Seismic Study To Be Done In Oklahoma: 4500 Disposal Wells and Earthquakes Linked

An E&E Publishing Service

EARTHQUAKES: Okla. agency gets $1.8M to study seismic links to drilling (Wednesday, July 16, 2014)

Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter

Earthquake researchers in Oklahoma have received nearly $2 million from the federal government to study connections between the state's surge in quakes and oil and gas drilling activities.

The Oklahoma Geological Survey will use the money to buy new equipment and hire researchers to analyze piles of research about the drilling wastewater injected into the state's 4,500 disposal wells, said Director G. Randy Keller.

The two-year, $1.8 million grant is from the Department of Energy's Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA). The state, the University of Oklahoma, and the oil and gas industry provided a 20 percent match.

"The whole scheme of things is to produce a really detailed 3-D model of the earth down 10 miles or more," Keller said.

Oklahoma has become the most seismically active state in the lower 48 in the last few months, and many have pointed the blame at disposal wells used to inject wastewater from oil and gas drilling.

The state has had more earthquakes magnitude 3 or higher than California in the last nine months (EnergyWire, May 7). There's been a fortyfold increase during the period of 2008 to 2013 compared with 1976 to 2007.

In 2014, Oklahoma has had twice as many quakes as California, though it's only half the size.

There also have been earthquakes linked to injection in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio and Texas.

The U.S. Geological Survey and academic researchers have linked much of the increase in Oklahoma to deep injection of waste fluid from oil and gas production in the drilling-heavy state.

OGS has been the voice of skepticism in the seismology community on links between drilling activities and earthquakes. The agency has said it is premature to link the earthquakes to wastewater disposal and rebutted the findings of other researchers.

In anticipation of a March 2013 study finding that the state's largest earthquake was induced by disposal, OGS released its own conclusions that it was the result of natural causes (EnergyWire, March 27, 2013).

When areas north of Oklahoma City were rattled by a swarm of smaller earthquakes in November, OGS posted a report pointing away from oil and gas activities and toward changing water levels in nearby Arcadia Lake. Other researchers have linked the swarm to oil production in the area that produces huge volumes of water.

But OGS seismologist Austin Holland has linked very small earthquakes and the hydraulic fracturing of an oil well. And his research contributed to state officials' decision last year to sharply restrict injection at a well site near Marietta, Okla., after a nearby earthquake.

OGS applied for the grant in December and got official word that it had been approved for the grant last month.

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Earthquakes in Oklahoma Tied To Fracking and Injection Wells

Protecting Our Waters Blog has posted this compelling article about 2500 earthquakes in Oklahoma.  Are we pouring poison into the Earth without appreciating the dire consequences?

Read the article here.

We must use our brains a lot more than we are doing now.  Mother Earth will have the last word.  She will.  How much more destruction do we think she can endure?

The FERC Rubber Stamp Song

Published on Jul 6, 2014

We all know FERC's a Rubber Stamp Machine!
(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)
Recorded the 1 May 2014 (day of Minisink trial at the DC Circuit Court of Appeals).

LYRICS by Dave Publow:

We're here at FERC to have our say
So listen closely, don't walk away
This is your country It's yours to save
You're letting fossil fuels dig our grave

Across the land from sea to sea
The gas-men drill the earth so carelessly
They poison water, they cut down trees
To put in pipelines that we don't need

And we all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
it's not for you and me, it's paid by permit fees
We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me

You guys at FERC, so you say
Will regulate the pipes, and keep us safe
Tell me then how industry
Puts dangerous pipelines in NYC

Our upstate friends are feeling down
The Constitution Pipeline, will wreck their towns
With leaky pipes and clear cut trees
Fracked wells and poisoned springs

We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
a rubber stamp machine, a rubber stamp machine
We all know your hearings are a total joke,
FERC is just a fraud, it's all a bunch of smoke

Voices:
Full speed ahead, Mr. FERC Inspector! Full speed ahead!
Full speed it is Mr. Gasman!
Cut the trees down! Carve up the landscape!
Spread that toxic waste on the roads!
Aye aye, Sir! Aye aye!


And we fight cause we believe
No one should be forced to ever breathe
Skies of ozone (Skies of ozone) and benzene (and toluene)
In our ferky (our ferky jerky) democracy (bureaucracy, ha-ha!)

We all know that gas is anything but green
It poisons all our wells, or blows to smithereens
And we all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me

We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
a rubber stamp machine, a rubber stamp machine
We all know that FERC's a rubber stamp machine,
It won't protect you, it won't protect me.

FERC

Minisink Matters

Minisink, NY:  Our Story

Minisink Compressor Station Vented July 7, 2014
 

Oklahoma Earthquakes Likely Caused By Injection Wells

"Wastewater injections from oil and gas operations likely have led to the recent sharp increase in earthquakes across central Oklahoma, according to researchers, including two from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study, which appears in the journal Science, used hydrogeological models to gauge how pressure from wastewater injected into underground rock seeped into faults where seismic activity occurred."


Read the article here.

"Out of sight, out of mind" does not apply to fracking waste injected into the ground.  As the saying goes, it will come back to bite us.

Panda Liberty Power Plant in Asylum Township, PA

Published on Jun 26, 2014 This is in Asylum Township, Bradford Co., Pa. There is two-gas-fired combined cycle powerblocks with combustion turbines and heat recovery steam generators with duct burner. Also, there will be a 1464 bhp diesel-fired, emergency generator, 460 bhp diesel-fired fire pump, 1600 gallon diesel tank, 300 gallon diesel tank, and two, lube oil tanks at 1500 gallons each. From the Plan Approval, here are the emissions permitted by PA DEP/EPA.

233.5 tons per year CO 206.8 tons per year
NOX 2.48 tons per year formaldehyde
12.5 tons per year HAP
105 tons per year PM (PM/PM10/PM2.5 including condensable PM)
28.4 tons per year SO2
4.4 tons per year sulfuric acid mist
2,960,271 tons per year greenhouse gases (CO2 equivalent)

This is the latest in the ongoing, expanding footprint of Gas Extraction; costing hundreds of millions. This site is surrounded by homes....  

Thanks to Vera Scroggins for this video.

In addition to many residential homes which are very close to this power plant,  there used to be fields and farm land, too, which is gone forever.

Check out the permitted air pollution!  Wow!  If I were sitting on the porch across from this, I sure would look forward to a summer evening breathing sulfuric acid mist. Let's just look at that for a minute.  I looked it up and found:

"Sulfuric acid mist irritates the skin, eyes, nose and throat, and lungs. Exposure to high concentrations can cause severe damage at all these sites.
Exposure over many years could cause difficulty breathing or erosion of the teeth.
The NIOSH studies indicate that acid mist may cause larynx and lung cancer."

What will the residents do?  Will they sell, or try to sell?  Who would buy a home across from this massive industrial plant?

This power plant has an address of 151 Liberty Lane.  It is located on State Route 187 not far from the intersection of Route 6.

Where does the frack waste go? New Yorkers, beware!

Notes from No Fracking Way

Chip Northrup writes:

Neither the waste haulers nor the NY DEC can be trusted regarding frack waste. There is simply more frack waste coming out of Fracksylvania than the frackers know what to do with. Fracksylvania’s DEP does not track the filth beyond state lines, so once the truck is in New York, it’s home free. The hauler will say that it is “salt water” that it is “brine” that it smells like roses. The haulers get paid by the load, not by the hour, so it is in their best interest to simply make the stuff go bye-bye as expeditiously as possible.
When it comes to fracking, the lead agency within the NY DEC is the Division of Mineral Resources - which is literally a revolving door to fracking. The DMR is the fracker’s auxiliary in Albany. Full stop.

The result is that loads of frack waste are coming across the border into New York state. Most of it untested, Some of it entirely unaccounted for.
There is only one plausible solution: ban the disposal of oil and gas waste products – at the town, county and state level. Take your pick.

Scientists predict increased rain, floods for Pennsylvania

Flooded well pad in Towanda, PA, September 2011

 

My dear Susquehanna is being so affected by industrialization, especially the natural gas industry which is accelerating climate change by leaps and bounds. "Last year, drilling companies created more than 300 billion gallons of flowback from fracking operations in the United States...In Pennsylvania, drillers are still allowed to mix up to 10% of the volume of large freshwater pits with flowback water."  Spills and leaks happen all the time.  Rain, snow, and wind move toxic chemicals into groundwater, streams, and rivers.  "Increased rainfall also increases the probability of pollution from spills from our decaying pipeline systems. About half of all oil and gas pipelines are at least a half-century old."  Increased truck and train accidents are also causing a huge increase in spills, many of which are in wetlands and flow into groundwater and streams. "A primary reason for increased rainfall is because of man-made climate change, the result og increased carbon dioxide from fossil fuel extraction and burning."  We don't have much time left to reverse this dangerous course.

Read article here.

 

A house floats down the river in Tunkhannock in September 2011.  It hit the bridge.

Susquehanna River, French Azilum, PA
Photo: Carol Manuel

Well Statistics To Date For Asylum Township:

115 - Approved Well Permits
40 - Active Wells
28 - Wells With Reported Production Values

 

Asylum Township, Bradford County, PA, has a population of 1,058 people.  It is only 26.4 square miles in size.

 

 

I think that 40 active wells is a lot for an area that small.  Average 1.5 wells per square mile.   Dr. Tony Ingraffea has said that 5% of all wells have leaks and spills or other failures.  So in Asylum Township, at least two wells will have failures, causing environmental destruction, water pollution, soil pollution, not to mention air pollution which is a given for every single well.  Many spills and well casing failures occur before fracking is done.

Free all captive animals. All sea mammals in Sea World, Marineland, all places that use marine mammals as entertainment for profit.

The Intersection of Hydraulic Fracturing and Climate Change

Published on Apr 7, 2013

Dr. Anthony Ingraffea discusses methane leaks in natural gas systems and the cumulative climate impact of those leaks.

Created by Developing Pictures https://vimeo.com/62563386

Vera Scoggins on British TV

Fracking Nightmare

Gas Wells Do Not Belong Near Schools- or Anywhere

From 350.org:

On Friday, we joined The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment for a tour of fracking sites in California's Central Valley. This is an elementary school in ...Shafter, CA that is within sight of seven fracking wells -- and where about one in three kids suffers from asthma. The Central Valley has about the worst air quality in the nation, and climate change is making it worse.

It was sobering to witness how deeply fossil fuel extraction has impacted communities like Shafter, and it was inspiring to meet community members who are responding with resilience and determination. You can see more pictures from our trip here: http://on.fb.me/1nfptCW
Photo by Brooke Anderson Photography: Stills of Our Stories & Struggles.

How Much Water Does It Take To Frack a Well?

  From MarcellusGas.org 

In 2013, the average total water volume for a
fracturing event at a Pennsylvania unconventional
well site was 5,365,363 gallons - the equivalent
of 670 full tanker trucks.

This is a 25% increase when compared to the
average volume of water used per event in 2012
(4,259,693 gals).

Our review of fracturing events shows the highest
water usage recorded was nearly 19 million gallons.

On Feb 15th, 2012, The DCNR 595 6H well in Bloss
township Tioga county, operated by Seneca
Resources Corp, used 18,754,176 gallons of water
for a fracturing event - enough to fill over 2,340
tanker trucks.

The fracturing report for the DCNR well indicates
the following items were included in the fracturing
mixture:

AMOUNT | PURPOSE / INGREDIENT

2,301,243 gals. | Propant / Silica
17,702 gals. | Acid / Hydrochloric Acid
4,332 gals. | Friction Reducer / Hydrotreated Light Distillate
677 gals. | Biocide / Sodium Bromide (partial list)
516 gals. | Corrosion Inhibitor / Ethylene Glycol, (partial list)

Complete report details, including additive
concentrations, total concentrations, and
ingredient trade names can be viewed by
members at:

www.MarcellusGas.Org/freports

Just remember: The water used in fracking is never ever ever returned to the hydrologic cycle and can never ever be used again for human use.  It may be recycled to be re-used in another frack job, but eventually even recycling is not enough to remove salt.  The frack water/waste must be disposed of.  But where?  Who wants it?

Train Derails Carrying Bakken Crude, Falls into James River (VA)

Activists in Virginia have been fighting to keep fracking out of the George Washington National Forest only to have a train full of fracked Bakken oil derail and explode in Lynchburg, leaking crude oil into the James River, part of that crucial watershed.

 

This is not an isolated incident. Unfortunately it often takes a train or a well pad engulfed in flames to garner media attention, but from well casing failures and spills to truck accidents and pipeline explosions, this process is fatally flawed from start to finish. The industry tries to limit the definition of fracking to what happens under the ground, but we know it’s a full cycle of exploitation, from onsite contamination to dangerous transportation and waste disposal consequences.

 

We can’t let the industry isolate these incidents and the communities they effect. That’s why we feel compelled to show this devastating video of the week, to show that North Dakota and Lynchburg, Virginia aren’t far away when it comes to fracking. Knowing the truth about what is really going on is of the strongest tools we have. Please watch and share our video of the week.

 

-Lee Ziesche, Gasland Grassroots Coordinator

Happy Earth Day!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

The First Fracking Case On Trial in Texas

Texas Sharon has an excellent blog, Bluedaze.  She has been intimately involved in the gas drilling problem in Texas since at least the early 2000s.  She helped me get started on my journey as an anti-fracking activist.  In this post she relates the stories of the Parr family and the Ruggierios who were neighbors surrounded by gas wells and the illnesses they all experienced.

Read much more here.

Flowback: How the Texas Natural Gas Boom Affects Health and Safety (2011)

Daily Kos coverage of this topic

Fracking the Marcellus Shale: A Quaker Perspective

What do Pennsylvanian Quakers think of Marcellus Shale fracking in their midst? Not much good.

Read more here.

"First they frack the community, then they frack the land."

Brine Truck Dumping on Road in Ft. Worth, TX

Yes, the methods of disposal of fracking waste are several, but one of them is illegal dumping.  It happens not only in Texas, but in Pennsylvania, North Dakota,  and New York, too.

Read more and see some photos here.

Thank you, Vera Scroggins, for bringing this video to my attention. 

Old Gas Pipelines Are Failing: New Dangers Loom

The private company planning to buy Philadelphia Gas Works has promised to upgrade the city’s aging and leaking pipelines. A new report by SNL Energy shows just how big that task could be, ranking the city’s utility second worst in the nation for pipeline leaks.

The firm looked at data from the federal Office of Pipeline Safety showing that in 2012, PGW reported 5,464 leaks over its 5,762 miles of gas mains and service lines. That’s a rate of roughly one leak (0.95) per mile. PGW came in second to New York’s Con Edison, which reported 7,328 leaks over 7,301 miles of pipelines. Pittsburgh-based People’s Natural Gas ranked fifth.

Read more here.


Your Guide to Pipelines in Pennsylvania

Thousands of miles of new pipelines in Pennsylvania will have to be built to transport Marcellus Shale gas. The new pipeline construction will benefit those in need of jobs, and the companies that do the building. But some residents and local politicians worry about the environmental impacts, and say the current regulatory structure needs updating.

Nobody knows how many miles of pipeline already exists in the state. That’s because Pennsylvania does not have one regulatory authority that oversees intrastate gas pipelines. In fact, out of 31 states that produce natural gas, Alaska is the only other state, besides Pennsylvania, that doesn’t.

The New Pennsylvania: It's All About Natural Gas Development

Well pad next to a cemetery in Independence, PA

Pennsylvania has seen many new gas wells drilled since 2008.  The state has 46,000 square miles of land/water.  Here are a few facts about the drilling:

There are currently 14,413 permitted Marcellus gas
wells in the state located on 4,533 well-pads.
12,422 are horizontal wells, 8,109 are reported
as active, and 5,080 have reported production values.

In the past week, we've (MarcellusGas.org)  added 245 inspection
reports, bringing the total number of inspection
events at our site to 51,244.

So, if we averaged out the number of wells per square mile, it would come to 3 wells per square mile.  However, there are multiple wells on most well pads.  Another way to think about it: There is one well pad for every 10 square miles in PA.  Well permits continue to be applied for and issued.  This is only the beginning. Well pads are put in near schools, cemeteries, people's homes, nursing homes, just about anywhere. 

Well pads come with another bad thing:  pipelines and compressor stations.  These cause all kinds of pollution- air, soil, noise, water.  Eventually PA will look like a huge web covered with gas wells and the infrastructure needed for them.  It is indeed a grim vision for the future.  And in many cases, the future is now.