Shale Gas Extraction: The Need to Be Seen to Be Clean

页岩天然气开采：天然气是清洁能源吗？

Natural-gas production is booming, but its green image is in question

天然气生产蒸蒸日上，但它的清洁能源形象却受到质疑

Drill rigs tower over the silos on farms in Pennsylvania. Once-empty mesas in western Colorado, where mule deer and sage grouse ranged freely, now look like a neural network from a bird’s-eye view, with well-pads connected by dirt roads scattered across the landscape.

宾夕法尼亚的农场，一座座钻塔高耸，俯视着贮粮的圆仓。科罗拉多西部的山顶平地，过去这里曾经一片空旷，只有骡鹿和艾草鸡在上面自由徜徉，现在布满钻井，条条土路联接其间，从高处望过去，就像是一幅密密麻麻的神经网络图。

These are the signs of America’s natural-gas boom. Thanks to new drilling technology, and in particular a controversial process called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” the size of the proven reserves is growing. At the end of 2009 the United States had estimated reserves of 283.9 trillion cubic feet (8 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas, up 11% from the year before. In 2010 the country produced 22.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, up from 18.9 trillion cubic feet in 2005. The price at the wellhead has dropped from $7.33 per thousand cubic feet to $4.16 during the same period.

美国的天然气开采呈现这样一副蒸蒸日上的景象。随着钻井技术，特别是充满争议的水力压裂法（又称破裂法）的广泛采用。已探明的天然气储量不断增加。2009年末，美国估计其天然气储量为283.9万亿立方英尺（合8万亿立方米），比上一年增长了11%。2010年美国开采的天然气为22.6万亿立方英尺。而2005年为18.9万亿立方英尺。同期天然气的出井价也从每立方英尺7.33美元下降到4.16美元。

Natural gas is cheap and plentiful. That makes it an appealing alternative to wind and solar power, which are relatively expensive and erratic. And plants powered by gas emit far less carbon dioxide than those powered by dirty coal. Nearly half of America’s electricity is generated by coal, and electricity generation accounts for 40% of America’s carbon-dioxide emissions. In 2009, the most recent year for which data are available, the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions were at their lowest level since 1995. That was partly due to the bad economy, and partly to the increased use of renewables and natural gas.

天然气价格低、储量大，比价格高、稳定性低的风能和太阳能更有优势。如果用天然气发电，它比用煤发电排放的二气化碳量要少很多。美国有近一半的电力来自煤电厂，而美国二氧化碳的40%来自于发电。我们能得到的最新数字是2009年的，这一年温室气体的排放达到了1995年以来的最低点。一部分原因是因为那一段时间经济萧条，另一个原因就是可再生能源以及天然气的使用量增加。

But some question whether natural gas is really as green as all that. For one thing, fracking uses a tremendous amount of water, a severely undervalued resource inland. And the process gives off methane, a potent heat-trapper. A study led by Robert Howarth of Cornell University found that greenhouse-gas emissions over the life cycle of natural-gas production could actually be considerably higher than those of coal per unit of energy provided. Greater care about methane venting would, of course, reduce that problem.

但有人怀疑天然气是否真得就那么清洁环保。一方面，破裂法需要耗用大量的水，水作为一种陆地上的资源，价值被严重低估。另一方面，这种方法还会释放大量的甲烷，一种极易吸热的气体。康奈尔大学的罗伯特·霍华斯领导的一项研究发现，提供等量的能量，所使用的天然气比所用的碳在整个生命周期里所释放的温室气体大很多。当然，谨慎处置甲烷的排放会减少这种问题。

And fracking raises other concerns. In the process, a mix of sand, water and chemicals is pumped deep underground at ferocious pressure. That breaks up shale formations, releasing the gas trapped inside so it can be pumped to the surface. But fracking is almost entirely unregulated, because of a 2005 statutory exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act. Three members of Congress recently released a report on fracking, saying that oil and gas companies used more than 2,500 fracking products containing 750 chemicals between 2005 and 2009. Some ingredients were benign, such as citric acid and instant coffee. Others, though, were extremely toxic, such as benzene and lead. Only five states require public disclosure of the chemicals used, and only to limited and varying degrees. That is making landowners, locals and environmentalists edgy, particularly in big production states like Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas, the nation’s largest natural-gas producer, where an enormous reserve – the Barnett Shale – sits under a big city, Fort Worth.

同时，破裂法还会带来其他方面的问题。在这个过程中，要用巨大的压力把一种沙、水和很多化学品的混和物压入地下。这会破坏页岩层的构造，致使储藏其间的气体被挤出地表。因为开采天然气在2005年得到《安全饮用水法案》的法定豁免，现在破裂法的使用几乎没有任何的监管。最近有三名国会议员就破裂法发表报告，报告指出，2005—2009年间石油和天然气公司使用的2500多种破裂材料含有750种化学物，有些成分是对人体无害，如柠檬酸、速溶咖啡。但也一些含有巨毒，如苯和铅。只有五个州要求他们向公众披露所使用的化学物，但这种披露程度有限，而且披露要求也不统一。这使得土地所有者、当地居民以及环保分子很是不安，特别在科罗拉多、宾夕法尼亚、得克萨斯等一些天然气生产大州。其中得克萨斯天然气产量最大，沃思堡市巴耐特页岩里储藏着大量的天然气。

The chief fear is that the mystery slurry could get into the water supply. In some fracking towns, people have been able to set their tap water on fire. And there have been troubling safety incidents. In late April a big company, Chesapeake Energy, suspended its fracking in Pennsylvania after one of its natural-gas wells blew out and spilled toxic drilling fluid into a nearby creek. France has placed a moratorium on fracking and is close to a full ban.

人们主要担心那种神秘的浆体可能会渗入饮用水源。在一些破裂法开采天然气的城镇，发生了一些安全事故。4月下旬，切萨皮克能源公司在宾州的一个天然气井外溢，致使有毒的液体流入附近小河，该公司的破裂法采气被叫停。法国暂停了该种采气法，不久就会完全禁止。

Activists and scientists reckon that if the process is safe, the companies should come clean. “If they’ve got nothing to hide, why is the industry so paranoid about disclosing their chemicals?” asks Steve Torbit, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation’s Rocky Mountain region. They may have to. The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the process. In 2009, House Democrats proposed legislation that would force the industry to disclose the chemicals it uses in fracking. Several states, including Texas and Colorado, have similar legislation pending.

一些环保人士和科学家认为，如果这个过程是安全的，天然气公司就不应有所隐瞒。“如果无需隐瞒，那为什么他们对于披露使用的化学品的要求那么恐惧呢？”美国落基山地区野生动植物联合会副会长史蒂文·道比特发出这样的疑问。他们可能不得不如此。环保署正在对破裂法进行研究。2009年，众议院中的民主党人士提议立法，强制天然气公司披露他们在使用破裂法中使用的化学物品。有些州，如得克萨斯和科罗拉多，将有类似的法律颁布。

In the meantime public concerns are growing. Late last month 200 people packed a Bureau of Land Management hearing in Golden, Colorado. Dave Cesark, an executive at Mesa Energy Partners LLC, tried to reassure, saying that fracking chemicals constitute “just a drop in the bucket”: only 0.5% of the total fluids, including water, that the company uses to drill natural gas. The crowd did not, strangely enough, find that entirely reassuring. Some producers will grumble that any regulation of fracking is an unwarranted constraint on their business. But if natural gas is not produced cleanly, it will not prove to be so cheap, either. Full disclosure is a price worth paying.

与些同时，公众对这个问题更加关注。上月末，200人齐聚科罗拉多州古尔登土地管理局听证会。Mesa能源合伙公司经理戴夫·赛萨科希望人们打消顾虑，他说，他们在破裂法中使用的化学品只是一篮水中的一滴，仅占包括水在内的液体总量的0.5%。令人感到奇怪的是，他的说法并不能让人完全放心。一些公司抱怨，对破裂法任何的监管措施都是对这种天然气开采方法的无理限制。但如果天然气的生产过程是不清洁的，那么它的成本低廉就无从谈起。对于这种采气法的完全披露也是一项值得支付的成本。

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