For Fracking:China has recently committed to reducing carbon
emissions and peaking by 2030 at the APEC conferences, how are they
supposed to reach these targets without looking at alternative,
clean resources.
For an equivalent amount of heat, burning natural gas produces
about 30 per cent less carbon dioxide than burning petroleum and
about 45 per cent less than burning coal. - Burning natural gas is
cleaner than oil or gasoline, and it emits half as much carbon
dioxide, less than one-third the nitrogen oxides, and 1 percent as
much sulfur oxides as coal combustion.
Against Fracking: Sinopec Primary energy source, growing pie
problem
But not all shale gas makes it to the fuel tank or power plant.
The methane that escapes during the drilling process, and later as
the fuel is shipped via pipelines, is a significant greenhouse gas.
At least one scientist, Robert Howarth at Cornell University, has
calculated that methane losses could be as high as 8 percent.
Nationwide, there are only about 3500 service stations (out of
120,000) that offer natural gasbased automotive fuel, and it would
cost billions of dollars and take years to develop sufficient
infrastructure to make that fuel competitive with gasoline or
diesel
On China, In the wake of the accident, an official from the
Ministry of Environmental Protectionsaid, "The areas where shale
gas is abundant in China are already ecologically fragile, crowded,
and have sensitive groundwater. The impact cannot yet be
estimated."
Fracking is a suspect in polluted drinking water in Arkansas,
Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming,
where residents have reported changes in water quality or quantity
following fracturing operations.
Unlike what happened in the United States, the Energy
Information Administration's future projections of China's energy
demand suggest that in 2040, coal will continue to dominate while
natural gas, even with a golden era, will fuelonly 8 percentof
demand. "The whole pie is growing so rapidly that you still see a
very carbon-intensive mix," saysRachel Cleetus, a senior economist
at theUnion of Concerned Scientists.
On China:
Focus turned to shale gas in 2009, when President Obama and
then-President Hu Jintaoannounced an agreementto develop China's
immense resources. The partnership set the stage for companies in
both countries to forge deals worth tens of billions of
dollars.Scientists wrote in the medical journal The Lancetthat
ambient particulate matter, generated mostly by cars and the
country's3,000 coal-fired power plants,killed 1.2 million Chinese
peoplein 2010.
By current estimates from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, China's shale-gas resources are thelargest in the
world, 1.7 times those in the United States.
shale-gas production has been up to 40 percent cheaperand
geopolitically more desirablethan importing gas in China.
In China's early wells, wastewater is often dumped directly into
streams and rivers. If frackingmost of which takes place in China's
breadbasketcontaminates water or soil, Tian argues, it could
jeopardize the nation's food supply. In aseismically active
arealike Sichuan, leaks are a major concern: Even a small
earthquakewhich,emerging evidence suggests, wastewater injection
could triggermight compromise a well's anti-leak system, causing
more pollution. In the past year alone, more than 30 earthquakes
were recorded in the Sichuan area.
In the US:
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