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3 Billion Gallons Of Fracking Wastewater Pumped Into Clean California Aquifiers: "Errors Were Made" State Admits
Dear California readers: if you drank tapwater this morning (or at any point in the past few weeks/months), you may be in luck as you no longer need to buy oil to lubricate your engine: just use your blood, and think of the cost-savings. That's the good news.
Also, the bad news, because as the California’s Department of Conservation’s Chief Deputy Director, Jason Marshall, told NBC Bay Area, California state officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump up to 3 billion gallons (call it 70 million barrels) of oil fracking-contaminated waste water into formerly clean aquifiers, aquifiers which at least on paper are supposed to be off-limits to that kind of activity, and are protected by the government's EPA - an agency which, it appears, was richly compensated by the same oil and gas companies to look elsewhere.
And the scariest words of admission one can ever hear from a government apparatchik: "In multiple different places of the permitting process an error could have been made."
Because nothing short of a full-blown disaster prompts the use of the dreaded passive voice. And what was unsaid is that the "biggest error that was made" is that someone caught California regulators screwing over the taxpayers just so a few oil majors could save their shareholders a few billion dollars in overhead fees.
And now that one government agency has been caught flaunting the rules, the other government agencies, and certainly private citizens and businesses, start screaming: after all some faith in the well-greased, pardon the pun, government apparatus has to remain:
“It’s inexcusable,” said Hollin Kretzmann, at the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco. “At (a) time when California is experiencing one of the worst droughts in history, we’re allowing oil companies to contaminate what could otherwise be very useful ground water resources for irrigation and for drinking. It’s possible these aquifers are now contaminated irreparably.”
The process, for those confused, explained by NBC:
In “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing operations, oil and gas companies use massive amounts of water to force the release of underground fossil fuels. The practice produces large amounts of waste water that must then be disposed of.
Marshall said that often times, oil and gas companies simply re-inject that waste water back deep underground where the oil extraction took place. But other times, Marshall said, the waste water is re-injected into aquifers closer to the surface. Those injections are supposed to go into aquifers that the EPA calls “exempt”—in other words, not clean enough for humans to drink or use.
But in the State’s letter to the EPA, officials admit that in at least nine waste water injection wells, the waste water was injected into “non-exempt” or clean aquifers containing high quality water.
For the EPA, “non-exempt” aquifers are underground bodies of water that are “containing high quality water” that can be used by humans to drink, water animals or irrigate crops.
If the waste water re-injection well “went into a non-exempt aquifer. It should not have been permitted,” said Marshall.
Yet it was, to the tune of 3 billion gallons. And nobody said a word about it until someone finally did a little research and found that people, especially those in power, lie.
And lie they did because the severity of the pollution is only now becoming clear:
In its reply letter to the EPA, California’s Water Resources Control Board said its “staff identified 108 water supply wells located within a one-mile radius of seven…injection wells” and that The Central Valley Water Board conducted sampling of “eight water supply wells in the vicinity of some of these… wells.”
“This is something that is going to slowly contaminate everything we know around here,” said fourth- generation Kern County almond grower Tom Frantz, who lives down the road from several of the injection wells in question.
According to state records, as many as 40 water supply wells, including domestic drinking wells, are located within one mile of a single well that’s been injecting into non-exempt aquifers.
That well is located in an area with several homes nearby, right in the middle of a citrus grove southeast of Bakersfield.
Cue the just as angry community organizers:
“That’s a huge concern and communities who rely on water supply wells near these injection wells have a lot of reason to be concerned that they’re finding high levels of arsenic and thallium and other chemicals nearby where these injection wells have been allowed to operate,” said Kretzmann.
“It is a clear worry,” said Juan Flores, a Kern County community organizer for the Center on Race, Poverty and The Environment. “We’re in a drought. The worst drought we’ve seen in decades. Probably the worst in the history of agriculture in California.”
“No one from this community will drink from the water from out of their well,” said Flores. “The people are worried. They’re scared.”
It remains to be seen just whom that other, far more prominent community organizer will blame for this latest environmental debacle. Surely it will somehow be the fault of the Keystone pipeline?
In the meantime, the oil companies are already taking defensive measures, blaming the fiasco on... a "paperwork issue."
The trade association that represents many of California’s oil and gas companies says the water-injection is a “paperwork issue.” In a statement issued to NBC Bay Area, Western States Petroleum Association spokesman Tupper Hull said “there has never been a bona vide claim or evidence presented that the paperwork confusion resulted in any contamination of drinking supplies near the disputed injection wells.”
Well, actually, there is:
However, state officials tested 8 water supply wells within a one-mile radius of some of those wells.
Four water samples came back with higher than allowable levels of nitrate, arsenic, and thallium.
Those same chemicals are used by the oil and gas industry in the hydraulic fracturing process and can be found in oil recovery waste-water.
And now back to the source of it all: the California Department of Conservation, where we are confident a little further investigative reporting will find millions in kickbacks and corruption, all funded by the oil and gas "lobby."
When asked how this could happen in the first place, Marshall said that the long history of these wells makes it difficult to know exactly what the thinking was.
“When you’re talking about wells that were permitted in 1985 to 1992, we’ve tried to go back and talk to some of the permitting engineers,” said Marshall. “And it’s unfortunate but in some cases they (the permitting engineers) are deceased.”
Kern County’s Water Board referred the Investigative Unit to the state for comment.
We hope to learn who the state will refer the unit for comment next.
Finally, for those living around the blue dots, avoiding the tapwater for the time being may be a good idea.
As for whether the public's opinion about fracking is changed as a result of revelations such as this: we reserve judgment until comparative Investigative Units piece uncover how many billion gallons in fracking wastewater was dumped in other states where the shale miracle is (still) alive and well.
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The Berkey is good for stream or rainwater, but I wouldn't drink out of it after this shit. does it remove arsenic and other Halliburton pollutants?
Might want to distill it and burn off the non-condensing volatiles before running it through a Berkey.
Exactly my recommendation
Listen.
You two terrorist are always giving away the recipe for the secret sauce! "STOP".
you can buy additional filtering on the Berkeythat takes care of metals and flouride. Unfortunately, they can not be sold in California !!!
Glycol ethers and some other fracking fluids dissolve most filters. Probably have to flare off then distill the water for it to be relatively safe.
You can also let it drip through a wood charcoal and sand filter. You can meke those yourself, cheap too. Strain through a cotton pillowcase before putting it through a berky. Then throw the wood into the fire pit after a few uses. It should work, Id do it in a pinch.
Yup for preppers. Making a water filter is a valuable skill.
Depends on the level of filtering you need. You can go from simple ion exchange "brita" filters through to activate charcoal organic compound filters and heavy metal filters. basically you can take everything out if you pay enough.
Berkey looks like a decent charcoal adsorbtion filter so will remove most organic compounds till the filter medium becomes saturated. Arsenic... not so much. if you want to take out heavy metals get something specifically designed to do so.
But seriously, if you're having to do this... move.
If you wanted to destroy the US, attacking California's water supply would be near the top of your list, as that's where most of our vegetables are grown.
That's ok, I'll just catch rain water. Oh, wait...
No wonder I am sick today.
You always have dumbasses !!
Pump & dump !!
Drink your milkshake, California - it's for the good of Merika got it ?
"Drill, Drill, Drill! "
-L. Krudlow
Good thing the Cali EPA people are so much smarter than us poor stupid Texan's who inject into old spent wells and have to be certified.....
Finally a solution for fracking fluids
Biodegradable.
Pureed illegal immigrants.
You are delusional if you think that there are neither corners cut nor mistakes made elsewhere, especially in TX.
U forgot to put quotes around the term 'mistakes'.
Fucking TPTB have been harping for decades about the future "water wars". They want clean water to be so scarce that people will fight for it (and pay DEARLY, just for a glass of water).
None of this is by accident - even the fact that it is coming out now as a 'scandal' is useful to TPTB, since they are simultaneously aiming to use environmental degradation as the excuse for more power and abuse from the UN / government.
See? It's all working out GREAT, as far as TPTB are concerned!
The way these scumbags are screwing up the planet, they must have a bugout location somewhere on Mars. Honestly, I don't know how else to explain this??
The Ashkenazis are getting help from the Ice Warriors.
Sad thing is, at this point there is really no other good explaination. There just isnt, weird, huh?
I have an 8% ownership stake in a wasterwater recovery service and corner cutting isn't needed. Spent well are easy to find, simple to certify and actually improve the production of surrounding wells. Cali does it differently and the state is entirely responsible for this fuckup.
If a disposal well raises the water level of surrounding wells that most likely means that the surrounding wells are drawing from the same aquifer and are now polluted as well.
Congratulations on your profitable venture, recommend that you spend some $$$ on Geology 101.
Hmmm.... You do know that oil and gas wells are drilled several thousand feet deeper than aquifers are don't you? And that it is several thousand feet of hard, solid rock and that the wells we do injection on are 30 to 70 years old and were conventionally drilled a long time before fracking came into common use.
I do know that, but assumed that you were talking about water wells.
And that is where Cali's problem starts. Instead of letting the people who know the business decide where to do the injection wells the state government decides what wells to inject.
"
You know, just once when these paid shills say shit like this, I wish someone would pull out a thermos and pour out a nice big glass of whatever they're denying, and tell them to drink it and then play the video on the standard 24-hour news cycle endless loop.
"BAKERSFIELD!!!!!"
Ya, it's only Bakersfield. That place is a hole anyway.
I thought it was called Oildale.
"Oil and Gas lobby money"? Try House of Saud money or Russian Oligarch money....... to be sure that it happened, and that the story got out. $70 oil don't fly for those guys.
Didn't even know Kali had any significant shale/fracking. Anyway, any time I read the railings of community organizers or environmentalists, I get suspicious. They lie, cheat, and steal without rest.
"They lie, cheat, and steal without rest. "
I imagine they'd fit in well with Republicans and Libertarians of most stripes.
You got a bunch of downvotes because according to the new Zero Hedge readers, only lefties and Democrats can lie, cheat, and steal. Republicans are god-fearing and infallible, and libertarians aren't actually corporatist shills.
Both sides lie.
One side believes they don't.
Google "Gruber"...you Gruberite.
It doesn't, this Kern field is around 100 years old. It's probably not fracking water, just water pumped up with the oil and then disposed of.
Good lord, if this can happen in California, the supposedly left wing-environmentally concerned state that it pretends to be, then the rest of this country is @#$#!
Good luck America, you're totally fracked
The more Left-Leaning the easier it is to sway officials ... the more Left-Leaning the more the ends justify the means thus anything is up for grabs
Once again, "Mistakes were made."
What difference does it make?
Hydraulic fracking is one of the cleanest, greenest, ways of getting hydrocarbons out of the Earth's crust. This story - which is alarming - covers an unauthorized waste dumping event that has very little to do with the origin of the wastewater. It doesn't matter whether it's frack-water, spent chemical plating bath, or sewer water: this dumping should not have been authorized.
But we shouldn't stop fracking, plating, or pooping because of this.
"Stop pooping?"
That's a constipated thing to say.
How excremental of you!
"Hydraulic fracking is one of the cleanest, greenest, ways of getting hydrocarbons out of the Earth's crust."
LOLOLOLOL
Also, how about we leave the hydrocarbons IN the Earth's crust.
That option must be on the table.
Oh fuck off
Thank you for your thoughtful, informative reply.
Hahaha, the fascist, 2nd amendment squelching, eco-terrorist state of California with all their cancer warning on everything get buttfucked by the oil industry to the tune of 3 billion gallons of water in a state which is currently in one of the worst droughts in a decade.
Karma bitches! Now how about doing the right thing and throwing some CEO's in prison and shutting down companies after a large enough fine to bankrupt the violators.
How about throwing these government regulators in prison? They only have ONE JOB-- prevent shit like this from happening.
I'm good with that too. Same applies to our feral Federal Gooberment regulators too!!
Fact is we could be here all day listing first the people with responsibility.
Then we have to make a list of those hiding the facts, the risk, the dangers and the Secrets.
May your own Karma catch up to you...
Lick my nutsack. My karma is just fine since I volunteer to help my community, donate to the needy, support local business, fight injustice, and choose not to fuck over my fellow man for my own benefit. However I do enjoy pointing out the hypocrisy of the government and the corrupt system.
Now please feel free to go fuck yourself!
When one says, "May your own Karma catch up to you." it is either a blessing or a curse depending on your behavior.
The fact that reading it provoked a very negative emotion in you and led you to very defensive behavior I believe we have a very good idea the quality of your karma.
Cheers. :)
This is fight club, with a generic comment without the ability to discern attack or friendly connotation, I take a defensive posture. If it was meant in a positive light, then I retract my comment, say thank you, and good day sir.
I've got a good karma and a wicked fierce dogma. Something the American sheople seem to lack nowadays.
Note: It was the government who told them where to pump the water.
Cali Residents should try to visit and confront the Executives and find out who has the power and the guns.
You have to wonder what these douchbags plan on eating and drinking in the future. They obviously could care less about the rest of us. Pollute it all, deny everything, leave nothing useable behind.
"The engineers who permitted this may be dead..."
That's the best they could come up with...really...
I hope the residents of these nearby communities round these scoundrels up and administer some justice, like letting them drink the water they caused to be poisoned.
So, lets see, some county engineer "certifies" a drill site in 1985 and never goes back. Sounds like a med check thru Obamacare.
"But, but....cancer.....shit.... I went to the doctor in 1985. I can't understand it"
Sorry to dissapoint you but I doubt that getting frackers to drink the water will do much. It is a very low risk to drink a few glasses of contaminated well water.The amount of arsenic, thallium etc is low and their health will be fine. They will then say "see,it is fine to drink". The risk is long term cumulative build up in the locals from drinking daily for years/decades. That is what will fuck the locals with cancers, birth defects and shortened life spans.
Like Fluoride, Asbestos, Coal Mining, and Fukushima Radiation.
dude, the dog ate my homework.
Failed state = California
Good thing the Central Valley aquifer isn't all connected or anything like that. Pretty sure the south valley has some areas where the aquifer has actually dried up at easily accessible levels also. Maybe the state is paying the oil companies to try and fill those aquifers up again since they are all dropping at an alarming rate. Just didn't read the fine print where it said the water they would bring in was carcinogenic.
it doesn't matter as long as money is being made by the rich. only poor and worthless people drink tab water.
good for liberals and illegals
That arsenic and thallium can come from a lot of other stuff as well. ZH is obviously over stating this to the max. It would not be billions saved anyway. It probably only took thousands in bribe money to save a few million. Waste water does not cost a dollar a gallon to dispose of. Get real ZH.
Yep.
$0.25/gallon here in Ohio.
Arsenic can occur naturally between 2 and 40 mg/kg across Cali, depending on the parent bedrock.
The Cali DTSC cites 12 mg/kg as an acceptable screening level.
Does $.25 / gallon include earthquake insurance or is that extra?
ps repost, films about fracking, in case you wanna know more;)
http://thoughtmaybe.com/topic/fracking/
A mistake? Hahahahahaahahha.
Done on purpose.
Not just in California folks. Search the http://www.drillingmaps.com data for "water" "fracking".
Sad, sad, sad. The USSA is baked. Across the board, the shit is rising to the top and the masses are drowning.
Glad to see this story made it here. It's been on Yuba Net now for a couple of months.
Yes, wondering how this story made it past the sensors. Someone's going to get fired.
This will continue (just like on Wall Street and in China) until the penalty exceeds the value of the wrong-doing. And that penalty has to apply to both the company doing it as well as to the regulators themselves. Until it does, just 'Stay Calm and Move Along'
Contaminated groundwater sounds just awesome! Remember, this is on top of a geo-engineered multi-year drought. I live in North San Diego and see the chemtrails daily, but they pale in comparrison to what is being sprayed off shore to control the jet stream. If you're not familiar with the Haarp Report, check it out. It's amazing that there's zero news about the continued theft of mother nature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzW1KhVH_A
I understand HAARP, chemtrails ... but what I don't understand is who and why?
Research Agenda 21 and the Georgia Guidetones. Follow the money trail to the top. It's a great journey. Oh, and read The Creature From Jekyll Island. It's all related. Sorry but all these conspiracies are not a la cart.
Armed Resistance
Great Video! Secret Pacific Aerosols continue California Drought 10/22/14
Thanks for the link.
Rottenfella, Redshield, Agenda 21.
Originating in the small country of Rothslandia, on the Med.
HAARP and chemtrails are pretty much on the bottom of my worry list, which happens to coincide with the contents of my stupid conspiracy kook list.
I love these comics. I remember reading "School is HELL" (and others in the series) as a kid... before the Simpsons.
What's the big deal?? Earth minerals are suppose to be good for us..!
Fruckin' stupidity
Easter Island syndrome ..
"They" never noticed that water is liquid?
That it travels all over and all under the world constantly.
There are no exempt and non-exempt wells. That's a stupid superstition. A fruckin' superstition.
Explains why I can light my burps.
"California state officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump up to 3 billion gallons (call it 70 million barrels) of oil fracking-contaminated waste water into formerly clean aquifiers, aquifiers"
Nobody does time. Nobody gets fired. Nobody gets sued and the companies continue on in business. Nothin' to see here folks, move along, move along now......
Clean water is soooooooooooo over rated.
Because the peasants do not demand accountability...
'Energy Independence' ?
Bullish for rainwater.
From Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce: Agriculture:
Kern County Top 20 Crops 2009
1. Grapes, All $ 664,499,000
2. Milk, Market & Manufacturing 437,610,000
3. Almonds, Including By-Products 435,305,000
4. Carrots, Fresh & Processing 343,128,000
5. Citrus, All 332,926,000
6. Pistachios 331,120,000
7. Cattle & Calves 174,216,000
8. Hay, Alfalfa 106,144,000
9. Pomegranates, Fresh & Processing 99,018,000
10. Potatoes, All 99,926,000
11. Cotton, Including Processed Cottonseed 63,206,000
12. Tomatoes, Fresh & Processing 59,045,000
13. Silage & Forage 46,001,000
14. Apiary Products 41,423,000
15. Eggs 30,102,000
16. Bell Peppers, Fresh & Processing 28,844,000
17. Wheat 27,837,000
18. Nursery Fruit and Nut Trees & Vines 27,457,000
19. Roses 27,201,000
20. Onions 26,437,000
Total Gross Value: $3,401,445,000
http://www.bakersfieldchamber.org/section.asp/csasp/DepartmentID.537/cs/...
Western States Petroleum Association members:
aka The Usual Suspects
Times number of years...5,10,15?
Go watch 60 Minutes from last night, I'm in the OC and we recycle and drink toilet water and we've loving it:) Seriously though there is a recycle plant in Fountain Valley that's been doing this for years and it's pretty amazing, not cheap but I can't tell the difference and we have recycled toilet water all over the OC, all we have:) Even in Newport Beach, the rich drink toilet water too.
Yes and guess what's building up in our water here in San Jose? Pharmaceuticals We drink piss here too. As it turns out, water treatment is mostly for eliminating organic molecules and larger particles. This leaves the 95+% of your proczac, ritaline, birth control pills, etc etc etc that go into your piss to get recycled into your drinking water.
While they do call it Man Jose due to the disproportionate number of men working here in Silicon Valley, now we all get to enjoy growing man boobs.
So we have that going for us.
When I lived in Santa Clara in the early 80s, the tap water was very cloudy and would fizz like Alka-Seltzer. Does it still do that?
I've never seen that. It's more like swimming pool water. Heavy and chlorinated. I have a well now in the hills so it's always a treat to drink unfiltered ice water at a restaurant where you get that nice nose of chlorine.
I always wondered if those occasional strands of toilet paper in the tap water bothered anyone...
Just wondering
Do you guys not have water treatment works?
Oops, I pooped. LOL.
Killed it!
How about we just wait until the peeps start getting sick, deformed and dropping like flies before we get all hysterical?
You'll still be able to shower in it, wash your cars and water your lawns.
For Christ sake if it doesn't take the finish off your car and kill your lawn what's the problem?
I had no idea there were so many nervous nellies here at zerohedge.
s/
Sprinkler water in Las Vegas takes the clear coat and wax right off your car.
Paint follows shortly.
The water here is hard enough to break teeth.
Pour a glass from the faucet, and you can see the particulates swirling around.
No one I know drinks the tap water here.
In my town the "public servant" running the residential landfill was taking money from commercial waste companies to dump their waste. 100% profit for this servant of the people. He was forced to retire and the local judge deemed that the shame was penalty enough. He collected all of his unused vacation time etc.
nothing to add
no worries GMO crops love fracking water
I will reserve judgement till the whole story comes out. If disposal company did this knowingly, then off to jail with the whole bunch of them. I would not want to own an interest in the company nor their insurance provider.
"Off to Jail?"
What are you smoking, man??
This should not be a problem for any number of reasons.
Number 1, I don't drink or use that water
Number 2, for those who do, it will dilute well
Number 3, there is no evidence any harmful chemical are in fracking fluid.
Thus, we can all agree this is just hype.
Number 4, it's probably adding essential minerals which are lacking in the typical American diet.
Indeed! Stooge. Perhaps it prevents tooth decay.
...and even remedies the heartbreak of psoriasis.
Upvoted for sarc value
This makes much more sense if you consider that one huge evil cabal owns pretty much everything. Including government.
Yes indeed!!!!
The fracking abbondanza is working out so well in the U.S. they apparently don't need to create open genocide in Ukraine anyore!....
On second thought... Scratch that comment!!!
You guys make it sound like its a bad thing....the earthwill filter it out...that is what it does....and who says aquifer water is pure in the first place....it mixes with anything that is down there...but I guess its a headline for you....the millions of illegals in California will kill more people than any water pumped into the ground will....sorry but that is true
Big difference between organic molecules and synthetic. Mother Nature balances out most organic molecule buildup but doesn't have the ability to effectively filter or convert synthetic molecules (chemicals).
Think hydrogenated oil or aspartame and that belly fat and your diabetes.
"You guys make it sound like its a bad thing....the earthwill filter it out...that is what it does....and who says aquifer water is pure in the first place..."
FTFA:
"However, state officials tested 8 water supply wells within a one-mile radius of some of those wells.
Four water samples came back with higher than allowable levels of nitrate, arsenic, and thallium.
Those same chemicals are used by the oil and gas industry in the hydraulic fracturing process and can be found in oil recovery waste-water."
So, the water was not contaminted before, and it is now contaminted with chemicals known to be used in fracking, within a mile of a well filled with fracking wastewater. Odds of coincidence are extremely high. No, the Earth did not "filter it out".
Pootie and the Saudis are laughing their crude (pun) asses off wondering how many Californians have to begin glowing in the dark before the shale miracle (like the DDT miracle) goes from miracle to mirage.
Heh, heh, heh....
It's Bush's fault! (TIC) Tongue in cheek...
Damn this was a joke people!
The way Californication is being cursed with drought......those heathens will be paying to drink out of an unflushed toilet filled with logs soon.
"Xi, my plans are progressing. Soon you will possess all of California."
"Good."
"All the YTs and Negroes will be liquidated."
"Will you leave the Mexicans for slave labor?"
"Of course."
"OK, I will make sure they can vote."
Smallpox infested blankets. It is an act of war on the citizens themselves, and responsive lethal force is justified.
But hey, it ain't my water, right?
"Phase Two of Operation Genocide has begun, Reggie."
"Munchkins, what was Phase 1?"
"The Jap nuke plant. I musta wiped out a whole Aircraft Carrier with that one!"
So what! Its not as though its Washington.
"Children in Fracking Areas Show Genetic Abnormalities"
"Coincidence- CA State Health Department."
"No Link to Fracked H2O Say Docs"
"My Kid Has Flippers-Not Hands- How Will She Cope?"
http://i49.tinypic.com/mjwal4.jpg
We should let the free market handle this. Post the full names and addresses of the people responsible for this fuckup.
for them to face errors.
for them to face errors.
“And it’s unfortunate but in some cases they (the permitting engineers) are deceased.”
Dead men tell no tales.
Whocouldanode?
"Bill! Bill! Wake up!"
"What's wrong, Jim?"
"I..think he drank the water, Leonard... look, a broken water glass on the kitchen floor! The tap is still running! He's been Fracked!"
"It doesn't look good."
"C'mon, Bill! C'mon! Wake up!"
"He's dead, Jim."
Let them drink seawater (from Fukushima).
Mistake, my behind. There are no freaking mistakes when you want to get rid of something poisonous.
Well America, you got cheap gas prices but expect to pay a lot for your drinking water.
In France this would lead to huge demonstrations and manure being dumped on some government's doorstep. But the French of course are surrender monkeys.
So what as long as libertarian, no regulation, free market model works.
This was not a free market thing. As with most of these pollution stories, it is regulatory capture that does this.
Most large scale pollution is done with the blessings of government.
pods
Did you read the article? State water, EPA.
California state officials allowed oil and gas companies to pump up to 3 billion gallons (call it 70 million barrels) of oil fracking-contaminated waste water into formerly clean aquifiers
Under a libertarian model, the companies involved would be sued into penury.
Corporations wouldn't exist as "people" and liability wouldn't be limited, so the shareholders would personally have to stump up money to pay the compensation claims. Driving many of them into the poor house.
Now I'm not saying these things wouldn't still happen, but the owners of the companies responsible would be anally raped by the lawyers of those they had harmed. People are substantially more careful when they know that they are going to be held responsible for their actions.
Unbelievable stupidity! People living nerby are doomed. First crisis, then drought and now poison in water.
American dream in full bloom.
The test of a Civilization .
Not the pollution .
The ability to recover from it .
If you fail the test , goodbye .
See http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2011/03/inverse-fracking-mackenzie-basin.h...
Sounds unlikely, why would arsenic and thallium be used in fracking, those and nitrates are famous pollutants all over the central valley natural and from fertilizer. Tell me those same aquifers were clean before.
Calif, has become the dumping ground for everything illegal including people.
Everyone knows this is a lie because California is a desert and has no water.
This article is basically a collection of lies.
First, there is no shale in Kern County, so there is no fracing activity. Fracing fluid in Kern County is a lie.
Second, the State of Califorinia has suspended fracing activity in order to enact regulations to govern fracing, shoud they ever want to do so [which by the way I don't think will ever happen]. Name the wells that have been fraced and by what company, which the article fails to mention?
Califorina has no water for agriculture and golf courses, much less fracing.
In other places where fracing is performed, like the Eagle Ford, Bakken, Marcellus/Utica, more than 70% of the water utilized in the fracing process is recovered and recycled for fracing new wells. There is no disposal issue as recovered water is filtered and reused in a continuous process for the next wells. The companies operating in those areas drill and frac thousands of wells per year without any environmental problems. So it doses't make sense to me economically why any company fracing would have water that needed disposal.
Fracing fluids never contain arsenic and thallium and "other chemicals". This is total bullshit but is a continuing lie by the frac haters.
Name the companies that disposed of this water into aquifers instead of implicating an entire industry. I believe that they definitely should be held responsible for their actions under California and Federal laws. California is one of the strictest states regarding regulation of its oil industry.
Basically, this whole article is a big lie.
+100, but hey, the "article" was FUD confirmation bias red meat for the skyfallers.
Yep, it's just regular disposal water from wells in the Kern field. The disposal wells were permitted 20-25 years ago. The 3 billion gallons is over a long time. Red meat for the luddite shale haters..........
So it doses't make sense to me economically why any company fracing would have water that needed disposal.
Suggesting fracking co's dont use disposal wells is fucking ignorant.
"In other places where fracing is performed, like the Eagle Ford, Bakken, Marcellus/Utica, more than 70% of the water utilized in the fracing process is recovered and recycled for fracing new wells. There is no disposal issue as recovered water is filtered and reused in a continuous process for the next wells."
Look at this another way; nearly 30% of the water is NOT being recovered and recycled.