popnperish and 579

Again we have examples of activists believing any nonsense at all other activists spout, provided that it coincides with their beliefs.. this stuff about propane and additional seismic activity is marginal at best.. barely detectable with sophisticated equipment, and you seriously present these stories as valid reasons for staying away from a useful technology.

Shame on you.

I note that 'Tree-hugging environmentalists' conveniently ignore the fact that their beloved geothermal energy uses exactly the same technology.

There is a big difference between fraccing shallow coal seams that lie within drinking water supply aquifers and do have the potential to contaminate such water, and fracking rocks kilometres below ground that lie in a different geological siutation altogether.

Fraccing has been going on for 40 years or more, at here in Australia, and some regional perspectives are important when making comment on it.

The article gives no indication of whether the deposits to be fracked in Poland are shallow or deep, and what the geological context is. This makes a huge difference in the risks to the environment. It's poor journalism. Is the shale 2-3km deep? Does it have impermeable layers above it to isolate the layers being fracked? Or is the fraccing going to take place at shallow levels?

This article leaves way too many gaps and unanswered questions to make any sensible comment on Poland's fraccing.

Curmudgeon
I'm not opposed to fracking per se if it can be done in a non-harmful way but the reality is that it has contaminated groundwater and caused minor earthquakes. I'm not sure how disturbing the latter are but certainly contaminated groundwater has caused health problems in the US (see the movie Gaslands)where fracking has occurred. If propane can replace the huge amount of water, fine, but when I read a Reuters report on it, this is what it said: Richard Spears, a leading oilfield services adviser to the petroleum industry and a former Halliburton Co engineer, said using liquefied petroleum gas, or propane, makes perfect sense from a technical point of view...(however)...

"As a former frack engineer, I get the willies when I think about getting anywhere near a frack that is flammable," he said. "When it catches fire, it doesn't burn nicely."

By the way, Curmudgeon, play the ball and not the man will you? People who do that (ad hominem argument) are simply indicating they're incapable of rational debate.