As earthquakes continue to shake the nation and Oklahoma, one Norman-based group wants to encourage education and research on a socially and earth-fissuring topic.
The fracking forum panel convened a public event, Dec. 1, to stimulate constructive dialogue between Norman citizens and earth and energy professionals, offering in-depth knowledge about hydraulic fracturing and the policies that regulate it.
The presenter for the forum, Todd Halihan, is a hydrogeology and hydrogeophysics professor at Oklahoma State University who believes that, despite fracking’s importance, people ignore its issues.
"Basic knowledge of what is happening under our feet is very low in the United States, and especially in a state with so much going on," Halihan said.
In Oklahoma, knowledge on hydraulic fracturing and other processes used by the oil and natural gas industry are especially important because of the prevalence of oil and gas industry in the state, specialists say.
"The petroleum industry is significant for the local economy and has been historically," said Ahmad Ghassemi, the McCasland chair professor at the University of Oklahoma's Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering.
Ghassemi said petroleum is a major product in Oklahoma, and residents should be concerned with how it's produced and its general impact on the sate.
Ghassemi also believes it is important for OU students to be aware of what goes on at their school and how the research and knowledge gained from the university impact the process worldwide. The Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological Engineering on OU's campus was one of the first schools of petroleum geology, according to its web page.
Plus, regions of Oklahoma, along with several other states, have the highest number of hydraulic fracturing oil and gas wells in the nation, according to a map by the Post Carbon Institute.
However, the question for many Oklahomans still remains: what is fracking?
What the frack is fracking?
To start, "fracking" represents a geological and engineering process; it is not a term used in place of the f-word. In fact, the word "fracking" is a bit of a butchered terminology for the real process — hydraulic fracturing.
Simply put, hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting water, chemicals and sand into the earth's crust at high pressures to release oil and gas from the rock layers, Ghassemi said.
While water, sand, some chemicals and pressure are essentially the makings of a chemically treated sandcastle, for hydraulic fracking the materials are used to penetrate rock layers, usually made from shale, to force oil and gas product out and through a well at the surface, Ghassemi said.
Did you just feel that?
The most noticeable and obvious effect of fracking in Oklahomans appears to be an increase in seismic activity.
Though earthquakes were not scientifically recorded before the 1970s, the difference between a seismic risk map in 2008 and one in 2013 show a definite increase in seismic activity, Halihan said.
"The Central U.S. was pretty boring. Now there is a basically exponential increase in activity," he said.
However, the process of fracking itself does not cause seismic activity.
Most of the seismic activity comes once a well has been fractured, Ghassemi said. The released waste water from fracturing is injected into an "injection well," and tremors can occur when the pressure builds in these wells, he said.
The missing link
The business of linking the increased seismicity with oil and gas operation has proven difficult, however, Halihan said. It's a "data-poor environment" that lacks a foolproof "black box" like those used in airplanes to determine the cause of crashes, he said.
Recent studies and cases have proven "beyond a reasonable doubt" that pressure changes due to oil and gas activities can cause an increase in seismic activity, even activity consistent with the recent seismic experiences in Oklahoma, Halihan said.
However, the idea lacks consensus. Ghassemi, for one, doubts that recent operations could cause the seismic activity.
"A lot of these occurrences are from around old [injection] wells drilled a long time ago," Ghassemi said. "They are defective and not like the current state-of-the-art wells. Usually they are improperly plugged and abandoned."
The environmental hit
Other areas of concern include air and water pollution.
Though wastewater leaking upward into groundwater from the wells is unlikely, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, dumping and leaks at the surface are not.
In 2012, the EPA finalized regulations to limit gas emission from the oil and gas industry on the basis on the Clean Air Act, according to the EPA’s website.
Though the EPA has begun researching and regulating water and gas emissions through fines and policy, it shares regulatory responsibilities with states.
"Oklahoma isn't known for being regulatory," Halihan said when asked about current state policy.
The cost of knowledge
Whatever opinions are on fracking, many believe there should be more research done on the practice. However, the cost of drilling an injection well for research purposes can start at $1.5 million, Halihan said.
Limiting or ceasing drilling can also be costly, affecting the local economy and oil and gas production.
The oil and gas industry also creates jobs, according to the Council of Foreign Relations. As the leading fracking country in the world, the U.S. has seen an approximately 55 percent increase in oil production between April 2011 and June 2014, according the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Overall energy costs have dropped, too, as natural gas seems to be replacing coal as a resource, according to a study published in Electricity Journal.
Norman’s role
The Norman Fracking Forum is a grass-roots initiative formed by people with common interests and concerns about the effects of fracking on the environment, said Cynthia Rogers, an OU economics professor and member of the forum's steering committee.
"The forum advocates for education and research both on the process of fracking and the policies that regulate it," Rogers said.
Norman is also home to Oklahomans Against Fracking, a group that aims to "stop horizontal drilling and waste water injection in Oklahoma," according to its Facebook page, which is filled with information and photos of drilling in Norman.
Casey Holcomb, and administrator for the group, urges people to become members of the informal group, attend the fracking forum and ask speakers their fracking-related questions, he said.
For information on future discussions and meetings, call or text (405) 492-7522, or look for their groups, FrackingForum and Oklahomans Against Fracking, on Facebook.
