If this is Chesapeake's idea of being good to the environment, I'd hate to see what they do if they ever got in touch with their dark side.
Tuesday's Startlegram reported that Chesapeake Energy got a permit from the state Railroad Commission to operate an injection well near East First Street and Oakland Boulevard.
What's an injection well?
Natural gas drilling in the Barnett Shale results in millions of gallons of production water, which contains salt, crude oil and other waste, sometimes including cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene. The gas industry prefers to dispose of production water by pumping it into the injection wells, also known as saltwater wells. The wells are more economical than recycling the water; they also avoid the problem of trucking the waste for disposal.
So rather than trucking this waste out of the city, they are just going to shoot it into the earth underneath our city. So just days after telling us about how much they love Fort Worth and love the environment, Fort Worth finds out about this injection well, which could potentially contaminate groundwater.
City officials have imposed a moratorium on new injection wells. The Fort Worth City Council is tentatively scheduled to discuss the moratorium in mid-October.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Chesapeake Energy: Doing Fort Worth
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4 comments:
not only is that area full of parks (Arc, Gateway, and Quannah Parker) but White Lake is right there as well. I'm sure they have all the environmental impact studies you can shake a fist at, but when you spokeswoman says that the key is responsible and reputable operators to man the wells, then I start to loose a confidence. I am sorry, but human fallibility is not something I want to bank the safety of our parks and groundwater on.
"The key is responsible and reputable operators to man the wells."
Also known as the lowest bidder. Bet they'll do a great job.
And who is going to make sure what is being injected into those wells? Who monitors? The answer is the fox will monitor the hen house. Ask Chesapeake why truckers are seen wearing hazmat suits when transporting the waste.
Google Panola County injection well and read about that horror story. Wise County has had several injection well failures.
The chemicals injected into the wells erodes the pipe over time and eventually the toxic waste will work it's way back up into the ground water.
How are these alike? Fort Worth and Wise County
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