Probably the most important news this week was that the Obama administration opened an area on the Atlantic seaboard twice the size of California for the oil companies to explore for oil, including approval of the use of sonic cannons which are known to be harmful to sea-life....needless to say, the oil companies are ecstatic, & the story is being carried everywhere, and 4 links on it are included below...
The big spill story we missed last week was that of a pipeline rupture in North Dakota that apparently went unnoticed for days and ended up spilling over a million gallons of briny drilling bi-products into a ravine leading to a lake which is the water supply for an Indian reservation...so far, the industry has not identified what the contents of that pipeline included, ie whether it's just brine or whether it's oil & fracking chemicals flowback, but nearby vegetation is dying and the cleanup is expected to take weeks...
The story that disgusted me most was that the California DNR like agency had to issue orders to seven oil companies to stop injecting their waste into the states aquifers; as you know, California is now in an extreme drought and it seems that what happened years ago, when water was plentiful, was that the state assumed certain aquifers of low quality or at a great depth would never be used, so they allowed the oil and gas industry to dump into them...as it turns out, California is now going to need that polluted water...an accompanying investigation by ProPublica has identified 1,500 aquifers nationally that the EPA has allowed industry to pollute in a like manner...
Included here are articles from several states on their specific fracking related stories and issues, including a bunch from Ohio...we'll start with two from the Youngstown Vindicator that suggest they're moving farther to the dark side; the first, promoting a book from an industry flack that allegedly dispels the myths about fracking that environmentalists have been perpetrating, and the second about the former coach and now new president of Youngstown state, suggesting that the true purpose of a state university is to turn out gas and oilfield workers...
Book takes on fracking 'myths' - Youngstown Vindicator - While oil and gas development has slowed in the Mahoning Valley, arguments over the practice have continued unabated. Greg Kozera wrote “Just the Fracks, Ma’am,” in which he takes on what he contends are the biggest myths about the fracking process and talks about his experience in the oil and gas industry. Kozera is an engineer with a master’s degree in environmental engineering with more than 35 years of experience in the natural gas and oil industry. He also is the president of the Virginia Oil and Gas Association. “I want to replace the unfounded fears people have about fracking with facts. This is simply too important an issue for so many people to make decisions based on misinformation,” Kozera said.
Tressel tasked with building academics at YSU to support oil and gas industry - Youngstown Vindicator - The board of directors at Youngstown State University turned a negative into a positive and, following the untimely departure of President Randy Dunn, landed a national sports figure and hometown hero as its new university president. President Jim “Coach” Tressel may increase enrollment, raise money and project a motivating view of the university for years to come. With an academically strong support staff, Tressel seems to possess toughness capable of addressing the challenges that face the university.The new president will find the following changes on campus after his time away: the construction of new campus buildings, the demolition of many blighted buildings surrounding campus, the creation of a STEM program, the university’s affiliation to the additive manufacturing and defense industry, the new and improved neigh- boring downtown Youngstown, which includes a world-class business incubator program, and, last but not least, the regional expansion of the oil and natural-gas industry in the Mahoning Valley and beyond.The oil and natural-gas industry has shown that it brings not only additional service, transportation, manufacturing and construction jobs, such as those provided by Vallourec Star, but also environmental challenges that have subtle, yet powerful, impacts on the world’s view of YSU as an institution of higher learning with a quality campus life. With enrollment down 15% since 2010, student attraction amid this boom will be integral to the university’s future success. Certain aspects of the oil and naturalgas boom in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania will complement academic growth and campus life at YSU. The oil and natural-gas industry will need advanced metallurgic, civil, electrical and even radiological engineers if infrastructure is built in the Mahoning Valley to supply and support regional shale drilling.
Investigation to continue at site of house explosion | FOX8.com: — Investigators were expected to return to the scene of a house explosion Thursday. The accident killed a 27-year-old woman and critically injured her boyfriend. The couple had been smelling gas at their Montgomery Road home in Orwell for weeks. There is a well on the property and natural gas would sometimes seep into the water system. Around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, the man who lived there lit a cigarette and the house blew. The man was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center. He remained in critical condition at the time of this report. People who live in the area report that they felt the blast five miles away.
In rare effort, Ohio scientist to test water before fracking soars - McClatchy DC: As the shale gas boom was making its way into Ohio in 2012, University of Cincinnati scientist Amy Townsend-Small began testing private water wells in Carroll County, the epicenter of the Utica Shale. Her project, which includes samples of more than 100 wells, is one of the few sustained efforts in the nation to evaluate drinking water quality before, during and after gas drilling.Although it will likely be another year before Townsend-Small releases the results, her work offers a template for other communities worried about how drilling, fracking and producing unconventional natural gas might contaminate groundwater supplies. Most residents test their water only after they suspect it has been polluted; few have the resources or foresight to conduct baseline testing prior to the drilling.The tests cost hundreds of dollars, "so it's not something everybody can afford to do regularly," said Townsend-Small, an assistant professor in the geology department. Once her sampling results are published, the data points won't be matched with specific locations, in order to protect residents' privacy and to avoid affecting property values.Townsend-Small's team offers free water testing about four times a year to interested landowners in and around Carroll County. She uses drilling reports the industry files with Ohio regulators to determine which water samples were taken near active gas wells.
Ohio town grapples with fracking: housing troubles, rent gouging - CARROLLTON, Ohio - Concerned citizens crowded into a local church here July 10 for a town hall style meeting. They were there to hear Cody Coleman-Chrisman, founder and executive director of Ohio Valley Renters Advocates (OVRA), with a panel of experts who came to advise on fracking's latest but not least harmful effect on our eastern Ohio communities: housing shortages and the rent-gouging that followed. This meeting had been organized by OVRA and Caitlin Johnson of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. When most people think of fracking, they either anticipate the economic opportunities promised by the energy companies or they are apprehensive about fracturing's impact on the environment, including the very water they drink and the air they breathe. Many wage-earners in our area have already found the promise of well-paying jobs (for them) to be illusory as they watched pickup trucks with out-of-state license plates invade their communities and take the new jobs they thought would be theirs. They have come to realize that there may indeed be more jobs but, for most of them, those will be low-wage jobs (in food service, hotels, etc.). Others worry about reports from other communities, ahead of them in fracking, that tell of burning water taps, poisoned water-tables, drinking water that is no longer fit to drink, disposal of the irreparably contaminated water used in the fracking process, ripped-up local roads, gas well explosions, and even earthquakes.
Two drilling companies sue Broadview Heights over ban on oil and gas wells - – Two drilling companies with natural gas and oil wells in Broadview Heights have sued the city over its prohibition against future wells. Bass Energy Co. Inc., of Fairlawn, and Ohio Valley Energy, of Austintown, said the state of Ohio, not Broadview Heights, has sole authority to permit or deny drilling and to regulate wells. "Any effort by Broadview Heights to prohibit or regulate the location, drilling or operation of oil and gas wells is thus preempted by state law and of no force or effect," the companies said in the lawsuit, filed June 10 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. On Friday, Mothers Against Drilling in Our Neighborhoods – the nonprofit citizens group that initiated a campaign to ban drilling in Broadview Heights – filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. MADION said there is "considerable doubt" that the city will vigorously defend the lawsuit. "Both the mayor of Broadview Heights, Samuel Alai, and its law director, Vincenzo Ruffa, have made public statements expressing doubt as to the enforceability of the (drilling ban)," MADION said in its motion. MADION said Alai more than once has warned that companies would sue the city over the drilling ban, and that taxpayer money would be spent to defend the suits. In April, Ruffa said the city is "stuck" with state law, regardless of the city's drilling ban, MADION said.
Petrol panel says it won't change mind about denying well appeal - The Ohio Oil and Gas Commission has declined to reconsider its decision to deny an appeal by a local anti-fracking group opposed to a Torch area drilling-waste injection well in eastern Athens County. The matter is now heading to a Franklin County court. The Athens County Fracking Action Network filed an appeal of what's known as the K&H2 well in eastern Athens County earlier this year, with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources disputing the standing of the group to make such an appeal. The well in question is one of two injection wells owned by K&H Partners of West Virginia at the site. In June, the Oil and Gas Commission granted the ODNR's motion to dismiss the appeal, siding with the state agency and K&H in arguing that the commission did not have the authority to consider the appeal. State law designates ODNR as Ohio's sole oil and gas regulatory authority. ACFAN had asked the Oil and Gas Commission to reconsider its decision, but last week this request was declined. In its decision, the commission said it found no cause to reconsider, stating that it had correctly concluded that the panel lacks jurisdiction to entertain ACFAN's appeal. In the filing with Franklin County, ACFAN attorney Sahli requests the court find the dismissal from the commission "unlawful and unreasonable" and to overrule the dismissal, remanding the matter to the commission to hold a hearing.
Wet gas means more profits for Ohio, says state | Midwest Energy News: Controversy continues over the rapid growth of high volume oil and gas operations made possible by horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. But at its “State of the Play” event at Stark State College, officials with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) had only enthusiasm for the state’s growing shale gas industry. The state’s natural gas production nearly doubled last year, mostly as a result of horizontal wells in the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio. Market shifts have made that formation’s “wet gas” particularly profitable. Such wet gas has a relatively high proportion of other light hydrocarbons in addition to methane. Those other hydrocarbons can be separated out, processed and sold to make plastics and other petrochemical products. “These are very valuable products,” said Rick Simmers, Chief of ODNR’s Division of Oil & Gas Resources. “And they make the Utica unique among shale plays in the entire nation and, for that matter, in the world.”
Fracking wastewater is big business in Ohio -- The oil and gas boom made possible by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of horizontal wells has also led to dramatic growth in Ohio’s injection well disposal industry. The state now has more than 200 active injection wells for oil and gas waste, as shown on an updated map released this month by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Over 16 million barrels of wastewater were pumped into Ohio rock formations in 2013 — an increase of more than 2 million barrels from the previous year. In the oil and gas industry one barrel equals 42 gallons. In contrast, only 7 injection wells were active in neighboring Pennsylvania, which sends millions of gallons of its fracked wells’ wastewater to Ohio. Besides bringing in revenue for companies, the growing industry produced nearly $2 million in fees for ODNR last year. According to agency spokesperson Mark Bruce, that money supports the agency’s regulatory program. Yet environmental groups have questions and concerns. Drilling, fracking, and operating fracked wells produces massive amounts of wastewater. Wastewater from drilling is known as pit water. Flowback is fluid that comes back to the surface during the initial period after fracking. Produced water comes up with oil and gas while the well is in operation. Although some water is reused for fracking operations, all the wastewater must eventually go somewhere. Wastewater from fracking is very salty. It also contains substantial amounts of heavy metals, along with dissolved radioactive materials, such as radium. “It’s a hazardous material, so you don’t want to leave it sitting around on the surface,” “You don’t want to be spreading it on roads for dust control.”
Ohio fracking water reuse questioned - Since January, Ohio has approved operating permits for 27 centers that take drilling mud, radioactive rocks and wastewater from fracking wells and store or “clean” it before sending it on to landfills or injection wells. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has approved every permit — considered temporary until the state writes rules that regulate the centers — without any public notification or input. That worries critics, who say there is little oversight to ensure that the environment and people who live near the facilities are safe. At least 12 facilities are operating. Some operated before a law was enacted in January that brings them under the state’s authority. State officials say recycling centers clean otherwise dirty byproducts of fracking and divert some of the millions of gallons of wastewater that is pumped deep underground in injection wells. “They need a place to put (the waste), and they need a place to test it,” said Mark Bruce, an ODNR spokesman. “You don’t want a container of oil-field waste just sitting somewhere.” The temporary permits expire six months after the department creates rules. Those are still being drafted, according to the agency.
Citizens' group asks US EPA to regulate Ohio fracking waste - A Toledo-based grass-roots group opposed to horizontal shale drilling — also known as fracking — has asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over enforcement of the Clean Water Act in Ohio, saying that the state EPA “is no longer fit” to do the job. Terry Lodge, attorney for the FreshWater Accountability Project, sent a letter to the U.S. EPA on Friday, outlining what the group says is Ohio’s “insufficient regulation” of oil and gas industry waste. “Sadly, the (Ohio) EPA has been stripped of its protective role while the gas industry has erected its own self-regulatory facade through powerful lobbying,” Lodge wrote in a letter to U.S. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “It’s time to unmask this charade and restore U.S. EPA authority over water effluent in Ohio, which has been contaminated with radioactive and chemical wastes.” In his letter, Lodge said the Ohio General Assembly has assigned sole responsibility for all environmental permitting for all aspects of the oil and gas industry to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Lea Harper, managing director of the FreshWater Accountability Project, said her group is asking the federal agency to revoke nearly two dozen ODNR “chief’s orders,” which are temporary authorizations that have been issued to 23 facilities in the state, including several in the Tuscarawas Valley. (see list)
Each fracking site needs list of chemicals - The Columbus Dispatch -- If it hadn’t been for residents’ efforts, the Monroe County Emergency Management Agency might not have had even the meager list of chemicals it had when 16 fracking trucks caught fire on June 29 (“State agency: Fracking fire likely fouled creek,” Dispatch article, July 1). Until September 2013, the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act of 1986 hadn’t been enforced for the oil and gas industry in nearly 12 years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency worked with Ohio’s State Emergency Response Commission and the oil and gas industry to begin sending lists of hazardous chemicals to fire departments and emergency-planning committees last September, largely due to citizens’ action. Ohio law still exempts oil and gas operators from the same emergency-safety standards that every other industry in Ohio follows, and confuses how oil and gas drillers report hazardous chemicals to emergency responders. We need further improvements to federal standards, too, so that hazardous chemicals are reported to emergency responders as soon as they’re brought to a site, rather than within 30 to 90 days, as rules currently allow.
New York Shale Gas Situation in 4 Maps -
1. NY Bans/Moratoria (Edelstein) http://www.fractracker.org/
map/ny-moratoria/
2. NY “Frack Us First” resolutions (Edelstein) http://www.fractracker.org/
map/ny-moratoria/
3: Shale Gas potential in NY (Acton/Northrup/Allstadt/
Brock) http://www.nofrackingway.us/
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4: Composite showing the NY Bans/Moratoria and the Pro-gas resolutions vs the towns where the greatest shale gas potential is:
Court dismisses challenges to NY's lengthy fracking review (AP) -- A judge has dismissed two lawsuits challenging the state's delay in finishing its health and environmental analysis of the potential impact of shale gas development in New York, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, claiming 70,000 members, and the trustee of bankrupt Norse Energy. State Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough dismissed both lawsuits, saying the petitioners did not have standing to sue Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Health Department to compel completion of the review. Shale gas development using horizontal drilling and high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been on hold in New York since the environmental impact review was launched in July 2008. Schneiderman called the decision "an important victory in our effort to ensure all New Yorkers have safe water to drink and a clean, healthy environment." The lawsuits claimed the Department of Environmental Conservation had abused its discretion in delaying completion of its environmental review so the Democratic governor could avoid making the politically complicated decision to allow or ban fracking. Scott Kurkoski, attorney for the landowners' coalition, said an appeal is likely.
New York Supreme Court Dismisses Pro-Fracking Lawsuits -- The State of New York won’t be rushed by the fracking industry, its supporters or their lawsuits. A state Supreme Court judge dismissed two lawsuits Monday that sought to stop the state’s review of fracking’s health and environmental impacts, according to the Associated Press. State Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough said the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and the trustee of Norse Energy had no grounds to sue Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Health Department in hopes of a swift end to the years-long fracking review. The fracking review began back in 2008. Last month, the New York Assembly overwhelmingly passed a three-year moratorium on oil and natural gas drilling permits. The lawsuits charged that the Department of Environmental Conservation, in particular, abused its power and dragged its feet regarding the completion of the review. The Joint Landowners Coalition represents 70,000 members.
The gas company that says it can take your backyard | Al Jazeera America: The Coxes built their home in 2001, and they’ve paid to maintain their enviable slice of exurban Pennsylvania. When Ronald, a financial adviser at Prudential, grew fed up with the way his wraparound backyard deck shifted every time he sat down for an evening drink, he spent around $30,000 to rip it out and replace it. You could probably land a plane on the new one, he jokes. “This is my house, it’s my safe zone; nobody’s going to bother me,” he says. “It was worth it for the peace of mind.” But in late 2012, someone bothered the Coxes. A representative of oil and gas transporter Sunoco Logistics Partners — a “landsman” sent by the company to scout and buy access to their property — came to their front door and told them that Sunoco was going to dig a pipeline under their woods. “And I went: ‘No you’re not,’” Cox says. After he refused, a lawyer for Sunoco sent a letter that said the company had the power of eminent domain, including the right to survey their property and condemn it to build their pipeline. Sunoco hired a realty company to appraise the land, valuing the 23 acres at $352,000 and estimating the damage of constructing a pipeline at $2,700. Representatives offered the Coxes $6,000. They said it was better to sign an agreement immediately, since the company would gain the right to the property anyway. “I kind of thought, ‘If we resist enough, they’re going to go away.’ But they didn’t,” Cox says. The Coxes didn’t know it then, but their dream home lay in the path of a metastasizing controversy that involves not only Sunoco’s bid for eminent domain but an attempt by the company to circumvent local zoning laws, all aimed at swiftly completing a sprawling, multi-year project to exploit a boom in the byproducts of the Marcellus Shale.
Expert: Pa. didn't address fracking health impacts: (AP) - Pennsylvania's former health secretary says the state has failed to seriously study the potential health impacts of one of the nation's biggest natural gas drilling booms. Dr. Eli Avila also says the state's current strategy is a disservice to people and even to the industry itself because health officials need to be proactive in protecting the public. "The lack of any action speaks volumes," said Avila, who is now the public health commissioner for Orange County, New York. "Don't BS the public. Their health comes first." Avila told The Associated Press that he believes senior political advisers did a "disservice" to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett by putting a study of health effects on the back burner three years ago. That has led to a cycle of public fear and confusion, Avila said. "What are you so afraid that we're going to uncover?" Avila said of industry leaders, adding that it would be better to clearly tell people what is or isn't a problem. "It's not that I'm against fracking. I'm sure it's helping many individuals financially." The gas drilling industry has said hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is safe and there's no evidence of serious health problems from it.
Compendium of Fracking Risks - Executive Summary from the Compendium of Fracking Risks Three notable features: First, the compendium is top-heavy with data from recent sources. That’s because, as we discovered in our research, science is now beginning to catch up to the last decade’s surge in unconventional oil and gas extraction. As stated in the introduction: “A growing body of peer-reviewed studies, accident reports, and investigative articles is now confirming specific, quantifiable evidence of harm and has revealed fundamental problems with the drilling and fracking. Industry studies as well as independent analyses indicate inherent engineering problems including well casing and cement impairments that cannot be prevented.” Indeed, more than half of the peer-reviewed papers in the medical and scientific literature on the health impacts of fracking have been published in the last 18 months. Second, the compendium not only compiles findings from the medical and scientific literature but also includes evidence from other credible sources, including government reports, investigative reportage by news organizations, and Form 10-K reports that gas and oil companies use to disclose risks of their operations to their investors. We chose this tack because institutional secrecy, federal exemptions from key provisions of environmental laws, gag orders, and non-disclosure agreements between industry and landowners make population-based environmental health science research, as traditionally practiced, extremely challenging.Third, the compendium is interdisciplinary. With an appreciation for the many social determinants of health, we looked at crime statistics, traffic accident rates, stress, noise and light pollution, and changing economic indicators, as well as more conventional environmental health issues, such air pollution and drinking water contamination.
Denton could become 1st Texas city to ban fracking - A North Texas community that sits on what’s believed to hold one of the biggest natural gas reserves in the U.S. could become the first city in the state to ban hydraulic fracturing, with Denton City Council members set to vote Tuesday night on a citizen-led petition. Industry groups and state regulators warn that such a ban ban could be followed by litigation and a severe hit to the city economy. The City Council is holding a public hearing Tuesday night, with a vote to follow. If the council rejections the petition, it would likely still go to Denton’s voters in November. Under the proposed ban, operators would be allowed to continue extracting energy from the 275 wells in Denton that have already undergone hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but not reinitiate the process on old wells.
Texas City Blocks Fracking Ban, But Voters Get Their Say In November --Denton, Texas, blew its opportunity to become the first community in the state to ban hydraulic fracturing but will get a second chance for the title at the ballot box in November. After an emotional eight-hour public hearing on Tuesday, the city council in the north Texas community voted 5-2 against a citizen proposal to stop issuing permits for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations. A temporary ban instituted in May will expire in September, but city fathers sent the proposal for a permanent ban to the November election. Denton, a city of about 125,000 residents that is about 35 miles northwest of Dallas, is located on the Barnett shale gas field. The city has some 275 wells that have already been fracked and would have been allowed to continue producing under the proposed ban.
As Fracking Expands, So Does Opposition – Even In Texas --Public opposition to hydraulic fracturing – better known as “fracking” -- is nothing new. The 2010 documentary “Gasland” energized the nascent anti-fracking movement, with its depiction of tap water that caught on fire and once-healthy people who became chronically ill after fracking operations began nearby. Back then, most of the opposition tended to be concentrated in Pennsylvania, where the most intensive shale gas drilling was taking place. But as drilling operations for shale gas have spread across the country, so have movements to stop them. Fracking began in the Marcellus Shale, which stretches from West Virginia, through Ohio and Pennsylvania to New York, as well as in the Barnett and Haynesville Shales in Texas and Louisiana. But it has since spread to Ohio, North Dakota, Montana, and Colorado, in addition to other states. And while some places have been more welcoming to the industry than others, most communities experience mixed effects when fracking moves in. In rural communities, some farmers have been able to pay down debt and even hold onto their multigenerational farms by allowing drillers on their land. But in others, companies have strong armed landowners into giving up mineral rights against their will. Then there is the truck traffic, noise, and air and water pollution that opponents say cause environmental and health problems. That’s why it’s no surprise that groups opposed to fracking have sprung up in disparate parts of the country, as more shale is fracked. Perhaps the most surprising place that’s being considered is in the politically conservative, drilling-friendly state of Texas. The city of Denton, which is located on top of the natural gas-rich Barnett Shale, is considering a fracking ban. Supporters of a ban decry the environmental effects of drilling, and the fact that some well pads have been set up as close as 100 yards from people’s homes.
LAW: Age-old legal tool poses modern threat for oil and gas -- When a Texas jury handed down a $3 million verdict this year for a family affected by natural gas drilling, Dan Raichel saw a pattern coming into focus. Environmentalists had for years sought to slow the breakneck pace of shale development, but sophisticated attempts to challenge regulations or prove contamination had fallen short. And yet, down in Texas, a driller was thwarted by something as simple as nuisance law. The case centered on Bob and Lisa Parr, who lived atop the Barnett Shale and said they suffered health problems from the air emissions of nearby well sites. The jury found that the emissions disturbed the Parrs' property and constituted a private nuisance (EnergyWire, June 16). "Nuisance affects the whole fracking debate in a lot of ways," said Raichel, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "In a colloquial sense, it's pretty clear that fracking is a nuisance in a lot of these communities." In a legal sense, nuisance claims cropping up around the country may prove surprisingly effective at reeling in development. The high-dollar Texas verdict -- which dealt not specifically with fracking but with broader oil and gas operations -- serves as a harbinger of a very litigious future.
Extreme Drought in CA Triggers Halting of Fracking Waste Injection to Avoid Aquifer Contamination - The state’s Division of Oil and Gas and Geothermal Resources on July 7 issued cease and desist orders to seven energy companies warning that they may be injecting their waste into aquifers that could be a source of drinking water, and stating that their waste disposal “poses danger to life, health, property and natural resources.” The orders were first reported by the Bakersfield Californian, and the state has confirmed withProPublica that its investigation is expanding to look at additional wells. The action comes as California’s agriculture industry copes with a drought crisis that has emptied reservoirs and cost the state $2.2 billion this year alone. The lack of water has forced farmers across the state to supplement their water supply from underground aquifers, according to a study released this week by the University of California-Davis. The problem is that at least 100 of the state’s aquifers were presumed to be useless for drinking and farming because the water was either of poor quality, or too deep underground to easily access. Years ago, the state exempted them from environmental protection and allowed the oil and gas industry to intentionally pollute them. But not all aquifers are exempted, and the system amounts to a patchwork of protected and unprotected water resources deep underground. Now, according to the cease and desist orders issued by the state, it appears that at least seven injection wells are likely pumping waste into fresh water aquifers protected by the law, and not other aquifers sacrificed by the state long ago.
Poisoning the Well: How the Feds Let Industry Pollute the Nation’s Underground Water Supply - ProPublica: Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water. In many cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted these so-called aquifer exemptions in Western states now stricken by drought and increasingly desperate for water. EPA records show that portions of at least 100 drinking water aquifers have been written off because exemptions have allowed them to be used as dumping grounds. "You are sacrificing these aquifers," said Mark Williams, a hydrologist at the University of Colorado and a member of a National Science Foundation team studying the effects of energy development on the environment. "By definition, you are putting pollution into them. ... If you are looking 50 to 100 years down the road, this is not a good way to go." As part of an investigation into the threat to water supplies from underground injection of waste, ProPublica set out to identify which aquifers have been polluted. We found the EPA has not even kept track of exactly how many exemptions it has issued, where they are, or whom they might affect. What records the agency was able to supply under the Freedom of Information Act show that exemptions are often issued in apparent conflict with the EPA's mandate to protect waters that may be used for drinking.
Answers on link between injection wells and quakes - States where hydraulic fracturing is taking place have seen a surge in earthquake activity, raising suspicions that the unconventional drilling method could be to blame, especially the wells where the industry disposes of its wastewater. Fracking generates vast amounts of wastewater, far more than traditional drilling methods. The water is pumped into injection wells, which send the waste thousands of feet underground. No one knows for certain exactly what happens to the liquids after that. Scientists wonder whether they could trigger quakes by increasing underground pressures and lubricating faults. Oklahoma has recorded nearly 250 small-to-medium earthquakes since January, according to statistics kept by the U.S. Geological Survey. That's close to half of all the magnitude 3 or higher earthquakes recorded this year in the continental United States. A study published earlier this month in the journal Science suggests that just four wells injecting massive amounts of drilling wastewater into the ground are probably shaking up much of the state, accounting for one out of every five quakes from the eastern border of Colorado to the Atlantic coast. Another concern is whether injection well operators could be pumping either too much water into the ground or pumping it at exceedingly high pressures. Most of the quakes in areas where injection wells are clustered are too weak to cause serious damage or endanger lives. Yet they've led some states, including Ohio, Oklahoma and California, to introduce new rules compelling drillers to measure the volumes and pressures of their injection wells as well as to monitor seismicity during fracking operations. Here are some answers to key questions about the phenomenon:
North Carolina lifts fracking moratorium - North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed into law a bill ending the Tarheel State’s moratorium on energy production via hydraulic fracturing. The governor’s action ends a 2012 moratorium on hydraulic fracturing—also known as fracking—that was imposed to provide time for fracking-specific regulations to be drafted. It also terminates a decade-old fracking ban. The North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission continues to work on fracking regulations, which are scheduled to be finalized by January 1, 2015. They would go into effect in March 2015, with the first drilling permits becoming available on July 1, 2015.
Colorado governor lacking support for fracking bill - Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and business leaders vowed to do “whatever it takes” to defeat initiatives proposed for the fall ballot that would restrict oil and gas drilling generating $30 billion a year for the state economy. “These measures risk thousands and thousands of jobs and billions in investment and hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax revenue,” said the first-term Democrat at a press conference yesterday at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. The proposals, which are circulating for signatures, would amend the state constitution to require wells to be set back 2,000 feet from structures and provide communities with more control over where drilling takes place. The debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand are injected below ground to bring oil and gas to the surface, has escalated in Colorado as drilling moved closer to suburbs, raising concerns about water and air contamination. Five communities in the state have voted to ban or put a moratorium on such activity. Hickenlooper, who is running for re-election, has worked with energy companies, lawmakers and business groups since May to broker a compromise and appease activists pushing for restrictions on fracking. He sought to head off the ballot measure that would prohibit drilling within 2,000 feet of structures -- a step energy companies say would effectively ban fracking in the state.
Most Coloradans Want Voters To Decide Whether Their Community Is Opened Up For Fracking - Colorado’s political establishment has been working overtime to thwart an election day showdown over proposals to give communities the power to control oil and gas drilling, but local opposition appears to be gaining strength. In a poll taken in May, but not released until this past weekend by supporters of two proposed ballot measures, Colorado voters strongly supported requiring oil and gas wells to be set back at least a half mile from residences and giving cities and towns the ability to enact stricter controls on oil and gas development than the state allows.The setback proposal was supported 64 percent to 21 percent, and even by 56-35 after respondents were read arguments against the measure. The local control measure, which establishes a so-called environmental bill of rights, was supported 64-27 and then 52-34 after arguments against it were presented. The poll results were released as a furious battle is being waged in Colorado over whether the festering issue of local control of fracking and drilling will be decided at the ballot box in November, a battle that is being waged in Colorado neighborhoods and on the airwaves. A handful of Colorado communities have already approved bans or moratoria on fracking, and their ability to do so is likely to be decided in court. With that backdrop, supporters of local control are aiming to amend the state constitution in the November election.
1 mn gallons of oil-drilling byproducts leaked into N. Dakota drinking water — A North Dakota pipeline has hemorrhaged about 1 million gallons of oil-drilling saltwater into the ground of a native Indian reservation, with some of the byproduct suspected to have leaked into a lake that provides drinking water. The spill of a toxic byproduct of oil and natural gas production at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation was discovered on Tuesday. The cleanup is expected to last for weeks, according to Miranda Jones, vice president of environmental safety at Crestwood Midstream Partners LP. A subsidiary of Crestwood - Arrow Pipeline LLC - owns the underground pipeline. Jones believes the leak started over the Fourth of July weekend, but was only detected when the company was sorting through production loss reports, according to AP. Karolin Rockvoy, a McKenzie County emergency manager, visited the site of the leak and said, based on the amount of devastation done to local vegetation, the spill had probably gone undetected for some time. The pipeline was not equipped with technology that alerts operators of a leak, Jones said. Last year, the state legislature rejected legislation mandating pipeline flow meters and cutoff switches.
Huge North Dakota Wastewater Spill Prompts Calls For Fracking Regs - Beaver dams have so far prevented about 1 million gallons of fracking wastewater discovered spilled July 8 from a rural North Dakota pipeline from spreading too far. But area residents, environmentalists and even a Republican state legislator all want more reliable measures. The spill of the toxic saltwater, a byproduct of hydraulic fracturing, came from gas extraction operations at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and occurred days before it was discovered. The federal Environmental Protection Agency said the underground pipeline spilled about 24,000 barrels, or 1 million gallon, in North Dakota’s thriving oil and gas region. The water, which can be 10 times saltier than seawater and contains salt and fossil fuel condensates, was being piped away from fuel extraction sites for safe disposal. The EPA said most of the saltwater had pooled near where it had spilled and that beaver dams in the area had kept it from spreading. As a result, the EPA said, the local soil has simply been absorbing the spill.That’s a bit too fortuitous for Wayde Schafer, a spokesman for the Sierra Club in North Dakota. He said there have been four other spills in the region recently, including three caused by lightning strikes and a fourth attributed to a cow that rubbed against a tank valve. In 2013 alone, there were 74 pipeline leaks that spilled 22,000 barrels of saltwater. Yet that same year, the North Dakota Legislature voted 86 to 4 against a bill that would have mandated flow meters and cutoff switches on wastewater-disposal pipelines. Energy companies protested the cost of such measures, and even state regulators argued they wouldn’t detect small leaks.
'Saltwater' From Fracking Spill Is Not What's Found in the Ocean - Bloomberg: -- In early July, a million gallons of salty drilling waste spilled from a pipeline onto a steep hillside in western North Dakota's Fort Berthold Reservation. The waste—a byproduct of oil and gas production—has now reached a tributary of Lake Sakakawea, which provides drinking water to the reservation. The oil industry called the accident a "saltwater" spill. But the liquid that entered the lake bears little resemblance to what's found in the ocean. The industry's wastewater is 5-8 times saltier than seawater, said Bill Kappel, a hydrogeologist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey. It's salty enough to sting the human tongue, and contains heavy metals in concentrations that might not meet drinking water standards. The briny mix can also include radioactive material. Heavy metals and radioactive materials are toxic at certain concentrations. "You don't want to be drinking this stuff," Kappel said. The North Dakota spill has killed vegetation and contaminated the soil, and cleanup crews are working on remediation and monitoring. Confusion persists over the wastewater's environmental and health effects because little is known about the composition of the spilled waste. The compounds it contains vary widely depending on local geology and drilling practices. And there are inconsistencies even within the industry over the definition of "saltwater," which may or may not contain hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluids. Jim Ladlee, associate director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, said oilfield definitions vary by company, and the same operator may use different words for the same waste product in different parts of the country.
Protestors Say No to Fracked Gas Export Expansion Plan - (video interview & transcript) The European Union really wants U.S. natural gas. That's according to a leaked document obtained by The Washington Post. The document reveals that part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which is a $4.7 trillion trade deal currently being negotiated between the U.S. and the E.U., will make the export of U.S. oil and gas legally binding. But if such a deal went through, that would mean real consequences for us here in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay. There's a proposed massive expansion of Maryland's Cove Point facility. That's where natural gas is liquefied and then exported. Here to discuss Cove Point and an upcoming July 13 rally in Washington, D.C., against this expansion are our two guests. There you see Shilpa Joshi. She is the Maryland field organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. She's also one of the organizers of the rally in D.C. And also joining us is Josh Tulkin. He's the director of the Maryland Sierra Club. Thank you both for joining us.
Sardonicky: The Mapping of the Terror Trains - Look a-yonder what's coming down that railroad track. It's the Oil Bombin' Special, and while it's not<span class="Apple