Our speaker for August 23 - Jeff Coyner

Today we welcomed back former member, Jeff Coyner.  Jeff is currently an attorney at Greben and Associates in Santa Barbara practicing environmental law.  He gave a very informative presentation on the hot issue of fracking.

Fracking is a method of extracting oil, gas, and other substances from the earth.  First, a well is drilled thousands of feet into the earth before the drilling turns horizontal.  The effect is that the well is in the shape of an “L.”  Next, an explosive is detonated deep in the well.  Then, a fluid containing water, chemicals, and sand is forced through the well at a very high speed.  The fluid is called fracking fluid.  The fracking fluid causes the earth surrounding the well to fracture.  This fracturing allows the trapped oil, gas, and other substances to be removed from the earth. 

Several concerns have arisen that question the safety and environmental impact of fracking.  Fracking may possibly release methane which sometimes makes its way into the water supply.  As a result, you could literally set the water coming out of your home faucet on fire.  Although fracking may cause this, methane in the water lines often happens for other reasons.

Environmentalists are concerned with the effect of the fracking fluid.  Companies are not required to disclose what chemicals they use in the fluid.  The concern is that these chemicals will get into the ground water supply.  The companies that use fracking argue that the fracking takes place so far underground that the ground water will not be affected.  Scientists believe that over time, possibly many years, this fluid could make its way up to the surface and contaminate the ground water and land.

A potential solution is to completely ban fracking in the United States.  However, this could have negative consequences.  Companies would then mine these substances in other countries where regulations are few or nonexistent.  Some companies do not act responsibly without regulations.  There have been many oil spills in other countries that have never been properly cleaned up.   

It appears that fracking will be around for some time since the federal government seems to be purposely avoiding regulating fracking.  It will be up to each state to regulate the practice.

Thank you Jeff for helping us understand what fracking is and how it may be affecting the environment.

Deborah A. Perkins