Microbes are responsible for key parts of the process that generates natural gas, but during its recovery, they are the enemy.
Sulfate reducing bacteria – which use sulfate ions in the water for energy – spit out sulfide, a toxic molecule that “sours” the gas product. To combat this process, biocides like formaldehyde and gluteraldehyde are thrown down the pipe in an attempt to preserve a usable product.
The environmental complications of microbial involvement are thus twofold. Initially, the toxic biocides inevitably leak into the surrounding rock and aquifers, and since these poisons are non-specific, there’s a lot of collateral damage. Later on, after older wells are abandoned, sulfate reducers come back with a vengeance, generating acidic byproducts that can corrode pipes and release heavy metals.
For God’s sake there are at least one thousand feet of rock between the shale to be fractured and any aquifer. That is how the gas was trapped. What is so difficult about understanding one thousand feet of solid rock? Almost nobody does. If we as a people are so uniformly stupid, why are we spending so much for schools. They seem to do no good.