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Facebook Abandoned Drilling Equipment Beneath the Ocean Floor
- kd5bjo 6y ago> Earlier this year, its subcontractors began horizontally drilling, or fracking, a subsea borehole that would house the cable’s final stretch from sea to land. Fracking is a process of pumping a fluid into a borehole to fracture subsurface rock, thereby freeing up pathways for the petroleum in the rock to make its way to the primary borehole to be pumped out of the ground. It has nothing whatsoever to do with drilling a horizontal tunnel for an undersea cable. The only reason I can think of for including the aside is to bring anti-fracking sentiment to an unrelated issue.
- genericone 6y agoAgreed, the whole article reeks of pseudo-moralism. They don't like it, and they want other people to feel the same, even if they have to twist the information.
- throwaway189262 6y agoDoes this really matter at all? It sounds like this is construction equipment and drilling mud which is mostly clay and chalk. And it's 60 feet UNDER the ocean floor. Literally nobody will ever see it, find it, or care that it's there.
- GenerocUsername 6y agoNot to mention any operation to recover it would likely cause more damage than leaving it alone... They should get a sizable fine to discourage such reckless ventures in the future and lets leave it at that
- throwawaysea 6y agoHaving discussed horizontal drilling with friends in the business, it is NOT the same as fracking. Horizontal drilling is literally what it is named for. You can use it to, for example, lay down utility piping at specific depths without requiring an expensive and invasive excavation. It doesn’t involved hydraulic fracturing, a newer technique, most of the time. This article seems to mention fracking to leverage negative sentient against fracking to support the story morally. I’m disappointed because Vice used to be so much better than this in its earlier days.