Erin Brockovich Investigates Hexavalent Chromium Contamination in Midland, Texas

Here is a link to the story and video from the CBS News Early Show. Remember the contamination of Hinkley, California? Here is just a few items from the article.

The process is becoming "very daunting very quickly" because there are more homes affected than originally believed.

"I never thought I'd see another Hinkley, California," Brockovich told CBS News in Midland, “but I’m afraid I might be wrong." Hexavalent Chromium, Brockovich said, is now being found in significant amounts in the water of over 40 homes in Midland. "The only difference between here and Hinkley," Brockovich said, "is that I saw higher levels here than I saw in Hinkley."

Brockovich said the immediate concern for people in the contaminated areas is for their children.
"The children have so many unexplained problems," she said. "I sat down with a family ... and it was actually really heart wrenching. Their 7-year-old child has stomach tumors. They’re very concerned that he had an unusual cancer ... and (the mother) is so frightened what the future holds for that child." She added, "...In the long term (residents are) all terrified that they could come down with cancer."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/10/earlyshow/main5076625.shtml

Brockovich claims to have evidence that oil drilling activity is to blame.
http://permianbasin360.com/content/fulltext/?cid=44001

Here is another news article that appeared in the Houston Chronicle today
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6524761.html

Here is some info on Hexavalent Chromium and the Oil and Gas Industry from Dr. Jerry Michael Neff, Marine Biologist and Ecologist. This information was from an article that was published in 2000. Before the "Halliburton Loophole" and exemption from the Clean Water Act of 2005. Since the O & G Industry doesn't have to tell us what is in the drilling and fracking fluids anymore.....
http://www.offshore-environment.com/wasteenvimpact.html

"The most toxic drilling muds are those that contain high concentrations of hexavalent chromium, diesel fuel or surfactant. (Neff, J. M. 1987. op. cit. p.520)"

How many gas wells in the State of Texas? And how many are getting inspected?

After seeing this, now I know why the Texas Railroad Commission does such a lousy job of regulating the Gas and Oil Industry. It is physically impossible for the TRC to keep up with regular inspections on gas and oil wells. As of a year ago, the TRC only had 83 inspectors as reported in a Star Telegram article

Richard Varela, the commission's executive director, said the agency does the best it can with limited staff. There are 377,000 wells in Texas, each with associated pipelines, tank batteries and other equipment. And there are only 83 inspectors. That's about 4,500 wells per inspector.

http://startelegram.typepad.com/barnett_shale/files/many_wells_go_uninspected_30_in_tarrant_have_not_seen_state_scr.htm

The great state of Texas is in trouble. We need better regulation and accountability.

Click on the link below to see how many gas wells are in Texas. This is just gas wells and does not include oil wells and injection wells.
http://www.propublica.org/special/map-number-of-producing-gas-wells-708

Smelly Gas Substance Spews on Keller Neighborhood

Gas drilling companies keep saying that it is the "clean burning" fuel. Some residents in Keller might feel that there is nothing "clean" about natural gas drilling. Encana claimed the substance wasn't toxic but Ms. Hall's vegetation died after the yellow drizzle from the malfunctioning gas well fell on her yard.



http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Mysterious-Substance-Rains-Down-on-Keller-Neighborhood.html


Smelly Substance Rains Down on Keller Neighborhood

A malfunctioning gas well spewed a smelly mixture of salt water and natural gas into the air of a Keller neighborhood Monday evening.
Resident Lindy Hall said she and her family were shocked when they saw the substance spewing out of the gas well about a football field away from her back yard.
"Everybody was just going, 'What is that? What is that?' And we were watching the geyser," she said.
Encana, the company that manufactures the gas well, said a valve malfunctioned, sending the mixture into the air.
Hall said it smelled awful.
"When I saw the yellow drizzle coming down, we knew something wasn't right," she said.
The next day, she discovered a shiny film on her plants, most of which were dying or wilting away, Hall said.
"God knows what was in that stuff that they dumped in my yard," she said.
Hall said she wants to make sure the substance doesn't have the same effect on her child and pets that it had on her plants.
An Encana representative said the substance is not toxic. The company is investigating why the valve malfunctioned.

No Drilling Expected Under The New Cowboy Stadium?

It appears the City of Arlington has some concerns about gas drilling under the new stadium. According to the City Attorney Jay Doegey, the following was stated in an article in the Dallas Morning News.

Doegey said the city hasn't conducted any research to calculate potential dangers of drilling underneath a megastructure like Cowboys Stadium. But he said there has to be a concern about drilling beneath a structure that expensive ($1.15 billion) and that heavy (more than 805 million pounds).
"Doegey said that when he lived in Southern California, oil extraction had caused some surface collapses and seawater had to be injected into the rock to mitigate that."

I guess it is okay to drill under homes, schools, parks, hospitals, land used for farming and livestock (food sources), near water wells etc., but not under the Cowboy Stadium!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/070509dnmetmineralrights.3ce41e0.html


Cowboys Stadium site in Arlington isn't expected to be used for gas drilling
10:34 PM CDT on Saturday, July 4, 2009
By JEFF MOSIER / The Dallas Morning News jmosier@dallasnews.com

Natural gas wells could eventually crisscross the rock formations below almost every part of Arlington, but one area is expected to remain off limits.

City Attorney Jay Doegey said that standard language in contracts with the Dallas Cowboys probably would prohibit drilling under the team's new stadium. He said there are concerns – although they are remote – that drilling could affect the building's structural integrity.
"We don't want the ground to give and cause it to crack or sink," Doegey said about the rock beneath the stadium.

The language was put in the contracts long before five small earthquakes shook Cleburne in a single week in early June. Researchers are looking into whether those and many others recently were the result of extensive gas drilling in the underground Barnett Shale formation.
Earthquakes have been rare in North Texas until recently. Thousands of wells have been drilled in the western areas of North Texas in recent years.

Arlington and the Cowboys' decision to include the language could potentially make it harder – but not impossible – to lease the 200-acre stadium site for drilling. The options are already limited since the property is in a developed area.
Attorney Glenn Sodd, who represented some property owners whose land was acquired for the stadium, said this is the first he's heard of the potential ban. It's of particular interest to him because his last group of clients who settled was allowed to keep some mineral rights through a deal that hadn't been publicized before now.

At stake could be thousands of dollars for Sodd's clients and potentially millions for the city.
By banning drilling under the stadium property, the city could only lease the land to drillers if it were "pooled" with adjacent property. The drilling would have to occur under the other property, but revenue would be split among all mineral rights owners.

There are no immediate plans to lease the stadium land for gas drilling, and the market for such leases has slowed dramatically in the past year. The recession and falling natural gas prices have dropped signing bonuses from nearly $30,000 per acre in some areas to about $2,000 to $2,500 per acre.

Doegey said the city hasn't conducted any research to calculate potential dangers of drilling underneath a megastructure like Cowboys Stadium. But he said there has to be a concern about drilling beneath a structure that expensive ($1.15 billion) and that heavy (more than 805 million pounds).

"I don't know that we would want to take the chance, even if it was a long shot," Doegey said.
Parts of the stadium extend about 120 feet below street level. Gas drilling in the Barnett Shale often happens at a depth of about 1 ½ miles (or 7,920 feet).
Ed Ireland, executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, said he's not sure there is any research that would back up the city's stance.
"I'm not aware that there ever has been any correlation between anything that happens on the surface and drilling," he said. "Most of that 8,000 feet is various layers of rock."

Doegey said that when he lived in Southern California, oil extraction had caused some surface collapses and seawater had to be injected into the rock to mitigate that.
Ireland said he's not familiar with what happened in Southern California, but he said that could have been the result of drilling at a shallower depth or a different makeup of the underground formations.

Sodd said he's not too concerned with the city's policy as long as Arlington officials still intend to lease the land eventually. He said that was a significant part of his negotiations with the city.
Arlington officials balked at first, saying that such a deal could potentially allow private property owners to have surface access to the stadium property. One official raised the possible threat of former property owners demanding that a drilling rig be placed in a Cowboys parking lot.
Sodd's clients were among the last to sign a deal with the city, a settlement with no mention of mineral rights. He said he couldn't remember who suggested keeping the mineral rights out of the contract.

While gathering the land needed for the stadium, Arlington bought some property and condemned other tracts. Instead of taking the straightforward route, the city dropped its eminent domain cases against Sodd's clients. He then had a portion of the mineral rights deeded to a company owned by his law firm, according to county records.
Soon after, a deal was struck without having to mention the mineral rights in the public settlement.

Doegey said he wasn't involved in the negotiations on this case. But he said that other property owners weren't as insistent as Sodd's clients about keeping the mineral rights.
Sodd said this type of quiet approach is common in eminent domain cases. He said that many government agencies don't want details of settlements to be released because they could affect negotiations with others.
"If that was their intention, I don't blame them," Sodd said.
Although the mineral rights are now worth only a fraction of what they once were, Sodd said patience could eventually be rewarded.
"The one that is a certainty in the oil and gas business is that prices are going to rise and fall," he said. "The question is not whether it's going to [rise in price], it's when it's going to."

Congress grills experts on Hydraulic Fracking

Here a two videos from the Congressional hearings on the Gas and Oil exemption from the Clean Water Act aka Halliburton Loophole. It is pretty obvious that the Gas and Oil industry are trying to hide something. It looks like the days of secrecy may be coming to an end.

http://vimeo.com/5298837


http://vimeo.com/5367213

Hydraulic Fracking Chemicals Suspected of Causing Health Issues

This video is evidence of why full disclosure of fracking chemicals is needed!

http://vimeo.com/1973850

Citizens Complain About "Bad Odor"

This letter was forwarded to me.

It is in response to bad odors being detected coming from the Cotton Belt Compression Station in the triangle of 635, 121, and 114. DFW Environmental Affairs Department responded to complaints and did testing. They are doing their best to regulate and keep their eye on this common problem. Is it enough? Maybe for DFW airport but not for most North Texans.

This will continue to be a concern as gas drilling gets closer to urban areas. DFW has the money and resources to try to regulate this common problem. Average citizens like us do not. Rural areas of North Texas have been dealing with the problems like this and many others for many years. When this happens in our neighborhoods, it will be more difficult to detect and regulate. Health and safety will be an issue with gas drilling getting closer to highly populated areas and schools. Gas wells are not the only issue with gas drilling. Where there is gas drilling, a compression station and gas gathering pipelines are not far away.

This is good example of why there needs to be better regulation. Texas is in need of a better regulation system. As stated in previous posts, contact the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project. They are forming a chapter in Texas. Great progress has been made by lobbying for bills to protect the citizens, air and water in New Mexico and Colorado. They need support to be ready for the next Legislative Session. Many bills were presented to make it easier on Gas and Oil this session and they didn't pass. Gas and Oil will be pushing even harder now. The Gas and Oil industry spent over 44.5 million in the first 3 months of 2009 lobbying Congress and other federal agencies for their industry. $129 million was spent in 2008. Oil and Gas Accountability Project was able to make a difference. Link is below.

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/676/t/5240/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=4483&track=txOGAPf

Dear XXXX
This summary of DFW Environmental Affairs Department [EAD] recent response actions to odor complaints associate with Chesapeake Energy natural gas mining project being conducted at DFW Airport provides you an update of DFW Environmental Affair’s efforts to identify and reduce sources of odors and provides you a copy of air grab sample laboratory results for your edification.

EAD staff have confirmed natural gas odors emanating from the Cottonbelt Compressor Station consistent with recent 3rd party complaints. EAD collected air grab samples from the compressor station pad on two occasions to determine the constituents and concentrations of contaminants of concern that may be associated with these presenting natural gas process related odors. EAD concerns were shared with Chesapeake Energy site operations personnel as well as Chesapeake's Fort Worth office project manager. A subsequent site meeting confirmed that odors were emanating from both the glycol and BTEX process treatment units. In response to EAD and Chesapeake Energy operations personnel discussions, Chesapeake Energy enacted a reconfiguring of process piping in an effort to mitigate the odorous fugitive emissions. In response to a subsequent complaint from nearby residents, EAD conducted a second round of air sampling at the suspect Cottonbelt Compressor Station. Laboratory analysis [attached pdf files] indicated the presence of very low concentrations of some of the same constituents evident in the first round of air grab samples.



"One sample approached but did not exceed, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Effects Screening Level (ESL) for benzene. This ESL is not a regulated limit"
Benzene is a known carcinogen.


None of the resultant emission concentration levels are considered by OSHA or NIOSH as a worker safety concern. One sample approached, but did not exceed, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality [TCEQ] Effects Screening Level (ESL) for benzene. This ESL is not a regulated limit. We are committed to reducing sources of emissions even in the absence of compelled regulatory drivers. EAD is also responsive to a TCEQ enforced Nuisance Odor Rule in the interest of mitigating odors generated by sources located on Airport.



This is a common problem with compression stations (as confirmed by the EAD staff to be a common problem in the Oil & Gas Industry and stated below). But we all know gas companies are not forth coming about incidents like this.



DFW Airport’s Board of Directors, executive and senior management team is committed to beyond compliance environmental stewardship Airport-wide. DFW’s Environmental Management System (EMS) provides an umbrella of environmental compliance, and beyond compliance response action policies, procedures, monitoring and verification protocols applicable to DFW Board, tenant and contractor activities across the board. Chesapeake’s Fort Worth based project manager has stated that Chesapeake is working to eliminate the odor sources to the extent possible. EAD staff have been assured by Chesapeake Energy that Chesapeake has the capability and resources to effectively address sources of fugitive emissions. EAD staff research confirmed that compressor station emissions are a common problem throughout the oil & gas industry; and that there are mitigation measures available to reduce industry related sources of emissions.




"EAD will continue to press Chesapeake to further identify and mitigate fugitive emissions etc. etc." It would be more comforting if it were possible to demand it or no drilling but unfortunately for all of us, that isn't how it works. BETTER REGULATION IS NEEDED!



I hope you find this summary of efforts in progress and laboratory results helpful. EAD will continue to press Chesapeake to further identify and mitigate fugitive emissions going-forward and to deploy effective odor mitigation technology and best management practices. Please let me know if you require additional information or clarification at this time.
Sincerely,

Dan Bergman, M.S., J.D.,
Vice President Environmental Affairs