Tag: waste water
Injection Well Controversy
An inside look at Plum’s controversial fracking wastewater injection wellThe wastewater injection site in Plum run by Penneco Environmental Solutions has been the subject of nearly a decade of legal battles and community backlash as the company has sought to expand its operations along Old Leechburg Road.Sidebar: Does it honor out nation’s flag to display it over a symbol of environmental ruin? Most of us are not proud of our
relianceaddiction to fossil fuels. We don’t think it’s remotely patriotic or civic-minded to permit these depredations.Scarce Water – Another Hidden Cost of Fracking
Texas Oil and Gas Companies Drill With River Water During Extreme Drought – Inside Climate NewsOil and gas companies have used billions of gallons of Rio Grande and Pecos River water for drilling in the past four years, according to an exclusive Inside Climate News analysis.Billions of gallons were contaminated during the “extreme drought,” and for what? Cheap fuel. Only it’s not cheap. The price at the pump doesn’t include anything for the harm done in making that fuel or by burning it.
Can’t Make it Go Away
When you throw something away, where is “away?” The Westmoreland County Landfill is one “away” place where fracking waste is disposed of. But there is no away. The fluids leach out of the landfill and must be disposed of, or should we say disposed of again. WSL currently transports radioactive leachate and other chemically-laced liquid waste to treatment plants, but is seeking a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge liquid waste directly into the Monongahela River, via a pipeline. What could be wrong with that idea?
Let’s Be Skeptical
Here is a Reuters article about a government study that concludes fracking doesn’t necessarily hurt our water. The problem with such studies is always in the circumstances that were not considered. Keep in mind that the process involves punching a big hole through many different layers of strata, lining it with a big pipe and attempting to fill the gaps between pipe and strata with a cement-like substance. If successful, nothing leaks from the casing, and nothing can move up or down along the outside of the casing. The problem is that metal expands and contracts, the earth itself moves, and the pressures inside the pipe are extreme.
If you have ever had a wet basement, you know the problems inherent with holes in the ground and water. Once that hole has been punched it is there forever. Even if the well is properly sealed, the hole, the steel, the bentonite are all there to move and loosen and eventually leak. So be skeptical when you read reports like this:
Fracking not a ‘widespread risk’ to drinking water: U.S. EPAFracking for shale oil and gas has not led to widespread pollution of drinking water, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft report said on Thursday, although it warned some drilling activities could potentially cause health risks.The study does not consider the disposal of produced water.
Unfettered by Regulation
It’s a driller’s dream, little regulation or enforcement, vast amounts of fossil fuel to be exploited. The Patagonia region of Argentina is a land of opportunity. What could possibly go wrong?
What could go wrong? Lest We Be Complacent
As I’ve observed many times, nothing good comes to locals from fracking.
Ranchers reported abandoned oil wells spewing wastewater. A new study blames fracking. • Louisiana IlluminatorFracking wastewater, injected underground for permanent disposal, traveled 12 miles through geological faults before bursting to the surface.Keep it in the ground. Make energy profiteers pay for the damage.
