Fuel Fix » Nat gas feud pits prosperous N. Texans against energy industry *updated*
updated? Can't find that one but this is an interesting article wherever you live.
jaime
The fight of small group of people in Northern Michigan against the oil and gas industry. All we want is it done safely and know the health hazards! Ah, the dreaded pink tape. Just two women who health has been so drastically changed since 2003 fighting the big boys and educating those who want to be educated and even those who don't.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
- Hair conditioner
- Sunblock
- Nail polish
- Deodorant
- Mineral oil
- Lip gloss
- Gasoline
- Fertilizer
- Furniture polish
- Pesticides
- Plastics
- Paint thinners
- Solvents
- Motor oil
- Fuels (propane, butane, diesel)
- Petroleum jelly
- Art supplies (oil painting medium)
- Paste and liquid car waxes and polishes
- Kerosene
- Paraffin wax
- Tar
- Adhesives SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG, BUT THE LINK WASN'T WORKING. HERE IS THE LIST.
click on the link
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/03/08/petroleum-distillate-in-your-lip-gloss-and-furniture-polish-shown-to-cause-tissue-disease.htm
To SEE THE PRODUCTS CLICK ON THE LINK. THANK YOU
To SEE THE PRODUCTS CLICK ON THE LINK. THANK YOU
Chemical Sensitive here could be why.....
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/03/08/petroleum-distillate-in-your-lip-gloss-and-furniture-polish-shown-to-cause-tissue-disease.htm
by SixWise.com
Perhaps you have never heard of petroleum distillates before, or given them much thought if you have, but it is almost certain you've used products that contain them - perhaps daily. These compounds, which are also called hydrocarbons or petrochemicals, are extracted by distillation during the refining of crude oil, and they're used as heating agents, propellants (gasoline) and solvents.
A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that being exposed to petroleum distillates increases the risk of developing undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that involves a disorder of the body's connective tissues.
UCTD could include symptoms from, or evolve into any combination of, connective tissue diseases like lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome or fibromyalgia, yet has not met the official diagnostic criteria to be diagnosed as such.
Where are Petroleum Distillates Found?
Petroleum distillates are in hundreds of consumer products including:
According to the EPA, "Products that contain petroleum distillates should be used carefully. Wear gloves to avoid skin contact and avoid breathing vapors of volatile compounds."
That's because, in addition to raising the risk of UCTD, petroleum distillates can cause chemical pneumonia and can interfere with the lungs' functions-even resulting in death-if inhaled or swallowed. They can also irritate the skin and cause sensitivity to light.
Can Petroleum Distillates be Avoided?
As it stands, the average household contains, in the form of chemical products, about 10 gallons of potentially hazardous petrochemicals. Many, many household cleaners are based on petrochemicals, and while manufacturers are required to include warning labels on products that contain them, a New York Poison Control Center study found that 85 percent of product warning labels are inadequate.
So, when you clean, always seek out natural cleaners and use PerfectClean's ultramicrofiber cloths, which require the use of no cleaners at all yet clean down to a microscopic level-something ordinary cloth wipes can't do.
Further, petroleum distillates pose the greatest risk when they're breathed in. According to the EPA, even small amounts can cause harm. That's why ensuring that the air you breathe in your home is clean and free from toxins has become as important and necessary as locking your doors at night. Unfortunately, with all of the chemical products our society has come to rely on, indoor air can be two to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air, says the EPA!
When it comes to reducing your exposure to petroleum distillates, avoiding noxious chemical cleaners and other chemical products and purifying the air you and your family breathe while indoors are two of the best steps you can take.
Recommended Reading
The Health Dangers of Phenols Found in Common Household Cleaners
Exposure to Air Pollution Linked to Genetic Abnormalities
Dust Dangers: What Exactly is Dust, and Why Can it be so Dangerous
Environmental Protection Agency: Petroleum
Household Products Database
American Journal of Epidemiology
Express Newsline January 16, 2005
Household Products Database
by SixWise.com
Perhaps you have never heard of petroleum distillates before, or given them much thought if you have, but it is almost certain you've used products that contain them - perhaps daily. These compounds, which are also called hydrocarbons or petrochemicals, are extracted by distillation during the refining of crude oil, and they're used as heating agents, propellants (gasoline) and solvents.
A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that being exposed to petroleum distillates increases the risk of developing undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that involves a disorder of the body's connective tissues.
UCTD could include symptoms from, or evolve into any combination of, connective tissue diseases like lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, vasculitis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren's syndrome or fibromyalgia, yet has not met the official diagnostic criteria to be diagnosed as such.
Where are Petroleum Distillates Found?
Petroleum distillates are in hundreds of consumer products including:
|
|
 Hundreds of products, including lip gloss, nail polish and hair conditioner, contain petroleum distillates that the EPA says should be used with caution. |
Can Petroleum Distillates be Avoided?
As it stands, the average household contains, in the form of chemical products, about 10 gallons of potentially hazardous petrochemicals. Many, many household cleaners are based on petrochemicals, and while manufacturers are required to include warning labels on products that contain them, a New York Poison Control Center study found that 85 percent of product warning labels are inadequate.
So, when you clean, always seek out natural cleaners and use PerfectClean's ultramicrofiber cloths, which require the use of no cleaners at all yet clean down to a microscopic level-something ordinary cloth wipes can't do.
Further, petroleum distillates pose the greatest risk when they're breathed in. According to the EPA, even small amounts can cause harm. That's why ensuring that the air you breathe in your home is clean and free from toxins has become as important and necessary as locking your doors at night. Unfortunately, with all of the chemical products our society has come to rely on, indoor air can be two to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air, says the EPA!
When it comes to reducing your exposure to petroleum distillates, avoiding noxious chemical cleaners and other chemical products and purifying the air you and your family breathe while indoors are two of the best steps you can take.
Recommended Reading
The Health Dangers of Phenols Found in Common Household Cleaners
Exposure to Air Pollution Linked to Genetic Abnormalities
Dust Dangers: What Exactly is Dust, and Why Can it be so Dangerous
Environmental Protection Agency: Petroleum
Household Products Database
American Journal of Epidemiology
Express Newsline January 16, 2005
Household Products Database
Dirty minds | COSMOS magazine
Dirty minds | COSMOS magazine
Really read this, it isn't what you think it is, but very relevant and scary.
jaime
Really read this, it isn't what you think it is, but very relevant and scary.
jaime
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Northern Michigan oil and gas wells, again
www.michigandnr.com/ Publications/ PDFS/ ForestsLandWater/ Mineral/ Oil &GasMaps/ montmorency_oil_gas.pdf -
Department of Natural Resources map of the county I used to live in and raised my children
Northern Michigan
jaime
Department of Natural Resources map of the county I used to live in and raised my children
Northern Michigan
jaime
Gas wells in Northern Michigan
There are 2,519 active natural gas wells and 309 active oil wells in the Au Sable River watershed. ( In the area of Northern Michigan where we live. This is not a current map but you get the picture) To see the map of all those gas wells here is the link www.ausableanglers.org/files/Riverwatch60-4colorWeb.pdf
Oil wells are denoted with red dots; natural gas wells are in green. The map is based
on data provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
State officials said the vast
majority of wells in the Au Sable
River basin extract oil and natural
gas from underground geologic
formations without harming the
environment.
“When you look at the total
number of wells we have in this
area and the number of spills, we
have pretty good compliance,” (NO they're not!!!!)
THIS IS PART OF THE ARTICLE. IT IS A NUMBER OF PAGES TO DOWNLOAD BUT THE PICTURES WILL SHOW YOU JUST A SMALL PART OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN NEAR US AND THE AMOUNT OF WELLS AND MORE GOING IN.
Oil wells are denoted with red dots; natural gas wells are in green. The map is based
on data provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
State officials said the vast
majority of wells in the Au Sable
River basin extract oil and natural
gas from underground geologic
formations without harming the
environment.
“When you look at the total
number of wells we have in this
area and the number of spills, we
have pretty good compliance,” (NO they're not!!!!)
THIS IS PART OF THE ARTICLE. IT IS A NUMBER OF PAGES TO DOWNLOAD BUT THE PICTURES WILL SHOW YOU JUST A SMALL PART OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN NEAR US AND THE AMOUNT OF WELLS AND MORE GOING IN.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Navy map again
And the Navy map
http://govtslaves.info/2011/03/23/us-navy-map-of-the-future
Oh I pray for my family in harms way and anyone else. oh dear
http://govtslaves.info/2011/03/23/us-navy-map-of-the-future
Oh I pray for my family in harms way and anyone else. oh dear
THE NAVY MAP ISN'T FAR OFF=MORE INFO
You know that Navy map shown of how the mississippi increased well I think we're here. Easier to copy and paste this map to you. It is a different version of what is going on in the Midwest area. Lots of gas and oil wells in that area.
Other interesting links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37671998@N05/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37671998@N05/5717316240/in/photostream
Mainstream media is having some eye openers
http://www.wafb.com/story/14633419/new-doomsday-scenario-map-from-the-corps-explained
Other info:
In Bunche's Bend, in the northeastern corner of Louisiana, there was heartbreak in the voice of farmer Ted Schneider, 50, as he watched the muddy river creep into his 2,800 acres of soybeans.
"It's kind of discouraging to look out here and think about all that work and money and know it is all going to be gone in a few days," said Schneider, who has farmed the land since 1984.
Maintenance on the levee was abandoned years ago after a higher levee was built farther back, leaving a sliver of farmland in between vulnerable. Officials are confident that levee will hold, but that's small comfort to the farmers whose land is flooding.
About 40 of them worked in recent days to stack 1,800 sandbags along the older levee's weakest points, but their efforts were no match for the river, which crested higher than originally forecast.
Farther south, other communities were keeping a close watch on their levees and taking action to shore up potential trouble spots. Sandbags were being placed along a portion of New Orleans' French Quarter riverfront, though the city isn't expecting a major impact from the flood.
Chris Bonura, a spokesman for the Port of New Orleans, said the Coast Guard plans to close a 190-mile stretch of river from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico when the water reaches the 18-foot level at a gauge in Carrollton, which could happen by Monday.
The mouth of the Mississippi would become a parking lot, though some ships might be diverted to other ports.
Barges headed south from the nation's heartland to the Port of South Louisiana at Reserve, upriver from New Orleans, would be unable to reach grain elevators. Massive ships that carry U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops out of the country would be unable to move. Shipments of Venezuelan heavy crude oil that come in by tanker to a refinery in Chalmette would be locked out of the river, though most refineries on the river are fed by pipelines.
In the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, people waited uneasily to see how high the water would get. About 600 homes in the Delta have flooded in the past several days as the water has risen toward some of the highest levels on record.
www.wafb.com
All those refineries and people and the environment. The change in our lifestyles is beginning.
BESIDES WHAT WAS THAT HAPPENING IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS AREA WITH THE LIGHT DISPLAY????
This is all so sad and scary. So many chemicals from God knows what in that water.
jaime
Other interesting links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37671998@N05/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37671998@N05/5717316240/in/photostream
Mainstream media is having some eye openers
http://www.wafb.com/story/14633419/new-doomsday-scenario-map-from-the-corps-explained
Other info:
In Bunche's Bend, in the northeastern corner of Louisiana, there was heartbreak in the voice of farmer Ted Schneider, 50, as he watched the muddy river creep into his 2,800 acres of soybeans.
"It's kind of discouraging to look out here and think about all that work and money and know it is all going to be gone in a few days," said Schneider, who has farmed the land since 1984.
Maintenance on the levee was abandoned years ago after a higher levee was built farther back, leaving a sliver of farmland in between vulnerable. Officials are confident that levee will hold, but that's small comfort to the farmers whose land is flooding.
About 40 of them worked in recent days to stack 1,800 sandbags along the older levee's weakest points, but their efforts were no match for the river, which crested higher than originally forecast.
Farther south, other communities were keeping a close watch on their levees and taking action to shore up potential trouble spots. Sandbags were being placed along a portion of New Orleans' French Quarter riverfront, though the city isn't expecting a major impact from the flood.
Chris Bonura, a spokesman for the Port of New Orleans, said the Coast Guard plans to close a 190-mile stretch of river from Baton Rouge to the Gulf of Mexico when the water reaches the 18-foot level at a gauge in Carrollton, which could happen by Monday.
The mouth of the Mississippi would become a parking lot, though some ships might be diverted to other ports.
Barges headed south from the nation's heartland to the Port of South Louisiana at Reserve, upriver from New Orleans, would be unable to reach grain elevators. Massive ships that carry U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops out of the country would be unable to move. Shipments of Venezuelan heavy crude oil that come in by tanker to a refinery in Chalmette would be locked out of the river, though most refineries on the river are fed by pipelines.
In the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta, meanwhile, people waited uneasily to see how high the water would get. About 600 homes in the Delta have flooded in the past several days as the water has risen toward some of the highest levels on record.
www.wafb.com
All those refineries and people and the environment. The change in our lifestyles is beginning.
BESIDES WHAT WAS THAT HAPPENING IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS AREA WITH THE LIGHT DISPLAY????
This is all so sad and scary. So many chemicals from God knows what in that water.
jaime
Monday, May 9, 2011
Scientific study on water contamination-surprised? Heck no!
You got me first sharon LOL, but the info isn't. We knew that the water was contaminated. How many people have been sickened or died due to this lack of regulation of this industry. All shale deposits these companies have been tapping into, all the water is contaminated. My share capabilities are down so I just copied and past.
Our thoughts are wish you all.
jaime, joe, de, dan and john
Northern Michigan
Citizens Against Environmental Destruction
From ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten:
For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.
The peer-reviewed study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks.
The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.
“Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide,” the article states.
The group tested 68 drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Sixty of those wells were tested for dissolved gas. While most of the wells had some methane, the water samples taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling. The group defined an active drilling area as within one kilometer, or about six tenths of a mile, from a gas well.
The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent “hazard mitigation” action, according to the study.
The researchers did not find evidence that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing had contaminated any of the wells they tested, allaying for the time being some of the greatest fears among environmentalists and drilling opponents.
But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.
“We certainly didn’t expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise,” said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report’s authors.
Methane contamination of drinking water wells has been a common complaint among people living in gas drilling areas across the country. A 2009 investigation by ProPublica revealed that methane contamination from drilling was widespread, including in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In several cases, homes blew up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby.
In Dimock, Pa., where part of the Duke study was performed, some residents’ water wells exploded or their water could be lit on fire. In at least a dozen cases in Colorado, ProPublica’s investigation found, methane had infiltrated drinking water supplies that residents said were clean until hydraulic fracturing was performed nearby.
The drilling industry and some state regulators described some of these cases as “anecdotal” and said they were either unconnected to drilling activity or were an isolated problem. But the consistency of the Duke findings raises questions about how unusual and widespread such cases of methane contamination may be.
“It suggests that at least in the region we looked, this is a more general problem than people expected,” Jackson told ProPublica.
For those who live in the midst of this problem, the report serves as long-awaited vindication. “We weren’t just blowing smoke. What we were talking about was the truth,” said Ron Carter, a Dimock resident whose water went bad when drilling began there in 2008 and was later tested as part of the study. “Now I’m happy that at least something helps prove out our theory.”
Methane is not regulated in drinking water, and while research is limited, it is not currently believed to be harmful to drink. But the methane is dangerous because as it collects in enclosed spaces it can asphyxiate people nearby, or lead to an explosion.
To determine where the methane in the wells they tested came from, the researchers ran it through a molecular fingerprinting process called an isotopic analysis. Water samples furthest from gas drilling showed traces of biogenic methane—a type of methane that can naturally appear in water from biological decay. But samples taken closer to drilling had high concentrations of thermogenic methane, which comes from the same hydrocarbon layers where gas drilling is targeted. That—plus the proximity to the gas wells—told the researchers that the contamination was linked to the drilling processes.
In addition to the methane, other types of gases were also detected, providing further evidence that the gas originated with the hydrocarbon deposits miles beneath the earth and that it was unique to the active gas drilling areas. Ethane, another component of natural gas, and other hydrocarbons were detected in 81 percent of water wells near active gas drilling, but in only 9 percent of water wells further away. Propane and butane were also detected in some drilling area wells.
The report noted that as much as a mile of rock separated the bottom of the shallow drinking water wells from the deep zones fractured for gas, and identified several ways in which fluids or the gas contaminants could move underground: The substances could be displaced by the pressures underground; could travel through new fractures or connections to faults created by the hydraulic fracturing process; or could leak from the well casing itself somewhere closer to the surface.
The geology in Pennsylvania and New York, they said, is tectonically active with faults and other pathways through the rock. They noted that leaky well casings were the most likely cause of the contamination, but couldn’t rule out long-range underground migration, which they said “might be possible due to both the extensive fracture systems reported for these formations and the many older, uncased wells drilled and abandoned.”
The water was also analyzed for signs that dangerous fluids from inside the gas wells might have escaped into water supplies. The group tested for salts, radium and other chemicals that, if detected, would have signaled that the produced water or natural fluids in the well’s target zone were making it to the aquifers. But those types of fluids were not found. The group did not test for fracking chemicals or hydrocarbons like benzene, relying instead on the saline or radioactive compounds like radium as indicators.
In an interview, Jackson said that gas was more likely to migrate underground than liquid chemicals. Based on his findings, he doesn’t believe the toxic chemicals pumped into the ground during fracturing are likely to end up in water supplies the same way the methane did. “I’m not ready to use the word impossible,” he said, “but unlikely.”
In a white paper the group issued along with the journal article, Jackson and the others acknowledged the uncertainty and called for more research. “Contamination is often stated to be impossible due to the distance between the well and the drinking water,” they wrote. “Although this seems reasonable in most (and possibly all) cases, field and modeling studies should be undertaken to confirm this assumption… Understanding any cases where this assumption is incorrect will be important—when, where, and why they occur—to limit problems with hydraulic fracturing operations.”
A hydrogeologist closely affiliated with the drilling industry raised questions about the study. "It's possible, assuming their measurements are accurate, that all they have done is document the natural conditions of the aquifer," said John Conrad, president of Conrad Geosciences in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Conrad spoke with ProPublica at the suggestion of Energy In Depth, a drilling industry advocacy group, but said that he did not work for EID.
He said that the thermogenic methane -- which many scientists say comes from the same deep gas layers where drilling occurs -- could be naturally occurring. He also said the researchers didn't test enough wells to support their conclusions, though he could not say how many wells would have been appropriate.
Conrad said the most likely cause for the contamination identified by the Duke researchers -- that the gas was leaking out of faulty well casings -- seemed implausible.
"For their assumptions to hold up there would have to be more than just the occasional bad cement job," he said. "They are implying that where you see hydraulic fracturing you should expect to see elevated methane. We are aware of faulty cement jobs. But we don't believe that it is common and we certainly don't believe that it is universal."
The Duke study precedes a national study by the Environmental Protection Agency into the dangers of hydraulic fracturing that is expected to be finished sometime next year. Last year the EPA found that some chemicals known to be used in fracturing were among the contaminants detected in 11 residential drinking water wells in Pavillion, Wy.—where more than 200 natural gas wells have been drilled in recent years—but that investigation is continuing and the scientists haven’t concluded that the contamination is linked with drilling or hydraulic fracturing.
The release of the Duke research could immediately shape the increasingly intense public debate over drilling and hydraulic fracturing, especially in some of the areas where the research was conducted. Pennsylvania, which holds drilling companies liable for drinking water contamination within 1000 feet of a gas well, might consider the fact that the Duke researchers found the contamination extended to about 3,000 feet, Jackson said. New York State has a moratorium in place for hydraulic fracturing of horizontally-drilled wells—which cover more area and require more chemicals—through the end of June to allow for more consideration of the risks. “I would extend that at least temporarily,” Jackson said.
Congress, too, is taking note.
"This study provides eye-opening scientific evidence about methane contamination and the risks that irresponsible natural gas drilling poses for drinking water supplies,” said Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-NY. “It provides yet another reason why more study of the environmental and health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing is needed."
Hinchey is one of several Democratic members of Congress who recently re-introduced the FRAC Act, which calls for public disclosure of the chemicals used underground. The bill, which is currently languishing in the House, would remove an exemption in federal law that prohibits the EPA from
Our thoughts are wish you all.
jaime, joe, de, dan and john
Northern Michigan
Citizens Against Environmental Destruction
Fracking Linked To Methane In Flammable Drinking Water For First Time In Scientific Study
First Posted: 05/ 9/11 05:46 PM ET Updated: 05/ 9/11 05:50 PM ET
React
Read more
For the first time, a scientific study has linked natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing with a pattern of drinking water contamination so severe that some faucets can be lit on fire.
The peer-reviewed study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stands to shape the contentious debate over whether drilling is safe and begins to fill an information gap that has made it difficult for lawmakers and the public to understand the risks.
The research was conducted by four scientists at Duke University. They found that levels of flammable methane gas in drinking water wells increased to dangerous levels when those water supplies were close to natural gas wells. They also found that the type of gas detected at high levels in the water was the same type of gas that energy companies were extracting from thousands of feet underground, strongly implying that the gas may be seeping underground through natural or manmade faults and fractures, or coming from cracks in the well structure itself.
“Our results show evidence for methane contamination of shallow drinking water systems in at least three areas of the region and suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale gas exploration worldwide,” the article states.
The group tested 68 drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State. Sixty of those wells were tested for dissolved gas. While most of the wells had some methane, the water samples taken closest to the gas wells had on average 17 times the levels detected in wells further from active drilling. The group defined an active drilling area as within one kilometer, or about six tenths of a mile, from a gas well.
The average concentration of the methane detected in the water wells near drilling sites fell squarely within a range that the U.S Department of Interior says is dangerous and requires urgent “hazard mitigation” action, according to the study.
Advertisement
But they were alarmed by what they described as a clear correlation between drilling activity and the seepage of gas contaminants underground, a danger in itself and evidence that pathways do exist for contaminants to migrate deep within the earth.
“We certainly didn’t expect to see such a strong relationship between the concentration of methane in water and the nearest gas wells. That was a real surprise,” said Robert Jackson, a biology professor at Duke and one of the report’s authors.
Methane contamination of drinking water wells has been a common complaint among people living in gas drilling areas across the country. A 2009 investigation by ProPublica revealed that methane contamination from drilling was widespread, including in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In several cases, homes blew up after gas seeped into their basements or water supplies. In Pennsylvania a 2004 accident killed three people, including a baby.
In Dimock, Pa., where part of the Duke study was performed, some residents’ water wells exploded or their water could be lit on fire. In at least a dozen cases in Colorado, ProPublica’s investigation found, methane had infiltrated drinking water supplies that residents said were clean until hydraulic fracturing was performed nearby.
The drilling industry and some state regulators described some of these cases as “anecdotal” and said they were either unconnected to drilling activity or were an isolated problem. But the consistency of the Duke findings raises questions about how unusual and widespread such cases of methane contamination may be.
“It suggests that at least in the region we looked, this is a more general problem than people expected,” Jackson told ProPublica.
For those who live in the midst of this problem, the report serves as long-awaited vindication. “We weren’t just blowing smoke. What we were talking about was the truth,” said Ron Carter, a Dimock resident whose water went bad when drilling began there in 2008 and was later tested as part of the study. “Now I’m happy that at least something helps prove out our theory.”
Methane is not regulated in drinking water, and while research is limited, it is not currently believed to be harmful to drink. But the methane is dangerous because as it collects in enclosed spaces it can asphyxiate people nearby, or lead to an explosion.
To determine where the methane in the wells they tested came from, the researchers ran it through a molecular fingerprinting process called an isotopic analysis. Water samples furthest from gas drilling showed traces of biogenic methane—a type of methane that can naturally appear in water from biological decay. But samples taken closer to drilling had high concentrations of thermogenic methane, which comes from the same hydrocarbon layers where gas drilling is targeted. That—plus the proximity to the gas wells—told the researchers that the contamination was linked to the drilling processes.
In addition to the methane, other types of gases were also detected, providing further evidence that the gas originated with the hydrocarbon deposits miles beneath the earth and that it was unique to the active gas drilling areas. Ethane, another component of natural gas, and other hydrocarbons were detected in 81 percent of water wells near active gas drilling, but in only 9 percent of water wells further away. Propane and butane were also detected in some drilling area wells.
The report noted that as much as a mile of rock separated the bottom of the shallow drinking water wells from the deep zones fractured for gas, and identified several ways in which fluids or the gas contaminants could move underground: The substances could be displaced by the pressures underground; could travel through new fractures or connections to faults created by the hydraulic fracturing process; or could leak from the well casing itself somewhere closer to the surface.
The geology in Pennsylvania and New York, they said, is tectonically active with faults and other pathways through the rock. They noted that leaky well casings were the most likely cause of the contamination, but couldn’t rule out long-range underground migration, which they said “might be possible due to both the extensive fracture systems reported for these formations and the many older, uncased wells drilled and abandoned.”
The water was also analyzed for signs that dangerous fluids from inside the gas wells might have escaped into water supplies. The group tested for salts, radium and other chemicals that, if detected, would have signaled that the produced water or natural fluids in the well’s target zone were making it to the aquifers. But those types of fluids were not found. The group did not test for fracking chemicals or hydrocarbons like benzene, relying instead on the saline or radioactive compounds like radium as indicators.
In an interview, Jackson said that gas was more likely to migrate underground than liquid chemicals. Based on his findings, he doesn’t believe the toxic chemicals pumped into the ground during fracturing are likely to end up in water supplies the same way the methane did. “I’m not ready to use the word impossible,” he said, “but unlikely.”
In a white paper the group issued along with the journal article, Jackson and the others acknowledged the uncertainty and called for more research. “Contamination is often stated to be impossible due to the distance between the well and the drinking water,” they wrote. “Although this seems reasonable in most (and possibly all) cases, field and modeling studies should be undertaken to confirm this assumption… Understanding any cases where this assumption is incorrect will be important—when, where, and why they occur—to limit problems with hydraulic fracturing operations.”
A hydrogeologist closely affiliated with the drilling industry raised questions about the study. "It's possible, assuming their measurements are accurate, that all they have done is document the natural conditions of the aquifer," said John Conrad, president of Conrad Geosciences in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Conrad spoke with ProPublica at the suggestion of Energy In Depth, a drilling industry advocacy group, but said that he did not work for EID.
He said that the thermogenic methane -- which many scientists say comes from the same deep gas layers where drilling occurs -- could be naturally occurring. He also said the researchers didn't test enough wells to support their conclusions, though he could not say how many wells would have been appropriate.
Conrad said the most likely cause for the contamination identified by the Duke researchers -- that the gas was leaking out of faulty well casings -- seemed implausible.
"For their assumptions to hold up there would have to be more than just the occasional bad cement job," he said. "They are implying that where you see hydraulic fracturing you should expect to see elevated methane. We are aware of faulty cement jobs. But we don't believe that it is common and we certainly don't believe that it is universal."
The Duke study precedes a national study by the Environmental Protection Agency into the dangers of hydraulic fracturing that is expected to be finished sometime next year. Last year the EPA found that some chemicals known to be used in fracturing were among the contaminants detected in 11 residential drinking water wells in Pavillion, Wy.—where more than 200 natural gas wells have been drilled in recent years—but that investigation is continuing and the scientists haven’t concluded that the contamination is linked with drilling or hydraulic fracturing.
The release of the Duke research could immediately shape the increasingly intense public debate over drilling and hydraulic fracturing, especially in some of the areas where the research was conducted. Pennsylvania, which holds drilling companies liable for drinking water contamination within 1000 feet of a gas well, might consider the fact that the Duke researchers found the contamination extended to about 3,000 feet, Jackson said. New York State has a moratorium in place for hydraulic fracturing of horizontally-drilled wells—which cover more area and require more chemicals—through the end of June to allow for more consideration of the risks. “I would extend that at least temporarily,” Jackson said.
Congress, too, is taking note.
"This study provides eye-opening scientific evidence about methane contamination and the risks that irresponsible natural gas drilling poses for drinking water supplies,” said Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-NY. “It provides yet another reason why more study of the environmental and health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing is needed."
Hinchey is one of several Democratic members of Congress who recently re-introduced the FRAC Act, which calls for public disclosure of the chemicals used underground. The bill, which is currently languishing in the House, would remove an exemption in federal law that prohibits the EPA from
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
HAARP expert, human rights defender predicted deadly storms (video) - National Human Rights | Examiner.com
HAARP expert, human rights defender predicted deadly storms (video) - National Human Rights | Examiner.com
Yup this will definitely affect the oil and gas industry. HAARP is nasty as well as the people using it.
Yup this will definitely affect the oil and gas industry. HAARP is nasty as well as the people using it.
Woman tests positive for radiation poisoning after well fracked - National Human Rights
Woman tests positive for radiation poisoning after well fracked - National Human Rights
And they said it was in our heads. They weren't using enough "bad" chemicals to make anyone
sick. Guess they were wrong.......sadly, told you so.
Jeez,
jaime
northern michigan
And they said it was in our heads. They weren't using enough "bad" chemicals to make anyone
sick. Guess they were wrong.......sadly, told you so.
Jeez,
jaime
northern michigan
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