Company sprays forest with fracking fluid, destroys most of the plants.

[n2doc]

W.Va. study raises questions about fracking fluid
July 12, 2011
Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — A gas company that legally doused a patch of West Virginia forest with salty wastewater from a drilling operation killed ground vegetation within days and more than half the trees within two years, a new report from the U.S. Forest Service says.

Lead researcher Mary Beth Adams says that the damage to the quarter-acre, detailed in a case study published in the Journal of Environmental Quality, shows the need for more research into industry practices.

"There is virtually no information in the scientific literature about the effects of gas well development on forests in the eastern U.S.," she said Monday. That "paucity of knowledge" must be filled so land managers and regulators can make better decisions.

For starters, Adams' report suggests West Virginia create a land-disposal formula that incorporates not only the concentration of salt and chemicals in treated hydraulic fracturing fluid but also the size of the area it can be applied to. Adams says that could help prevent overdoses like the one that occurred in the Monongahela National Forest.

One group has seized on the report already, arguing it shows the need for tighter regulations on how industry disposes of fracking fluid.

"This study suggests that these fluids should be treated as toxic waste," argues Jeff Ruch, executive director of a whistleblower group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "The explosion of shale gas drilling in the East has the potential to turn large stretches of public lands into lifeless moonscapes."

more
http://theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/141785/W-Va--study-raises-questions-about-fracking-fluid-.html?isap=1&nav=535

[Angry Dragon]

1. Any one that promotes de-regulation should be forced to move

their families there.
Their wives, husbands, children, mothers, fathers, siblings.
And then explain to them that it is all good and they have so much love for their country.

[Hydra]

2. Damn...a glimpse of the future, right there

Kill the top, and kill the aquifers.

anybody expecting to live for 20 more years?

[stuntcat]

9. exactly

in 20 years we'll be pinin' for the days when a story like this was news

[plumbob]

3. Okay, FFS! Frac "fluid" IS toxic waste!

What idiot decided to let them spray it on anything??!!

Generic components include brine water (100x saltier than the Atlantic), long chain polymers, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), isopropanol,
glutaraldehyde (sterilizer for medical equipment to kill bacteria), and muriatic acid.

I have lived in the field my entire life - my grandparents came here in 1922, and here's a clue: the state of Texas will not permit any leftover fluid to make contact with the ground - it has to be pumped directly into steel reserve tanks and disposed of only into a permitted deep waste disposal well.

Now, if Texas thinks that frac fluid is POISON, rest assured that's the least it can be. Even our captive regulatory agency insists on this.

No need for studies of any kind. Here's an idea - shoot anyone you see pouring this stuff out on the ground. It will be self-defense.

[kestrel91316]

15. Deep waste "disposal" well. Hmmm. Sounds like they think it's

ok to pump it right back in with the groundwater.

Only in Texas is this considered a good thing......

[plumbob]

16. No, these wells are 15,000-20,000 feet deep, typically located over

salt domes, fully cased.

Now what we have in the water is salt, lotsa salt, when salt water injection was the secondary recovery system of choice. El Paso drilled down for it, put it through osmosis and are getting 28 million gallons a day, about 1/4 of their usage.

Locally, we have had NO rain of any kind since last September, and we are in stage 2 water restrictions. Two of our lakes are dry, and the other will be so by February 2013 without a big change in weather.

OTOH, nuclear waste is being buried right on top of the groundwater about 30 miles from here in Andrews. That's the reservoir we drink, and they think that black plastic and steel drums will last forever. Now that I do not believe can be reversed.

[toddwv]

4. And that stuff is entering the underground water system.

Lovely.

[WhiteTara]

5. I'm so happy to hear that someone is fighting this!

It's a many headed beast *co loosed on the world. Who knows if we'll ever be able to knock it down before it kills the entire world.

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. See also…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=303543&mesg_id=303543

[Altoid_Cyclist]

7. I've put these sites up for perusal before, but in case you haven't seen them....

http://www.donnan.com/Marcellus-Gas_Hickory.htm

http://www.marcellusprotest.org/


Snip;
"We now have a worst-case scenario at the Clearfield County site where there is evidence of a catastrophic release of gas and contaminated water from Marcellus well drilling," said Conrad Dan Volz, assistant professor for Environmental & Occupational Health at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health and director of the school's Center for Healthy Environments and Communities.

The "golden lining" of the Clearfield County accident, he said, is that it occurred in a rural, relatively unpopulated area.

"If that accident had occurred in a populated area, like Lincoln Place in Pittsburgh, it would have had a serious impact on human health without a doubt," said Dr. Volz, referring to the city neighborhood where a land company has been buying up gas drilling rights. No wells have been drilled there.

"If they were to put up a one-mile safety radius like they did in Clearfield, you're looking at evacuating 3,000 to 5,000 people, five elementary schools, two middle schools, Carrick High School and lots of businesses and industry," he said.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10164/1065304-455.stm#ixzz1RuOsQiAG


http://dearsusquehanna.blogspot.com/2010/06/marcellus-shale-another-gas-related.html

http://www.thenation.com/blog/154975/perils-hydro-fracking

http://www.splitestate.com/


So many more.....why in hell is this still going on??????????

[Champion Jack]

18. saved for later Thanks

[pscot]

8. When the hedline says they destroyed a forest

and the text says it was a quarter of an acre, reasonable people may be inclined to say WTF. I don't mean to pick nits, but hyperbole makes me cringe.

[BeFree]

10. What headline?

Did you actually read the headline here?

It did not say it destroyed a forest. So why are you making this *#^@ up?

If there is any hyperbole, it is yours and yours alone.
I should tell you to wash your mouth out with soap. Eh?

[pscot]

12. Company sprays forest with fracking fluid, destroys most of the plants

Maybe I misunderstood it. Maybe there's different ways to read it. Maybe it doesn't actually say what it says. If you spray a forest and destroy most of the plants, maybe you don't actually destroy the forest. A quarter acre forest. That's not even a woodlot, but hey, let's not call it hyperbole. That would be making *#^@ up? Maybe I should tell you to #*@& yourself, Eh?

[BeFree]

13. "Maybe it doesn't actually say what it says."

It says they sprayed a forest and most of the plants (sprayed) died.

That is what it says and you are the hyperbolic one.
Really, funny as shit to read your defense.

[pscot]

14. One of us is remarkably obtuse

[joshcryer]

17. I would have hoped for a study they would not have sprayed the entire forest.

[kristopher]

11. Bush/Cheney - The Gift That Keeps On Giving nt