Aa
Coming soon to your neighborhood
Map of 'fraccidents' as of May 9, 2011. Imagine what could be added to that over the last 3 years.
http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states
http://earthjustice.org/features/campaigns/fracking-across-the-united-states
"Weekly Occurrence"
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/energy/article/ND-pipeline-breach-renews-call-for-more-monitoring-5615703.php#/0
"MANDAREE, N.D. (AP) — A saltwater spill from an underground pipeline in North Dakota has renewed calls from farmers and environmentalists to require new monitoring to help ensure that such breaches are prevented or caught quickly.
State Rep. **** Anderson, a Republican farmer from Willow City, said he plans to revisit legislation the state Legislature rejected last year that would mandate flow meters and cutoff switches on such lines.
"This is a serious problem that has become almost a weekly occurrence and we've got to do something," Anderson said.
The measure failed 86-4 after encountering resistance from oil companies that argued the additional monitoring would be too expensive. State regulators said such safeguards are ineffective on small holes because the leaks would not be strong enough to be detected.
Anderson agrees that monitoring alone might not prevent future spills, but he wants to use the technology in conjunction with more frequent checks by pipeline companies, spill-sniffing dogs and even aerial drones that can detect breaches.
"I think the answer is we're going to have to use all these," he said. "We've got to do something."
The pipeline that separated, likely over the Fourth of July weekend, was not equipped with a system that sends an alert when there is a leak. The company said the spill was discovered when officials were going through production loss reports.
Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, said the number of recent catastrophic spills is "bordering on negligence."
He points to a trio of recent spills at saltwater disposal facilities have been destroyed by fires and explosions sparked by lightning strikes and a spill near a tributary of the Little Missouri River that was blamed on a cow that rubbed against a tank valve.
"These people have to tighten up their act," Schafer said. "This is outrageous. The regulating agencies and industry need to take this more serious."
The Environmental Protection Agency said it had no confirmed reports that the saltwater from the latest spill reached Bear Den Bay on Lake Sakakawea. The water body provides water for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation occupied by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes in the heart of western North Dakota's booming oil patch.
The EPA said most of the spill was pooled on the ground, soaked into the soil and held behind beaver dams. It said the leak involved an estimated 24,000 barrels, or 1 million gallons, of saltwater and condensate, byproducts of oil and gas production.
Cleanup was expected to last for weeks, according to Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Partners LP. The underground pipeline is owned by Crestwood subsidiary Arrow Pipeline LLC.
North Dakota, the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas, also produces millions of barrels of briny wastewater daily that can be 30 times saltier than sea water and must be sequestered underground forever.
There were 74 pipeline leaks in 2013 that spilled 22,000 barrels of saltwater, 17,000 barrels of which was from a single mishap in Bowman County, state records show.
North Dakota oil drillers produced a record 313.5 million barrels of crude in 2013 along with about 350 million barrels of contaminated water, state data show."
http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/energy/article/ND-pipeline-breach-renews-call-for-more-monitoring-5615703.php#/0
"MANDAREE, N.D. (AP) — A saltwater spill from an underground pipeline in North Dakota has renewed calls from farmers and environmentalists to require new monitoring to help ensure that such breaches are prevented or caught quickly.
State Rep. **** Anderson, a Republican farmer from Willow City, said he plans to revisit legislation the state Legislature rejected last year that would mandate flow meters and cutoff switches on such lines.
"This is a serious problem that has become almost a weekly occurrence and we've got to do something," Anderson said.
The measure failed 86-4 after encountering resistance from oil companies that argued the additional monitoring would be too expensive. State regulators said such safeguards are ineffective on small holes because the leaks would not be strong enough to be detected.
Anderson agrees that monitoring alone might not prevent future spills, but he wants to use the technology in conjunction with more frequent checks by pipeline companies, spill-sniffing dogs and even aerial drones that can detect breaches.
"I think the answer is we're going to have to use all these," he said. "We've got to do something."
The pipeline that separated, likely over the Fourth of July weekend, was not equipped with a system that sends an alert when there is a leak. The company said the spill was discovered when officials were going through production loss reports.
Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, said the number of recent catastrophic spills is "bordering on negligence."
He points to a trio of recent spills at saltwater disposal facilities have been destroyed by fires and explosions sparked by lightning strikes and a spill near a tributary of the Little Missouri River that was blamed on a cow that rubbed against a tank valve.
"These people have to tighten up their act," Schafer said. "This is outrageous. The regulating agencies and industry need to take this more serious."
The Environmental Protection Agency said it had no confirmed reports that the saltwater from the latest spill reached Bear Den Bay on Lake Sakakawea. The water body provides water for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation occupied by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes in the heart of western North Dakota's booming oil patch.
The EPA said most of the spill was pooled on the ground, soaked into the soil and held behind beaver dams. It said the leak involved an estimated 24,000 barrels, or 1 million gallons, of saltwater and condensate, byproducts of oil and gas production.
Cleanup was expected to last for weeks, according to Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Partners LP. The underground pipeline is owned by Crestwood subsidiary Arrow Pipeline LLC.
North Dakota, the nation's No. 2 oil producer behind Texas, also produces millions of barrels of briny wastewater daily that can be 30 times saltier than sea water and must be sequestered underground forever.
There were 74 pipeline leaks in 2013 that spilled 22,000 barrels of saltwater, 17,000 barrels of which was from a single mishap in Bowman County, state records show.
North Dakota oil drillers produced a record 313.5 million barrels of crude in 2013 along with about 350 million barrels of contaminated water, state data show."
".....after the two are separated, the water flows through an eight-mile pipeline to Bakersfield’s Cawelo Water District......"
".....Saltwater is a naturally occurring, unwanted byproduct of oil and natural gas production that is between 10 and 30 times saltier than sea water. The state considers it an environmental hazard.
The briny byproduct also may contain petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing operations........"
You drink Cawelo Water District water, I'll remember to stick with bottled water whenever I'm in Bakersfield.
".....Saltwater is a naturally occurring, unwanted byproduct of oil and natural gas production that is between 10 and 30 times saltier than sea water. The state considers it an environmental hazard.
The briny byproduct also may contain petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing operations........"
You drink Cawelo Water District water, I'll remember to stick with bottled water whenever I'm in Bakersfield.
North Dakota pipeline spill cleanup may take weeks
http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/us/article/Cleanup-of-ND-pipeline-spill-could-last-weeks-5611085.php
"MANDAREE, N.D. (AP) — An underground oil pipeline has leaked 1 million gallons of saltwater at a North Dakota Indian reservation, and some of the drilling byproduct found its way into a lake that provides the reservation with drinking water, company and tribal officials said.
Cleanup at the Fort Berthold reservation site continued Thursday, two days after the leak was discovered. It was expected to last for weeks, said Miranda Jones, the vice president of environmental safety and regulatory at Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Services Inc.
Jones said the leak at the underground pipeline, owned by Crestwood subsidiary Aero Pipeline LLC, likely started over the Fourth of July weekend. The pipeline was not equipped with a system that sends an alert when there is a leak, she said, and the spill was only discovered when the company was going through production loss reports.
"This is something no company wants on their record, and we are working diligently to clean it up," Jones said.
An unknown amount of the fluid entered Bear Den Bay. That bay leads to Lake Sakakawea, which provides water for the reservation, occupied by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes in the heart of western North Dakota's booming oil patch. But company and tribal officials said the spill has been contained and has not affected the lake.
"We have a berm and a dike around it, around that bay area, to keep it from going into the lake," said Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall.
Saltwater is a naturally occurring, unwanted byproduct of oil and natural gas production that is between 10 and 30 times saltier than sea water. The state considers it an environmental hazard.
The briny byproduct also may contain petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing operations.
Kris Roberts, an environmental geologist with the North Dakota Department of Health, said damage from the toxic spill could be seen when he visited the site on Tuesday.
"We've got dead trees, dead grasses, dead bushes, dying bushes," he said.
Karolin Rockvoy, a McKenzie County emergency manager, said it was apparent from looking at vegetation that the spill went undetected for some time.
The number of saltwater spills in North Dakota has grown with the state's soaring oil production. North Dakota produced 25.5 million barrels of brine in 2012, the latest figures available. A barrel is 42 gallons. There were 141 pipeline leaks reported in North Dakota in 2012, 99 of which spilled about 8,000 barrels of saltwater. About 6,150 barrels of the spilled saltwater was recovered, state regulators said.
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation plays a key role in the state's oil production, the second-highest in the nation. The reservation currently represents more than 300,000 of North Dakota's 1 million barrels of oil produced daily, according to the state's Department of Mineral Resources.
In 2006, a broken oil pipeline belched more than a million gallons of saltwater into a northwestern North Dakota creek, aquifer and pond. The cleanup efforts are ongoing at that site, which has been called the worst environmental disaster in state history.
The ruptured pipeline allowed saltwater to spew unnoticed for weeks into a tributary of the Yellowstone River near Alexander and caused a massive die-off of fish, turtles and plants.
That spill came during the infancy of North Dakota's oil boom. Now, a network of saltwater pipelines extends to hundreds of disposal wells in western North Dakota, where the brine is pumped underground for permanent storage.
Proposed legislation to mandate flow meters and cutoff switches on such lines was overwhelmingly rejected last year in the Legislature."
http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/us/article/Cleanup-of-ND-pipeline-spill-could-last-weeks-5611085.php
"MANDAREE, N.D. (AP) — An underground oil pipeline has leaked 1 million gallons of saltwater at a North Dakota Indian reservation, and some of the drilling byproduct found its way into a lake that provides the reservation with drinking water, company and tribal officials said.
Cleanup at the Fort Berthold reservation site continued Thursday, two days after the leak was discovered. It was expected to last for weeks, said Miranda Jones, the vice president of environmental safety and regulatory at Houston-based Crestwood Midstream Services Inc.
Jones said the leak at the underground pipeline, owned by Crestwood subsidiary Aero Pipeline LLC, likely started over the Fourth of July weekend. The pipeline was not equipped with a system that sends an alert when there is a leak, she said, and the spill was only discovered when the company was going through production loss reports.
"This is something no company wants on their record, and we are working diligently to clean it up," Jones said.
An unknown amount of the fluid entered Bear Den Bay. That bay leads to Lake Sakakawea, which provides water for the reservation, occupied by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes in the heart of western North Dakota's booming oil patch. But company and tribal officials said the spill has been contained and has not affected the lake.
"We have a berm and a dike around it, around that bay area, to keep it from going into the lake," said Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall.
Saltwater is a naturally occurring, unwanted byproduct of oil and natural gas production that is between 10 and 30 times saltier than sea water. The state considers it an environmental hazard.
The briny byproduct also may contain petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing operations.
Kris Roberts, an environmental geologist with the North Dakota Department of Health, said damage from the toxic spill could be seen when he visited the site on Tuesday.
"We've got dead trees, dead grasses, dead bushes, dying bushes," he said.
Karolin Rockvoy, a McKenzie County emergency manager, said it was apparent from looking at vegetation that the spill went undetected for some time.
The number of saltwater spills in North Dakota has grown with the state's soaring oil production. North Dakota produced 25.5 million barrels of brine in 2012, the latest figures available. A barrel is 42 gallons. There were 141 pipeline leaks reported in North Dakota in 2012, 99 of which spilled about 8,000 barrels of saltwater. About 6,150 barrels of the spilled saltwater was recovered, state regulators said.
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation plays a key role in the state's oil production, the second-highest in the nation. The reservation currently represents more than 300,000 of North Dakota's 1 million barrels of oil produced daily, according to the state's Department of Mineral Resources.
In 2006, a broken oil pipeline belched more than a million gallons of saltwater into a northwestern North Dakota creek, aquifer and pond. The cleanup efforts are ongoing at that site, which has been called the worst environmental disaster in state history.
The ruptured pipeline allowed saltwater to spew unnoticed for weeks into a tributary of the Yellowstone River near Alexander and caused a massive die-off of fish, turtles and plants.
That spill came during the infancy of North Dakota's oil boom. Now, a network of saltwater pipelines extends to hundreds of disposal wells in western North Dakota, where the brine is pumped underground for permanent storage.
Proposed legislation to mandate flow meters and cutoff switches on such lines was overwhelmingly rejected last year in the Legislature."
A California Oil Field Yields Another Prized Commodity
By NORIMITSU ONISHIJULY 7, 2014 nytimes.com
...It is one of the more unusual sources of water, one whose importance has increased in a year when the drought has forced farmers to fallow fields and bulldoze almond orchards. The water is pumped out of the same underground rock that contains oil; after the two are separated, the water flows through an eight-mile pipeline to Bakersfield’s Cawelo Water District, which this year will rely on Chevron’s water for half of its supply, up from an average of a quarter. The district sells it exclusively to farmers for irrigation and reduces its salinity by blending it with water from other sources...
By NORIMITSU ONISHIJULY 7, 2014 nytimes.com
...It is one of the more unusual sources of water, one whose importance has increased in a year when the drought has forced farmers to fallow fields and bulldoze almond orchards. The water is pumped out of the same underground rock that contains oil; after the two are separated, the water flows through an eight-mile pipeline to Bakersfield’s Cawelo Water District, which this year will rely on Chevron’s water for half of its supply, up from an average of a quarter. The district sells it exclusively to farmers for irrigation and reduces its salinity by blending it with water from other sources...
https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=3366&s_src=CK-NRDC-FRK-A04-FB-FBLP.D-FKW.OCPM-US-EV119-BO-30p-FRK4
DEMAND A FRACKING MORATORIUM ON OUR PUBLIC LANDS!
The oil and gas industry is targeting our national forests, wildlife refuges and other cherished wildlands for dangerous fracking -- and the Obama Administration is preparing to let them run roughshod over our natural heritage. Also at stake: the health of surrounding communities and clean drinking water for millions of Americans. Call on President Obama to rein in the fracking juggernaut by imposing a fracking moratorium on all federal lands.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
President Barack Obama
Subject:
Impose a fracking moratorium on all federal lands
Dear President Obama:
The fracking boom has taken a devastating toll on communities across our country, as oil and gas companies poison our rivers, pollute our air, trample our rights and endanger the health of our families. I am outraged that your administration has failed to rein in this out-of-control industry. And now, your Bureau of Land Management intends to stand aside and let fracking run amok on more public lands -- as well as private lands -- from coast to coast.
You have pledged that our health and environment would not be put at risk by energy development. Today, I call on you to make good on that promise by imposing a fracking moratorium on all federal lands -- one that will last until you protect us from the excesses of the oil and gas industry.
With one stroke of your pen, you can safeguard our natural heritage, protect clean drinking water for millions and shield communities from California to Virginia that sit on public oil and gas reserves.
Please put people before polluters by reining in a fracking industry that is running roughshod over America. And move our nation beyond all fossil fuels as rapidly as possible, toward a better future based on 100% clean energy that will not disrupt our climate or destroy our environment.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
DEMAND A FRACKING MORATORIUM ON OUR PUBLIC LANDS!
The oil and gas industry is targeting our national forests, wildlife refuges and other cherished wildlands for dangerous fracking -- and the Obama Administration is preparing to let them run roughshod over our natural heritage. Also at stake: the health of surrounding communities and clean drinking water for millions of Americans. Call on President Obama to rein in the fracking juggernaut by imposing a fracking moratorium on all federal lands.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
President Barack Obama
Subject:
Impose a fracking moratorium on all federal lands
Dear President Obama:
The fracking boom has taken a devastating toll on communities across our country, as oil and gas companies poison our rivers, pollute our air, trample our rights and endanger the health of our families. I am outraged that your administration has failed to rein in this out-of-control industry. And now, your Bureau of Land Management intends to stand aside and let fracking run amok on more public lands -- as well as private lands -- from coast to coast.
You have pledged that our health and environment would not be put at risk by energy development. Today, I call on you to make good on that promise by imposing a fracking moratorium on all federal lands -- one that will last until you protect us from the excesses of the oil and gas industry.
With one stroke of your pen, you can safeguard our natural heritage, protect clean drinking water for millions and shield communities from California to Virginia that sit on public oil and gas reserves.
Please put people before polluters by reining in a fracking industry that is running roughshod over America. And move our nation beyond all fossil fuels as rapidly as possible, toward a better future based on 100% clean energy that will not disrupt our climate or destroy our environment.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
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