Hot Off the Press: The No Frack Almanac Spring Issue!

Hot off the press from Susquehanna County, PA, and environs! Don't miss the Spring 2012 issue just out! Click here for great journalism.

Three Questions About Fracking

Five Stories and a Trailer Park:  Gerri Kane, Carol French, Carolyn Knapp, Bill Pabst, and Matthew and Tammy Manning have experienced problems related to gas drilling.  Read more...

The Fracker Family Closet

Betrayal: Article by Sandra Steingraber

Ten Ways Frackwater Can Get Into Everyone's Water

And much more........................http://nofrackalmanac.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/nfa-issue-3-to-press2.pdf

Amazing Fact: Under current SEC rules, gas companies can sweeten their balance sheets by claiming reserves that have never been independently proven to exist!

Gas Worker Drinks Tainted Coffee: Treated Frack Water Used To Brew!

If you work on a well site, you might want to buy your coffee off-site.  A gas worker inadvertently put a jug of treated frack water in the break room at a Dimock worksite in June.  Coffee was brewed using this toxic water.  It made a worker sick for about 5 days.

Read the story here.

Gas Drilling: More Truck Traffic Accidents, More Spills

Waste water truck line-up

Two people were sent to local hospitals August 7th after a water tanker truck rolled over on State Route 14 near Alba, PA, spilling 1,600 gallons of recycled water from gas drilling operations.  The truck driver was severely injured in the early morning crash.  After the truck came to rest upside down and partly in the road, a car came by and struck the trailer of the truck.  That driver was taken to a hospital as well.

Here is the strange part about this accident.
The PA Department of Environmental Protection were called to the scene and said that there was no "saline" in the truck and the treated water contained "no chemical contaminant."  This water was being transported from Williamsport, PA, after having been "treated" and was being taken to another well pad to be used again for another hydrofracking job.  According to the PA DEP, no clean-up was necessary except for some motor oil and hydraulic fluid from the truck itself.  The Bradford County Public Safety Director Robert Barnes said he did not know where the treatment facility was located- the one where this recycled frack fluid had been treated.

I have read that this recycled frack fluid becomes more and more salty every time it is treated for re-use and that eventually it becomes unusable and must be discarded.  Also I know that this frack fluid contains radioactive material brought up from the ground during fracking.  I do not believe this recycled frack fluid can be called water by any stretch of the imagination.  It could possibly be called recycled frack fluid, but not water.  That gives the false impression, in my opinion, that this fluid is somehow harmless, almost as if you could drink it safely.

I am also puzzled as to how the PA DEP got to the scene so fast and determined that there was no public health or environmental hazard at the crash site.  I know the DEP inspectors do a good job, but this is extraordinary!  Usually after accidents, samples are taken and sent to a lab and it takes a week or so to get the results.

The truck was operated by Principal Enterprises, LLC, of Canton, PA.  The gas drilling company was Talisman Energy USA, formerly known as Fortuna.

Read more.....

Interested in the business of treating frack water?  Go here. The industry makes some pretty amazing claims as to just how pure the treated "water" is.  Do we buy it?

I still maintain that, once fresh water is stolen removed from our rivers and streams and used for hydrofracking, it is no longer water, but rather produced water, or brine.  It will never ever be fit to drink or use in any other way as pure water.  It will never return to the hydrologic cycle as happens, for example, when water is used on golf courses.  This water is only useful to gas drillers and then only for a short while.  Then it becomes  useless even for fracking.  To read the advertisements for this water treatment process, you would think you could give the treated water to a baby.

Some interesting Reader Comments (Towanda Daily Review):

"I talked to one of these local water truck drivers earlier today and he said that he is putting in roughly 100 hours behind the wheel every week. Even working 7 days straight that is over 14 hours behind the wheel every single day. These drivers are being told to make as many trips as possible during their shift. So we have exhausted drivers racing from point A to point B and back - it's amazing we haven't seen more of these trucks involved in accidents."

"Amazing! The DEP was able to do all that testing & obtain the results in less than 24 hours???"

" I ran into one of these tanker rollovers on Sunday afternoon at near 5PM on Route 706 between the Frank and Mary's and the old Red House bakery. It was totally on its back, with wheels in the air, down from the road near a creek. There was lots of emergency services and another tanker (probably to pump the load of whatever out). Why hasn't this rollover been reported on by the Review? It did occur in Bradford County."

"There are too many crashes for the paper to possibly report them all. A couple weeks ago in Monroeton a water tanker ran completely over the front of a car. Squashed it flat. That was never in the paper. We would need a bigger paper."

"Within the past two weeks I have almost been hit head on by two tractor trailers in the Troy area. The first one broke my mirror and the second one would have hit me, but I swerved into the ditch. I encourage all truck drivers to remember that they are supposed to be professional drivers and should obey speed limits and avoid texting or talking on the phone."

"Excuse me for being suspicious, but I simply do not believe that EVERY time there is an accident and a spill by the gas industry, DEP almost immediately says there is no danger, no chemicals, etc. These trucks carry chemicals and highly toxic waste. This is why we need laws that require tracking this "stuff" from start to finish. I, too, wonder how it is they (DEP) can make such quick determinations and tell us it is safe? Each one of these accidents has the high potential to pollute our water. There are far too many of these incidents and too little reporting on them. I have heard these drivers work extremely long hours, often working 7 days in a row. This is insanity. Too much is at risk. I'd be interested in knowing that it was checked and double checked as to just WHERE this frack water was treated!"

And that's just a few of the comments at the end of the article! 

And here is another article related to this subject from the New York Times if you have a moment to check it out.                  

And finally, an interesting interactive graphic about wastewater chemicals.

I guess that's enough reading material for one day!


     

Halliburton Comes Out With New Line of Fracking Products

Drink up?

Halliburton came out with "first-of-its-kind fracture fluid system" comprised of materials from the food industry.  It is marketed under the name "CleanStim™."  

An employee of Halliburton was asked by his superior to take a sip of this stuff.  Here's the story.

I think I'll plan a Frack Tea Party!

Fraccident in PA: Popular Mechanics Weighs In

We're not supposed to drink what?

LINK

Popular Mechanics featured an article on Tuesday's well spill in Leroy Township, Bradford County, PA.  The well operated by Chesapeake Energy erupted just before midnight April 19th, sending thousands of gallons of contaminated frack fluid over the earthen berms surrounding the well pad and down through farmlands to a nearby creek which flows into the Susquehanna River.  The well is Atgas 2H located about 175 miles northwest of Philly.  The mishap occurred while the crew was in the middle of a "frack job."  Although the investigation into this accident is not complete, officials believe a steel coupling located beneath the well's blowout protector, but above ground, failed, allowing the flowback to gush out.  This blowout protector is the same technology as the device that failed in the Gulf oil spill one year ago this week.  What happened in Leroy is not being described as a blowout which would have involved an explosion and methane release into the air.  However, there was no way to immediately stop the flow of water.  As the PM article siad, "there was a lot of water."  Normally this flowback is collected in pits or tanks, processed to remove some of the contaminents, and then partially reused in other wells.  However, some of the waste is trucked out of state or worse, diluted and released by treatment facilities into rivers and streams.

Prior to the incident this week,  there had been days of steady rain which had partially filled the containment pits, causing the pits to overflow when the accident occurred.  Then the berms failed as well.  DEP officials have warned farmers  to stop their cows from drinking surface water. [And we know how easy it is to monitor cows.]

Investigators did not immediately disclose the chemical make-up of the fracking fluid that escaped.  Some of the chemicals are proprietary, making it impossible for emergency workers to know what to test for or treat for.  Popular Mechanics said,

If initial estimates are accurate, it would make Wednesday's incident the most serious fracking accident in the history of Marcellus Shale development.

That is quite a claim to make. 

Methane bubbles in the Susquehanna in Sugar Run
Credit: Don Williams

Don't Drink the Water

News from The River Reporter, Narrowsburg, NY

In far away Pavilion, Wyoming, it is confirmed that the water is not fit for human consumption.  A few weeks ago, representatives of the EPA said that at least 20 wells in the Pavilion, WY, area were contaminated with an array of substances and that residents should not drink OR cook with the water.  Local residents have known this for more than two years and suspect that nearby gas drilling operations had fouled their drinking water.
LINK

Now travel east to New York State.  People are wondering:  Does frack fluid migrate to the surface? Industry supporters say it is impossible.  Opponents say that the vast majority of water wells near gas drilling operations have never been tested.  And fracking chemicals are proprietary, so how does anyone know what to test for anyway?  James Northrup, a native of Texas, and a summer resident of Upstate NY, says the very nature of the Marcellus Shale allows gas migration.  He says it is likely that frack fluids will migrate to the surface.  He says the shale contains many faults, some of which go from the bedrock to the surface.  To make matters worse, there is not a lot of seismic data in Upstate NY.  No one knows where these faults are located.  So how can any gas driller claim they have everything under control? 
To listen to James Northrup, click here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

In memory of Karen Korell

SPLASHDOWN

1944-2010

Another View of What Happened In Dimock, PA

Cartoon by John Cole, The (Scranton) Times-Tribune

http://blogs.thetimes-tribune.com/johncole/?p=1319
Used by permission.

$240,000 in fines and a one-year moratorium on drilling in a small rural township might make it seem that Pennsylvania state government is cracking down on natural gas drillers that compromise the environment and living conditions for local residents. Unfortunately, pitted against the millions in profits drillers stand to gain from extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale, it basically amounts to the cost of doing business.


Don't know what happened in Dimock?  Click here for a start.  Also search this blog for more information on the plight of Dimock.

PA Has No Law Requiring Full Disclosure of Fracking Chemicals

A frack pit with torn liner

QUESTION:
Does anyone have details on Pennsylvania's requirements for disclosure  of fracking chemicals? Also, are you aware of other states that have  full public disclosure requirements?

ANSWER:
(from Bruce Baizel)
PA does not 'require' disclosure in rule or statute. They have a  policy/guideline, which is not enforceable, but 'voluntary'.  No other state requires full public disclosure.

Bruce Baizel, Oil and Gas Accountability Project Staff Attorney

Bruce comes to OGAP from Dine CARE, a Navajo action group, and Round River Conservation Studies, groups he staffed and represented for eleven years. Bruce received his law degree in 1986 from the University of Denver College of Law, has a BA in Biology and a Masters in International Relations.

Also, a response from Deborah Goldberg of Earthjustice:
Pennsylvania has published a list of additives that companies may use for fracturing. As far as I know, there is no other public disclosure. Theo Colborn analyzed the list to get more chemical identity and toxicity data. New York provides the MSDS sheets for the additives that industry may use. No one provides full disclosure as far as I know.
____________________
Deborah Goldberg
Earthjustice
212-791-1881 x227

Gas Well Talking Points for the Gullible

On the website marcellus-shale.us, there are numerous links to many informative pages. Here is one example:

Gas Well Talking Points

• SPICE RACK - One local gas drilling company likes to use a photo of a kitchen spice rack while discussing frac fluids. They will tell you: "We only use a few, just 4 or 5" and "This is stuff you use in your house" and "Most of it stays deep in the ground." But a spice rack example?? Frac fluids put a nurse in Colorado into organ arrest after she came in contact with a drilling worker soaked with frac fluids. The good news is that she lived. Bad news is that it took more than 30 hours for her to be released from intensive care. These gas drilling company PR guys sure must think you're stupid if you fall for their cooking spices comparison!
  

• ROAD SALT - Since some people know that hydraulic fracturing fluids coming back out of the ground ('flowback') contain high levels of salt or brine, the gas drilling PR guys will address this one very simply. They tell the crowd they could drill for 10 years and not create as much salt runoff as the Pennsylvania highway department uses for de-icing roads during one winter. OK then, we need the roads salted for safety and winter transportation, but do we really need gas drillers adding that much salt to the environment, especially when most of it now gets processed and dumped back in our rivers, where we get our drinking water?
  

• RESTORED TO THE SAME OR BETTER CONDITION - Drilling companies profess that they will put the land they use for gas drilling pads, frac pits, pipelines and other operations back into the same or better condition. While they might get some vegetation to grow, it will never be the same. Here's one of those reclamation jobs near the entrance to Cross Creek Park in Washington County, PA.
  
  

• ONLY ONE CASE OF WATER CONTAMINATION - Open wide folks, because this is a BIG ONE to swallow whole! The local gas drilling company PR guy told a crowd in Hickory Pennsylvania in early 2009 that he only knew of one case of water contamination due to fracking gas wells in the entire United States, and that may have been in Arkansas, he thought. Just one week prior to his presentation, the photo below was taken of a run-off area down stream from a gas well that had just been fracked, and this was less than 10-miles from where he was giving his presentation. Do you think these guys need to get out in the field more, or just focus on the facts. How dumb do they think you are anyway?
  
  

• MON RIVER WATER PROBLEM HAD LITTLE TO DO WITH GAS DRILLING ACTIVITIES??? - Late in 2008, about 1/3 of a million Pittsburgh area residents were treated to "chunky" water, that being tap water that was much higher than normal in TDS (Total Dissolved Solids). The PaMarcellus industry consortium commissioned a study by Tetra Tech in an attempt to show that drawing millions of gallons of water from surrounding streams and waterways had little to do with the terrible tasting drinking water. OK then, let's use their numbers, assuming the study was correct.... they say hydraulic fracturing of gas wells contributed to less than 7-percent of the chunky water problem (Keep in mind the study was done by a paid contractor). Since a Pittsburgh TV news team caught them raiding rivers that were already under a drought watch for massive quantities of water, they had to admit they played a big part (1 in 14 according to THEIR numbers). They will pump streams dry too, even though Pennsylvania's Clean Streams Law makes it illegal. Gas drilling is a "wild west style" under-regulated industry, and everyone knows where that got us with coal mining.
  Photo below: Three tankers pumping water out of a stream running low due dry summer conditions on Marcellus Shale near Houston, Pa. Is gas well fracking more important than aquatic life in this stream?
  
  July 11, 2009 -
  Washington Firefighter Academy parking lot, Chartiers Township

LINKS

Marcellus Shale gas drilling wastewater

Go to the original web page here.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Frozen Waterfall of Fracking Fluid

A frozen "waterfall" of drilling fluids was visible near Parachute, Colorado, in February 2008. The state says 1.6 million gallons of fracturing fluids leaked from a pit, was transported by groundwater, and ended up seeping out of the cliff. (Colorado Department of Natural Resources)

According to state records, the spill migrated underground until it seeped from a cliff side and froze into a gray pillar of ice more than 200 feet tall. When it melted, the fluids dripped into the torrid currents of Parachute Creek and finally dumped into the Colorado River.

Leaks are common on well pads. Sludge pits are one of the most common locations of leaks. Gas drilling is a very messy business. There is a huge price to pay for getting shale gas out of the earth.

Click here to read a ProPublica article published in December 2008.


[Thanks to www.un-naturalgas.org for this photo.]

Bulldozer Buries Toxic Sludge in Garfield County, CO

Here is a report from Journey of the Forsaken which describes what happened in this video (May 2009). Thanks to Lisa Bracken for capturing this event and writing about it.

Twenty-three days after EnCana completed hydraulic fracturing operations on the F11E (CO), the liner is removed, some of the sludge is pumped out and the remainder - perhaps 70 barrels or more - is dozed in.

The pad overlies a spring that often surfaces here. It is fed by a shallow groundwater aquifer that supplies water to West Divide Creek and a family's private water well located maybe 200 yards away. An irrigation ditch is located approximately 30 feet from the East end of the pit.

If one of the pumper trucks had overturned on the county road, spilling this stuff into the environment, a hazardous materials unit would have responded, sequestered the area, potentially evacuated citizens and employed measures to safeguard first responders, citizens and the environment. But because this is a hydraulic fracturing waste pit, out of sight of the public and on private land (owned, coincidently, by EnCana) it is simply covered up.

This same site - if it were at a gas station or a paper mill or a chemical manufacturing plant - would likely be a violation and require extensive clean-up and proper disposal at a licensed facility... as it should. But, again, here, in rural Garfield County, it is simply buried.

Industry would like us to believe that frac fluids are merely salt water, a little thickener, and food additives. But we know frac mixtures contain all kinds of hazardous substances, like biocides, benzene, hydrocarbons, solvents, descalers, surfactants, enzymes, acids, and patented synthetic chemicals. We also know the adverse health effects of some of these agents.

We know a nurse in Durango, CO nearly died of catastrophic organ failure after unprotected exposure to fracturing chemicals (we don't know what happened to the field worker she cared for). We know her physician had to guess how to treat her as she lay dying. And we know that industry lawyers blocked her testimony at a rules reform hearing where citizens and advocacy groups were lobbying for chemical disclosure. We also know that the oil and gas industry has totally refuted her claims in literature distributed to lawmakers in Washington, DC intended to influence legislators against voting to repeal hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Watching a bull dozer blade this toxic brew beneath twenty feet of uncontained soil is horrifying. Knowing that this industry is allowed to poison the land, the water and the people is even worse.

Eventually this pit was completely covered.

This site is less than a half mile from my home.... a place in the Rocky Mountains now exploited for its natural gas resource. A place once rich in other resources as well... water - air - land - wildlife - community.

EnCana calls where I live their "Field of Dreams". As they abuse the ecosystem and destroy its fragile sustainability, they reap a finite reward while leaving behind an industrial waste dump.

I apologize for the shaky video and loud background noise. The wind was blowing so hard it was shaking my hand and totally flooded the microphone.

Despite the awful nature of this situation, the meticulous work conducted by the dozer and excavator operators was something to see. I knew an operator who competed in heavy equipment rodeos, and watching him excavate was amazing.

All the folks on this site seemed capable, and I doubt that any of them gave a second thought to burying this pit. Field workers have told me this is common practice. They probably had no idea it was right over an aquifer and never considered the effects on a stream or private water well. They work around this stuff all the time, and many come to consider it routine, even unknowingly putting their own health at risk. But, EnCana leadership is well aware, and that is where accountability must begin.

As with most of these situations, it is the underlying structure of inappropriate federal exemptions, weak state rules and poor but accepted practices that lead to making this the terrible situation it is.

Only with full accountability can we develop workable and mutually beneficial solutions. Which are more than possible - they are at the leading edge of demand and on the precipice of necessity.

Ultimately, the fossil fuel industry must come out of the dark ages and embrace a more honest and cooperative manner of conducting their operations.

Part of that involves repealing exemptions that allow and encourage them to operate like a lawless regime, putting human health and safety as well as the environment at frequent and serious risk.

For over a year, at www.journeyoftheforsaken.com, I've been documenting EnCana's aggressive and irresponsible development of 60 natural gas wells around our home and the infamous area of the 2004 West Divide Creek natural gas blowout.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
Go to http://www.journeyoftheforsaken.com/
for more remarkable stories from Garfield County, CO.
Credit goes to Lisa Bracken who maintains this website.

Glenn Williams and Candace Mingins: Stories From the Front Line

At a recent meeting held at Broome Community College (NY), several speakers gave their testimony about the effects of gas drilling on public health and family economic stability. This video is about 18 minutes. There are a few introductory remarks prior to Mr. Williams' and Ms. Mingins' talks.

Glenn Williams, Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coaltion (BRSC)

Mr. Williams is affiliated with the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition (BRSC). His story is an eyeopener. He tells of discovering that the DEC has not ever collected data about problems with gas drilling. Therefore people can say there is no evidence of any problems with gas drilling. He tells of the 300 chemicals in fracking fluid, 65 of which have been identified as carcinogenic or causing endocrine disruption. He reports that Lebanon, NY, which has 55 wells drilled, ran up a bill of $300,000 for road repair due to heavy traffic from gas drillers and were compensated only $12,000 by the gas drillers. He says a landowner will be taxed 42% on profits (federal and state) and possibly face law suits from neighbors for damages done to adjacent properties. He questions how much money can actually be made by landowners. He explains how a company like Chesapeake Appalachia, a limited liability corporation, can just walk away from any harm they have done and declare bankruptcy while the larger corporation, Chesapeake Energy cannot be held responsible. He believes firmly that gas companies must pay for well testing before, during, and after drilling, pay for replacement loss of home values, and replace the water they take from aquifers.

Candace Mingins, farmer, Van Etten, NY

Ms. Mingins lives with her husband and three children on their family farm in Van Etten near Ithaca, NY. They have an orchard which is in its 34th garden year. A well was drilled on their property in 2006 on the Trenton Black River formation. In 2008, she helped organize Shaleshock Citizens Action Coalition. Listen to Candace as she tells what it is like to deal with a multi-national gas corporation. Hear what it is really like to sign a lease and then have to live with the consequences. It will shock you.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
Thanks to Essential Dissent, Binghamton, NY for this video.
http://essentialdissent.blogspot.com

Arlen Specter Won't Drink Tap Water

4/3/09 Sen. Arlen Specter answers Muhlenberg College students' questions on Halliburton's poisonous hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Pennsylvania and water rights. More information on www.waterunderattack.com

Caught In the Act in Colorado

An environmental activist from Colorado came upon this scene, and this is part of what she wrote:

On May 14^th I was conducting a wrap-up interview with a documentary film crew in an area overlooking EnCana’s F11E pad, when quite by happenstance, the crew began reclaiming the frac sludge pit. During removal of the liner (probably due to the large volume of sludge left standing in the pit) the waste overtopped the liner, contaminating the soil beneath. The liner was subsequently removed, some of the sludge pumped out and the remainder dozed underneath soil in the unlined pit. Sadly, this pad lies atop shallow ground water – an aquifer which EnCana intercepted at 200 feet. The aquifer feeds a spring that often exits at this location and also feeds Divide Creek - where we get our drinking water. It is also within about 200 yards of a neighbor’s private water well and only 30 feet or so from an irrigation ditch. It looks like this sludge is destined to leach into the aquifer. Not many people are aware of or understand the risks these chemicals pose, so I hope the footage and photos posted on this week’s update will be helpful, especially in the effort toward repealing exemptions from the Safe Drinking Water Act. I can’t discount the coincidence of seeing this pit cover up when it happened. Had we been a few hours later, we would have never even known. It begs the obvious question, “where else?” And industry is standing firm on how safe it is… but this incident shows a different side.

For a pictorial documentation of how the frac chemicals were bulldozed into the soil, go here.

Below is a video of this illegal disposal of toxic chemicals. Or perhaps it is not illegal since the gas industry is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Thanks to Journey of the Forsaken and Lisa Bracken for reporting and documenting this incident. www.journeyoftheforsaken.com

Dead Cows in Louisiana

A Louisiana farmer lost 19( some accounts report as many as 30) of his cows on Tuesday. Many of the cows had calves, but none of the calves died. A spokesman for the LA Department of Environmental Quality reports that "It looks like some type of production fluid has run offsite and the cows got into it, ingested it." A nearby gas well owned by Chesapeake Energy may be the culprit, but no determination has been made yet until test results come in. The cows, referred to as "livestock," since they are destined for the slaughterhouse undoubtedly, died near rain puddles in their pasture which is about 150 feet from the well. Local residents said they saw the cattle foaming at the mouth, bellowing, and had bleeding tongues.

Read the story here.

When the wells come to French Azilum, what will happen to our next door neighbor Farmer Brown's horses which his granddaughter rides when she competes? (He is so proud of her.) If the horses, barn cats, and valley dogs start keeling over, it will be way past time to leave. Will there be another peaceful, beautiful place left to go?

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!