An endless water-crap cycle.

[ashling]

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/usgs-maps-where-fracking-sucks-up-vast-amounts-of-water-go-texas-7430898



US Geological Survey

When Texas isn't suing for the right to dump crap in the water, we're using the water we have to drill for natural gas, a process that may contribute to contaminating the water, in an endless water-crap cycle.


The U.S. Geological Survey has a much more polite way of explaining the issue. "The amount of water required to hydraulically fracture oil and gas wells varies widely across the country," government researchers write in their new report. The report, the USGS says, provides the first national map of water usage in fracking.

Overall, the amount of water used by drillers for fracking wells has increased hugely across the country; the numbers went from about 177,000 gallons per oil well in 2000 to more than 4 million in 2014. Water usage in 2014 was 28 times greater than 15 years ago. Three of the major problem areas are in Texas, in the Eagle Ford shale, the Haynesville-Bossier and our local Barnett shale. "Many communities in Texas are finding their wells are going dry," an attorney from the Center Biological Diversity told Public News Service. "It makes no sense that, in the midst of this water crisis, oil and gas companies are swooping in and taking as much water as they can get their hands on."

Good thing the drought is over ... but for how long?

[DhhD]

1. Energy companies need to repair and replenish OUR water supply with the exorbitant

profits that they make.

scroll on down to the $1 trillion dollar profit made by big oil 2000-2011 with graphs and charts

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/02/08/421061/big-oil-higher-prices-record-profits-less-oil/

General economic theory holds that companies will produce more of a good if its price is higher, or if it receives subsidies. Funny that these rules didn’t seem to apply to Big Oil in 2011, when the highest oil price since 1864 and $2 billion in subsidies to the five largest oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Royal Dutch Shell—yielded lower oil production than in 2010. But these five oil companies combined made a record-high $137 billion in profits in 2011—up 75 percent from 2010—and have made more than $1 trillion in profits from 2001 through 2011.[1] This exceeds the previous record of $136 billion in profits in 2008.

Here are some more highlights from the big five’s activities in 2011:
•They produced 4 percent less oil and “oil equivalent” in 2011 compared to 2010.
•They spent a total of $38 billion, or 28 percent, of their profits to repurchase their own stock.
•They are sitting on more than $58 billion in cash reserves as of the end of 2011.
•They spent $1.6 million on campaign contributions and $65.7 million on lobbying efforts.
•For every $1 spent on lobbying in Washington, the big five received $30 worth of tax breaks.

Let’s dig a little deeper into this mystery to see why these companies are making more money while Americans see less oil and pay more at the pump.

more at site link