April 19, 2012
By Cameron S.
Water is not the plentiful resource it used to be. Farmers in Denver, CO who have been bidding for water now face a new problem from oil and gas drillers. Companies that provide water for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) at well sites were top bidders at Colorado’s premier auction on water once claimed exclusively by farmers. The Northern Water Conservancy District runs the auction, offering excess water diverted from the Colorado River Basin.
The problem with the drilling companies taking the water is that when they use it, it is forever taken out of the “hydrological cycle.” The chemicals that are being used in the fracking process contaminate the water to the point that it can never be recycled.
The idea of fighting with energy industry giants over water leaves farmers and environmentalists uneasy. “What impact to our environment and our agricultural heritage are Coloradans willing to stomach for drilling and fracking?” said Gary Wockner, director of the Save the Poudre Coalition, recently stated in an article by The Denver Post.
Northern Water spokesman and fracking activist Brian Werner begs to differ. “If you have a beneficial use for the water, then you can bid for that water. We see the beneficial use of the water as a positive for the economy of the whole region. Fracking is one of those uses. Our uses of water have evolved over 150 years.”
These energy industries “carry a big stick” at auctions and will likely have the money to outbid the competition everytime.
March 1, 2012
By Cameron S.
Dimock, PA has received the first tanker of fresh water to four houses where federal regulators say they found arsenic and chemicals often used in gas drilling in the well water. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) discovered these chemicals through testing and decided it was time Dimock got some help.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. is criticizing regulators’ reasoning for investigating them in the first place. Their argument is that they are being singled out and the results from the tests are from surrounding areas rather than where their drilling occurred. “It appears that EPA selectively chose data on substances it was concerned about in order to reach a result it had predetermined,” stated Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.
“We test for arsenic in all of our water systems,” Pennsylvania American Water spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said. “If there was any detection of arsenic at any level, it would be reported in the water quality report and sent to all its customers.”
February 2, 2012
By Cameron S.
Ohio started off the New Year with their 11th earthquake since March near the Youngstown area. Over the past year Ohio Governor John Kasich has welcomed energy companies with open arms, “I told them if you come to Ohio and you screw up – you’re not going to want to screw up.”
The earthquakes since March have put the 177 deep well injection sites in Ohio under the microscope. According to Columbia University seismic experts, the injection of 100,000+ barrels of oilfield waste fluids into a fault line probably caused the quake. The wells are known as Class II injection wells and the waste they hold contains a brine-water mix that contains chemicals used in the oil and gas production process.
“Pennsylvania only has six injection wells like the one thought to have triggered earthquakes in Youngstown,” said Kent Jackson, staff writer for the Times-Tribune. Because of this Ohio has been accepting much oilfield waste from out-of-state, including Pennsylvania. According to The Plain Dealer Ohio’s disposal wells are needed more than ever, with nearly 37,000 barrels a day, records show a 60 percent increase in out-of-state waste.
Ohio isn’t the only area that has experienced this phenomenon; Oklahoma has endured more than 50 earthquakes this past year alone. The bulk of these occurred within 2.1 miles of Eola Field, a fracking operation in Southern Garvin County, the most recent date being measured at 5.6. This earthquake was Oklahoma’s biggest earthquake to date. “There are 181 injection wells in the Oklahoma County where most of the weekend earthquakes happened,” said Matt Skinner, spokesman for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, which oversees oil and gas production in the state and intrastate transportation pipelines.
State Rep. Bob Hagan of Youngstown said, “We’re dealing with earthquakes and we’re dealing with a dangerous chemical solution that seems to have found a home in Ohio.”
