And here's why. This is from the Keystone Edge site, a seemingly reputable outfit covering economic change and other programs in certain area of MI and PA.
Some drillers, including Range Resources and Chesapeake Energy, are simply reusing their water. By the end of last year, Range was recycling all of its "produced" water, or the liquid that flows up in a well that's producing gas after the fracturing process. Chesapeake recently announced its Aqua Renew program, an initiative to recycle all of the water the company uses in the Marcellus (). Already, that process is reusing 4.3 million gallons a month.
Seems like a good thing, reusing 4.3 million gallons of water, right? Until you find out, in Chesapeake Energy's own presskit, that 4.3 million gallons is less than miniscule. That amount won't even hydrofrack one well. See my cut below, emphasis mine.
And, if you follow the money trail left by this seemingly innocuous article, this is what you find. Keystone Edge is one of many sites owned by
Issue Media Group, who received funding for Keystone Edge from
The Team Pennsylvania Foundation, a company with investors of many kinds. Among them, companies like Allegheny Energy, Bradford Energy Company Inc., Consol Energy, First Energy, etc., with some water-processing equipment sales and engineering firms mixed in. No
wonder the drilling seems so necessary and right and good.
By the way, Chesapeake's reusing 4.3 million gallons a month. Bully for them. How many wells are in Bradford County? 853, by the government's count, of which 201 are Chesapeake wells (see here for details).Which makes, um, 1,105,500,000 gallons used to frack for Chesapeake alone. And they talk of saving 4.3 million as if it's anything more than the little old lady pissing in the sea.
Make no mistake, most of the rest of that water is ending up in trout streams, wells, rivers, and unsightly open pits, waiting for reclamation. Read this article for a bit of the other side.
By Hannah Abelbeck
As the scale and pace of Marcellus gas well drilling picks up, people in rural Pennsylvania are learning how to fight traffic jams, research deed histories, encounter the FBI, self-monitor streams and light their tap water on fire.
Innovations in drilling technology have fueled the rush to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that underlies 70 percent of Pennsylvania and portions of Centre County.
The gas rush is on, and money is fueling all of it. Companies and lending institutions willing to invest the big money needed up front want a fast return, resulting in quicker and more intense drilling in rural areas desperate to save their sluggish economies. Residents are signing leases, desperate to supplement sagging incomes. Workers, hungry for jobs, hope to sign up for long, dangerous work days, if they can get them. And the industry promotes the benefits and downplays the costs of massive speculation, while opposing regulations that might shrink profit margins.
Meanwhile, the environment, health, and financial well-being of Pennsylvania residents is at risk like never before.
I'm disgusted, so I'm going to quit writing now. I'll be back, though.
My husband and I bought a little acre with a decent trailer on it up in Sheshequin Township in 1985. I call it God's Little Acre, not very original, but apt. My husband just came home after spending a few days up there for archery. He said that there were a bunch of orange flags in the hayfield in back of our place and supposedly, they — Chesapeake? — are going to be putting in a 30 acre pond back there. Our water always stank like rotten eggs from day one, but we adjusted to it after all these years, have a filtering system that works pretty well and we use it mostly for bathing, and other purposes other than drinking. What is my point? It smelled bad but it was still good, safe water. People up there needed money bad, and were suckered into believing all the propaganda about how safe it would be. Yes, we were beguiled by the thought of money coming in every month from the royalties and a nice big check for sign up. Now I'm ashamed of myself for being such a dope and falling for all the BS, but I'm not alone. We have so little to lose, personally, financially; not so with our neighbors, mainly dairy farmers. I can't even imagine their grief over what's going on. We used our sign up money to stabilize the trailer, it was shifting so bad the doors weren't working and the addition broke away from the body of the trailer. My husband and son anchored the trailer down by welding it to iron beams that were themselves anchored down into holes full of cement. If this is not interesting, forgive me, this part about how they anchored the trailer down, I'm not explaining it as well as my husband could. But anyway, we love our little acre, and we love being surrounded by all of our neighbor's hundreds of acres and are trying to stay positive about the situation. I believe we can, we have the ability, to change reality by changing our core beliefs. It has been proven that observations have a direct effect on reality, can rearrange atoms and molecules. In the physical bodies and minds of human beings and in the world around us. I will work from the inside out, with my observations and my energy, and I will believe that God, by any name you choose to call the Supreme Good, will take care of business as usual, fight the good fight, right the wrongs, and keep the universe rocking the way it was programed to rock from conception.
I am a catch-and-release fly fisherman from Western N.Y., who has been trout fishing Kettle Creek in Potter County since the late 1970's. I recentley returned (September 2010) to fish that stream with my brother for the first time since 1995. Late September has traditionally always been the best time to fish that water It was the first time EVER that we did NOT catch a single trout, and the first time EVER that we did not see a single deer in that area! We always witnessed a vbrant natural area, teaming with wildlife. Not on this trip. I also took a shower at Olé Bull state park and have had a lot of skin irritation since that time that I have never experienced before. I really wonder if this is all the result of frackin…
Radioactive Frac Water Cover-Up in Tioga County, PA July 2010
Link to online source content written below:
http://www.bradfordpa.info/10961
Bradford PA News and Info
Marcellus Shale Wastewater: Is it Or Isn’t It?
Bradford's #1 online news source
« Cattle from Tioga County Farm Quarantined after Coming in Contact with Natural Gas Drilling Wastewater
Marcellus Shale Wastewater: Is it Or Isn’t It?
By James_Jones | Published July 1, 2010
Is it or isn’t it?
by James Jones
Editor-Publisher
Solomon’s words
Previous news reports of the harmful dangers of Marcellus Shale
wastewater have mentioned hazards like radioactivity in the water at 269 times the limit allowed in drinking water, and a myriad of dangerous chemicals that by themselves would have to be placarded as hazardous material.
And yet, in disposal of this wastewater, trucks hauling it are not required to display hazardous material signs. Those trucks are instead regulated the same as garbage trucks and only required to have a sign labeled as residual waste. When these trucks spill, it is considered
a pollutant, not a hazardous material incident. Emergency responders found that out after a recent rollover of one of the tank trucks hauling brine in Potter County. The Fire Chief in charge reported it a Hazmat incident and it was dispatched as a Hazmat incident, only to be corrected
a couple of days later by a Pennsylvania State Police news release that related that drilling brine is not a Hazardous Material and does not have to be placarded.
If these beef cows are in fact damaged from drinking this frack water, and it is likely that they did drink it as the animals like the salt taste, then it’s likely that there won’t be many deer who have not sampled these
frack ponds across the northern tier. The low fences that enclose these ponds have no ability to keep out the deer and other animals that may decide to check them out.
If that is the case, then Pennsylvanians will more than likely have to kiss their venison goodbye. Hunters will be issued a warning with their hunting licenses not to eat what they shoot.
If this effluent that they have been pumping into the streams through our sewer plants and into the waters of the Commonwealth is capable of making beef inedible, then it probably is also capable of doing the same thing
to the fish population, so you can catch them if they live long enough, but don’t eat them. Night fishermen may be able to get a clue about this if the fish glow in the dark from the radioactivity.
comment below:
Company source of "hot" Frac Water: East Resources
Event: 28 cows quarentined for drinking this "hot" frac water.
This is comfirmed by Conrad Volz, the Director of the Center for Healthy Environments and Communities at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate chool of Public Health.
Academic reports show the fluid that comes back from the shale layer is enriched in barium and strontium as well as chloride and other elements–it is also highly enriched in organic compounds that can offgass from frack ponds as well as could make the fluid toxic. Also the fracking chemicals themselves could change as a result of there use because of the pressures at depth and interactions
with many elements and chemicals let loose in the fracking—we do not know the species of chemicals at all that are coming out of the well-other than what is in the flowback and produced water from the shale itself–and although I just used these terms—a better name for this is
contaminated fluid—it is not really water at all—calling it water of any kind implys that it is not a problem.…
CHEC is analyzing contaminated Marcellus shale fluids now from a spill so that we can determine if it falls into the category of hazardous waste–we will let everyone know the results of this.
end Voltz comment
Dear Friends, Please view the HBO documentary " Gasland". If you do not have HBO , purchase it for a month or go to a friend's home who subscribes to it. It is extremely enlightening and heart wrenching. Many facts are revealed and true stories of people whose lives have been forever altered by the effects of fracking.. yes, through the contamination of both the air and water around them. It is worth every minute of the two hour viewing time.
Thanks, Gordon, for the math. I used the DEP's list of how many wells there were, but I didn't take into consideration the number of operational wells.
Please add this to the previous comment:
If Chesapeake has 201 wells in Bradford County, how many of them are currently undergoing fracking? If it is 20 wells (10%) in a given month, then the consumption of water for fracking would be about 100 million gallons per month (not 1B), of which 4.3 million gallons recycled would be less than 5%. Even if only 5 wells were undergoing fracking in a month, the amount recycled would still be a small fraction (less than 1/5th) of the total, so I agree with you, the 4.3M gallons Chesapeake claims is a small proportion of the total, just not the <0.5% implied above.
Which misleading numbers are we talking about? In reaction to the Chesapeake claim of 4.3 million gallons of water recycled per month, the author implies that the monthly water usage for fracking in Bradford County is 1.1B gallons. For this number to be accurate, all 853 wells used in the calculation must currently be undergoing the fracking process. My guess is that a significant portion of the 853 Bradford County wells were developed in the past, and are no longer contributing to the undeniably large amount of water consumed each month by drilling. Unthinking repetition of inaccurate "facts" doesn't make them true.
I wasn't available for a couple days, and your comment didn't get posted, James. Sorry about that–I use comment moderation to keep the spammers from posting.
Amazing how opinions and views which do not embrace your fanaticism are removed from your comment section…
Maryann — You have your head buried in the sand. to say that fracking is "evil" — when it has not led to a single case of groundwater contamination — is really absurd. Further, you perpetuate the lie that Bush/Cheney exempted oil and gas from the Clean Air and Clean Water Act. That is simply not true. Period. End of story. What actually occurred is a clarification in the Energy Policy Act that the process would not require a certain permit from EPA (a "disposal well permit") under the premise that the activity was sufficiently regulated by the states. Feel free to disagree w this policy (but apply some common sense to learn about it first…) BUT do not misstate the law and what actually was passed. Further, there is NO exemption from listing the chemicals used in fracking. They are available on the Internet on DEP's website (email energy@pasen.gov if you want a copy)and are maintained onsite as part of the MSDS safety list. Lastly, people need natural gas. we all do, whether to heat our homes, generate electricity or power our factories — or hopefully one day fuel your car. It is nonsensical to simply oppose the use of the energy…while at the same time using it. J.S.
To Kevin: Because you say and as we all know, gas drilling is unpredictable, so I say it should be eliminated from use. Because what it all boils down to is this, we cannot drink gas, our water is our most important natural resource we have. No living being can live without clean good water, but we all can live without natural gas, we have done it before and we can do it again. Let's get alternative safe energy going NOW before its too late and our earth is contaminated forever. Don't you also understand that there are over 300 chemicals used in fracing and the worst of them are protected from being disclosed because of the exemption from the Clean Air and Clean Water Act Cheney and Bush put into place during their administration. These chemicals will stay in the ground in our aquifers forever. If these chemicals were so safe they would allow them to be disclosed. People are coming down with diseases and farm animals and wildlife are going blind, writhing in pain until they die. This fracing is EVIL. What is needed is common sense but unfortunately, there isn't much of it around.
I have recently moved into the area. I am employed by a service company that services some of the companies searching for the gas you speak of. Please reserve you judgement of me and what I care of, by the by they way that I provide for my family.
There are pro's and con's to every new technology or any new invention that is brought forth. Whith every reward there lies a risk. Searching for and producing gas from this area is new and can at time be unpredictible. through all the technology and science that we have developed most of what is done is essentially guess work.
As for your concerns on the water used and recycled. The only water that can be reused is water that flows back and can be captured. On average that will only be little more than 1500 BBL per well at it's completion and prior to production. Compared to the average of 195000 BBL of water it takes to frac the well. A majority of the water is recycled naturaly thru the ground.
In closing I do support your concern for your former home land. Hopefully if you chose to return someday it will be a place you will enjoy. i now call this place home and plan on staying here for the rest of my days, no matter the career that I may persue so I too wish to protect the area as much as possible. I do do support the production of gas. It is a huge boost for the economy andwhen done with care can be safe for the area too.
Many articles have been published about gas well boom in central PA. Most have focused on what hydraulic fracturing compounds the energy companies are injecting into our water shed, but not much has been stated about what is already in Marcellus Shale formations. Marcellus Shale is highly radioactive! The radioactivity comes from deposits of uranium, radium and radon gas in the shale. There is methane gas and salt water at fracturing depths that is also forced upwards along with the fracture chemicals. NY State is the wealthiest of the Marcellus Shale states and it is being just as industry biased as the poorer, PA and WV. The EPA and the DEP's of these states have been on record as pro gas company and downplaying any potential and existing environmental problems from this fracture technology. Welcome to 1984 for real! Buy the time legal restrictions are placed on the gas companies, our water shed quality will be gone! Unless more citizens are educated about the "shell game" politicians and business interests are cramming down our throats!
You've been linked! Thanks again. Your observations are excellent and quite worthy of sharing.
BTW, in regards to the open pits — this method is being used less and less — it is one of the first "problems" that seemed to be addressed, especially in the case of State Forest drill sites. The newer State Forest lease agreements require that a closed loop system is used (flowback water goes directly into a tanker, rather than into an open air pit).
Feel free. Thanks for reading.
Wonderful and concise analysis! It's simple breakdown and reworking of their numbers that reveals the truth. I've seen so many of the "discrepancies" in industry reporting — it's not hard to miss when you read one article and the next one you read quotes a much different number. Much of this information is publicly available (as you have noted) — you just have to put 2 and 2 together to make 4.
Tioga and Bradford counties are S-L-O-W-L-Y doing the equation (but, they ARE doing it).
I think I may have to post a link to this on the Tioga Gas Watch Blog, with your approval.
Thanks!