1he Marce||us Sha|e gas: D|s|ngenuous th|nk|ng about |ts Lnv|ronmenta| Iootpr|nt

1erry Lnge|der, rofessor of Geosc|ence, 1he ennsy|van|a State Un|vers|ty

1he explolLaLlon of naLural resources ofLen spawns Lwo camps, Lhe lndusLrlallsLs and Lhe
envlronmenLallsLs, each affllcLed wlLh dlslngenuous Lhlnklng. 1he blgger Lhe resource, Lhe more
dlslngenuous Lhe Lhlnklng! ln ennsylvanla, Lhe Marcellus gas shale ls one of Lhe blggesL ever. ln an
Aprll 13
Lh
A sLory abouL ennsylvanla uL shuLLlng down CaboL Cll and Cas's drllllng operaLlon ln Lhe
ulmock, A, area, a CaboL spokesman sald, "lL [usL lsn'L sclenLlflcally falr Lo say ln any shorL perlod of
Llme LhaL CaboL's acLlvlLles dld or dld noL cause Lhe meLhane ln Lhe groundwaLer." 1hls sLaLemenL does
noL shlne Lhe besL posslble llghL on CaboL for a couple of reasons. Whlle lL ls Lrue LhaL meLhane seepage
lnLo groundwaLer ls a naLural phenomenon LhroughouL much of ennsylvanla, drllllng acLlvlLy ls known
Lo acceleraLe Lhls process. Many prlvaLe waLer wells ln A have dlssolved meLhane and people drlnk Lhls
waLer all Lhe Llme wlLh no lll effecL, mosL probably don'L reallze Lhey are consumlng meLhane. lf Lhe
volume of dlssolved meLhane ls near saLuraLlon ln groundwaLer (a common evenL), lL can exsolve and
collecL ln pockeLs of free gas when underground pressure ls released by waLer pumps LhaL are noL
properly venLed. A pockeL of free gas may have exploded ln an lmproperly venLed well houslng wlLhln
1300 feeL of CaboL 8aker #1 well ln Lhe ulmock area on !anuary 1, 2009.
AL enn SLaLe, my colleagues and sLudenLs are heavlly lnvolved ln geologlcal research focused on Lhe
Marcellus gas shale ln ennsylvanla. ln Lhe course of our research, we have drllled lnLo pockeLs of
meLhane gas aL depLhs anywhere beLween 300 and 2000 feeL. When such a pockeL ls peneLraLed by Lhe
drlll blL, gas rushes up Lhe well Lo Lhe surface, blowlng foamlng whlLe waLer ouL of Lhe well. Mllky-
colored waLer ls whaL 14 famllles ln Lhe ulmock area have descrlbed ln Lhelr waLer wells. Cas exsolvlng
from waLer ls Lhe same phenomenon as CC
2
exsolvlng from a epsl as lL drlves Lhe sLlcky soda ouL of a
boLLle when Lhe Lop ls popped afLer shaklng. Cur research on Lhe Marcellus aL enn SLaLe ls supporLed
by nearly a dozen leaders ln Lhe gas shale lndusLry. More Lhan one of Lhese companles have engaged us
ln Lrylng Lo solve problems assoclaLed wlLh drllllng Lhrough and lsolaLlng shallow gas pockeLs uslng well-
cemenLed caslng. l flnd lL dlslngenuous LhaL CaboL can deny culpablllLy, when oLher lndusLry leaders
have recognlzed Lhe problem and are proacLlvely worklng wlLh enn SLaLe Lo solve lL. under Lhe
leadershlp of SecreLary Panger, Lhe ennsylvanla uL ls also worklng very hard wlLh lndusLry Lo make
sure LhaL groundwaLer ls proLecLed and Lhe CaboL shuLdown ls clear evldence of Lhls. ?eL, an
envlronmenLallsL recenLly wroLe a long leLLer Lo Lhe CenLre ually 1lmes (SLaLe College, A) sLaLlng LhaL
So Lhese Lwo enLlLles - gas drlllers and uL regulaLors - can and do desLroy communlLles and
ecosysLems, even when Lhe people ln Lhose places don'L wanL Lo be desLroyed and say so." 1hls ls an
equally dlslngenuous sLaLemenL from Lhe oLher slde.
Cne of Lhe sharpesL maLLers of conLenLlon ls wheLher or noL addlLlves from deep hydraullc fracLurlng
can and do mlgraLe upward Lhrough several Lhousand feeL Lo conLamlnaLe groundwaLer wlLhln hours or
days of years of fracLure sLlmulaLlon ln Lhe Marcellus. lndusLry clalms LhaL Lhere have been beLween
one and Lwo mllllon hydraullc fracLure sLlmulaLlons wlLhouL a slngle reporL of such addlLlves mlgraLlng
from depLh Lo conLamlnaLe ground waLer. 1here are a number of reasons lnvolvlng Lhe physlcs of
groundwaLer flow LhaL add credlblllLy Lo Lhe lndusLrlal slde of Lhls debaLe. Surface spllls are an enLlrely
dlfferenL lssue buL Lhese are relaLlvely easy Lo manage. A recenL blog from an envlronmenLallsL polnLs
Lo four cases ln ennsylvanla buL Mckean CounLy case was a clear case of meLhane mlgraLlon from
shallow pockeLs, noL deep hydraullc fracLurlng. 1he WashlngLon CounLy clalm lnvolved Lhe appearance
of arsenlc aL 2600 Llmes Lhe LA levels for safe drlnklng waLer. Arsenlc ls noL an addlLlve ln fracLure
sLlmulaLlon. lL boLh cases Lhere ls no physlcal llnk Lo deep hydraullc fracLurlng. Lqually dlslngenuous ls
one of my academlc colleagues ln a presLlglous unlverslLy ln new ?ork who recenLly wroLe LhaL
explolLaLlon of meLhane from Lhe Marcellus ls comparable Lo burnlng coal when lL comes Lo
aLmospherlc loadlng wlLh greenhouse gases. 8elaLlvely slmple algebra can show LhaL Lhls ls slmply noL
Lhe case. 1he Marcellus shale ls Loo lmporLanL Lo Amerlca's energy fuLure Lo be solled by dlslngenuous
Lhlnklng from elLher slde. 1he Marcellus ls a glfL Lo Lhe people of ennsylvanla, Lhe largesL opporLunlLy
LhaL ennsylvanla wlll ever know Lo move away from dependence on forelgn oll and move Loward a fuel
wlLh a smaller global warmlng fooLprlnL. lL ls an opporLunlLy LhaL musL lnvolve clear Lhlnklng on boLh
sldes wlLh Lhe A uL refereelng Lhe blggesL 'fooLball' game ever played ln Lhe sLaLe. Carpe ulem
ennsylvanla!

Llnk Lo A sLory:

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Speaker 8io:

1erry Lnge1der, a 1eadng authorty on the recent Marce11us gas sha1e
p1ay, ho1ds degrees 1rom enn State 8.S. {'68), Ya1e M.S. {'72) and
1exas ^&M, h.0. {'72). ue s current1y a ro1essor o1 6eoscences at
enn State and has prevous1y served on the sta11s o1 the uS
6eo1ogca1 Survey, 1exaco, and Co1umba unversty. Short-term
academc appontments nc1ude those o1 vstng ro1essor at 6raz
unversty n ^ustra and vstng ro1essor at the unversty o1
eruga n 1ta1y. 0ther academc dstnctons nc1ude a Iu1brght Senor
Ie11owshp n ^ustra1a, enn State's W1son 0stngushed 1eachng ^ward,
membershp n a uS earth scence de1egaton to vst the Sovet unon mmedate1y
1o11owng uxon-8rezhnev dtente, and the sngu1ar honor o1 he1png Wa1ter
^1varez co11ect the samp1es that 1ed to the 1amous theory 1or dnosaur extncton
by 1arge meteorte mpact. ue has wrtten 1S0 research papers, many 1ocused on
^ppa1acha, and a book, the research monograph "Stress 8egmes n the
lthosphere". 1n the nternatona1 arena, he has worked on exp1oraton and
producton prob1ems wth companes nc1udng Saud ^ramco, 8oya1 0utch She11,
1ota1, ^gp, and etrobras.