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HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

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Most scientists would say there is some uncertainty in the processes of hydraulic fracturing. The question then is: "Do we understand what the uncertainties are, and if we fall outside of those uncertainty ranges, what can we do about it?"




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Ball Calls for Moratorium on Hydrofracking

thedailypeekskill.com
by Bob Dumas (email)12/23/11

Senator Ball gives his hydrofracking presentation

to the SRO crowd at Lewisboro Library Wednesday

night, which included disturbing images from Pennsylvania.

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – State Senator Greg Ball (R, C – Patterson) called for a statewide one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) during a presentation he gave on the controversial subject at the Lewisboro Library Wednesday night.

More than 70 people from the north county area packed the library to hear Ball speak on hydrofracking - the process of extracting natural gas from gas shale deposits, something that many say is detrimental to the environment.






Ball said a moratorium is needed because Governor Cuomo is not expected to allocate any funds to regulate fracking and gas drilling in next year’s executive budget proposal.


“Without the funding to properly regulate and without the manpower to properly oversee this industry, we must put the brakes on fracking,” Ball told the crowd.


“It's our fundamental responsibility to learn from the mistakes of other states like Pennsylvania and avoid the devastating effects of hydraulic fracturing here in New York. Without the funding and manpower in place to protect the well-being of our environment and our citizens, a moratorium is necessary so we can get the proper resources and regulations in place.”

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4.0 earthquake strikes in northeast Ohio - related to injection of fracking wastewater

Associated Press

via Yahoo
Dec 31 2011

McDONALD, Ohio (AP) — Officials say they believe the latest earthquake activity in northeast Ohio is related to the injection of wastewater into the ground near a fault line, creating enough pressure to cause seismic activity.

The wastewater comes from drilling operations that use the so-called fracking process to...

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In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

Associated Press

By CHRIS KAHN


NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is — wait for it — fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

Still, the U.S. is nowhere close to energy independence. America is still the world's largest importer of crude oil. From January to October, the country imported 2.7 billion barrels of oil worth roughly $280 billion.

Fuel exports, worth an estimated $88 billion in 2011, have surged for two reasons:

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Fracking the Frackers (and the Legislature That Enables Them)

Source: www.celdf.org.

If Not Now, When? If Not Us, Who?

Fracking the Frackers(and the Legislature That Enables Them)

A Call for a New Pennsylvania Constitution That Recognizes the Right to Local Control and

Community Self-Government

By Thomas Linzey, Esq., Executive Director, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Ben Price, Projects Director, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

For anyone with even the slimmest understanding of the role that the Pennsylvania legislature has played over the past several decades, the recent votes planned in the House and the Senate – to strip communities of their remaining slim authority to regulate fracking – should come as no surprise. Pick your poison –one version would strip zoning authority away from municipalities over the siting of frack wells, the other would give the Attorney General’s office the power to override any local regulation of fracking.

Flashback to 2005, when the legislature faced a similar choice – this time around corporate factory farms. Townships across the State were passing laws to ban them; in response, agribusiness corporations used the State legislature to adopt a law authorizing the Attorney General to intervene on the side of those corporations. A flurry of lawsuits then followed in which the Attorney General’s office filed suits against municipalities to overturn those local laws, which “interfered”with the siting of corporate factory farms.

Unfortunately, it’s not a new story. Over the past twenty years, as communities have begun to stand up to corporations across Pennsylvania, the State has joined hand-in-hand with those corporations to create laws which override those communities. It’s happened time and time again on issues of the land application of sewage sludge, timber harvesting, anthracite coal stripmining, water withdrawals, and land development. It’s even happened with genetically modified seeds, with the legislature stepping into the fray in 2004 to preempt Pennsylvania communities from controlling GM seeds within their community.

Because when the crunch comes, the State never sides with our communities, but with the corporations seeking to use them. In other words, the State sides with a corporate minority, rather than community majorities.

While people’s memories tend to be fairly short; institutional and corporate memory is much longer. It’s why the same model of dealing with community control over factory farms – by passing legislation enabling the Attorney General’s office to be used by agribusiness corporations to bring municipalities to heel – is now being used in the Senate in an effort to nullify community control over fracking. It’s merely another effort to use the power of the State to leverage corporate control over our municipalities.

In the fracking war, it has become more interesting to examine what’s not being talked about than what is.

In the legislature, no one is making the argument that municipalities should have the power to ban natural gas extraction within their own community. The only ones advancing that concept are the municipalities that have moved forward to adopt local laws that do just that.

Nowhere in the debate is there talk of a right to “local self-government” or “community self-governance.” You could spend the wee hours of the morning parsing through the debates in the House and Senate and you wouldn’t see any of those words used; or any respect paid to the needs of the people who actually live in the communities that will be fracked.

Nor are the municipal associations raising it. Just like in the past, the Townships Association, the Boroughs Association, and the County Commissioners Association are more than willing to sell their own members down the river in an effort to remain relevant as State lobbying groups.

One would think that the major environmental groups in the State would be howling about this state of affairs. You’d be wrong. Counter to their propaganda, groups like PennFuture are running the other way – pushing an agenda of“responsible drilling”. As if you can have fracking and have environmental protection at the same time. Think “Citizens’s” Marcellus Shale Commission (CMSC), which issued a 90 page report conceding by omission in that blizzard of words that Pennsylvanians have no inherent right to govern gas extraction corporations, only to ask for more reasonable regulation of the rate at which the natural environment and our communities are destroyed.

You can lay down a blanket, and spread the pillows, but rape by any other name continues to be rape.

The State agency that issues permits to corporations to allow the legalized rape of our communities recently told the people of Dimock that despite the agency’s conclusion that their drinking water had been destroyed by “fracking,” the corporation responsible would no longer have to supply fresh water to Dimock residents. Promises that centralizing control over gas extraction corporations in the hands of the State will protect our rights ring hollow as incidences like this multiply.

It’s no wonder that Pennsylvania communities and municipalities are made to sit at the back of the bus. Nobody is advocating for them – not their State representatives, not their Department of Environmental Protection, not even their own associations, and not even the environmental groups who know that fracking is an environmental holocaust.

Time after time, year after year, our communities are stripped of one more power until our local elected officials are relegated to little more than filling potholes – putting them more and more at the mercy of a small handful of corporate decisionmakers. Replacing public government with a privatized one.

Where does it stop? It only stops if communities join together to force the State to stop it.

Forget the State legislature – they’re going to do what they’re going to do as the corporate whores that they’ve become. Forget the environmental groups –although we should stop funding them when they screw us with our own dollars. Who needs enemies, with friends like these so-called progressives who seek a place at the table of power, only to begin "negotiations" with proposed terms of surrender? And forget the municipal associations –municipalities should revoke their membership in them in response to their complete and utter failure to actually represent their own constituencies.

It’s time for the people to decide about fracking and stop letting middlemen do their worst, while claiming to know best.

What we need is a grassroots, community-driven movement that permanently separates the corporations from our government. One that proposes such wide-scale necessary change that it would turn the Speaker of the House’s face completely white. One that changes the constitutional framework of the State (our framework), to recognize a right to local self-government that can’t be preempted or stolen by the State on the whim of resource extraction corporations. In short, change the law to let the people themselves decide what happens in their own communities.

Sound immensely difficult? Of course. Can we afford not to do it? We can’t. Unless, of course, we want to continue to watch as community lawmaking authority is negotiated away by corporations and the State.

We don’t have a fracking problem. We have a democracy problem.

A little over a year ago, representatives of over thirty Pennsylvania municipalities came together and collectively issued a document known as the Chambersburg Declaration. It calls for an end to the “corporate state” - which currently guarantees that the law will be used for the benefit of corporate minorities, rather than community majorities. The document calls for a new Pennsylvania Constitution – one that recognizes and protects a right to local self-government beyond the authority of the State to strip.

It means building a movement that goes around the State apparatus. It means occupying our local governments by openly ignoring “illegitimate” laws made by State government. It means joining together to write a 21^st century constitution which understands that sustainability is impossible without true community democracy.

And let’s get started by trashing these new fracking laws. Operating hand in hand with the fracking corporations, the legislature will do everything in its power to pry open our lands, our neighborhoods, and our communities for the frackers. The courts are already busy doing piece work for corporations as they challenge ostensibly “legal” zoning ordinances in Western Pennsylvania communities like South Fayette, Mount Pleasant, Cecil, and municipalities around the state.

And the governor has populated agencies and commissions of the state with industry hacks. It’s time to frontally challenge the authority of the State by banning fracking in our communities, and then dare the legislature and the courts to use State power to authorize the fracking corporations to override our rights and our authority to self-govern where we live.

That means following the lead of Pittsburgh and other municipalities on fracking to adopt local Bills of Rights, which ban fracking in those communities as a violation of our rights to clean air, clean water, and self-government. Hopefully, when people see the State acting in all of its perverted and disgusting forms to protect the very corporations benefitting from this state of affairs, we can finally begin the work of restructuring our government so that it actually works for us.

In our communities first, then gathering together to change our Counties (County Constitutions, anyone?), and then combining together to elevate our right to self-government to the highest level within the State Constitution. A right to local self-government that the State legislature can never override.

If not us, then who? And if not now, then when?

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a nonprofit, public interest law firm that has assisted over a dozen Pennsylvania communities to adopt community bills of rights than ban fracking within those municipalities. Over the past fifteen years, the Legal Defense Fund has assisted over one hundred and thirty communities in six states to elevate community rights over corporate “rights.”For more information, www.celdf.org. 

     

Residents Turn Out for Energy Lawsuit (VIDEO)

By Emily Finnegan
WSILTV.COM

Story Created: Dec 21, 2011 CST

SALINE COUNTY -- A plan to look for natural gas and oil in Saline County received a major boost Wednesday.

A Saline County judge granted Colorado-based Next Energy the right to lease mineral rights from more than a thousand people without their permission. The energy company sued for the rights after it couldn't track down the owners.

About twenty people were on hand for the conservatorship hearing Wednesday; most came with questions.

"The explanation of how that occurs is what I was really concerned about today," said mineral owner David Nave.

"See what they have to say and voice my opinions and listen to everyone else hearing their questions and I can bring my questions up," Richard Chrisman told News Three.

But some people knew exactly what they wanted--to get their names off Next Energy's list.

The company had to prove to a judge it tried to locate the 1500 people named in the suit, or their heirs. Public notices led Next Energy to about about 100 of them. Nave came to court to let the company know he and his family are open to making a deal.

"Now that I'm fully aware of what's going on. I've already started the process of getting information about those heirs," he said.

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Commerce City Passes Moratorium On Fracking

December 20, 2011
CBS Denver

A sign at a fracking site outside Commerce City

(credit: CBS)

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (CBS4) – There will no hydraulic fracturing in Commerce City for the next month. The Commerce City City Council voted unanimously for the freeze Monday night. It gives the council more time to discuss concerns about the practice of pumping water and chemicals into the ground to extract gas


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Every Drop Counts - Should we conserve our water for oil and gas fracking?

Every Drop Counts

How can I conserve water?

My answer may surprise you.

Last week, a City of Longmont water board member commented that he has a fiduciary responsibility to sell Longmont’s ‘surplus water’. Currently, Longmont leases out 600 acre feet of water per year to big oil for fracking and drilling. Oil Fracking and drilling within our community will swell to consume thousands of acre feet of clear water per year. Simultaneously, Longmont is encouraging its citizens to reduce their use of treated water by 3500 acre feet per year.

So, if I have a leaky faucet I have two choices:

1. I can repair the faucet to reduce my consumption. This will increase Longmont’s ‘surplus water’. The ‘surplus water’ from my leak will be sold for fracking. The water will be mixed with toxic chemicals to produce fracking fluid. The fracking fluid will be injected miles under the ground into the Niobrara tight sand formations. Toxic water spurts back from the well, and needs to be quarantined. It is trucked hundreds of miles to disposal sites to be forced into two mile deep isolation wells. The mountain stream water that Longmont sold to the drilling company is irrevocably removed from the hydrological system (assuming that everything goes well). It will never again runoff the surface. It will never again soak down or evaporate up into the water cycle.

2. I can let the faucet continue to drip. In this case my leaked water will soak down into the soil or evaporate into the atmosphere or drain to the treatment system. It is conserved within our natural environment. So, what is the best way for me to conserve the water that is leaking out of my faucet?

Maybe I should just let it drip. Every drop counts.

Joseph Bassman

Colorado Approves Fracking Disclosure Rules

CBSDENVER4
December 13, 2011

(credit: CBS)

DENVER (AP) - Colorado will require energy companies to disclose the concentrations of all chemicals in hydraulic fracturing and also ask drillers to make public some information about ingredients considered trade secrets.

Colorado regulators unanimously approved the new rules Tuesday that take effect in April.
The guidelines are similar to those required by a first-in-the-nation law passed in Texas this year but go further by requiring the concentrations of chemicals to be disclosed.

“That’s the big advancer here. We’re getting a full picture of what’s in that fracking fluid,” said Michael Freeman, an attorney for Earthjustice who worked with industry to write the rules.

Also, if Colorado drillers claim a trade secret, they would still have to disclose the ingredient’s chemical family. In emergencies, companies would have to tell health care workers what those secret ingredients were.




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New York Should Become the First State to Ban Fracking

AlterNet
Dec 6 2011


"We believe that the pillars of the 21st century are clean water and air, alternative energy, and economic justice," Gomer said upon receiving the Advocacy Award from Common Cause.   


   

Photo Credit: mydphotos

Adelaide Park Gomer, president of the Park Foundation based in Ithaca, New York, received the Advocacy Award from Common Cause for her work fighting fracking. Gomer is as a knowledgeable and passionate defender of independent media, environmental sustainability, and higher education, as well as of democratic and transparent governance.

She and the Park Foundation have been among the staunchest supporters of the antifracking movement in New York, as the gas industry is poised to begin this dangerous, dirty, and destructive practice throughout much of the state, should Governor Andrew Cuomo give it the green light-which could happen very soon despite the overwhelming evidence that fracking poisons air, water, soil and food supply, endangers public health, and shows no long-term economic benefit.

The award was given at a banquet held in New York City on November 29, 2011. Among the guests were many grassroots activists, NGO staff members, and and independent journalists whose antifracking, pro-environmental, or reporting work has been supported by Gomer's and the Park Foundation's philanthropy. During her speech, Gomer was interrupted by applause numerous times and received two standing ovations.

This is the speech she delivered in accepting the award...

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Ex-oil worker blasts shale gas industry (VIDEO)

CBC News<

Posted: Dec 2, 2011

Maxime Daigle worked on oil and gas rigs for seven years before quitting to devote his life to protesting what he believes are the perils of shale gas drilling.

Daigle spent his career in the oil and gas sector working in operations located in Alberta, British Columbia and across the United States.

He started as a roughneck and worked his way up to drilling foreman.
But he soon concluded the world's dependency on oil was killing the planet and he left the industry.

“We all have our hands dirty on it. It's just an awakening I went through that made me realize what I was doing was wrong and that I needed to try and make a difference,” he said.
So Daigle moved back home to New Brunswick and went back to school to study electrical engineering with a focus on renewable energy.

Daigle is one of the many citizens that are speaking out over fears about the shale gas industry.

There are nine companies that currently have 71 different leases to explore for shale gas. While the industry is in its infancy, it has turned into a high-profile political issue for Premier David Alward's government.

The Progressive Conservative government ushered in a new set of regulations in the summer that were intended to quiet the growing chorus of criticism against the industry.

Instead, there were more protests and some mining companies faced blockades from citizens unhappy with their presence.

The Alward government has promised that it will bring in a new Environmental Protection Plan in the spring. And Alward has committed, that if the shale gas industry is to have a future in New Brunswick, the provincial government will ensure it enforces the strictest regulations on the continent.

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Boulder County commissioner candidates back drilling moratorium

By John Fryar Longmont Times-Call


BOULDER -- If it's legally possible, Boulder County should impose an immediate moratorium on exploratory drilling that uses hydraulic fracturing to free up oil and gas deposits, all six Democratic candidates for county commissioners' seats agreed Saturday.


That time-out would allow the county to study the possible negative impacts of "fracking" and to craft local regulations to mitigate those impacts, the would-be county commissioners said during a candidates' forum sponsored by the Boulder County Democratic Party.


Elise Jones, one of a trio of Democrats vying for the District 1 seat on the Board of County Commissioners that's up for election next year, said that if she could ban fracking entirely, she'd do so, because of the process' potential for polluting water as well as the huge volumes of water required in the procedure.


Unfortunately, Jones said, local governments such as counties are limited in what they can do to restrict such oil and gas drilling practices. But she suggested the county could be more aggressive in establishing conditions for such wells, including requiring larger setbacks from reservoirs and neighboring homes and requiring the drilling companies to use non-toxic chemicals when they pump pressurized mixtures of water, sand and chemicals underground.


Rich Lopez, another of the District 1 commissioner candidates, said that in setting new drilling rules while a moratorium is in place, Boulder County officials should "regulate anything we can to slow or stop" hydraulic fracturing -- including regulations limiting the hours in which the drilling can occur and limiting access to the well site.


Garry Sanfacon, the third Democrat vying for the District 1 county board seat that's up for election next year, went a step further. He said that during a moratorium, Boulder County should develop oil and gas drilling regulations that consider the drilling companies' impacts on county roads, nearby communities and water -- rules, he said, "that would make it virtually unfeasible" for such drilling companies "to work in our county."



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EPA Pavillion report stokes fire over fracking - SPECIAL REPORT

source: wyofile.com
Article Link
December 9 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency has

determined that the water of Pavillion, Wyoming

has been contamined with chemicals that are

associated in the extraction of natural gas and oil,

but they stopped short of linking the problem to any

 "fracking" taking place in or around area.

(Photo courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency

An Environmental Protection Agency draft report on Thursday confirms that chemicals commonly used in hydraulic fracturing in the extraction of natural gas and oil indeed contributed to the contamination of drinking water near Pavillion — a tiny farm town in the central portion of the state. But it stopped short of making the link to any specific hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — or any other specific drilling activity in an area where oil and gas drilling has occurred for decades.

The report was hailed by the environmental community and industry watchdog groups, which proclaimed validation in their warnings that fracking can pollute drinking water near Pavillion and elsewhere in the nation. “For years the oil and gas industry has argued that there is no chance that fracking will contaminate ground water sources, but this report appears to be a smoking gun against that claim,” Western Resource Advocates’ lands program director Mike Chiropolos said in a prepared statement.

The oil and gas industry slammed the report as “reckless,” “unsubstantiated,” and “irresponsible.” In fact, state and industry officials had asked EPA to hold the draft report until an “independent peer review” was conducted, according to the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, because industry and state leaders had been compiling a list of concerns with EPA’s investigation.

The draft report is now available for a 45-day public comment period, after which a 30-day peer-review process will begin “by a panel of independent scientists,” according to EPA.

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EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review

Media Contacts

EPA Headquarters: Larry Jackson, 202-564-0236, 202-564-4355; jackson.larry@epa.gov

EPA Region 8: Richard Mylott. 303-312-6654; mylott.richard@epa.gov

EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review

(Denver, Colo. –December 8, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a draft analysis of data from its Pavillion, Wyoming ground water investigation. At the request of Pavillion residents, EPA began investigating water quality concerns in private drinking water wells three years ago. Since that time, in conjunction with the state of Wyoming, the local community, and the owner of the gas field, Encana, EPA has been working to assess ground water quality and identify potential sources of contamination.

EPA constructed two deep monitoring wells to sample water in the aquifer. The draft report indicates that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing. EPA also re-tested private and public drinking water wells in the community. The samples were consistent with chemicals identified in earlier EPA results released in 2010 and are generally below established health and safety standards. To ensure a transparent and rigorous analysis, EPA is releasing these findings for public comment and will submit them to an independent scientific review panel. The draft findings announced today are specific to Pavillion, where the fracturing is taking place in and below the drinking water aquifer and in close proximity to drinking water wells – production conditions different from those in many other areas of the country.

Natural gas plays a key role in our nation’s clean energy future and the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that the development of this vital resource occurs safely and responsibly. At the direction of Congress, and separate from this ground water investigation, EPA has begun a national study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

“EPA’s highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water,” said Jim Martin, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver. “We will continue to work cooperatively with the State, Tribes, Encana and the community to secure long-term drinking water solutions. We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process. In consultation with the Tribes, EPA will also work with the State on additional investigation of the Pavillion field.”

Findings in the Two Deep Water Monitoring Wells:

EPA’s analysis of samples taken from the Agency’s deep monitoring wells in the aquifer indicates detection of synthetic chemicals, like glycols and alcohols consistent with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids, benzene concentrations well above Safe Drinking Water Act standards and high methane levels. Given the area’s complex geology and the proximity of drinking water wells to ground water contamination, EPA is concerned about the movement of contaminants within the aquifer and the safety of drinking water wells over time.

Findings in the Private and Public Drinking Water Wells:

EPA also updated its sampling of Pavillion area drinking water wells. Chemicals detected in the most recent samples are consistent with those identified in earlier EPA samples and include methane, other petroleum hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds. The presence of these compounds is consistent with migration from areas of gas production. Detections in drinking water wells are generally below established health and safety standards. In the fall of 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reviewed EPA’s data and recommended that affected well owners take several precautionary steps, including using alternate sources of water for drinking and cooking, and ventilation when showering. Those recommendations remain in place and Encana has been funding the provision of alternate water supplies.

Before issuing the draft report, EPA shared preliminary data with, and obtained feedback from, Wyoming state officials, Encana, Tribes and Pavillion residents. The draft report is available for a 45 day public comment period and a 30 day peer-review process led by a panel of independent scientists.

For more information on EPA's Pavillion groundwater investigation, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/index.html

Hydrogen sulfide high at 53 wells, Noble says

By Dennis Webb
Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Noble Energy is reporting dangerous levels of hydrogen sulfide gas have been measured at least once at dozens of its wells not just in Garfield County, but Weld County as well.

The company says 21 of its wells in the Piceance Basin have had levels at or above 100 parts per million on at least one occasion, as have 32 wells in the Grover oil and gas field in Weld County.

Short-term exposures at such levels can cause several health problems, and exposures lasting hours can cause death. But Noble Energy says safety protocols are in place to protect workers.

Noble Energy reported its findings as part of a response to allegations by state regulators that it failed to comply with requirements to report hydrogen sulfide gas encountered at oil and gas sites in the two counties.

Noble Energy also reported lower levels of hydrogen sulfide at eight of its wells in Mesa County, several miles south of Parachute. Noble Energy spokesman Stephen Flaherty said gas chromatograph tests at those sites all found levels less than two parts per million. The highest reading for any of those wells was 50 ppm, using a less accurate test designed simply to confirm the presence of the gas for the sake of workers, he said.

Bureau of Land Management spokesman David Boyd said that when Noble Energy has experienced hydrogen sulfide at federal well pads in the Piceance, it hasn’t been in the natural gas itself, but in liquids at the sites, and it has been associated with some wells on a pad but not others. That suggests it was introduced, he said.

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H₂S Safety Factsheet

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S, CAS# 7783-06-4) is an extremely hazardous, toxic compound. It is a colorless, flammable gas that can be identified in relatively low concentrations, by a characteristic rotten egg odor. The gas occurs naturally in coal pits, sulfur springs, gas wells, and as a product of decaying sulfur-containing organic matter, particularly under low oxygen conditions.

 It is therefore commonly encountered in places such as sewers, sewage treatment plants (H2S is often called sewer gas), manure stockpiles, mines, hot springs, and the holds of fishing ships. Industrial sources of hydrogen sulfide include petroleum and natural gas extraction and refining, pulp and paper manufacturing, rayon textile production, leather tanning, chemical manufacturing and waste disposal.

Hydrogen sulfide has a very low odor threshold, with its smell being easily perceptible at concentrations well below 1 part per million (ppm) in air. The odor increases as the gas becomes more concentrated, with the strong rotten egg smell recognizable up to 30 ppm. Above this level, the gas is reported to have a sickeningly sweet odor up to around 100 ppm.

However, at concentrations above 100 ppm, a person's ability to detect the gas is affected by rapid temporary paralysis of the olfactory nerves in the nose, leading to a loss of the sense of smell. This means that the gas can be present at dangerously high concentrations, with no perceivable odor.

Prolonged exposure to lower concentrations can also result in similar effects of olfactory fatigue. This unusual property of hydrogen sulfide makes it extremely dangerous to rely totally on the sense of smell to warn of the presence of the gas.

Health Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide

H2S is classed as a chemical asphyxiant, similar to carbon monoxide and cyanide gases. It inhibits cellular respiration and uptake of oxygen, causing biochemical suffocation. Typical exposure symptoms include:

L O W	0 - 10 ppm	Irritation of the eyes, nose and throat
M O D	10 - 50 ppm	Headache Dizziness Nausea and vomiting Coughing and breathing difficulty
H I G H	50 - 200 ppm	Severe respratory tract irritation Eye irritation / acute conjunctivitis Shock Convulsions Coma Death in severe cases

Prolonged exposures at lower levels can lead to bronchitis, pneumonia, migraine headaches, pulmonary edema, and loss of motor coordination.

Working with Hydrogen Sulfide

Most countries have legal limits in force that govern the maximum allowable levels of exposure to hydrogen sulfide in the working environment. A typical permissible exposure limit in many countries is 10 ppm. While the distinctive odor of H2S is easily detected, its olfactory fatigue effects mean that one cannot rely on the nose as a warning device. The only reliable way to determine exposure levels is to measure the amount in the air. Regular monitoring will help to identify areas and operations likely to exceed permissible exposure limits, and any areas that routinely pose overexposure hazards should be equipped with continuous monitoring systems.

With a vapor density of 1.19, hydrogen sulfide is approximately 20 percent heavier than air, so this invisible gas will collect in depressions in the ground and in confined spaces. The use of direct reading gas detection instrumentation should be required before entering confined spaces such as manholes, tanks, pits, and reaction vessels that could contain an accumulation of H2S gas.

Wherever possible, exposure should be minimized by employing adequate engineering controls and safe working practices. Such methods include ensuring good ventilation and changing work procedures and practices. Where engineering controls cannot adequately control levels of exposure, it may be necessary to supplement them with the use of suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) such as supplied-air respirators. A qualified industrial hygienist or safety professional should be consulted for guidance on the suitability and correct use of respirators.

Should a co-worker ever be overcome by H2S gas, do not attempt a rescue until you are properly protected yourself. The rescuer can very easily get caught out by venturing into a confined space without adequate protection. Remember that at levels above 200 ppm, collapse, coma and death due to respiratory failure can occur within seconds after only a few inhalations so you can be overcome yourself very quickly. Such incidents are sadly all too common and only serve to make the rescue effort twice as difficult.

source:SafetyDirectory.com

Compilation of Actual Fracking Complaints - Dear County Commissioners,

A Weld County Commissioner recently stated in public that there have never been any fracking complaints from the citizens of Weld County, Colorado. We would like to remind you that you are out of touch with reality and appear to be a self-lobbying stylist.  Weld Count comprises approximately 40% of the entire states active oil and gas operations, and as you can clearly see below, there are a reported ,*625 current fracking complaints in Weld County. *Data sourced and compiled by Shane Davis

We’d also like to bring to your attention that each complaint can be reviewed at your leisure by simply clicking on the
Document # provided. We have published the most recent 100 of the 625 complaints  for your reading pleasure.

We would also like to bring to your attention that providing erroneous information to the public is not a public service. It appears as if that may have been the case, so we will educate you moving forward at no charge, well, our tax dollars pay your salary, and we will certainly not vote for you, and rally against your positions if you continue to not provide accurate information in respect to citizen public safety regarding oil and gas or any other industry.

Weld County to date has:

·        Approximately 18,000 active oil and gas wells.

·        >1,000 inspections **(COGCCs database does not provide totals beyond 1,000) We feel that this information should be public and shown on their website.

·        871 Notice of Alleged Violations

·        625 Public Complaints

·        >1,000 spill incident reports **(COGCCs database does not provide totals beyond 1,000) We feel that this information should be public and shown on their website.

·        >1,000 Remediation Reports **(COGCCs database does not provide totals beyond 1,000) We feel that this information should be public and shown on their website.

·        232 Mechanical Integrity Tests reported ( unbelievable that over the last four decades and ~18,000 active oil and gas wells, that only a mere 232 Wellbore integrity test have been completed. Is this a liability?  Seems it appears to be the case:  ‘COGCC CONFIRMS OIL AND GAS OPERATION USING FRACKING CONTAMINATED THE LARAMIE-FOX HILLS AQUIFER’


         COGIC - 05-123 Search Results = 625 record(s) returned

Incident Date	Document #	Complainant	Facility ID/API	Company Name	Operator #
11/17/2011	200328826	Randy James	05-123-34199	CONTINENTAL RESOURCES INC	10347
11/17/2011	200328829	Raymond Crouse	05-123-34199	CONTINENTAL RESOURCES INC	10347
11/17/2011	200328832	Paul Poppe	05-123-34199	CONTINENTAL RESOURCES INC	10347
11/17/2011	200328833	Gerald Kumar	05-123-34199	CONTINENTAL RESOURCES INC	10347
11/7/2011	200328147	SHARON ANDERSON	05-123-34413	SUNDANCE ENERGY INC	10340
10/6/2011	200324260	LARRY JOHNSON	05-123-20985	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
8/15/2011	200318191	Steve DeJong	05-123-31420	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
6/17/2011	200312757	Troy Swain	05-123-32924	RANCHERS EXPLORATION PARTNERS LLC	10350
6/7/2011	200312209	Brad Debus	05-123-31846	PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION	69175
6/3/2011	200320763	Dorothy Mintle	05-123-10406	MARTIN EXPLORATION MANAGEMENT CO	53985
5/26/2011	200311092	Lynn Johns	05-123-09958	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
5/26/2011	200311097	Andy Chavers	05-123-07646	K P KAUFFMAN COMPANY INC	46290
5/26/2011	200311100	GREG	05-123-32768	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
5/18/2011	200310535	Kathy Kerksiek	05-123-32655	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
3/29/2011	200305276	John Cox	05-123-13008	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
3/23/2011	200304418	Elizabeth and Dennis Rodi	05-123-30662	CHESAPEAKE OPERATING INC	16660
3/14/2011	200300752	Gary Boughman	05-123-32165	PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION	69175
3/14/2011	200300876	Daryl & Cynthia Burkhart	05-123-31432	CHESAPEAKE OPERATING INC	16660
2/23/2011	200297341	Paul Hubble	05-123-10093	ENCANA OIL & GAS (USA) INC	100185
2/23/2011	200297343	Tim Iverson	05-123-13044	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
12/30/2010	200290366	MIKE VAUGHN	05-123-26651	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
12/30/2010	200290377	Test	05-123-12345	BONANZA CREEK ENERGY OPERATING COMPANY LLC	8960
12/14/2010	200287495	Stuart Readio	05-123-20764	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
12/13/2010	200287473	DON CRUTCHELY	05-123-15375	FOUNDATION ENERGY MANAGEMENT LLC	10112
11/18/2010	200284289	Lynn Johns	05-123-31274	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
9/2/2010	200269308	Thea Siehl	05-123-22246	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
8/30/2010	200268524	Anonymous	05-123-31420	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
8/20/2010	200267291	Don Drage	05-123-31562	PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION	69175
8/17/2010	200266919	David Hetzel	05-123-12999	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
8/6/2010	200265578	Steve Gulley	05-123-29437	PETRO-CANADA RESOURCES (USA) INC	72085
7/28/2010	200277006	Anonymous	05-123-08781	MACHII-ROSS PETROLEUM CO	52250
7/7/2010	200260007	Susan Pointer	05-123-19753	KERR-MCGEE OIL & GAS ONSHORE LP	47120
6/25/2010	200257763	Dirk Belfork	05-123-08753	K P KAUFFMAN COMPANY INC	46290
6/25/2010	200257773	Greg Robinson	05-123-07537	K P KAUFFMAN COMPANY INC	46290
6/21/2010	200256112	Marsha Fiscus Clark	05-123-13065	DIVERSIFIED OPERATING CORPORATION	24461
6/14/2010	200255631	DARYL BURKHART	05-123-31432	RUBICON OIL & GAS LLC	10303
6/14/2010	200258942	DARYL BURKHART	05-123-31432	RUBICON OIL & GAS LLC	10303
6/1/2010	200252458	John Lindell	05-123-31432	RUBICON OIL & GAS LLC	10303
6/1/2010	200252612	Tim Iverson	05-123-13044	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
5/19/2010	200253562	Daryl Burkhart	05-123-31432	RUBICON OIL & GAS LLC	10303
5/19/2010	200250258	Jeff Bernak	05-123-11397	ENERVEST OPERATING LLC	10098
5/13/2010	200252028	Cynthia Burkhart	05-123-31432	RUBICON OIL & GAS LLC	10303
4/28/2010	200245188	Isabel Vargo	05-123-24926	MERIT ENERGY COMPANY	56565
4/20/2010	200245196	James Tanner	05-123-15128	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
4/7/2010	200241415	Melinda Brenimer	05-123-14957	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322
3/22/2010	200236511	Troy Swain	05-123-29876	PETRO-CANADA RESOURCES (USA) INC	72085
2/16/2010	200232199	Alva Padilla	05-123-25566	GREAT WESTERN OIL & GAS COMPANY LLC	10110
1/19/2010	200226921	Mike Speaker	05-123-11271	TINDALL OPERATING COMPANY	88380
1/12/2010	200230693	L.G. Everist, Inc.	05-123-30971	ENCANA OIL & GAS (USA) INC	100185
1/12/2010	200235063	L.G. Erevrist, Inc.	05-123-30971	ENCANA OIL & GAS (USA) INC	100185
12/22/2009	200226275	Tim Iverson	05-123-13042	NOBLE ENERGY INC	100322

Data compiled by: Shane Davis