Fracturing of rock using water and pressure to release gas has been long used in conventional gas wells, but to get gas trapped in hard shale rocks, a new combination of techniques began to be used about 15 years ago. Wells are drilled horizontally for many kilometres, and massive volumes of water, sand and toxic/carcinogenic chemicals under enormous pressures are used. Thousands of wells are eventually drilled, creating an industrialized landscape.
There are now over 1,300 scientific studies, journalistic investigations and government regulatory reports on every aspect of shale gas extraction. The overwhelming majority of them substantiate the threats that the industry poses towards public health, water and the environment, and climate change. At the same time, the industry’s promise of jobs and riches has proven to be an empty one to all but a few.
(Download pdf of Quick Facts for sharing)
A continually growing number of studies have associated fracking and other shale gas extraction processes with cancer and serious health threats to almost every system in our bodies. Expectant mothers and infants seem especially vulnerable to premature birth, low birth weights, and congenital heart and brain defects. Risks for childhood leukemia, asthma and other respiratory diseases increase. Many of the chemicals used in fracking can disrupt our hormone systems, and cause developmental and reproductive problems lasting a lifetime. Reviewers of all the medical research have stated that they can see no way for the industry to operate safely as regards public health.
Read More:
- Health-Canada-Potential-Health-Hazards-from-Shale-Gas (2012)
- Chief Medical Officer of Health’s Recommendations Concerning Shale Gas Development in New Brunswick (2012)
- Environmental Impacts of Shale Gas Development, Council of Canadian Academies Study (2014)
- New Research Documents Fracking’s Health Effects on Workers and Communities (October 20, 2014)
- Evaluating the effects of living with contamination from the lens of trauma: Case Study of Fracking in Alberta, (28 July 2017)
- Study: Benzene byproducts found in pregnant women near BC fracking sites, (Nov 2017)
Cost of living increases, as do rents, which impacts low income families and seniors. Stress on health care systems increase. Property values decrease, and getting mortgages or insurance may prove difficult. Farming, fishing, hunting, tourism and agriculture suffer losses. Shale gas is a boom-bust economy that leaves areas worse off.
Read more:
- “How shale gas extraction affects drilling localities: Lessons for regional and city policy makers.” Christopherson, Susan and Ned Rightor (2012).
- Heavy Fraffic Video
A single well pad requires thousands of heavy truck trips, operating 24/7. These trucks compete with regular traffic for road space. Damage to roads and bridges can reach to billions of dollars, and taxpayers are often stuck with a portion of that bill. The destroyed roads impact everything from emergency vehicles to school buses to normal community life. Traffic accidents and fatalities increase significantly.
Read More:
Methane, fracking fluids and other drilling chemicals have been documented as entering waterways via leaking wells, spills, pipeline breaks, well blowouts, truck accidents and floods. In addition to rendering water wells undrinkable and causing illnesses, contaminated waters have killed farm animals, wildlife, fish, vegetation and have left farmlands unusable.
Read More:
- Shale Gas: How Often Do Fracked Wells Leak? (The Tyee, Jan 2013)
- Fracking Contamination ‘Will Get Worse’: Alberta Expert – (The Tyee, Dec 2011)
- Alberta research shows fracking fluids cause ‘significant’ harm to fish (24 Jan 2017, CBC) “The real risk comes from the disposal process, where (companies) have to truck it to a new site or pipeline it to a new site,” Goss said Tuesday. His paper notes that Alberta has experienced more than 2,500 such spills between 2011 and 2014.
Many studies have linked airborne illnesses to density and nearness of gas wells, some documenting problems up to 4km from wells. Because airborne pollution can be inhaled, swallowed, and also reach the skin, it has emerged as one of the primary public health concerns. Other shale gas chemicals have created ground-level ozone over 300 km from the source, aggravating asthma, respiratory diseases and causing irreparable lung damage.
Read More:
- Saskatchewan gave no public warnings about pollution. But new research shows an air quality indicator that was ‘off the chart’ (Oct 2018)
- Methane Leaks from Energy Wells Affects Groundwater, Travels Great Distances, Study Confirms (, The Tyee)
- Hydraulic fracturing (fracking): social and environmental costs in Alberta
- Fracking Fumes: Air Pollution from Hydraulic Fracturing Threatens Public Health and Communities (Dec 2014)
Methane, the main ingredient in natural gas is 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2). Because large amounts leak into the atmosphere from every stage of shale gas development, transport and usage, shale gas is considered to be one of the fastest growing causes of climate change and worse for the climate than burning coal.
Read More:
Fracking, on average, uses more than 28 times more water than it did 15 years ago, guzzling up to 9.6 million gallons of water per well. Each shale gas well pad can have up to 20 wells. Each well can be ‘fracked’ a dozen times or more. A developed gas field can have thousands of wells. The water needs are enormous and compete with society’s other needs for the water.
Read More:
- Mega-Fracking Brings Big Jump in Industry Water Use (30 Aug 2018, The Tyee)
- Central Alberta citizens band together to fight huge new water licence for fracking (30 Jan 2019, The Narwhal)
- Water Contamination from Fracking: BC’s LNG
- Risks to Water and Public Health from Unconventional Gas in B.C. (May 2018, Pembina Institute)
- Fracking in Alberta: daily quakes and thirsty residents (16 Jan 2016 Phys.org)
The vast amount of wastewater left after a frack is highly toxic and sometimes radioactive. Brine spills are a serious issue. There are no safe methods of disposal, and it cannot be safely used for other purposes.
Read More:
- Husky pipe leaks water used in oil production into river near Turtleford, Sask (19 Jul 2018, CBC)
- 121 salt water leaks from Sask. oil industry since start of 2017 ( 25 July 2018, CBC)
- Alberta research shows fracking fluids cause ‘significant’ harm to fish (24 Jan 2017, CBC)
“The real risk comes from the disposal process, where (companies) have to truck it to a new site or pipeline it to a new site,” Goss said Tuesday. His paper notes that Alberta has experienced more than 2,500 such spills between 2011 and 2014.
Chemicals: Living near a shale gas well is to be a guinea pig in the largest uncontrolled chemical experiment in the world. And the people running it don’t have to tell you the chemicals to which you are being exposed. Roughly 650 chemicals are used in fracking and we have no information whatsoever of the health or environmental effects of half of them. Those that have been studied are associated with cancer and/or damage to the brain and nervous systems, immune and cardiovascular systems, kidneys, liver, eyes, skin, respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive system. There is no information how they react when mixed with each other or with naturally occurring toxic elements in the earth. The industry says the percentage of chemicals mixed with water is small, but a frack using 9 million gallons of water, of which only 1% is made up of chemicals, still results in 90,000 gallons of chemicals injected into the earth.
Read More:
- How slick water and black shale in fracking combine to produce radioactive waste (Dartmouth College, Sept 2018)
- Environmental Impacts of Natural Gas
- Compendium of the Risks and Harms Associated with Fracking
Both the disposal of wastewater and fracking itself have been identified as causing thousands of earthquakes, mostly small, but some large enough to cause property damage and injure people. Areas close to fault lines are particularly vulnerable. The earthquakes can continue long after the initial activity is over. In BC, Canada’s leading seismologist recommends prohibiting fracking within 5 km of hydroelectric dams.
Read More:
- Mega-Fracking in BC Linked to Earthquakes, Study Finds (18 Apr 2017, The Tyee)
- Fort St. John earthquakes were caused by fracking: BC Oil and Gas Commission (22 Dec 2018, CBC)
- Oil and Gas Commission Confirms Fracking Caused Earthquakes Felt by Hundreds (Dec 31, 2018, The Tyee)
With hardly an exception, shale gas companies are mired in debt and, with historically low prices for gas, have little hope for profit no matter how much gas they produce in order to pay their bills. Many have gone bankrupt and more will likely follow as the world moves away from fossil fuels. The poor economic state of the industry makes it more likely to flaunt regulations and safety.
Read More:
- Fracking in 2018: Another Year of Pretending to Make Money (Dec 18, 2018 Desmog)
- Nine-year losing streak continues for US fracking sector: Oil and gas output is rising but cash losses keep flowing (5 Dec 2018, Sightline Institute)
- Financial Red Flags for Fracking (17 Oct 2018, Sightline Institute)
- Oil bust on par with telecom crash of dot-com era – (Houston Chronicle, Sept 2016)
The gas industry has never been a source of many permanent jobs, especially when compared to clean energy and energy efficiency industries. But now, because the industry is in deep debt, they’re cutting costs by eliminating jobs and replacing people with machines. Automation means that experienced workers from elsewhere will fill the remaining specialized jobs. Locals will get temporary jobs such as truck drivers and security guards. Ironically, NB businesses already have many such job openings that they can’t fill.
Read More
- Oil Industry Plans to Keep Workers Safe—by Firing Them and Having Robots Do Their Jobs (19 Jul 2018, Desmog)
- Thousands of energy jobs lost to Alberta downturn are gone for good, economist says (Mar 7, 2018, CBC)
- Why Alberta’s economic ‘recovery’ feels so different this time (10 Jan 2018, CBC)
- Union outcry as automation eats up 400 oilsands jobs – and it’s just the beginning – (Global News Feb 2018)
- Oil bust on par with telecom crash of dot-com era – (Houston Chronicle, Sept 2016)
- Rise of the Machines: Fracking Execs Plan Profits by Using Automation to Shrink Workforce – (Desmog June 2018)
- Oil bust on par with telecom crash of dot-com era – (Houston Chronicle, Sept 2016)
The Alternatives:
- Oil and gas workers transitioning to clean energy (Iron and Earth, oil workers transitioning)
- Amid fading oil boom, Canada’s roughnecks seek green energy jobs– (Reuters, Aug 2017)
- One Million Climate Jobs: A Plan for a Sustainable and Equitable Economy (2017)
- Clean Energy Canada Report (34 job years for every $1 million invested) (2018)
- Research and modeling by the Acadia Centre: energy efficiency initiatives in NB could create between 22-51 job-years/$1Million of program spending. (2014)
- Vermont: 29% growth in clean energy industry since 2003; 12,000 full time jobs; 19,000 clean energy workers (1:16 Vermonters in CE jobs).
Places like Alberta and Saskatchewan already have many tens of thousands of abandoned wells, many of which were not closed down properly or at all, thus continuing to leak methane and toxic air and water. The auditor of Saskatchewan estimates this will cost $4 billion, while in Alberta the amount may be $260 billion. The industry was never asked to put aside anywhere near enough money to cover this, and because of the poor financial status of the industry many companies are bankrupt or nearly so. It’s likely that the federal government – meaning taxpayers – will have to bear some responsibility for this.
Read More:
- The silence on Alberta’s $260 billion environmental liability is deafening (13 Nov 2018, National Observer)
- Alberta’s Mega Oil and Gas Liability Crisis, Explained, (4 Feb 2019, The Tyee)
- Increase in inactive oil and gas wells could cost Saskatchewan $4B in future cleanup: auditor (8 June 0218, CBC)