– Feds to frackers: “No, please — let us help you find a place to dump your wastewater” (Grist, Sep 25, 2013):
The Northeast’s fracking boom has left drillers with millions and millions of barrels of wastewater and nowhere to dump it. Some frackers have simply injected into deep wells, causing earthquakes; others have simply allowed their waste to flow into rivers.
Big government to the rescue: The Department of Energy will fund a $1.8 million, two-year project by Battelle that aims to find somewhere to stash that gross dross for an eternity.
With more drilling and fracking expected, oil and gas companies will need to find the best locations to safely inject more waste, said Neeraj Gupta, senior research leader for Battelle’s subsurface-resources group.
“That’s one of our objectives. Where is the injection capacity?” Gupta said.
Right now, it’s in Ohio, where more than 14.2 million barrels of fracking fluids and related waste from oil and gas wells were pumped into 190 disposal wells last year. That was a 12 percent increase over 2011.
Much of the waste — 8.16 million barrels last year — came from Pennsylvania, which has seven active disposal wells. West Virginia has 63 disposal wells.
If only we could find a source of energy that doesn’t consume fresh water and produce wastewater, maybe some mysterious source that protected the climate as well. If only such a thing existed …
More info on fracking:
– Prof. Chris Busby For RT: Wrecking The Earth: Fracking Has GRAVE RADIATION Risks Few Talk About
– Texas: The Worst Drought In Two Generations Is Choking Water Supply, Which Is Why Residents Now Turn Against Fracking
– ‘The Real Threat: Acid Jobs’
– Fracking Our Food Supply – Livestock Falling Ill In Fracking Regions
– David Letterman On Fracking: ‘We’re Screwed’ (Video)
– Human-Made Earthquakes Reported In Central U.S (Reuters)
– US Government Confirms Link Between Earthquakes And Fracking
– European Gas Giant Backs French Fear Of Fracking
– Texas Forces Firms To Open Up On ‘Fracking’
– Fracking Hell: Toxic And Radioactive Waste – The Untold Story
– The Oil and Gas Industry’s 800-Pound Gorilla: RADIATION!
– ‘Fracking’ Result (= Contamination) For UK Shale Gas Will Be Kept Secret Until 2015