Jun 7
2010


DISH, TX — Shortly after a natural gas well was fractured using the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing, a private water well within a thousand feet of the natural gas well site began showing sedimentation.  DISH resident Amber Smith says shortly after the well was fractured a fine sand like sediment was present in the water from their private water well. The Smith family installed a water filtration system shortly after the sediment became present and continued using the water.  However, after a year the sedimentation reached the point that it clogged the entire plumbing system, and the water well is now unusable.

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The Smith family removed the tank from the water well and removed over ten pounds of the sand like substance.  After dismantling and cleaning the well system, the Smith family reassembled the well only to have it completely obstructed after only 30 minutes of operation.  Devon Energy who is the operator of the gas well has refused to take responsibility for the failure.  The Railroad Commission of Texas responded and took samples of the tainted water for limited analyzing.  The town of DISH also had independent testing accomplished to determine the content of the sand like substance.   The water well owned by the Smith family shows levels of arsenic at 7.5 times the acceptable level for drinking water.  The water also contained lead at levels that were 21 times above the acceptable levels, and chromium at more that double the allowable limits.  Independent testing shows elevated levels of butanone, acetone, carbon disulfide, strontium, as well as heavy metals, all above safe drinking water standards.  The town is awaiting additional test results.

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DISH is located in the epicenter of the Barnett Shale gas play and is home to a megacomplex of compressor stations, as well as pipelines, metering stations, gathering lines and gas wells.  The town of DISH spent nearly 15% of its annual budget on a comprehensive air study after months of complaints to the state regulatory agencies and the operators of the compressor sites, gave the citizens no relief.   DISH mayor Calvin Tillman says that “we are finally getting our air cleaned up, and now our water is showing signs of pollution,  we take two steps forward and three steps back”.  These results clearly show a correlation between the natural gas drilling process and water contamination, and this industry should no longer make claims that they have never contaminated a water source.   DISH resident Amber Smith is extremely concerned that her young children has been drinking this water.    Attached is a photo of the contaminated water.

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy, Property Rights  


Sep 1
2009

. Must-see video: “If I had done to my grazing permit what oil and gas has done, I would have been pulled off of it.  If I had created the surface disturbance, the erosion, the pollution of the water, the noxious weeds … I would not have a grazing permit.”  – Tweeti Blancett http://www.sierraclub.org/scp/chronicles/episode4.aspx

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy, The Fox is Guarding the Henhouse  


Aug 30
2009

In a story published on 8/27/09, Jon Hurdle of Reuters reports:

U.S. finds water polluted near gas-drilling sites

PHILADELPHIA, Aug 27 (Reuters) – U.S. government scientists have for the first time found chemical contaminants in drinking water wells near natural gas drilling operations, fueling concern that a gas-extraction technique is endangering the health of people who live close to drilling rigs.

The Environmental Protection Agency found chemicals that researchers say may cause illnesses including cancer, kidney failure, anemia and fertility problems in water from 11 of 39 wells tested around the Wyoming town of Pavillion in March and May this year.

. . . . .

Evidence of a link between gas drilling and water contamination would set back development of a clean-burning fuel promoted by the Obama administration as crucial to the future of U.S. energy production.

. . . . .

“There may be an indication of groundwater contamination by oil and gas activities,” said the 44-page report, which received little public attention when released on Aug. 11. “Many activities in gas well drilling (and) hydraulic fracturing … involve injecting water and other fluids into the well and have the potential to create cross-contamination of aquifers.”

Among the contaminants found in some of the wells was 2-butoyethanol, or 2-BE, a solvent used in natural gas extraction, which researchers say causes the breakdown of red blood cells, leading to blood in the urine and feces, and can damage the kidneys, liver, spleen and bone marrow.

Greg Oberley, an EPA scientist who has been testing the water samples, said the agency did not set out to prove that hydraulic fracturing caused groundwater contamination, but was responding to complaints from local residents that their well water had become discolored or foul-smelling or tasted bad.

The investigation was the EPA’s first in response to claims that gas drilling is polluting water supplies, he said. Testing will continue.

LINK TO GAS INDUSTRY?

While the EPA team has not determined how the chemicals got into the water, many are associated with gas drilling, Oberley said in a telephone interview.

“The preponderance of those compounds in the area would be attributable to the oil and gas industry,” he said.

. . . . .

John Fenton, a farmer in Pavillion, a rural community of about 150 people, said residents blame gas drilling for a range of illnesses including rare cancers, miscarriages and nervous system disorders.

Families with contaminated water wells have been advised by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to drink the water, which in some cases was black and oily, with a petroleum-like sheen, and a smell of gas, Fenton said.

“The stress is incredible,” Fenton told Reuters. “People have built their lives and businesses here. What’s it all worth now?”

Complete story at:

http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINN2731170120090827?sp=true

For more on this story:
http://www.propublica.org/feature/epa-chemicals-found-in-wyo.-drinking-water-might-be-from-fracking-825

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Trackback  •  Posted in Mean Energy, Natural Gas Industry Lies, On the Bleeding Edge  


Aug 25
2009

Dear Mr Cyr,

As a former farmer, I am appalled by these pictures.  Is there any definite evidence that the tumors on these animals was caused by hydrofracking by-products?  Is anyone doing any research on these incidents?  If so, and there are definite links to the hydrofracking compounds, then they should be presented to the DEC immediately!

Where were these pictures taken?  NY?  Pennsylvania?

I would appreciate any further information you can provide on these incidents.  Thank you.

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Hello Carol,

What the diseased calf and buck had in common was both were grazing on land where gas drilling hydrofracture had taken place. Those who believe it normal for beef and deer to be in such condition might consider that to be an irrelevant coincidence. The photo of the hideously deformed by cancer deer is from Louisiana. The photo of the diseased calf is from Arkansas. The Arkansas rancher who had leased his land for gas drilling reportedly had to dispose of his entire herd; while the herds of his neighbors who didn’t lease weren’t affected.

For those informed of the types of chemicals that are used in hydrofracture, and the immense scale of use that would be required to actually extract the great amounts global corporations wish to extract of these last remnants of gas so tightly bound up within the material of the rock itself, unconventional gas drilling hydrofracture is clearly incompatible with agricultural use of land. If they get this gas, we will lose our clean water and eventually no longer be able to produce safe food.

The DEC is well aware of the environmental unsoundness of this form of gas extraction. Unfortunately, due to corporate ownership of government, the DEC’s prime concern is maximizing energy resource extraction… not protecting the environment that all living things depend upon for health and well being.

With government compromised by corporate campaign contribution ownership, agencies created for the protection of the people are no longer performing that function.

The responsible research is being done by scientists who are independent of corporate/government influence (see TEDX).

TEDX Research – Chemicals in Natural Gas Operations:

Recent incidents raise issues on drilling, environment:

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Trackback  •  Posted in Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy, The Fox is Guarding the Henhouse  


Aug 25
2009

Consider the effect that toxic chemicals used in Halliburton’s unconventional gas drilling hydrofracture process have on animals just one step down in the food chain:

calfwithulcers
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Ulcers in cattle raised near gas drilling operation.

buckwithcancer

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Aggressive cancer in deer grazing near gas well.

If you leased your property to corporations that will use hydrofracture to extract the last remnants of gas trapped too tightly in stone, you have allowed them to site toxic waste production facilities on your property.

Chemicals added to the enormous quantities of fresh water to be taken from our rivers and streams will forever remove that water from the natural water cycle. All the water used in hydrofracture becomes toxic waste, which New York State is allowing the polluters to run through municipal sewage treatment plants that have no ability to remove the chemicals from the water. The corrupt state government is deviously permitting the toxics to run straight on through municipal treatment plants, to then be dumped into our lakes, rivers, and streams.

Unconventional gas drilling also produces tremendous amounts of air pollution: Ozone that destroys crops and trees; and fugitive gases that increase global warming. The net effect of unconventional (low permeability stone deposit) gas drilling is more — not less — pollution.

If Albany’s facilitation of this global corporate invasion and occupation is not stopped, then over the next few decades there will be hundreds of thousands of high volume high pressure hydrfracture drilling operations sited throughout the farming country of the Catskill, Central, and Southern Tier regions of New York State. Each of those drilling sites will several times remove millions of gallons of fresh water and convert it into toxic waste. The cumulative environmental impact over time will be devastating. Our water, ground and air will be polluted. Twenty years from now the only people who might remain living, in the then gas extraction industrial zones that were traditionally farming areas, will be those too poor to move.

Got neighbors?

Got children?

Got a conscience?

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy, The Fox is Guarding the Henhouse  


Jun 28
2009

From The Shreveport Times:

The ‘stuff’ killed the cows, sheriff says

• Prator questions whether drilling company has reported incident.

By Vickie Welborn • vwelborn@gannett.com • June 25, 2009

That’s Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator’s assessment of what contributed to the deaths of 17 cows in late April near a natural gas drilling location south of Spring Ridge.

Until now, none of the state agencies involved in the ongoing inquiry into the incident has stated what caused the cattle to drop dead in Skipper Williams Jr.’s pasture on state Highway 169.

The deaths were reported at some point after a liquid leaked from the well, which was in the completion process, and pooled into a low area accessible to the cows. The substance later was determined to contain elevated chlorides, oil, grease and some organic compounds.

But no state agency took responsibility for testing the animals. Results from a necropsy performed by Williams’ private veterinarian are unavailable.

On Wednesday, Prator gathered representatives of his and Caddo District Attorney Charles Scott’s offices, the Caddo Commission, state police and the state Environmental Quality, Natural Resources and Agriculture and Forestry departments in one room to review all the reports connected to the incident.

“We went over for an hour exactly what everybody’s response was, and everybody’s response and cooperation was really good,” the sheriff said. “We responded to the scene well. When everyone found out about it we all worked together very well.

“We have determined — although no one agency except me will say this — by piecing everything together, there was a spill from the site that ran off of the site and that was ingested by the cows and that’s what caused the cows to die.”

State veterinarian Michael Barrington confirmed the cows’ deaths were neither natural nor caused by disease, a release from Prator’s office states.
. . . . .
Still undetermined is whether the spill was reported and, if so, whether it was reported in a timely manner. “We contend it should have been reported. And the timeliness of it we’re investigating,” Prator said.
. . . . .
State police, the sheriff’s office and Environmental Quality still are looking into the timeliness of the reporting. Findings of the sheriff’s office and state police will be turned over to Scott for review. Environmental Quality will move its report through its channels.

Environmental Quality was notified via its hotline when Chesapeake Energy learned of the dead cattle. And over the next 72 hours, the company worked with Schlumberger, the sheriff’s office and other agencies involved to investigate the incident, McCotter said.
. . . . .
“While Chesapeake, Schlumberger and others have conducted water and soil analysis, Chesapeake and Schlumberger have not had access to the cattle owners’ necropsy and toxicology reports and have, therefore, been unable to draw any conclusions as to the cause of the cattle deaths,” McCotter said.
. . . . .
“If at the time it happened proper notification had been made, there are chances cows would still be alive right now,” the sheriff said. “In this case, this was cows. How unfortunate. But what if it was children?”

For complete story, see: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090625/NEWS01/906250326/0/L/The–stuff–killed-the-cows–sheriff-says

For an important post on gas drilling’s effects on livestock and farmers, see also:
http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/amall/oil_and_gas_impacts_on_livesto.html

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Fraccidents, Mean Energy, On the Bleeding Edge, The Fox is Guarding the Henhouse