A Fracking thread.....HA!

[myreality]

The answer is Galactica....Frak=(Fuck), Anyway.

http://rt.com/usa/texas-fracking-earthquakes-azle-445/

Fracking to blame? Texas rocked by 16 earthquakes in last 3 weeks

Northern Texas towns are experiencing an intense string of earthquakes – the last of which was one of the most powerful in 5 years. As unusual tremors have been going on for over 3 weeks now, many suspect fracking might be to blame.

On Thursday, the region experienced two tremors, with one of them registering 3.6 magnitude, 55 km west of the town of Azle at 07:58:36 GMT, as recorded by the US Geological Service, and the other 2.8 at 08:41:07 GMT, with the epicenter not far from the first one. USGS records show that the 3.6 tremor was one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in 5 years.

“It sounded like a sonic boom, and then the house started shaking,” Keith Krayer, a local resident who felt the effects of the quake, told RT.

Krayer said he had no doubt the quake was sparked by fracking. “When they frack, they inject all that water and chemicals into the ground, then they pump it back up and separate the gas from the water, then they have to dispose of that water 13,000 feet down. It causes the plates to slip, the lubrication from the water.”

Residents like Krayer are having their nerves put to the test as the region chalked up its 16th this month. In the last four days, there have been six recorded quakes.

Between 1970 and 2007, the area around the Texas town of Azle (pop. 10,000) experienced just two earthquakes. The peace and quiet began to change, however, at the start of 2008, when 74 minor quakes were reported in the region.

Now an increasing number of people, including scientists, are speculating that natural gas production by fracking - a process that forces high pressure water and chemicals into rock in order to extract natural gas reserves - is the culprit. The problem, however, is proving the claims.

Cliff Frolich, earthquake researcher at the University of Texas, said waste water injection wells from fracking could be responsible for the recent spate of earthquake activity.

"I'd say it certainly looks very possible that the earthquakes are related to injection wells," he said in an interview with KHOU television.

Frolich left room for doubt when he said thousands of such wells have operated in Texas for decades with no quakes anywhere near them.

Frolich co-authored a 2009 study on earthquake activity near Cleburne, just south of Azle, which concluded: "The possibility exists that earthquakes may be related to fluid injection."
A recent government study lent credence to Frolich’s findings.

The use of underground storage wells to get rid of waste water produced by fracking is “almost certainly” to blame for the jump in earthquakes in Midwestern states in recent years, a recent Geological Survey study has found.

The report said the number of magnitude-3 earthquakes or greater occurring in the mid-region of North America surged from 29 in 2008 to 134 last year.

The USGS study pointed to an unusual surge in tremors near wastewater wells in many US states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio.

However, the USGS stopped short of linking the process of fracking to earthquakes directly, mostly blaming methods used to dispose of fracking by-products.

In January 2012, following a rash of earthquakes, including a 4.0-magnitude tremor, Ohio legislators placed a temporary ban on fracking after experts said the controversial process for storing waste water in deep underground wells was to blame for the outbreak of tremors.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Azle, Alan Brundrett, said it's crucial to determine whether the latest series of quakes are man-made.

"What could it cause down the road?" he asked. "What if a 5.0 happens and people's houses start falling in on them?"
"Enough is enough!" Keith Krayer, a resident of Briar, just north of Azle was quoted by the station as saying. "My wife, she's having panic attacks because of it."

Thus far, the rattling has just produced a lot of anxiety. The Parker County Sheriff's Office has no reports of damage or injuries from any of Thursday’s earthquakes.

As of March 2012, Texas had listed nearly 6,000 oil and gas fracking wells on FracFocus, an industry fracking disclosure site, SourceWatch.org reports.

The first instance of hydraulic fracturing – creating fractures from a wellbore drilled into reservoir rock formations – was reportedly performed in 1947, the organization notes. Fracking on a commercial scale, however, was first used in the Barnett Shale – a geological formation which underlies the city of Fort Worth and at least 17 counties.

The first Barnett Shale well was completed in 1981 in Wise County, Texas. Subsequent drilling expanded greatly in the early 2000s due to a hike in natural gas prices and the use of horizontal wells to increase production.

Fracking and horizontal drilling technology have been heralded as an economic boon by the oil industry, though the techniques have contributed to nationwide concern about air pollution, groundwater contamination and broader environmental degradation.

[myreality]

In addition.

http://rt.com/usa/fracking-texas-act...concerned-510/

Massachusetts seeks 10-yr ban on gas fracking after series of Texas quakes

An environmental committee at Massachusetts Statehouse has approved a bill, imposing a 10-year ban on fracking for natural gas. The move comes as a wave of earthquakes in Texas has raised new concerns over the controversial drilling technique.

The Massachusetts fracking moratorium bill is designed to protect the state’s drinking water from possible contamination and thus "ensure that the health and prosperity of our communities is maintained," according to one of the legislation's sponsors, Northampton Democratic state Rep. Peter Kocot, cited by AP.

To become law, the temporary ban on fracking has yet to be approved by the lawmakers and signed by the Democratic Governor, Deval Patrick.

The Massachusetts legislative move was taken on Friday, the day after Texas was stuck by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake, one in a row of similar episodes during the last three weeks. The finger of blame is being pointed at fracking. The series of small earthquakes caused no casualties, but left local Texas residents fearing worse could be in store.

Fracking is a drilling technique that involves injecting chemical-laden water deep into the ground, exploding it and then pumping it back, together with the gas released as a result of the blast. The water is then separated from the gas and is disposed of by being injected back into the ground.

Anti-fracking sentiment grows among Texans
The smell of chemicals preceded the series of Texas tremors, according to Rebecca Williams, a resident in the town of Azle, which was affected by the most powerful earthquake so far in the series.

“We could not figure out where the chemicals were coming from,” Williams told RT. “Then we started having the earthquakes. The earthquakes seemed to be getting stronger. When the 3.6 one happened I tried to get up and run downstairs and my house was shaking so bad, I could not even run.”

Williams is sure the cracks in the walls of her house are a direct result of the fracking practices. Meanwhile, in the neighboring Denton County, an anti-fracking activist, Tara Linn Hunter, links her own aggravated health problem to the drilling.

“We all live at the foot of a gas well in my town,” she told RT. “The biggest effect it had on me personally is asthma. Nebulizers, inhalers are part of my daily life and that’s become increasingly worse in the five years I’ve lived in this town.”

Hunter says 40 percent of energy in Denton comes from wind and most locals would like the practice to expand, but that’s unlikely to happen soon, as some of the “city council members have ties to the oil and gas industry”, according to the activist.

This attitude is shared by Calvin Tillman, the former mayor of Dish, Texas, now an environmental activist, who believes that the oil and gas lobby in Texas is more powerful than in any other state.

“I think the oil and gas industry has done all they can do to prevent the renewables from getting a foothold here in the state of Texas,” Tillman told RT. “You know for me to put a solar panel on my house I have to go through a significant permitting process. However, if I want to drill a gas well in my back yard it could probably get done in the afternoon.”

Texas had listed nearly 6,000 oil and gas fracking wells on FracFocus, an industry fracking disclosure site as of March 2012, according to SourceWatch.org.

Supporters of fracking insist that the practice is safe, helps to keep energy prices lower and secures the US’s energy independence.

[Kyreth]

Welcome to frack-a-panic, population: Anyone near a well.

Even when they -aren't- fracking the area for recovery. It's become the boojum-of-the-year for the environmental lobby, sorta like "vaccines cause autism" was the fun one for alt-medicine types.

[Waraji]

Also Climate Change isn't Real, Oswald killed Kennedy, and we went to Iraq/Afghanistan to spread democracy, amirite?

[Kyreth]

Also Climate Change isn't Real, Oswald killed Kennedy, and we went to Iraq/Afghanistan to spread democracy, amirite?

Not sure if you're talking about fracking being some sort of unholy mad science earthquake maker or being dumb enough to think that "MAH VACCINATIONS CAUSE TEH AUTISMS". Please, tell me neither is the case.

[myreality]

Or people are following the evidence, which is pointing to the fracking operations in the surrounding area's. But you know let's ignore the elephant in the room.

[Ksandra]

Welcome to frack-a-panic, population: Anyone near a well.

Even when they -aren't- fracking the area for recovery. It's become the boojum-of-the-year for the environmental lobby, sorta like "vaccines cause autism" was the fun one for alt-medicine types.

Wat.

[Waraji]

being dumb enough to think that "MAH VACCINATIONS CAUSE TEH AUTISMS".

That is your takeaway from my sarcasm. Interesting.
http://cdn.bernardgoldberg.com/wp-co...s/strawman.jpg

[Moss]

fracking is pretty terrible for the environment, right?

[Ksandra]

fracking is pretty terrible for the environment, right?

I would say yes based on how it's pretty terrible for us, too.

Pennsylvania authorities have denied a doctor the right to challenge a so-called “medical gag rule” that prevents him and other physicians from warning the public about the health dangers associated with fracking.

Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez of Dallas, Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit against the state last year, asserting that Act 13 of 2012 forces medical professionals to enter “a vague confidentiality agreement” that prevents them from having a completely honest dialogue with patients.

Hydraulic fracking involves drilling through underground shale rock with the help of chemicals - many of them toxic - to release natural gas. Earlier this month, a research team out of Duke University examined Pennsylvania wastewater and found what they described as “alarmingly” high levels of radioactivity, salts, metals, and other potentially harmful sediments.

Yet the “medical gag rule” forbids doctors like Rodriguez from going into depth about the health problems that chemicals from fracking can cause. Critics have said the bill’s passage, and the court’s refusal to grant Dr. Rodriguez the right to speak freely with his patients, is an indication of just how entrenched the oil and gas lobby is in state politics.

Rodriguez specializes in renal diseases, hypertension, and advanced diabetes. He “has recently treated patients directly exposed to high-volume hydraulic fracturing fluid as the result of well blowouts,” including a patient “with a complicated diagnosis with low platelets, anemia, rash and acute renal failure that required extensive hemodialysis and exposure to chemotherapeutic agents,” the complaint stated, as quoted by Courthouse News.

For fulfilling his true responsibility as a doctor, though, Rodriguez allegedly risks violating the American Medical Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics, an infraction that could cost him his medical license.

That may well happen, because the state requires professional healthcare providers “to enter into, upon request by gas drilling company or vendor, a vague confidentiality agreement to maintain the specific identity any amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret by a gas drilling company and/or its vendor as a condition precedent to receiving such information deemed unnecessary to provide competent medical treatment to plaintiff’s patient,” according to the complaint.

Despite Rodriguez’s complaint that the provision is a violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights, and multiple briefs filed by medical associations on his behalf, a federal judge dismissed the suit upon deciding the issue was “too conjectural” to stand.

“Although plaintiff alleges that he requires the kind of information contemplated under the act for the treatment of his patients, he does not allege that he has been in a situation where he needed or attempted to obtain such information, despite the fact that he alleges that he has treated patients injured by hydraulic fracturing fluid in the past,” wrote Judge A. Richard Caputo. “Similarly, plaintiff does not allege that he has been in a position where he was required to agree to any sort of confidentiality agreement under the act."

The decision goes on to state that any attempt Rodriguez made to notify his patients of Act 13’s impact were “merely a prophylactic measure to ease his fears of potential future harm.”

http://rt.com/usa/medical-gag-rule-risks-fracking-053/

[notorious bum]

Some of my faves from this year:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7065/6...159d614c_c.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7281/9...b2433f12_c.jpg

Don't worry, fracks is no big deal guys

[Buffy]

What do those images represent? Not sure what I'm seeing.

[notorious bum]

A slice of the drill sites in Texas. Here's the original author of these images, took them raise awareness in Ohio, it seems.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatcar/6979348643/

The white squares are drill sites....somewhere between San Antonio and Houston, TX.....I suspect this is what Ohio will soon look like too! Along with each square, millions of gallons of water is removed from the available hydrogeologic cycle,100's of heavy trucks come and go to the sites on roads not designed for such use, toxic chemicals are not disclosed by drilling companies and earthquake activity has increased.

Fracking Demands Effective Safeguards for All
Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York City
Natural Resources Defense Council

"....To extract gas through fracking, a well is drilled vertically, typically several thousand feet deep – and sometimes as deep as a mile - then cut horizontally beneath a bed of shale. Water is injected at high pressure to crack the shale and open up pockets of gas. The water is mixed with sand and chemicals, some of which are toxic or carcinogenic, to make what is called fracking fluid.

The process is destructive. A single well requires at least four acres of land to be cleared, plus access roads and equipment staging areas, as well as between 2.4 million and 7.8 million gallons of water.

After a well is fracked, between 10 percent and 40 percent of the fracking fluid returns to the surface, carrying toxic heavy metals and volatile organic compounds, high levels of salts and, in some cases, radioactive elements from deep underground.

In the eastern United States, this "produced water," as it's called, is usually then pooled in an impoundment pond and/or sent to wastewater treatment plants generally unequipped to deal properly with these pollutants. Because the fluid contains a lot of salt, it is sometimes sold to public work crews to be used to clear icy roads, leaving the harsh chemical residue to run off into nearby fields and streams.

All of this means that, even when fracking operations go well, they put our water at risk - underground, on the surface and at our tap - as well as plant and animal life that depends on clean water.

In drilling, moreover, accidents happen....."
MORE: switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/fbeinecke/fracking_demands_eff...

a good overview of the fracking process, waste and disposal and more. "....Supporters of the process are influenced by the billions of dollars to be made from fracking, plus a boom in production and jobs. Opponents are concerned about pollution and the harm to public health and the environment. The public is being misled by both sides, a recent Associated Press article reports. Some scientists researching the issue say opponents of fracking as well as its supporters are coming up with misleading information....." MORE:
http://www.waterpollutionlawyers.com...ic-fracturing/

the best commentary I've read on disclosure:
‘Fracking’ bosses would choke if tables turned- A “fracking” executive, a state legislator and an oil-and-gas-industry lobbyist walk into a bar..... more http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor...ntertainment/2...

United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) www.epa.gov/hydraulicfracture/

"....FracFocus, the (voluntary) hydraulic fracturing chemical registry website. This website is a joint project of the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission...." fracfocus.org/

About 3.8 million acres in Ohio have been leased to or acquired by drilling companies....Drilling is expected to heat up during the next three years, with 160 wells drilled in 2012, 650 in 2013 and 1,075 in 2014....companies include Chesapeake Energy Corp., Chevron Corp. XTO Energy Ltd (aka ExxonMobil)EnerVest, Anadarko, Devon Energy, Gulfport Energy and more.... Akron Beacon Journal: http://www.ohio.com/business/new-pla...laims-to-ohio-...

Bill allows some hiding of ‘fracking’ chemicals - Columbus DIspatch March 27, 2012 http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor.../03/27/bill-al...

‘Fracking’ is thirsty work - But groundwater isn’t plentiful in eastern Ohio Columbus Dispatch March 25, 2012
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor.../03/25/frackin...

Pipeline was launched in February of last year and is dedicated to coverage of the Marcellus Shale boom in Pennsylvania. Since the site's launch, Pipeline was also named Best Specialty Site at the 2011 Online News Association award ceremony in Boston. shale.sites.post-gazette.com/

April 2012 Dispatch - "Rules on drilling in parks got more lenient" http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor.../04/24/rules-o...

August 2012 - "The Facts about Fracking Fluid and its Disposal" you can die if you brush your teeth, but fracking fluid is ok according to OilPrice.com "....let’s deal in facts rather than mindless cut and pastes that naysayers righteously proclaim to an unwary public who go about brushing their teeth, driving behind salt spraying trucks, sitting in aircraft during deicing procedures, sending their clothes to the local dry cleaner, buying toys for birthdays and holidays, and shopping to feed and clothe the family without thinking of the potential harm they are doing to themselves and mother earth....." MORE: oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Facts-about-Fracki...

November 2012 - Columbus Dispatch - Is there enough water for "fracking" boom http://www.dispatch.com/content/stor.../11/27/is-ther...

November 2012 - On Point with Tom Ashbrook - Fracking for natural gas booms on. But it uses and pollutes a lot of water. We’ll look at the push to reduce, reuse, and recycle “frack water.” more onpoint.wbur.org/2012/11/26/better-fracking

January 2013 ....and we trust that the "big guys" will care for our towns and environment?! - "Chesapeake CEO among Forbes' worst for 2012....Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon did an abominable job managing the company and his image in 2012, according to Forbes.....Chesapeake (NYSE:CHK) has the most wells drilled in Ohio with 134 and plans to drill up to 4,000 in the next 20 years....". MORE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/...012/12/chesape...

January 2013 - New York Times - what started as an effort to protect her family farm, became a larger effort to combat fracking. Yoko Ono and her son Sean. "....Speaking of his father, Mr. Lennon said, “He loved it there because we had our own well water.” ...." MOREwww.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/nyregion/yoko-ono-in-albany-ra...

Sean Lennon NYTimes op ed - "Destroying Precious Land for Gas - .....In the late ’70s, when Manhattanites like Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger were turning Montauk and East Hampton into an epicurean Shangri-La for the Studio 54 crowd, my parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, were looking to become amateur dairy farmers......I was lucky enough to experience trout fishing instead of tennis lessons, swimming holes instead of swimming pools and campfires instead of cable television....." http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/op...non-destroying...

[Kang]

Here's an article I wrote on fracking a couple years ago.

********************************

Hydraulic fracturing can contaminate drinking water: study

As the Nova Scotia (N.S.) government conducts a review of the environmental effects associated with hydraulic fracturing, a new study by scientists at Duke University found that the drilling technique, which is used to free natural gas trapped in shale rock formations, can contaminate drinking water.

The study - "Methane contamination of drinking water accompanying gas-well drilling and hydraulic fracturing" - collected data from groundwater tests conducted at 68 private drinking water wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale drilling areas from 36- to 190-m deep in northeastern Pennsylvania and southern New York State.

Of those 68 wells, 60 were tested for dissolved methane. (All wells were analyzed for, among other things, dissolved salts, water isotopes and isotopes of dissolved constituents - carbon, boron, and radium.)

The study found methane concentrations in 51 of the 60 wells.

The study also determined that the wells in active drilling and extraction areas contained, on average, 17 times more methane than the wells in non-active drilling areas.

Though "dissolved methane in drinking water is not currently classified as a health hazard for ingestion, it is an asphyxiant in enclosed spaces and an explosion and fire hazard," said the study.

John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, told EcoLog News that the results of the study show that hydraulic fracturing can be harmful to people and the environment.

As a result, provincial governments looking to embrace this drilling technique need to review it to determine its health and environmental effects, said Bennett.

This would allow them to develop the necessary mitigation measures, he added.

In April 2011, the N.S. government began a review of hydraulic fracturing in the province in response to public concerns over its effects on, among other things, water.

To date, three companies - Allied Petroleum Exploration Inc., Triangle Petroleum Corporation and PetroWorth Resources Inc. - intend to use hydraulic fracturing in N.S.

The review is examining:

the effects of hydraulic fracturing on groundwater and surface water
the effects of hydraulic fracturing on land, such as potential soil contamination
waste management, including surface ponds of produced waters
management of additives in hydraulic fracturing fluids
site restoration
financial security and insurance.

N.S. Department of Environment Spokesperson Karen White told EcoLog News that the N.S. government will consider the Duke University study as part of its hydraulic fracturing review, which is expected to be completed by early 2012.

The study, which was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2011, is available here.

To read another article like this, visit:

"Canada and Quebec Accord on Que's offshore resources", EHScompliance.ca newsletter, April, 2011.

"NS to review fracking hazards", EHScompliance.ca newsletter, April, 2011.

"Quebec puts brakes on shale gas development", EHScompliance.ca newsletter, March, 2011.
Link to source site:
http://tinyurl.com/3fs88dr

[Clash Perez]

Do you have a source for your study that doesn't require signing up for something?

How much methane was present in the water? A common scare tactic among fearmongers is to state that "X was found in the Y!" without any reference to actual quantities and levels at which one should be concerned. "The dose makes the poison."

[Waraji]

Do you have a source for your study that doesn't require signing up for something?

How much methane was present in the water? A common scare tactic among fearmongers is to state that "X was found in the Y!" without any reference to actual quantities and levels at which one should be concerned. "The dose makes the poison."

That wasn't really the point of these article, as much as it being a theme about the topic. This section stood out to me:

Though "dissolved methane in drinking water is not currently classified as a health hazard for ingestion, it is an asphyxiant in enclosed spaces and an explosion and fire hazard," said the study.

It read more to me as, "this isn't going to kill you, but it probably isn't very healthy for prolonged exposure" type of scenario. But you know, the methane is the least of your worries, pay more attention to the slurry of chemicals not being disclosed as the main contributors of water contamination.

[myreality]

http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/225190132.html

PARKER COUNTY, Texas — Remember the images of Parker County residents whose water wells catch on fire? Now they say their problem has gone from bad to explosive.
They also say they have the test results to back up their assertions.
A handful of Parker County residents said it all started around 2009 when their tap water started to bubble and stink.
Their curiosity flowed into suspicion.
Their suspicion evolved into disgust.
Their water wells were filling with volumes of methane gas. Logic told them two newly drilled natural gas wells near their homes were to blame.
Their complaints to state oil and gas regulators at the Texas Railroad Commission went nowhere.
Tests performed by the drillers themselves showed only minor contamination. What methane was there, they claimed, has been naturally occurring for years.
They said one of the residents' wells was actually drilled 70 feet too deeply into a shallow gas-bearing formation called the Strawn.
By 2011, the Texas Railroad Commission declared the case closed.
Unwilling to give up, homeowner Steve Lipsky has now paid for his own series of tests. He used the same instrumentation and the same kind of tests conducted two years ago.
The findings now show the levels of methane coming from their water wells are off the charts.
One day earlier this month, the fumes coming out of Lipsky's water well measured 162,000 parts per million; 50,000 ppm is considered "explosive."
"And just by knowing that the methane levels normally at 50,000 parts per million is extremely explosive, this is scary,” said air monitoring technician Buddy Alexander with Stacy Systems of Fort Worth.
A few blocks away, at Shelly Perdue's water well, the same test was conducted with the same instrumentation.
Inside Perdue's house with the tap water running, the technician discovered another danger — the inside ambient air detecting 63 parts per million of methane. When asked if that figure represents a dangerous level of gas in Perdue’s home, Alexander replied: “Yes it is; yes it is."
So now, more than ever, Lipsky and Perdue suspect the gas well just down the street is to blame.
An environmental scientist hired by Lipsky, Dr. Bryce Payne of Pennsylvania, witnessed the recent tests and even conducted his own. His greatest concern: A buildup of methane gas inside Perdue’s water tank.
"That holding tank was functionally a methane bomb that could ignite at any time, explosively,” Payne said.
But tests conducted in 2010 by the drilling company, Range Resources, showed only minute levels of methane around Perdue's water wellhead.
The company hired by Lipsky recorded 140,000 parts per million in that same space three years later. The air around Lipsky's water wellhead tested even higher — 158,000 parts per million of methane.
Yet the same tests done by the drilling company in 2010 recorded zero methane.
Zero.
But there's more.
Last December, Duke University scientists measured methane levels in Lipsky and Perdue's water itself. Anything above 10 parts per million is considered unacceptable.
Duke’s researchers found methane levels of 41 and 54 parts per million.
Tests conducted by Range Resources measured methane levels of only 2.3 and 2.8 parts per million.
Next door to Lipsky, Elizabeth Falconer's well water is so contaminated with chloride or salt, the wellhead installed in 2000 is corroded and flaking. She has spent thousands of dollars on a water filtration system since the gas wells were drilled in 2009.
"My water was fine when we first moved here in 2000,” Falconer said. “Today, without super cleaning it, I wouldn't drink it."
Earlier this summer, News Eight obtained documents showing that one of the two nearby gas wells called the Butler Unit experienced problems right after it was drilled. Natural gas pressure was building-up at the wellhead.
News 8 later discovered that the drilling company had not sealed off all of the down well gas zones with cement, as recommended throughout the industry.
A recently released Duke University study in Pennsylvania links well water contamination with faulty gas well construction.
Dr. Payne believes failure to properly cement the well is causing the problem here in Texas. "It is my opinion that it is likely to be because the amount of the contamination, the speed of onset, and recent observations indicate that it's spreading over an area that looks like it's spreading away from location of the Teal and Butler wells," Payne said.
Lipsky said regardless of the cause, he knew the contamination was worse than was reported to the state by Range back in 2010. Now he wants the state to act.
"I don't feel any vindication until the Railroad Commission or someone comes forward and admits that this is a severe problem," he said. "Regardless of who did it or what caused it, we need to determine what's happening, what's causing it, and try to stop it."
Range Resources stands by its test results from 2010, and says evidence and testimony has proven that its operations are not causing water well contamination which, again, they say is naturally occurring in that area.
They say evidence suggests upset residents’ water wells were drilled too deeply into a shallow gas formation called the Strawn.
However, the Texas Railroad Commission has re-opened the case and plans to conduct its own air and water tests soon.

http://ecowatch.com/2013/11/07/frack...ter-flammable/

ENERGY, FRACKING, WATER
Fracking Victim Sued for Defamation After Proving Drinking Water Flammable



Weatherford, TX, homeowner Steve Lipsky has nothing to hide. He is not trying to take down Range Resources, a large oil and gas company with a reputation for bullying its critics, nor is he trying to defame the company as it has accused him of in a defamation lawsuit demanding more than $3 million.

Lipsky, a private, conservative man who made his nest egg in the banking industry, now finds himself playing the role of David against a modern day Goliath in a battle fraught with Kafkaesque moments. After what looked at first like an open and shut case of industrial negligence turned into a lengthy legal battle, he must either fight or accept financial ruin.

In 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that Range Resource’s drilling activities at a nearby fracking project had contaminated Lipsky’s well. Lipsky can light the water coming out of his well on fire.

He discovered this when Peck’s Well Service, the company that drilled the water well in 2005, came to figure out why it wasn’t working properly in July 2010. Peck’s found that gas building up inside the well was lowering the water pressure and causing a gas lock. Peck’s lit Lipsky’s water on fire while explaining to him why it wasn’t functioning normally, showing Lipsky it was full of gas. They installed a vent to allow some of the gas to escape for safety reasons.

Lipsky decided to shut off the well to the house and has since trucked water in at an average cost of $1,000 a month to keep his family safe. Since then, Lipsky only turns on the well for testing and to demonstrate the phenomenon to journalists, the EPA, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Parker County Fire Marshal’s Office, the Texas Railroad Commission, Department of Justice and representatives of Range Resources.

On Oct. 10, the Fort Worth Court of Appeals ruled that Range Resources could move forward with their defamation suit against Lipsky, based in part on accusations that Lipsky is misleading the public about being able to set his water on fire.

A point of contention is a piece of garden hose that Lipsky attached to the vent coming out of his water well headspace. In a video he released online and provided to regulatory agencies, Lipsky sets fire to gas flowing through the hose that he attached to the vent. Range Resources claims the use of the hose made it seem like Lipsky was setting his water on fire.

“The hose was used in the interest of safety, not to deceive anyone,” Lipsky counters. The first time he lit the vent on fire the whole well ignited. Lipsky attached the hose to direct the venting gas downwind of the well before lighting it again. In the video, Lispky never claims to be setting his water ablaze. Why would he make gas seem like flammable water, when he has water he can set on fire too?

Lipsky’s dream house has become a nightmare. He is not alone. Several of his neighbors have the same problem he does, but after witnessing what has happened to the Lipskys for fighting back, they’re reluctant to speak out.

Shelly Purdue recently went on camera with local TV anchor Brett Shipp, showing that she too can light her water well vent on fire. She too installed a vent to alleviate the problem but is still living in a volatile situation.

Other neighbors have installed expensive water filtration systems so they can drink their water but that doesn’t eliminate the danger. Independent testing has shown that several residents’ water well holding tanks are well above explosive limits.

A team from Duke University is conducting a study in the area and released information to the homeowners alerting them to the hazardous conditions. The final results of the study will be released in the coming months.

The EPA’s findings also established that there are dangerous levels of gas escaping from Lipsky’s well. They named Range Resources as the party responsible for the contamination and issued an Administrative Emergency Order against the company in December 2010.

This didn’t stop the Railroad Commission—a regulatory agency that governs all things oil and gas related in Texas—from holding their own hearings that cleared Range Resources, based on evidence provided by the company. The EPA chose not to participate nor did the Lipskys since both were only given ten days to prepare, making a fair hearing improbable.

Range Resources spent millions of dollars putting on a one-sided case for the Railroad Commission, attacking all of the EPA’s findings. Dr. Geoffrey Thyne, who conducted the testing for the EPA, reviewed the Railroad Commissions’ findings that cleared Range Resources. He wrote:

My conclusion, that the gas well could be the source of methane in the (Lipsky) water well, was based on the chemical and isotopic data. After reviewing the Range presentation to the Texas RRC my opinion is unchanged.

The Lipskys sued Range Resources after the EPA named the company the party responsible for contaminating the well. The family was promptly counter-sued by Range Resources for defamation.

The presiding judge, Trey Loftin, dismissed the Lipskys’ claims, citing lack of jurisdiction, but allowed Range’s defamation suit to proceed.

The Lipskys’ lawyer, Allen M. Stewart, argued that the libel suit went against the Texas Citizens Participation Act, also known as the Texas Anti-SLAPP Act, which was passed in order to allow citizens sued in retaliation for the exercise of their constitutional and common law rights of freedom of expression to avoid the expense and burden of defending meritless suits for defamation, business disparagement and similar torts based on the exercise of those rights. The act achieves its purpose by allowing defendants in such suits to seek and obtain early dismissal before being forced to participate in costly discovery. But the Lipskys’ request to dismiss the case was denied.

The initial rulings against the Lipskys by Judge Loftin are problematic. Loftin found merit in Range Resources’ claim that Lipsky was purposely misleading the public by using the garden hose demonstration, a key element in the libel suit. But Loftin later recused himself from the case. Loftin’s bias emerged when one of his campaign fliers in his recent bid for reelection stated, “The EPA, using falsified evidence provided by a liberal activist environmental consultant, accused and fined a local gas driller of contaminating wells,” and ”President Barack Obama’s EPA backed down only after Judge Trey Loftin ruled that the evidence was ‘deceptive.’”

This guy just accepted financial ruin to fight this thing.

[Kang]

Do you have a source for your study that doesn't require signing up for something?

How much methane was present in the water? A common scare tactic among fearmongers is to state that "X was found in the Y!" without any reference to actual quantities and levels at which one should be concerned. "The dose makes the poison."

Here's the link to the actual study if you wanna give it a look over.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.document...king-water.pdf

Methane results are on page 2.

[Mojo]

Water contamination is certainly a real thing although the earthquakes are speculatory at this point. Citing a recent rise in earthquakes is peek-a-boo-ology not scientific method.

[Jaybar]

It is certainly a case of "X happens and Y occurs, therefore X causes Y!" but certainly not on the same level as the vaccinations = autism. There seems to be plenty of theoretical evidence that methods used for storing waste water in underground can cause plate slippage but I agree there isn't enough concrete evidence that it is the sole cause.