May 5, 2012

Don't Frack the World

By Chris Landau

Fracking is not about worrying about what chemicals they put in. It is about worrying about what the released oil and gas is doing to our health, our children's lives and our lands and crops.Fracking is about drinking oily water, more earthquakes, gas explosions and polluted lands and inedible crops.

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Don't Frack the World

By Chris Landau

Fracking is about drinking oily water, more earthquakes, gas explosions and polluted lands and  inedible crops.

Fracking is  CRACKING AND FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION   of carbonaceous shale and coal in the Earth.

Fracking is polluting our well and spring water and it will increase earthquakes wherever it is done.

Fracking is not about worrying about what chemicals they put in. It is about worrying about what the released oil and gas is doing to our health, our children's lives and our lands and crops.

What is Fracking?  Fracking or FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION is the chemical conversion of carbonaceous shale and coal to gas and oil by CRACKING (breaking long chain hydrocarbons, cyclohexanes and aromatics into shorter carbon chains like methane, propane, pentanes decanes) and then fractionally distilling, (the separation of these shorter chain compounds by density and boiling points into various  chemical compounds).

Normally this is done in a large industrial chemical refinery plant, where all the compounds from crude oil are separated into the lighter fractions, the heavier oils and finally, the waxes, greases and tar or asphalt solid fractions. It is a controlled environment where leakage is kept to a minimum.

Releasing hydrocarbons on a large scale like in The Gulf Oil Spill, results in fines and bad publicity. So what is the oil and gas industry doing?

Instead of digging coal or carbonaceous shale out of the ground, crushing it and separating it in a  in a Chemical Fractionation Distillation plant, the oil and gas industry are separating it in the earth on site (in situ) and just taking out the lighter fractions of gas and oil. The longer chain waxes and greases, tars and aromatics that will not break down are being left behind in the Earth.

You may ask, what is wrong with that?

There are three major problems in this uncontrolled high pressure chemical conversion of the solid hydrocarbons that are close to the surface.

They are:

1)       Ground water and spring water pollution by liquid hydrocarbons.

When the drilling industry applies hydraulic pressure and chemicals to the carbonaceous shales and coals, not only do they break and chemically convert these formations, they break up the surrounding rock which acted to keep the liquid and gas volatiles beneath the surface. Now being lighter than water the natural gas and liquids, make their way to the surface though the different layers of rock and soil, contaminating each groundwater horizon until these hydrocarbons get pumped out of our wells or make their way out in springs into our rivers.

Fracking is not only done in deep wells but where it is most harmful is when it is done on the shallow carbonaceous shale and coal layers. These layers are often within our groundwater horizons or just below it, as the coal and carbonaceous shale layers are not deep down as with conventional oil and gas wells.

2)       Release of Methane, Ethane, Propane and Butane or natural gas into our wells and drinking water, an explosive risk.

The natural gas can accumulate in our basements and cause explosions or suffocation if in a high enough concentration when travelling though our soil, sewer and water pipes.

3)       Increasing Earthquakes

Water and oil are lubricants which help accentuate natural movement in the soil and rock. So by lubricating all the small fractures and fault zones, a small tremor becomes an earthquake and a small earthquake becomes a large one.

All that I can understand from all this crazy destruction of the Earth is that we must hate our children a lot and hope that that they truly live in hell one day. We are going about it the right way.

I know the oil industry will not stop, because they are greedy, mad and blind, so it is up to us to stop this insane one way dash into self destruction.

To the oil industry, I have only this to say, "Have a cup of oil with your breakfast each morning."

You will be drinking it much sooner than you think.

I predict vast destruction within 5 to 10 years of our well and stream drinking water and much more massive earthquakes and natural gas explosions in our water pipelines and in our houses.

I predict large scale destruction of our soils through irrigating with oily waters. Crops from the USA will not be wanted within 20 years because they will be so contaminated and the world will boycott importation of our food.

To the "Greedy mad and blind, drink deep; the slippery slope has begun."

So, Farmers when you tremble in your bed at night, will that be because you are sick from the oily water or is it just the ground shaking as the tremors begin?

Farmers, stand together, if you care about your land. No more fracking here.  

Don't Frack the World!  

Chris Landau (geologist)

May 5, 2012

I was born in South Africa in 1958. I came to the USA with my wife and three daughters in 2003. We became US citizens in 2009 and 2010. My wife Susan is a Special Education English Teacher. She also has a bachelor's degree in Micro anatomy and biochemistry. I have two daughters at university and one at school. I am very lucky to be surrounded by such talented women. They all love creative writing, poetry and cats. I am a vegetarian and enjoy growing trees, vegetables and plants from seed. My interests lie in astronomy, meteorology, geology and biology. In astronomy I am interested in dimensions, the speed of electromagnetic radiation in different density conditions, redshift, magnetism associated with rings of planets and stars, black holes and contracting galaxies and the expansion and contraction of the universe. In September 2010 I presented three new concepts on our Earth, our Sun and the planets and stars that surround us. The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) published my ideas on October 4, 2010 on Planetary-Spin heat relationships, Jupiter-Saturn-Solar Tidal-Sunspot coupling and Planetary-Solar alternating magnetic fields. The paper can be found at the AIPG website at: http://www.aipg.org/Events/mtg_proceedings/2010annmtg/Landau, Chris.pdf In meteorology, my interests lie in long-range hourly weather timing predictions through tidal forces for both convectional and cyclonic rainfall. In geology, my interests are in the inorganic origin of oil, gas and coal, under reducing conditions, through hydrogen sulfide and water acting on carbon dioxide and calcareous formations. My chemical and thermodynamic equations to prove how this occurred have been published. As a geologist, I delivered two peer reviewed presentations to prove the theory, one to the Association of Engineering and Environmental Geologists in 2008 (AEG). http://www.aegweb.org/files/public/abstracts.pdf, page 17. The other was to The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) in October 2009. See page 93 of the Proceedings. http://www.aipg.org/Events/mtg_proceedings/2009annmtg/2009proceedings.pdf These publications include methods of carbon capture that help generate new energy and make carbon dioxide a reusable resource. My other interests are in large-scale earthquake fault lines and the interaction between continental drift and past big meteorite impacts and the unrecognized planetary impact sites. I enjoy growing my own vegetable and fruit crops and hope to be self-sufficient one day. I hope that the world will one day all be vegetarians. I believe we can only truly respect our selves and the other animals if we do not see them as a food source. No human being likes the thought of being eaten by animals. Let us all stop raising domestic animals for food. I would like to see the oil, gas and coal being recycled daily, so no carbon dioxide or other pollutants are released into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide can be reduced back to methane under reducing conditions. Solar power should be stepped up in a huge way to create clean renewable energy for the world. Desalination of seawater by solar power is the long-term solution to our water needs and our food production. Education to limit global population growth is vital to have sustainable resources for the world and its animals. I hope one day to see the end of war as a profitable business. I hope to provide solutions in a practical and academic fashion. I look forward to mutually beneficial relationships that exploit neither party. Chris Landau April 5 2010.