Texas man left permanently disabled from burns after fracking causes water well to explode: suit

A Texas family suffered serious burns and injuries after a water well exploded because it was contaminated from a nearby fracking operation, according to a lawsuit filed in Dallas County Court.

Cody Murray, the 38-year-old husband of the family of four, sued EOG Resources, Fairway Resources LLC and three Fairway subsidiaries last week, according to Courthouse News Service.

The lawsuit states that Murray suffered severe burns on his arms, upper back, neck, forehead and nose along with “significant neurological damage” — leaving him permanently disfigured and disabled. Murray’s father, wife, and 4-year-old daughter were also injured in the explosion.

Texas man left permanently disabled from burns after fracking causes water well to explode: suit

Observer-Reporter | DEP fines Range Resources industry-record $4.15 million

Some background on Range Resources,,,

Range Resources must pay $4.15 million in fines – the largest amount ever levied against a Marcellus Shale driller – for various leaks and other problems at six of its water impoundments in Washington County.

In addition to the fine, the consent agreement announced by the state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday requires Range to close five impoundments and upgrade two others.

The Southpointe-based company must immediately close the Lowry, Worstell and Kearns impoundments, while also closing the Bednarski impoundment by April 2015. The company was in the process of closing the beleaguered Yeager impoundment in Amwell Township, which is also on the consent agreement list.

The Carol Baker impoundment in Chartiers Township and Jon Day impoundment in Amwell, which was excavated after a leak was discovered there in April, must be upgraded to “next generation” standards with thicker liners and better leak-detection systems.

“This landmark consent order establishes a new, higher benchmark for companies to meet when designing future impoundments, which is an environmental win for Pennsylvania,” DEP Secretary Christopher Abruzzo said.

[,,,]
A file review performed by Observer-Reporter staff at DEP’s Southwest Regional Office in Pittsburgh last month showed all of Range’s nine centralized impoundments in Washington County, most of which were constructed and permitted in 2009 and 2010, experienced problems since they were put into operation.

The fine also comes nearly a year to the day after the DEP fined Range $107,500 in three consent agreements Sept. 17, 2013, for various problems at multiple sites, including the Jon Day and Worstell impoundments and Yeager gas well, according to the file review.



Observer-Reporter | DEP fines Range Resources industry-record $4.15 million

Pa. Official Admits Errors In Investigation Of Whether Fracking Waste Spoiled Drinking Water | ThinkProgress

A Pennsylvania official has admitted that he may have used faulty information to determine that fracking waste was not poisoning the drinking water supply at a man’s property in Washington County, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.

During his sworn testimony at a trial before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, Department of Environmental Protection water quality specialist Vincent Yantko said that his 2011 investigation of landowner Loren Kiskadden’s contaminated drinking water “did not follow its regulations to determine whether [chemical] leaks had occurred” at a nearby fracking site, the Post reported. Kiskadden is one of three landowners who say they have experienced health problems due to water pollution from the waste pit at the Yeager drilling site, owned by Range Resources Corporation.

The case happening now is an appeal of a complaint filed by Kiskadden, whose drinking water allegedly turned grey and foamy at his property in Amwell Township. In his original 2011 complaint, Kiskadden claimed that he had used the water there for decades without incident. The only change was heightened operations at the Yeager wastewater site, he said.

In response, the DEP conducted an investigation by collecting water samples from Kiskadden’s property. The DEP found that Kiskadden’s water had elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide odor, acetone, chloroform, and “explosive levels of methane.” However, the DEP also determined that the water contamination was not the result of fracking waste or any gas well-related activities.

Kiskadden appealed that decision to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, claiming the DEP’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and based on inaccurate information from the agency’s investigators. Now, that case has been going on for nearly 3 years, and seems to be getting closer to a decision. The official trial started on September 23, and is going until October 9.

Pa. Official Admits Errors In Investigation Of Whether Fracking Waste Spoiled Drinking Water | ThinkProgress

West Virginia Plans To Frack Beneath Ohio River, Which Supplies Drinking Water To Millions | ThinkProgress

Nine citizen and environmental groups are urging West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to reconsider his plans to let companies drill for oil and natural gas underneath the Ohio River, citing concerns that drilling and fracking could contaminate the drinking water supply and increase the risk of earthquakes in the region.

In a letter sent to the governor this month, the coalition of Ohio- and West Virginia-based groups said Tomblin’s Department of Environmental Protection has not proved that it can adequately protect the Ohio River, which supplies drinking water to more than 3 million people. The groups cited drilling currently taking place in a state-designated wildlife area, which some have complained is unacceptably disrupting the nature preserve, and a chemical spill in January that tainted the drinking water supply for 300,000 people.

“The well-documented deficient enforcement capability of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Oil and Gas has been on public display for years,” the letter reads. “How are we ever to believe that the state has the political will, technical capability and community commitment to guarantee that adequate controls, timely supervision and, when needed, ruthless enforcement would occur on well pads that close to the Ohio River?”

[,,,]
For the coalition of groups opposing the practice, though, drinking water is not the only concern. In their letter, the groups said that there is a fault line located near West Virginia’s proposed drilling site, and that drilling would increase the risk of earthquakes in the region. Though drilling itself is not linked to quakes, scientists have found evidence “directly linking” earthquakes to wastewater injection, a process widely used during fracking to dispose of large amounts of wastewater underground.

West Virginia Plans To Frack Beneath Ohio River, Which Supplies Drinking Water To Millions | ThinkProgress

People Who Live Near Fracking More Likely to Become Sick, Largest Study of Its Kind Finds - weather.com

Uh, for some odd reason I am fascinated more by the attached picture than the information in the article. Being that I live in Marcellus Shale country and the area I am at has seen a recent increase in activity (3 new wells currently being worked for a total of 5, if I remember correctly), I wonder what one would see from above. Being that we are very rural and in "mountain" country, I don't think it would look as horrid as what is pictured here. Still it does make one wonder.

One caveat to keep in mind in regards to this study, and it is a point the article stresses as well, this is self-reported health data.Another point, is there are two diametrically opposed views as to the significance.

"We got interested in this issue because there were concerns that had been brought up about people complaining of some health symptoms when living near natural gas drilling or extraction facilities," he said. "At the time we started this study, most of these reports were really just that: isolated case reports of a handful of individuals."
,,,
Although the new data has its limits, as any study that relies on self-reported health information does, it's an important first step toward a better public understanding of the health risks associated with fracking, the authors said. "[The study] does not prove that fracking is causing these health conditions, but in our mind it really reinforces the need for more research about the potential health impacts of natural extraction," Dr. Rabinowitz explained. The study is published in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Versus,,,

Travis Windle, a spokesman for Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Coalition, said the Yale study was “done in partnership with a local activist group, and was designed to put selective and unproven data behind a pre-determined and biased narrative," The Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported. Also on Wednesday, a Penn State study funded by industry groups found the practice to be safe, saying fracking water remains deep underground away from any groundwater supplies.

Now I may be wrong in this assumption but the arguments appear to be coming down to ideologies, as the science just isn't quite there yet for what ever reason. Unlike GMOs where they have 20+ years of science backing claims of safety, fracking doesn't appear to have that strength. (Also note, I am much more informed concerning GMOs than I am fracking so I may be missing pieces of the puzzle. It is something I am trying to "correct" and it is something y'all will be learning with me.)


People Who Live Near Fracking More Likely to Become Sick, Largest Study of Its Kind Finds - weather.com

Why the Scientific Case Against Fracking Keeps Getting Stronger | Mother Jones

 On the political right, it's pretty popular these days to claim that the left exaggerates scientific worries about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." In a recent National Review article, for instance, a Hoover Institution researcher complains that 53 percent of Democrats in California support a fracking ban "despite the existence of little if any credible scientific evidence of fracking's feared harms and overwhelming scientific evidence of its environmental benefits, including substantial reductions in both local and global pollutants."

Three or four years ago, a statement like that may have seemed defensible. The chief environmental concern about fracking at that time involved the contamination of drinking water through the fracking process—blasting water, sand, and chemicals underground in vast quantities and at extreme pressures to force open shale layers deep beneath the Earth, and release natural gas. But the science was still pretty ambiguous, and a great deal turned on how "fracking" was defined. The entire mega-process of "unconventional" gas drilling had clearly caused instances of groundwater contamination, due to spills and leaks from improperly cased wells. But technically, "fracking" only refers to the water and chemical blast, not the drilling, the disposal of waste, or the huge industrial operations that accompany it all.

How things have changed. Nowadays, explains Cornell University engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea on the latest installment of the Inquiring Minds podcast (stream above), the scientific argument against fracking and unconventional gas drilling is more extensive. It involves not simply groundwater contamination, but also at least two other major problems: earthquake generation and the accidental emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Why the Scientific Case Against Fracking Keeps Getting Stronger | Mother Jones

243 cases in PA where fracking contaminated wells | wivb.com

Six years into a natural gas boom, Pennsylvania has for the first time released details of 243 cases in which companies prospecting for oil or gas were found by state regulators to have contaminated private drinking water wells.

The Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday posted online links to the documents after the agency conducted a “thorough review” of paper files stored among its regional offices. The Associated Press and other news outlets have filed lawsuits and numerous open-records requests over the last several years seeking records of the DEP’s investigations into gas-drilling complaints.

Pennsylvania’s auditor general said in a report last month that DEP’s system for handling complaints “was woefully inadequate” and that investigators could not even determine whether all complaints were actually entered into a reporting system.

DEP didn’t immediately issue a statement with the online release, but posted the links on the same day that seven environmental groups sent a letter urging the agency to heed the auditor general’s 29 recommendations for improvement.

[,,,]
The 243 cases, from 2008 to 2014, include some where a single drilling operation impacted multiple water wells. The problems listed in the documents include methane gas contamination, spills of wastewater and other pollutants, and wells that went dry or were otherwise undrinkable. Some of the problems were temporary, but the names of landowners were redacted, so it wasn’t clear if the problems were resolved to their satisfaction. Other complaints are still being investigated.

[,,,]
The documents released Thursday listed drilling-related water well problems in 22 counties, with most of the cases in Susquehanna, Tioga, Lycoming, and Bradford counties in the northeast portion of the state.

Some energy companies have dismissed or downplayed the issue of water well contamination, suggesting that it rarely or never happens.

243 cases in PA where fracking contaminated wells | wivb.com

Pennsylvania Town Votes To Allow 6 Fracking Wells Within 3,000 Feet Of School Buildings | ThinkProgress

At a township public meeting Wednesday night, Rex Energy came one step closer to having those permits approved. Middlesex supervisors Michael Spreng, Donald P. Marshall, and James Evans voted unanimously to approve changes to the town’s zoning laws that would legally open up residential and agricultural lands for drilling, despite the protests of concerned parents and residents.

That zoning law change has wider implications for the town in the long run, but at the moment, it has everything to do with the schools.

“In essence, the ordinance opens up most of the township to drilling,” said John Neurohr, communications director at Keystone Progress, who also lives in a development adjacent to the well site. “But it’s pretty clear to an objective observer that the ordinance was written to make it very clear that the Geyer farm’s wells are allowed in the township.”

[,,,]
At the public meeting, though, residents were not uniformly in opposition to the proposed wells. Multiple people spoke out in favor of unmitigated fracking, saying the parents were making a big deal out of a small thing.

“You’re scared of drilling rigs? Well let me tell you, I’ve been on thousands of them,” one resident said. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

Kim Geyer, whose property would house the Rex Energy wells, confirmed to ThinkProgress that the ordinance was important for the project, but mostly spoke about the need for Pennsylvania to get all of its energy from within the state.

“We need energy independence in the United States,” she said. “For that to happen, people have to allow unconventional drilling.”

What is missing from this article,,,

Kim Geyer, 51, secretary for Butler County Commissioner William Pinkerton, serves on XTO Energy's community advisory panel, a role she said educated her about the drilling industry,,,She also is a former president of the Mars Area School Board.

Which according to TP, "The company had even tried to get the school to participate in the drilling process, offering the school board $1 million if they agreed to lease their underground land for horizontal drilling. But in March, the Mars Area School board rejected the lease offer." This is the same school board Geyer was president of that voted against drilling under the school.

Also missing, XTO Energy, the advisory board Geyer sits on, is a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil. It would appear that Ms. Geyer's education on fracking safety comes from a biased source; a company with a history of illegal dumping and fines.

I have to agree with this comment left by Mountain Man,

In a year or two we will be reading about how Kim Geyer is taking the Frackers to court over undisclosed issues that were not covered in specific terms in her contract, but, rather included as a sub category within giving the most vague descriptions that have been.... and can be..... easily flopped to benefit the drillers. She will cry " I can't sleep" "My kids are sick " " our water and neighbors water has gone bad". They never told me this would or could possibly happen. No Kim, but WE are telling you right now. [Edited for spelling]

Pennsylvania Town Votes To Allow 6 Fracking Wells Within 3,000 Feet Of School Buildings | ThinkProgress


See also:

This is some of what we face here in our community. This does not take into account the numerous back and forth trips of the water trucks that travel in groups of 4-7 on a daily, 24/7 basis.

Colorado Legislator Defends Fracking By Saying 'Indians' Benefited From Methane In Water | ThinkProgress

Me thinks Mr. Baumgardner may want to re-think his talking points. First, exactly who's seminars has he been going to? And second,

With all of that as background, we now begin looking at Indian legends in the Yellowstone country by examining the known Indian names for the place. Nabokov and Loendorf, after years of looking at the ethnological, anthropological, archeological, and historical literature and interviewing dozens of tribal members, have concluded that certain Indian tribes did have names for the upper Yellowstone country. Most of those names referred to the park’s hot springs and geysers. The Crow Indians called Yellowstone “land of the burning ground” or “land of vapors” while the Blackfeet called it “many smoke.” The Flatheads called it “smoke from the ground.” The Kiowas called it “the place of hot water.” Only the Bannocks had a name that did not call to mind the park’s thermal regions: “buffalo country.” Additionally, the Crows specifically called the Yellowstone geysers “Bide-Mahpe,” meaning “sacred or powerful water.” ( www.georgewright.org)

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In an interview with former Navy chaplain turned conservative activist Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt, Colorado state senator Randy Baumgardner (R) dismissed concerns over methane from fracking operations posing a risk to water supplies by saying it’s a natural occurrence.

“I’ve been to a lot of the fracking seminars,” Baumgardner said.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that also happens to be highly flammable. But, according to the state senator, methane in water supplies actually served to benefit Native American tribes. “They talk about methane in the water and this, that, and the other,” Baumgardner told Klingenschmitt, “but if you go back in history and look at how the Indians traveled, they traveled to the burning waters. And that was methane in the waters and that was for warmth in the wintertime. So a lot of people, if they just trace back the history, they’ll know how a lot of this is propaganda.”

While methane occurs naturally in groundwater in multiple places across the U.S., scientists and watchdogs have recently warned that fracking operations may pose a greater threat to drinking water supplies than previously thought.

Baumgardner repeated a common industry talking point in his recent interview, saying, “since the 1940s when they first started fracking, there’s never been one recorded incident” of fracking contaminating drinking water. A new study released Tuesday by Stanford University scientists, however, found that oil and gas companies are actually exploring at shallower depths than commonly assumed, “sometimes through underground sources of drinking water,” the LA Times reported.

Colorado Legislator Defends Fracking By Saying 'Indians' Benefited From Methane In Water | ThinkProgress

State: Fracking waste tainted groundwater, soil at three Washington County sites - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Leaks of fracking waste water from three impoundments in Washington County have contaminated soil and groundwater, prompting the state to issue a violation notice at one site and increase monitoring and testing at another.

John Poister, a state Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, said the problems at three of Range Resources Inc.’s nine Washington County impoundments have raised concerns and increased regulators’ scrutiny. The impoundments store flowback and waste water from multiple Marcellus Shale well drilling and fracking operations.

“We have had some discussions with Range about its impoundments,” Mr. Poister said. “We are looking at them and discussing things with them.

“But in terms of saying all Range impoundments are bad, we can’t say that. But we are likely stepping up our inspections, and actually have done so already.”

[,,,]
Township manager Don Gennuso said the township sent letters last week to about 50 residents along Swihart Road, most of whom use private water wells, informing them of the findings. It urged them to inform the DEP if their well water developed a foul odor or taste and to immediately get their water tested.

“At no time was the township board or its residents notified of the potential contamination,” Mr. Gennuso said. “I know they don’t want to scare people, but we really need in to be informed.”

State: Fracking waste tainted groundwater, soil at three Washington County sites - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

North Dakota Is the Deadliest State to Work In | Mother Jones

"North Dakota, clearly by the data, has much more significant problems and issues" than other oil-producing states, AFL-CIO Director of Safety and Health Peg Seminario said. "The industry is more established in other states; in North Dakota this is a relatively recent phenomenon."

Seminario said the bad record can be attributed to the large number of workers coming into the industry who are relatively inexperienced and untrained, as well as the fact that many oil and gas companies in the state are startups that may not have rigorous safety standards in place. At the same time, Seminario said, on-the-ground inspection by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has suffered from budget cuts.

As we've reported in the past, one of the most dangerous places to work in a fracking boom isn't on the rig itself, but behind the wheel of one of the thousands of trucks needed to transport fresh and waste water, chemicals, and oil. Of North Dakota's 65 workplace fatalities in all industries in 2012, 40 were classified as transportation-related; the proportion was similar on the national level. Exposure to dangerous chemicals is also a problem; just last week a 20-year-old man was killed on a North Dakota oil well site, possibly by exposure to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas, according to the local sheriff's department. Silica dust, a toxic byproduct of fracking operations, is often found at unsafe concentrations at well sites, and remains unregulated by OSHA despite being linked to a number of fatal diseases. Indeed, the most serious long-term health impacts of fracking operations are just beginning to be studied, and some health experts are worried that incidents of industry-related disease could increase in coming decades.

"This is going to be a sector that continues to grow, and it's so dangerous," Seminario said. "Much more oversight is needed."

North Dakota Is the Deadliest State to Work In | Mother Jones

Shaky ground in tornado alley - Yahoo News

Just four months into 2014, Oklahoma has already set a new record for earthquakes. So far this year, according to the OGS, there have been more than 140 earthquakes registering at a magnitude of 3.0 or above, compared to 109 for the entire year of 2013. In 2012, there were just 40 earthquakes that registered at a magnitude of 3.0 or above.

The sudden jump in activity has attracted interest from geologists across the country — even from California — who have descended on Oklahoma to try and understand what’s causing the earthquakes.

One source of suspicion and debate has centered on the state’s booming natural gas industry, which has increased its production using a technique known as fracturing — or fracking. The process uses large amounts of water to coax gas from underground rock formations, and some scientists have speculated the disposal of that wastewater in deep-injection wells near the fault lines could be triggering earthquakes.

Earlier this month, geologists in Ohio linked earthquakes there to fracking, and authorities in Texas, where quakes have also been on the increase, are investigating that source as well.

[,,,]
There are some signs Oklahoma officials are buying into the theory that oil and gas drilling could be playing a role. Last week, the state Corporation Commission passed a rule that would force drillers to report their wastewater injection rates on a daily basis instead of monthly to allow researchers to track in real time whether those activities are triggering earthquakes. (The measure has to be approved by the state Legislature and the governor.)

At the same time, the OGS has increased its number of seismic activity monitors around the state from seven to 30 — with several positioned near Guthrie, in hopes of learning more about why the ground is shaking so much.

Shaky ground in tornado alley - Yahoo News

There's Been a Huge Burst of Earthquakes in a Part of Ohio That Has Never Had Them - PolicyMic

Last month, the state of Ohio shut down Hilcorp Energy's major fracking operation near the Pennsylvania border after five earthquakes occurred over the course of two days, including one that reached magnitude 3. No earthquakes had ever been reported in the area, located near the Carbon Limestone Landfill in Poland, Ohio.

Now, scientists say they have evidence that links the quakes directly to Hilcorp Energy's fracking operations. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources claimed in a statement that their scientists "believe the sand and water injected into the well during the hydraulic fracturing process may have increased pressure on an unknown microfault in the area," and have taken immediate action to shut down seven wells. The department has issued new requirements that wells drilling within three miles of a known underground geologic fault line or any location with a measured 2.0 magnitude or greater seismic event since 1999 be equipped with seismic monitors.

[,,,]
PolicyMic's Nina Ippolito reported in November on the rise in seismic activity across the U.S. as reported in the United States Geological Survey's "Man-Made Earthquakes Update," which included the below map of small (3.0 magnitude) and large (4.0 magnitude) earthquakes. Humans are generally capable of sensing earthquakes of at least 3.0. The results were astonishing — while there "were a mere 21 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 in the central and eastern United States between 1967 and 2000, there were over 300 such earthquakes from just 2010 to 2012."

There's Been a Huge Burst of Earthquakes in a Part of Ohio That Has Never Had Them - PolicyMic

In Landmark Ruling, Jury Says Fracking Company Must Pay $3 Million To Sickened Family | ThinkProgress

A Texas family claiming they were sickened because of pollution from hydraulic fracturing operations near their home should be awarded $2.95 million for their troubles, a jury ruled on Tuesday.

The Parr family had sued Aruba Petroleum Inc. in 2011, alleging the oil and gas producer exposed them to hazardous gases, chemicals and industrial waste that seeped into the air from 22 wells drilled near the family’s 40-acre plot of land, which sits atop the Barnett Shale.

The jury returned a 5-1 verdict saying Aruba “intentionally created a private nuisance,” awarding $275,000 for losses on property value, $2 million for past physical pain and suffering, $250,000 for future physical pain and suffering, and $400,000 for mental anguish.

“They’re vindicated,” David Matthews, one of the Parr’s attorneys, wrote on his firm’s blog Tuesday. “I’m really proud of the family that went through what they went through … It’s not easy to go through a lawsuit and have your personal life uncovered and exposed to the extent this family went through.”

A statement provided to ThinkProgress from Aruba on Wednesday lamented the jury’s verdict, but did not indicate whether it would appeal.

In Landmark Ruling, Jury Says Fracking Company Must Pay $3 Million To Sickened Family | ThinkProgress

Here's What Fracking Can Do to Your Health | Mother Jones

The study compiled existing, peer-reviewed literature on the health risks of shale gas drilling and found that leaks, poor wastewater management, and air emissions have released harmful chemicals into the air and water around fracking sites nationwide.

"It's clear that the closer you are, the more elevated your risk," said lead author Seth Shonkoff, a visiting public health scholar at the University of California-Berkeley. "We can conclude that this process has not been shown to be safe."

Shonkoff cautioned that existing research has focused on cataloging risks, rather than linking specific instances of disease to particular drilling operations—primarily because the fracking boom is so new that long-term studies of, say, cancer rates, simply haven't been done. But as the United States and the world double down on natural gas as a cleaner alternative to coal (as this week's UN climate change solutions report suggests), Shonkoff argues policymakers need to be aware of what a slew of fracked wells could mean for the health of those who live near them.

Even given the risks involved in producing natural gas, it's still a much healthier fuel source than coal; particulate pollution from coal plants killed an estimated 13,000 Americans in 2010, while a recent World Health Organization study named air pollution (to which coal burning is a chief contributor) the single deadliest environmental hazard on earth.
click here

Still, how exactly could gas drilling make you ill? Let us count the ways:

Here's What Fracking Can Do to Your Health | Mother Jones

The Fracking Industry's Contempt for the Public Is Finally Coming to Light | Alternet

 "I hope he wins, and sets a legal precedent.”

__

 
Phrases like, “natural gas,” “cleaner than coal,” “energy independence,” and “radical environmentalists” were deployed to create a popular mandate for shale gas development, and to discount fracking critics. While it seems likely that gas-industry spin doctors honed these deft marketing terms prior to the nationwide explosion in fracking, neither reporters nor the public have been privy to the behind-the-scenes machinations, until now.

This past week a leak, a report and a lawsuit have given a rare glimpse of what the gas industry really thinks about the public (easily manipulated), environmentalists (extremely effective) and fracking (not in my backyard).

These developments also shine a harsh light on the untenable role of many state environmental departments. While some might naïvely assume that in government agencies, the public good still stands foremost, that assumption fails to probe: “How can a department charged with both environmental protection and business development effectively protect public health and the environment?”

It seems it can’t,,,

[,,,]
When water contamination from drilling wiped out the water supply for a significant part of the town of Dimock, PADEP required the offending gas company, Cabot Oil & Gas, to build a water pipeline to the town— and then dropped the idea, leaving dozens of families without water permanently. (For a time, the company delivered water buffaloes to homes, but stopped in 2011.) One homeowner sought to contact the state government for help after his water supply was cut off. Due to the lack of reporting mechanisms, there was no one to call but the PADEP head—and the governor, Tom Corbett. He called daily, until state police ordered him to desist. Ultimately, his family left their home and moved out of state.

[,,,]
When 50,000 citizens call attention to vast omissions in oversight, monitoring and enforcement, this is called citizen engagement in democracy. But Pennsyvlania has steadfastly declined to put its money into environmental protection, instead funding other priorities. For example, in 2010, the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, a Philadelphia firm, acting as a consultant to the Pennsylvania’s Homeland Security Department enacted a plan to collect the names of citizens who attended public meetings or who went to see the film, Gasland, characterizing attendees as “environmental extremists" who pose an "increasing threat to... the energy sector.” This attempt to squelch First Amendment rights by crushing citizen participation in government backfired and then-governor Ed Rendell canceled the contract.

The Fracking Industry's Contempt for the Public Is Finally Coming to Light | Alternet

Stunning photos show the impact of fracking on small, rural Pennsylvania communities | Mail Online

This article has been sitting in the back of my mind for a few days. I held on to it as it deals with my adopted home state of Pennsylvania and fracking it becoming bigger and bigger in our region with many people only looking at one thing - jobs.

As I was re-reading the article and looking at the pictures and attached Marcellus Shale Documentary Project website I was struck by this statement, "The Marcellus Shale Documentary Project documents offers a stunning look at how these fracking operations have impacted the communities, and offer a glimpse of how they have changed communities for better and worse." If you scroll down to the third photo captioned, "Jodie Simons shows the contaminated water that comes out of her kitchen faucet,,," you will see one instant of negative impact. That's when a light-bulb went off.

The other day I posted about Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, suing to prevent the construction of a water tower used to support a fracking operation not far from is property.

In the report were clips of him speaking on various occasions. In one clip he basically stated that the fear people have in regards to fracking, is due to opportunistic activist organizations. A bit later he is taped as saying, ",,,there has not been a documented case of substantial or even, I would argue, insignificant case of contamination of fresh water as a result of hydrolic fracturing. I think the fears are misplaced"

Wonder what his response to Jodie Simons would be?

Stunning photos show the impact of fracking on small, rural Pennsylvania communities | Mail Online

CEO sues to keep fracking away from backyard | MSNBC

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what to make of this. The headline says fracking, but in reality it is about a water tower being constructed near Tillerson's property. So who is building this tower? Why are they building this tower? How far is the well from the tower? Is the water that will be stored there for use only in fracking or is this water for public use? What about zoning? Exactly who is being sued?

There appears to be much information being left out of this short report. Yes the headline caught my eye, but the headline does not match the "story."

Don't get me wrong I am not a fan of fracking. Based on what little I know and understand, I don't see how it can be a good thing. But reporting such as this, does not help matters in either direction.

CEO sues to keep fracking away from backyard | MSNBC

Chevron offers coupons for pizza combo after fracking well explodes | The Raw Story

Seriously?

“It was very, very scary,” said a local resident. “You knew somebody had to be hurt somewhere with that explosion.”

One worker was injured following the blast; another employee is still missing. Chevron says it doesn’t know exactly what sparked the fire, but that workers were preparing to run tubing, an act done when readying wells for production.

Five days later, the fire finally went out. Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson told the local ABC affiliate he didn’t know why, but said, “there is not enough fuel being emitted to sustain combustion, and with the cooling of the crane, the ignition source has been removed.”

What is Chevron doing about the explosion?

On Sunday, Chevron Appalachia Community Outreach sent a gift certificate to those who lived in the vicinity of the blast offering them a two liter bottle of soda and one large pizza.

Seriously.


Chevron offers coupons for pizza combo after fracking well explodes | The Raw Story

Rachel Maddow: Earthquake-rattled Texas town begs state to shut down fracking wells | The Raw Story

The article doesn't do Maddows's attached clip justice, fails to note that the earthquakes in Azle have been increasing in number and magnitude: 12 earthquakes in November, 30 in the span of 2 months; no mention of sinkholes on private property or the laissez faire attitude of state officials.

Out of curiousity, I took a gander as to how far Azle was from the New Madrid fault line, as it has been in the news again.  From what I can gather, activity at New Madrid would not influence Texas. That aside, I can't understand the flippant attitude of state officials, reminds me of the 1997 movie Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones.  My point being you start messing with shit that you don't understand, issues are going to arise.  Just because we can doesn't mean we should.
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Azle, Texas, located west of Ft. Worth, has recently begun to experience earthquakes for the first time in the town’s history. They started in November, with a small 2.6 magnitude temblor. It was a small quake, but for a town with no history of earthquakes, it was alarming to inhabitants.

Another quake followed the next day. Then, two more that night. Something was clearly amiss in the earth underneath Azle and it has only gotten worse since then.

The quakes have been centered around two fracking injection wells, which residents and experts now believe may be responsible for the quakes. Citizens of Azle traveled to the state capital in Austin to see what they could find out from the state government.

Maddow welcomed Azle Mayor Alan Brundrett, who said that even though the state has been “noncommittal” as to the cause of the quakes, “We definitely need to get the wells shut down. Any common sense person that looks at the research dating back to the 1960s can see that injection wells can cause earthquakes.”

Rachel Maddow: Earthquake-rattled Texas town begs state to shut down fracking wells | The Raw Story