Illegally Dumping Millions of Gallons of Fracking Wastewater in Streets and Rivers at Night

Hey! They need to earn insane profits too!!

reply to post by 1lluminatus

Hey! They need to earn insane profits too!!

The wellhead price of natural gas is at it's lowest in 10 years. It's the gas companies that liquefied it that are making the money.

The companies that are drilling have to pay for the wells (over 1 million dollars per well to drill) acquire leases for the gas rights and the cost of disposal of the frack water. In North Texas they have almost stopped drilling due to the low wellhead cost.

I just watched a similar type broadcast on Current TV where Georgia Pacific is dumping toxic chemicals into open drainage ditches that pass through a black neighborhood, killing most of the residence from multiple cancers (in each body). GP, owned by the Koch's brothers pays the meager fines to the dysfunctional EPA in order to keep up the practice. They Koch brothers are on record donating to select congress members who continue to gut and hamstring the EPA. A couple years ago, the Koch brothers were served with multiple indictments (over two hundred ) and fined several hundred million dollars by a Federal Judge in TX. The Bush administration was able to "negotiate" the charges and fines to 1 charge and 20 million in fines. Another example of a select few businesses running our corrupt government. It's almost like the ultra rich are taking what they can so they live opulently before the world ends...

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
Toxic Wastewater Dumped in Streets and Rivers at Night: Gas Profiteers Getting Away With Shocking Environmental Crimes

Allan Shipman was found guilty of illegally dumping millions of gallons of natural gas drilling wastewater. But he's part of a much bigger problem.

On March 17, 2011 Greene County resident Robert Allan Shipman and his company, Allan’s Waste Water Service Inc., were charged with illegally dumping millions of gallons of natural gas drilling wastewater, along with restaurant grease and sewer sludge across six counties in Pennsylvania from 2003-2009. Pennsylvania is one of several states that sit atop the gas-rich underground rock formation the Marcellus Shale. Hydraulic fracturing, the process used for retrieving the gas, is a water-intensive drilling method that not only requires massive volumes of water to unlock the gas, but also generates millions of gallons of wastewater when the drilling is done.

The two-year investigation by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office resulted in a total of 98 criminal counts charged against the 50-year-old Shipman and an additional 77 charges levied at his company. Said Nils Frederiksen , spokesman for the attorney general’s office, “He was pouring the stuff in any hole he could find.”

CNX Gas Co. LLP, a subsidiary of Consol Energy, a company Shipman was hauling for, “Shipman showed the drivers how to leave open the gas well valves and ordered them to discharge production water onto the ground and/or into the nearby waterways.” Drivers’ testimony added, “This activity would typically occur after dark or during heavy rain so that no one would observe the illegal discharge.”


Nice to see that when Fracking was approved in the state of Pennsylvania and Ohio, how quickly officials turned a blind eye to how those toxic chemicals were going to be disposed of - so much for "we'll make sure it's safe". I'm not against natural gas - it's much cleaner burning than coal - but why is it we can't apply even the slightest amount to diligence in protecting the environment?

Because applying the slightest amount of diligence in protecting the environment costs money, and that is bad for the bottom line.

But Americans will sacrifice their own children for the corporations bottom line.

No?

What do you all think Wars are?

Who gains from War?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


A two year investigation? How much damage was done in that two years which could have been prevented? I'm sure they just wanted the case to stick but geeesh!

What would the same justice system do to people that lived where those toxins were dumped all the time, if they took matters into their own hands? Very frustrating.

The truly sad part is the harm to the waterway ecosystems.

I think this happens a lot more than reported or noticed. There was a truck draining something on the road in my area of rural Minnesota. I remember being in my dad's pickup and we were following a truck which was draining something on the road. We called the cops and got the plate number. I remeember whatever was being dumped was burning our eyes.

I now work in the well fracturing business in West Texas and cannot speak for other parts of the country. There is a lot of ignorance about the process and would have to write pages to explain it in its entirety. Our waste water is pumped into old dry wells used as disposal wells aand are a couple of miles deep. It is not trucked in or out and we rarely use fresh water but use produced water that is a by product of gas well production. The offender in this case was paid a lot of money to have this water disposed of and defrauded the well producer. Well fracturing has been around since the 1920's and does not affect aquifers used as a potable supply. If any damage is done to a potable aquifer, it is done during the drilling process. Little if any chemicals are used in the 1st thousand feet where water supplies could be affected. Study the process yourself rather than rely on the mostly disproven shills of environmentalists who still believe in man made global warming. I have worked many years as an environmetal engineer and in the oilfield. I am not ignorant of the processes nor the chemicals used. I know my post will not be liked by the posters so far but I had to put in my two cents to attempt some balance. Thanks for reading my response.

reply to post by Monteriano


More and more proof is emerging that fracking is contaminating ground water.

Fracking Regulations May Center on Wastewater Disposal

Scott Ely holds a glass of brown water that came from his 300-feet deep water well at his Dimock Township property in November. (Michael J. Mullen / Times-Shamrock)

Open pits of fracking brine

Dirty Secret:


EPA hydrofracking - Weston Wilson whisleblower


"Spill Estate"


'Fracking' for Natural Gas Continues to Raise Health Questions


"My Water's On Fire Tonight"


"Can you do this with your tap water?"


Drilling for Gas / Polluting Water


Fracking effects on water supplies



What I like about natural gas - it's cleaner burning than coal. But without oversight and tougher penalties against polluters, fracking will result in serious damage to our water due to sloppy/lazy/greedy waste disposal.

reply to post by VforVendettea


Now don't forget the Restaurant where the old grease came from they will be responsible too.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I watched all of the links and found nothing that legitimately indicates that well Fracturing affects ground water. Improper waste disposal affects all of us wether it be from fracturing, lead batteries or hazardous chemicals. No one has ever proven that the fracturing process has ever contaiminated any aquifer. The gentleman with the brown water could run a $10 test for VOC's to determine if fracturing caused this or if it is something else. The strongest chemical we use is hydrochloric acid and it is so diluted that It only lowers the pH a few tenths. It is less than 3% when we mix it with water prior to injection. It is much weaker than a limon as far as an acid's strength. As I said, it would take a book to refute the BS written against fracturing but I know that the wells that I have worked on, (130+) that no aquifer was ever endangered by the fracturing process. It is possible that an illegitimate wasted disposal hauler pumped it down a water well but highly unlikely.

reply to post by SepticSheepHerder


It may have been a chlorine mixture that was burning your eyes. Also, carpet cleaning companies are well known for draining their waste water on the street or wherever. They have less of a chance of getting caught because they use van-mounted equipment and their tanks only hold about 900 gal. of water, but my god is it nasty!

reply to post by Monteriano


I live in SE NM and so I know you know what you are talking about since you are in the Permian basin, too...

But I must say that how can we safely assume that ANY water that we put into the ground will not eventually migrate/pool/gather with other water and eventually join groundwater reservoirs and aquifers?

In a sense, because of the unique covalent bond by which the water molecules bind their H's and O's together, all water on/in the earth is strangely affected as just one body of water. If a little pool here and one there are separate today, that is no guarantee at all that they will not find their way to each other, eventually. In fact, I think that it is inevitable. I could be wrong about that but it seems like it has to be so.

At any rate, I think we as humans are continually and repeatedly short sighted in our hasty self-assurances so often made about some activity not having the potential to harm us or cause problems to the environment. WE are always saying...oh it will be okay....and then later one we are suffering the consequences of still another hasty uninformed statement acted on as if it were solidly tested as trustworthy.

Groundwater is everywhere, not just aquifers..it has always been our practice to try to keep it clean but now with this new move toward fracking to extract natural gas that has been out of reach for so long...we are throwing caution to the wind and I am sure we will regret it.

And it seems like I read that big money oil and gas are subject to the EPA regulations that should protect our water supply in these cases.

reply to post by queenannie38


The formations where this water is pumped are separated by two miles of solid rock. Formation water does not contaminate potable water supplies. The 'water' in the pits of the photos and videos are drilling mud and are not related to fracturing water. I know that the water we pump down hole has to come out but this water is no different than any other produced water from other other wells. I know what I am talking about and know that the claimed damages to the environment are mostly bogus. The real culprits are waste haulers but those businesses haul for many industries and not just the oil field.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Where there is money and power, there is corruption. How do people expect to get rich if they don't sh*t on the rest of the population?

This should be a warning to everyone - unless there is proper independent monitoring in place these kinds of greedy people will do ANYTHING for profit, and they'll get away with it most of the time, because they have dinner with the mayor and they donate a fraction of their ill-gotten gains to politicians.

Not to defend fracking or anything like that, but this is a company PAID to dispose of the fracking water safely. This is a seperate company from them, not to mention this is a sewage disposal company (why aren't they in your title?) not to mention this is restaurant grease disposal company (why aren't they in your title?)

You are a little biased here in this story, yes this company was paid a fee by the fracking industry, but it is out of their hands after that. They pay a fee to dispose of it safely and here comes along this scumbag who figures to save money by dumping it wherever!!

The same goes for the restaurant's that paid him, and the sewage company that paid him.......

This stuff just makes me sick to read, as I am from PA and can't stand people like this that try to cut corners to make more profits!!

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
reply to post by Monteriano

 

More and more proof is emerging that fracking is contaminating ground water.

Fracking Regulations May Center on Wastewater Disposal

Scott Ely holds a glass of brown water that came from his 300-feet deep water well at his Dimock Township property in November. (Michael J. Mullen / Times-Shamrock)

HERE IT IS!!! I knew you had an agenda against fracking here......Behold, here it is!!

Read my above post about this whole story, you are sadly mistaken if you are blaming fracking for this!!

Water catches fire from Methane deposits also, which is very common PRIOR to any fracking EVER taking place in these locations......But believe what you will.....

Go watch the Truthland documentary and see what experts have to say......As a matter a fact, I will post the link for you.....Even though you more than likely don't care......