Texas

white cloud

(2,567 posts) Fri Jan 13, 2012, 02:20 PM Jan 2012

Gas drilling's waste has become Fort Worth's problem

You could watch the 342nd running of the Republican presidential debates, in which several older-than-middle-age white guys will tell us again about the evils of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

Or you could go to this meeting and learn about Fort Worth's difficult choice: Should the natural gas drillers who have blanketed the city with wells be allowed to discard their millions of gallons of wastewater by forcing it back underground through disposal wells within Fort Worth's boundaries?

Does it matter? Probably not a whole lot, really -- unless a disposal well ends up near your home.

Then you might worry about things like how near it will be, how noisy it will be, what kind of traffic impact it will have and whether it will foul the air in your neighborhood.

Even if none are near your home, you might worry about that much water going to waste when North Texas and the rest of the state are suffering from such a terrible drought.

Or maybe earthquakes worry you. Some people say there's reason to believe these deep disposal wells might be behind increased seismic activity in North Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and other states.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/01/12/3656161/gas-drillings-waste-has-become.html#storylink=cpy

4 replies

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Highlight:

Gas drilling's waste has become Fort Worth's problem (Original Post) white cloud Jan 2012 OP

I worry about the water waste sonias Jan 2012 #1

Yes, you need to worry about the water waste. True story: mbperrin Jan 2012 #2

"Dangerous, reckless, profitable" sonias Jan 2012 #3

Unlocking the Secrets Behind Hydraulic Fracturing white cloud Jan 2012 #4

sonias

(18,063 posts)

1. I worry about the water waste

Reply to white cloud (Original post)

Fri Jan 13, 2012, 04:50 PM

Jan 2012

Even if none are near your home, you might worry about that much water going to waste when North Texas and the rest of the state are suffering from such a terrible drought.

Or maybe earthquakes worry you. Some people say there's reason to believe these deep disposal wells might be behind increased seismic activity in North Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and other states.

Hope lots of people turn up to turn up the heat on fracking!

mbperrin

(7,672 posts)

2. Yes, you need to worry about the water waste. True story:

Reply to sonias (Reply #1)

Sat Jan 14, 2012, 01:27 PM

Jan 2012

In the early 70s, Shell started pumping brine water down a disposal well a few miles from my parent's home in the country outside Odessa. My folks had a 200' water well drilled in 1957 that had provided all their needs with good clean water.

In 1978, lawns started dying, and trees started dying all over the area, including my parents' house. One of the folks who lived a couple of miles away was Mac Boring, the owner of Dixilyn Drilling, who had a beautiful home with a small lake out front with swans swimming in it. His landscaping began dying as well.

He advised the RRC that the Shell well there must be leaking. Apparently, the action taken was that the RRC asked Shell, and they said no. That was all the state would so in 1978, so Boring took the lead and thousands joined the Ector County Utility District to lay water lines, buy meters, and pay for water from the city of Odessa at 150% the city rate.

So now all the folks out there pay the highest rate for water, they pay taxes to maintain the district, and the groundwater is still ruined. If even a Texas oilman can do nothing against a large company and their waste, no one can.

Areas that chose not to join the district are now empty and abandoned.

Fracking is brine disposal on steroids, forcing worse than salt into the ground at unknown depths and unknown results. Oh, they know how deep the line is that they pump. Ask for a real number on how far the fracking fluids really go. Nobody knows.

Dangerous, reckless, profitable. About all you need to know about why it's popular with companies and bad for people.

sonias

(18,063 posts)

3. "Dangerous, reckless, profitable"

Reply to mbperrin (Reply #2)

Sat Jan 14, 2012, 05:54 PM

Jan 2012

That's a succinct way to describe corporate behavior.

white cloud

(2,567 posts)

4. Unlocking the Secrets Behind Hydraulic Fracturing

Reply to sonias (Reply #3)

Sat Jan 14, 2012, 09:12 PM

Jan 2012

They will try to hide all the dangers from public view.

Starting Feb. 1, drilling operators in Texas will have to report many of the chemicals used in the process known as hydraulic fracturing. Environmentalists and landowners are looking forward to learning what acids, hydroxides and other materials have gone into a given well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/us/new-texas-rule-to-unlock-secrets-of-hydraulic-fracturing.html?_r=1

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