Sand Use On The Rise For Fracking

Energy companies in West Virginia are starting to bolster the construction of their wells as a measure to protect the environment.

Citing a new research report by the consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, the Associated Press recently reported: "Energy companies are using more water and sand to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale in Marshall and Ohio counties."

Companies in those counties are using "10 million gallons of water for each project, along with 13 million pounds of sand. That's up from about 4 million gallons of water and 1 million pounds of sand a few years ago," the report said. 

Sand used in wells is up by almost 60 percent, the AP said, citing the report.

Corky Demarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, spoke to The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register about the findings.

"We are learning as we go along with this formation. I don't know that is going to change for a while. We are trying different things, especially in that wet area," Demarco said. "We are forcing more sand and more water in there to keep the cracks open."

Fracking proponents emphasize what they see as the practice's economic benefits.

"AAA reports gas prices will continue to fall at least for the next month or two. But why? Some say the freefall at the pump is because of an issue that continues to be a hot political issue: increased fracking, especially in Texas and North Dakota," WZZM recently reported.

A separate study, recently, touts the environmental soundness of fracking.

The study "exonerates fracking from the most serious environmental risks. The study blames the water contamination on leaky well shafts near the earth’s surface, not on the process of hydraulic fracturing itself, which takes place thousands of feet underground," The News & Observer reported.

Environmentalists and many policymakers have major concerns about fracking and its potential to harm water resources. At the moment, the states are taking vastly different approaches to the regulation of fracking, forging policies that could have a significant impact on water pollution across the country.

For more oil and gas news, check out Water Online's Produced Water Solution Center.