I might have mentioned this once or maybe even twice before, but Big Gas is trying to turn hydraulic fracturing regulation into a states’ rights issue. I’m not the only one calling them on their Barnett Shale.
Here’s a good example from Texas Railroad Commissioner, Victor Carrillo:
Victor Carrillo has been quoted repeatedly saying “The feds are intruding on areas of traditional state sovereignty,” in regards to the FRAC Act.
“The feds are intruding on areas of traditional state sovereignty,” Carrillo said.
The federal government is looking to oversee hydraulic fracturing and add regulation, according to Carrillo. Current chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Henry Waxman opposes hydraulic fracturing and the administration will likely tackle the issue after they deal with health care, Carrillo said.
Here is the truth:
Some people have generously referred to Carrillo’s statement as “intellectually dishonest.” I’m not so generous with an elected official who is paid with my hard-earned tax dollars. This statement by Carrillo is an outright, intentional lie intended as a dog whistle to the rabid right. If my son had told me such a lie, he would learn that there are consequences for lying.
If you read the opinion piece, Drillers gassing on about support for state regulations, you will see that Texas is not alone.
Yes, Susan Greene, the hypocrisy is stunning and the lying is criminal.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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The Feds is our one and only hope. The RRC does NOT regulate ANY IMPORTANT aspect of oil and gas drilling & production in TX. If it's given to the RRC, NO REGULATION will result!
While 40% of the water supplies in communities throughout the country continue to be contaminated by countless types of chemical runoff to levels deemed unacceptable by the Safe Water Drinking Act, these people are spending every waking hour campaigning specifically against the oil and gas industry.
Where can one find an affiliated blog that spends every waking hour campaigning against the REAL sources of contaminated drinking water, which include agricultural/chemical runoff (can you say 'caustic soda'?), landfills, injetion wells seepage, illegal industrial waste disposal, and inadequte urban stormwater control?
They will take a single case (out of thousands and thousands of wells) of a bad casing job on a well in which some frac fluid was able to enter a formation (albiet not even near groundwater) and turn it into a stronghold for their attacks.
They will claim that the frac fluid that enters the formation(s) via the perforations in the production casing travels up the lithology and into the groundwater, then when this is shown to be impossibly false they will retort with something like "it travels up the annulus and into the groundwater". Yes, it will if somehow it penetrates the surface casing (which is typically a half inch thick) and the cement (which is typically about one and a half inches thick).
Attackers like to pinpoint the fact that drillers "are putting harmful chemicals into the ground", and how potentially harmful these chemicals COULD be if they happened to contaminate the groundwater. What they fail to cover is the documented, incredibly remote statistical possibility that a condition becomes present to even allow frac fluid to come near a groundwater source.
If you want to campaign against agriculture and other dirty industries, be my guest. The oil industry keeps me plenty busy and there are lots of people working on those other industries.
A single case?" Nice try! There are hundreds and hundreds of cases of water contamination following hydraulic fracture.
Let me get this right: Your industry shows up with bulldozers and starts dozing private property and you have the nerve to call me an "atacker."
el oh el! You're TWISTED
Typical example of O&G twisted mind boggling way of thinking. Blame the problem on someone else. Now agriculture is plenty bad, but they are not trying to pack sand up our behinds and hide the problem like O&G is–and always has done. Now, know that a bad cement job around casing can allow frac fluids to perculate up outside the casing–no leaking casing! Also, a perfect cement job, after fracking, can be ruined from vertical fracking and allow vertical migration outside the casing. Also, many other ways that your frigging fracking is damaging our aquifer water.
There is only one problem with all of this.Henry Waxman and his other statesmen don't care.They will use this to tax O&G. They will still get our gas and we willpay more here in Texas.
Anon 5:21:
Your ignorance and shallowness is stunning!