Corporate plans for Canterbury - fracking

Evil bastards!

This relates to this article.

Energy minister rejects moratorium on fracking
The Government has rejected the Christchurch City Council's call for a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in Canterbury.

the Press,

22 February, 2012

Last month Mayor Bob Parker wrote to the Minister of Energy and Resources, Phil Heatley, asking for a moratorium on the controversial mining process after widespread community concerns.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been banned in some countries, with the process linked to earthquakes and water and air pollution.

It is a method by which gas and oil are obtained by drilling into open rock deep in the earth and then forcing large amounts of water, sand and, typically, a cocktail of chemicals at high pressure down into the shale.

A blast fractures the shale bed around the well. That lets natural gas and oil deposits flow freely to the surface, but can also allow the chemicals to enter the water table.

Heatley's response states: "I appreciate that people have concerns about the potential adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing or fracking. The two environmental effects that people appear to be most concerned about are the potential for induced seismicity and groundwater contamination...

"I am satisfied that hydraulic fracturing is an appropriately regulated activity in New Zealand and I am not aware of any reason to justify a moratorium on the activity because of either environmental damage or the risk of inducing earthquakes."

Parker said he was disappointed with the Government response.

"People have, quite rightly, raised their concerns about the alleged links fracking has with earthquakes and water contamination.

"I would have thought the Government would have responded to our province's call for a moratorium on the process until people have been able to get a greater understanding of fracking and the implications of it for our region after hearing a number of different perspectives.

"It's not about the people of this province being Luddites, what makes it different here is our province's general concern about something adding to the geological issues we already face.

"Given what we've been through in Canterbury over the past year, I think it's understandable.

"I urge the Government to reconsider their decision."

Karen de Latour, spokesperson for the Bring Change group, which is opposed to fracking and deepsea drilling in Canterbury, said the group is organising a peaceful protest and concert in response to the Government's decision.

"It's appalling that they are not listening to the wishes of the people of Canterbury and our council. They're putting profits before us, the people of New Zealand, and particularly those of us in seismically active Canterbury. We don't accept [the] response and the people here will continue to say 'no'.

"We are holding Frack Off – a peaceful protest and free concert, on March 25 and South Hagley Park will be the likely venue."

De Latour said people in Canterbury had enough to deal with already following the earthquakes and many people were simply too busy battling earthquake issues to be aware of plans to mine in the region.

"Texas company Anadarko will start deepsea drilling in the Canterbury Basin in October. They have a shocking environmental record, they were partners in the Deepwater Horizon spill, now they're coming here. Look at what happened with the Rena. What protection do we have?"

American geophysicist Michael Hastings, who has studied induced seismicity for 20 years, told a Christchurch public meeting in December 2011, that the "injection of fluids deep underground under huge pressure in the order of 7000 to 10,000 PSI [pounds per square inch] causes the rock to fracture, producing induced earthquakes.

"You basically need these earthquakes to produce the fracture system and permeability in reservoirs," he said. "Most are too small to feel at the surface."

But he said: "Fracking can cause large earthquakes in seismically active areas. If you're injecting high-pressure fluids into a fault or near a fault that is active and near failure – that's stressed to the point where it's near to going – the fluids can lubricate the fault and cause it to slip."

He said it has happened before, citing an example in Colorado at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

"There they were injecting fluids along a fault over a period of a few years and they noticed increased seismicity in the area. On August 9, 1967, they had a magnitude 5.5 event." The project was shut down as a result.

Paul Siratovich, a lecturer in the Geological Sciences Department at the University of Canterbury, has worked extensively in the petroleum industry.

He is wary of the risks of induced seismicity.

"I have worked in the petroleum industry as a geologist, completion engineer, reservoir engineer and project developer.

"I worked on frack wells in Illinois, Colorado... what we were doing was drilling horizontal wells at least one kilometre to one-and-half kiliometres deep.

"I never had an incident of induced seismicity but there is documented evidence of it, proven in a geothermal setting. In operations in Pennsylvania and Ohio, fracking generated seismicity.

"Would that be an issue for Canterbury? Definitely. The crust here is stressed already."

Siratovich said that any operator proposing to drill in Canterbury would need to "rigorously adhere to standards".

Heatley's letter to Parker says: "Since 2003, approximately 30 wells have been fracked in New Zealand, and all these fracking operations have been conducted without incident, seismic or otherwise."

He was unable to tell The Press whether these 30 wells, in the Taranaki and Waikato regions, had been fracked using traditional vertical drilling processes or using what the oil and gas industry calls "unconventional oil play"– horizontal drilling.

In Ngaere, near Stratford, some residents on land bordering the Tag Oil Cheal well sites have said they believe their water is being contaminated by the oil-drilling operations.

Documents released to The Press show drilling chemicals leaked from the Cheal oil well between two and four years ago. Taranaki Regional Council has said no water sources were contaminated, but residents' fears remain.

L&M Energy has made applications to investigate five areas of the South Island for gas extraction, totalling 26,279 kilometres, including two permits, one of which has been granted, covering significant areas of the Canterbury Plains and eastern foothills.

Its company report of June 2011 indicated it was looking at shale gas extraction by way of fracking, however, L&M Energy recently stated it does not currently have any plans to use fracking.

Because of earthquake-damaged infrastructure, Christchurch is currently under water restrictions.

The region lost its biggest reservoir, the 32,000-cubic-metre Huntsbury reservoir, after the February earthquake. It has been replaced with two smaller reservoirs that have a total volume of about 13,000cu m.

Water is an essential component during both the drilling and fracking process.

In the United States, drilling one well requires between 300 to 3000 cubic metres of water, and fracking that same well requires an average of 22,000 cubic metres per well, per frack job.

John Pfahlert, chief executive of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Association, said in a statement that the chemicals used by frackers in New Zealand include: biocides, antifreeze, glutaraldehyde [commonly used to disinfect medical and dental equipment] and guar gum [a water-soluble fibre that acts as a bulk forming laxative, it's used in icecream to help maintain texture].

A position paper released by resources lobby group Straterra, together with Solid Energy and Pepanz, states: "There has never been water contamination in New Zealand as a result of fracking, or an oil and gas operation generally."

Heatley told The Press he rejected the people of Canterbury's call for a moratorium on fracking because he has "full confidence in the ability of councils to manage it".

Under the Crown Minerals Act, the minister of energy gives approval for hydrocarbon exploration and production work programmes but does not deal with the environmental effects of fracking, or approvals/consents required under the Resource Management Act.

These matters fall to regional and district councils.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) does not have specific regional plan policies or rules for fracking but does have policies and rules that would apply to fracking activities.

In a briefing paper on fracking in the Canterbury context, ECan noted potential risks around: groundwater and surface water resources, including drinking water; seismic risk and air quality.

It believes that if wells are appropriately constructed, maintained and decommissioned then the risk of contamination of groundwater could be kept to very low levels.

It currently has no applications from parties wishing to undertake fracking in Canterbury.

Jan Wright, independent Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, told The Press she was undertaking scoping work into fracking.

"Some scoping work is under way in my office. This will help me decide whether to do a full investigation into fracking. Examining the consenting processes for fracking is part of this scoping work."