Halliburton executive drinks fracing fluid at conference
BY CATHERINE TSAI
DENVER -- An energy company executive's sip of fracking fluid at an
industry conference this month has been called a demonstration by
some and a stunt by others, but it's bringing attention to new
recipes for
hydraulic fracturing
fluids that in the past have contained chemicals commonly used
for antifreeze or bleaching hair.
During a keynote lunch speech at the conference presented by the
Colorado Oil and Gas Association, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar
talked about addressing public concerns about
hydraulic fracturing, which extracts
natural gas by blasting a mix of water, chemicals and sand
underground.
He raised a container of Halliburton's new
fracking fluid made from materials sourced from the food
industry, then called up a fellow executive to demonstrate how safe
it was by drinking it, according to two attendees.
The executive mocked reluctance, then took a swig.
What he drank was apparently CleanStim, which when Halliburton
announced it in November was undergoing field trials. A Halliburton
spokeswoman didn't respond to a question asking how that executive
is doing now, or who he is. Instead, she referred a reporter to a
web page on CleanStim. The Houston company, which has operations in
about 80 countries, has said the product shouldn't be considered
edible.
"I thought if this stuff was so benign, why wouldn't the CEO drink
it himself? That frankly was my first thought," said Environmental
Defense Fund's Mark Brownstein, who saw the demonstration. "My
second thought, more seriously, is on the one hand, I'm pleased to
see Halliburton is taking steps to remove toxic chemicals from
hydraulic fracturing fluid. I wonder why if they have this
technology why it wouldn't become standard practice.
"I also do in some ways think the stunt is very much indicative of
the problem the industry has in assuring the public that they are in
fact taking public concerns seriously," Brownstein said. "Because
quite honestly, a homeowner in Pennsylvania doesn't have the option
of having an underling drink his water. He has to do it himself."
Roughly 90 percent of wells in the U.S. are
fracked, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission.
Each component of fracking fluid does something different, such as
killing bacteria or preventing corrosion. As fracturing evolves,
engineers have found other substances besides synthetic chemicals to
perform those functions, said Colorado State University
environmental engineering professor Ken Carlson, who also attended
the conference.
"The thing I took away is the industry is stepping up to plate
and taking these concerns seriously," Carlson said. "Halliburton is
showing they can get the same economic benefits or close to that by
putting a little effort into reformulating the
fluids."
Companies have resisted disclosing exact recipes for fracking fluid
for competitive reasons, and those who voluntarily post disclosures
on a public online registry called FracFocus can exclude some
chemicals.
Halliburton's website lists CleanStim's ingredients as enzyme,
exthoxylated sugar-based fatty acid ester, inorganic and organic
acids, inorganic salt, maltodextrin, organic ester, partially
hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysaccharide polymer and sulfonated
alcohol.
Brownstein said using ingredients from the food industry won't
necessarily make a fracking fluid safe for drinking water. "Salt is
a food-grade ingredient, but if you have too much salt in your well
water, your well water is not usable," Brownstein said.
Still Carlson said it was a good sign that Halliburton and others
have introduced
fracking
fluids that they say are safer for the environment for reasons
such as using biodegradable ingredients or allowing for less water
use.
03/26/2012
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