter weights and balances where money appears to overpower the concern of environmental harm. Two articles that were reviewed gave the opportunity to enlightened Texans about how production appears to be affecting air quality and water and in turn is hurting Texans’ health. Through facts presented, it is apparent that Texas government must take measures to improve the regulatory agencies so that the health of Texans is secure. I am personally appalled by the facts stated in the articles, and reform is definitely required.

There are many different factors contributing to global warming. The Alberta oil sands are only one of them, but they're one of the largest sources of harmful air pollutants in Canada. The oil sands are polluting our air and water, clear cutting the Northern boreal forest and affecting the First Nation tribes living around the sites. Canada should no longer be funding the Alberta oil sands because of the negative impact it has on the environment and people near them.

From the day in 1901 when a little hilltop near Beaumont began to gush oil,a big part of Texas changed that day. Oil has been changing our life ever since that historical day in 1901. Today, more than a century later, Texas still produces more oil than any other state in the Union.Oil has brought more wealth to Texas than ever before.

During the mid 2000s hydraulic fracking was starting to grow because ‘It was a good way to meet energy needs.”(source 5). Hydraulic fracking has been said to release chemicals and pollute drinking water.

Fracking is a technique designed to get gas and oil out of shale rock in the earth. Natural gas has been used for light and heat for more than 100 years, natural gas is considered one of the cleanest fossil fuel but since it is a fossil fuel it is also a finite resource. Natural gas industry developed a new drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing also known as fracking . fracking is a means of extracting natural gases from shale. Tons of chemicals some toxic are mixed with large amounts of water and sand and pumped up to 8,000 feet under ground. The pressure fractures the shale and allows the gas to freely move.

Hydraulic fracking is vertical well bores are drilled thousands of feet into the earth, through sediment layers, the water table, and shale rock formations in order to reach the oil and gas. The drilling is then angled horizontally, where a cement casing is installed and will serve as a conduit for the massive volume of water, fracking fluid, chemicals and sand needed to fracture the rock and shale. In some cases, prior to the injection of fluids, small explosives are used to open up the bedrock. The fractures allow the gas and oil to be removed from the formerly impervious rock formations. Although fracking has technically been in existence for decades, the scale and type of drilling now taking place, deep fracking, is a new form of drilling

The Eagle Ford shale formation in south Texas has recently become the focus of many oil industry operators searching for new sources of hydrocarbons by using the latest technology in previously unexplored areas. This exploration enhances the development of even more advanced techniques as issues are identified and problems solved to address the unique properties of the formation and the surrounding surface environment. Even though a formation may be comprised of a single sedimentary layer from a similar geological time frame it is not a homogeneous block and has many features and anomalies that effect the pressure, permeability, type of hydrocarbons trapped and methods required to extract them. To understand these properties one must understand that shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms from the compaction of silt and clay placing it in the mudstone category of rocks [1]. Shale is different from other rocks in this category because it has a fissile structure and is laminated. The black shale in the Eagle Ford formation (Fig 1.) has a special property such that it contained organic material when it was deposited and during compaction over a millennium, the organic materials were converted into trapped oil and gas hydrocarbon deposits. This oil and gas are very difficult to remove because it is trapped within tiny pore spaces and or adsorbed onto clay mineral particles that makeup the shale.

Human health and environmental integrity are both at risk from fracking. However, it allows America to be self-sufficient in an energy driven world. In the end, the debate comes down to whether or not the risks outweigh the benefits. In his interview, Josh Fox brings up firsthand accounts of what fracking does to humans, animals, and the environment. Fox tells the story of Debbie May, a land owner who allowed oil companies to frack on her land. May owns serval cats and a horse, all of whom started losing hair and weight since the fracking started (Fox). This is on top of the fact that in several homeowners in various areas found that their water would light on fire after fracking started (Fox). Lastly, in Colorado, benzene is found in

Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking for short is the process of pumping water, sand, and numbers of chemicals into deposits of Marcellus Shale to release the natural gas that is trapped under ground. Fracking is a process that is the center of debate between well companies and environmentalists. Pennsylvania is a huge center of Hydraulic Fracturing so much that there is a town called Frackville. These small mountain towns are few and far in between. The rest of the area is untouched wilderness besides the Hydraulic Fracking wells that intrude on this pristine land. Hydraulic Fracturing needs to be highly monitored and regulated and the people affected by it firsthand should be aware of what exactly is being pumped into their backyards. Natural

The shale is a light to medium gray rock. It has slaty cleavages. The shale has a dull luster and is composed mostly of quartz and clay. The grain size is fine with a smooth texture. It has distinctive compositional horizontal bedding of about 2.2cm (light gray) to 12cm (dark gray) in thickness. The bedding is horizontal and parallel to the ground with a thickness of approximately 16cm to 24cm.

The Blocher Shale is characterized by its calcareous and dolomitic black shales texture that grades

Despite it’s long history of coal, oil, and gas development, Pennsylvania has seemingly been overcome by the rapidity and scale of production demonstrated with the recent boom of Marcellus Shale industry, which has companies, workers, environmentalists, etc. flocking to its northern tier. However, controversy seems to have followed as “the economic criticism of the drilling industry is that it booms and then busts, generating few local jobs and leaving little lasting economic benefit” (Schwartz). Thus making it critically important not only the economic impact, but also those of social, institutional and environmental now and in the years to come” (“Marcellus Shale”).

When you crack your knuckles this is why there is a noise, the synovial fluid present in your joints acts like a lubricant. The fluid contains the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. When you pop or crack a knuckle, you stretch the joint capsule. Gas is rapidly released, which forms bubbles. In order to crack the same knuckle again, you have to wait until the gases return to the synovial fluid. (Arthritis)

Texas the great lone star state, full of natural beauty that ranges from the majestic big bend national park in the Brewster County on the refreshing shores of the South Padre Island, Texas owns a plentiful quantity of natural resources, nevertheless the process of hydraulic fracturing commonly known as “fracking” taking place in Texas, will destroy our natural resources, turning our vast land of splendor into a methane ridden wasteland. However this is the time to unite against these companies that value money over sustainability. In the first place, fracking consist on drilling using a pressurized water, sand, plus a mix of chemicals to release gas from the rocks beneath the earth, this usually happens at 10,000 feet of depth, although this