Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Mitchell Gas Well Site In PA: Flaring


Taken from the road, Bailey Rd., Franklin Twp., Susquehanna County, Pa., on 5-16-12.

Mitchell home is just below the site. WPX Energy is the gas company involved.

Video taken by Vera Scroggins.  Vera writes:
"See what it's like to live next to flaring of two wells; fortunately, it's the owners of this site that live next to it and have to experience this and see how they like it and whether they want all their neighbors to experience it, like they do. Their neighbors up to 3 miles away or more are hearing this throughout the whole day for days. [24/7]
Thanks, for disturbing our peace and country life and turning it into a gas field."
Vera
More here and here.
From Earthworksaction.org
Flaring
Flaring is the practice of burning gas that is deemed uneconomical to collect and sell. Flaring is also used to burn gases that would otherwise present a safety problem. It is common to flare natural gas that contains hydrogen sulfide (i.e., sour gas), in order to convert the highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas into less toxic compounds.

Flares emit a host of air pollutants, depending on the chemical composition of the gas being burned and the efficiency and temperature of the flare. Flaring results in hydrogen sulfide emissions if hydrogen sulfide is present in large enough amounts in the natural gas. There may also be additional by-products formed if some of the chemicals used during the drilling or hydraulic fracturing process are converted to a gaseous form and are burned along with the natural gas.

The Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, in California has estimated that the following air pollutants may be released from natural gas flares: benzene, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, including naphthalene), acetaldehyde, acrolein, propylene, toluene, xylenes, ethyl benzene and hexane. Researchers in Canada have measured more than 60 air pollutants downwind of natural gas flares.

1 comment:

Amber said...

Hi- I'm very interested in the information that you have posted here, particularly the methane bubbling in streams. I'm a grad student and my research is peripherally related to hydrofracking. I want to know more about how you find these sites where methane is bubbling and if you can tell me where some more are. My email address is bellamy.41@osu.edu. Hope to hear from you and thanks!