The water-diamond valuation paradox from Econ. 101 is back, only this time it’s water versus natural gas.
    
Acclaimed expert on hydraulic fracturing, Rob Jackson, joined UT faculty and students for a discussion on “Shale Gas and Its Environmental Footprint” Thursday. Jackson is a professor of biology at Duke University, specializing in terrestrial ecosystems and biogeochemistry.
    
Matt Murray, director of the Baker Center, welcomed the large crowd to the Toyota Auditorium.
    
The crowd that came to hear Jackson’s lecture extended out into the hallway outside of the auditorium.
    
“This environmental series has been a success because of its ability to pull in people from so many different disciplines,” Murray said.
   
 Theresa Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, introduced Jackson.
   
 “(Jackson) has a long list of titles,” Lee said. “He is no stranger to our area, participating in events both here at UT and ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory). His papers primarily explore the relationship between people and the earth. His research is very relevant to environmental issues, especially shale gas and its environmental impact.”
    
Jackson currently heads the Center on Global Change and Duke’s Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at Duke University. He laid out his scientific purpose from the outset.
    
“First of all, I don’t do shale gas research with an agenda,” he said. “My research team looks at problems, and what we can do to fix them. I would argue that’s the role of science.”
    
Natural gas found in shale formations is rapidly becoming one of the most promising new forms of energy. Various extraction outfits are harnessing new cost-effective techniques to increase natural gas production, but there is growing concern in the environmental community that these new techniques pose a grave threat to clean water and air reserves.
   
 Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to access natural gas, is one of the most hotly debated issues in environmental circles today. A vast wealth of natural gas resources is waiting to be tapped, and corporations have already adopted fracking as a cost-effective means of achieving this goal. The EPA is currently playing catch-up, so conclusive findings on fracking’s impact are not expected until the end of this year.
    
Jackson was called to address some of these growing issues.
    
“I had worked for many years on groundwater, also studying what happens if carbon dioxide leaked into water sources,” Jackson said. “Studying the geology and chemistry of aquifers to build a framework, I saw a gap in data on a topic where a lot of emotion is involved.”
    
He explained the growing desire to explore natural gas production.
    
“There is a widespread presence of shale gas in many countries and continents around the world,” Jackson said. “Conventional fuel resources are dropping. We have to do more to get unconventional resources out of the ground. People have started talking about the U.S. becoming a gas exporter, but there has been a visceral response over threatened water resources. You have people living very near these wells.”
   
Emotions definitely run high among citizens, even though forms of fracking have been in use for decades. Particularly upsetting now is the use of several controversial tactics together.
    
“What’s new is the combination of the horizontal drilling and the hydraulic fracturing,” Jackson said. “The pressures are much higher than they have been in the past, but that’s essentially a primer on extracting shale gas.”
    
Jackson conducted a study of the water quality of over 200 private water wells over the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania. His team searched for stray gas and also the journey of waste waters from fracking sites. They attempted to develop geochemical and isotopic tools to achieve this goal.
   
 “Chemical variation that occurs in the groundwater we tested seems to be natural and unrelated to drilling,” Jackson said. “There is controversy over barium poisoning, but so far we don’t find any relationship between nearness to a well and barium concentrations within the water.”
   
 Some research findings on gas content, however, were disturbing.
   
 “We did find differences in gas concentrations. Methane concentrations in drinking water are found to be higher than near gas wells. There is more methane, ethane and propane in water within one kilometer of wells.”
    
The scientists discovered that even though Pennsylvania is known for water with high methane content, the particular version of methane found in the drinking water was indeed a result of human activity.
    
In response, his team supports better casing standards for wells, new cementing standards and no residential zoning within 1,000 ft. of drill rigs.
    
“In terms of fracking, it is possible that wells can leak,” Jackson said. “That’s why we are recommending to start be reinforcing wells.”
    
Jackson called for health studies to be conducted longitudinally on the effects of air quality and the impact of methane and brine exposure.
    
“I’m not trying to close drilling down, but to understand where these problems come from and why,” Jackson said. “Where is our energy from the future going to come from?”
    
Fracking firms are moving quickly, and experts like Jackson are scrambling to isolate threats before society is left with the consequences.