WMS Corporation (not sure if it is Williams or not, Williams has about 10 or more companies listed) has bought land near the Bartonville, Argyle, and Flower Mound borders. The land is actually in Argyle. An application has been filed with the Texas Railroad Commission for a salt water (fracking waste) disposal well located on or near Jeter Road in Argyle. The operating company will be Bosque Disposal Systems based in Glen Rose.
What does this mean for all residents in the area? Increased truck traffic in the area and the possibility of ground, soil and water contamination. If allowed by the Flower Mound Town Council, the proposed Waste Water Collection Facility will most like feed this disposal well. Creating quite a bit of truck traffic through Flower Mound and all the neighboring towns.
The Town of Argyle Water Website already has "special notice" on their water website reading the following
SPECIAL NOTICE
FOR THE ELDERLY, INFANTS, CANCER PATIENTS, PEOPLE WITH HIV/AIDS OR OTHER IMMUNE PROBLEMS
Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Immunocompromised persons such as persons with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, persons who have undergone organ transplants, people with HIV/AIDS or other immune system disorders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections.
Radioactive water seems to be popping up everywhere. The Town of Chico in Wise County, as well as The Towns of Aledo and Hudson Oaks in Parker County. Many contaminants are naturally occurring but the amounts of NORM in the drinking water are way above the EPA and TCEQ standards. Something tells me this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Here is some info on disposal wells from the Texas Railroad Commission. The numbers are frightening. Over 50,000 permitted oil and gas injection and disposal wells and only 20 percent of them were inspected in 2006. Again, we can't depend on the TRRC to safely and accurately regulate this industry!!!
Texas has more than 50,000 permitted oil and gas injection and disposal wells
During Fiscal Year 06, there were 2,338 inspections related to Commercial Disposal Wells and 8,208 inspections related to non-commercial Disposal/Injection Wells.
Besides contaminated drinking water, ground and soil. Disposal wells have been linked to sinkholes as published in a recent Wall Street Journal article.
In 2006, the Texas oil and gas industry injected 6.7 billion barrels of liquid, mostly water, beneath the ground, and experts say that amount has been rising as new wells have multiplied and old wells are revived. Federal regulators, environmentalists and community groups worry that lax oversight is allowing some of the water -- which can be 10 times as salty as seawater and often contains oil, heavy metals and even radioactive material -- to escape from underground reservoirs. That could lead to the contamination of underground drinking-water supplies, the pollution of soil and surface water, and more sinkholes as underground structures are eroded.
Our Mission: To work in a legal, ethical, and civil manner to stop urban gas drilling in the highly residential areas of North Texas. We are not against all gas drilling, but rather that which will adversely affect the public safety, the enjoyment of our homes, and our overall quality of life. We support the need for better regulation and accountability of the Oil & Gas Industry in rural and urban areas of Texas.
They couldn't have picked a worse spot.
ReplyDeleteThis is not good. There will be a lot of wells in the area to fill that disposal well. Argyle already has problems.
ReplyDelete