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Oilfield waste pipe ruptures in Eagle Ford Shale killing trees, contaminating water and cattle

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And it’s not the first time this has happened on Adrian Opiela, Jr’s ranch. The 2 inch fiberglass pipe that ruptured is about 60 years old yet.

The article says “many large oak trees” were killed and two that are about 150 years old are threatened. The waste flowed into a new stock pond and there may be a quarantine of the man’s cattle. Some cattle were quarantined in the Marcellus Shale because they drank drilling waste. Later they all gave birth to dead calves.

There are some good photos posted with the article.

Flowline rupture contaminates property
by Joe Baker

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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.

Comments

  1. Alberta Neighbor says

    I feel a strong connection, but I just can’t put my finger on it …

    “A Houston-based pipeline company responsible for three major oil spills in Alberta in three consecutive years has a questionable safety record in both the United States and Canada, according to regulatory documents.

    On June 15 Plains Midstream, a subsidiary of Plains All American Pipelines reported a 1,000 barrel condensate spill near Manning, Alberta.

    More than 40 workers are involved in cleaning up the highly toxic condensate which is used to dilute thick bitumen so it can move through pipelines.

    The Midstream spill follows another hazardous rupture on an Apache-owned pipeline near Zama City. It contaminated 42 hectares of muskeg with 60,000 barrels of toxic waste water.”

    I wonder what 60,000 barrels of toxic waste water will look like flowing through a city …

    http://thetyee.ca/News/2013/06/17/Alberta-Oil-Spill/

  2. ETB says

    Fiberglass pipelines were recalled in the 1980s because the break down after 20 years and were only intended for extremely low pressures. The reason the last patch didn’t work is because they don’t even make the patch kit anymore – so it’s likely that the company just used the metal patch kit and it has a different expansion and contraction rate than fiberglass so it doesn’t really work. Probably leaked for years before it came to the surface.

      • ETB says

        In fact, Chevron recently pulled a bunch of old flowlines on our ranch that were fiberglass and they had multiple metal clamps (made to patch metal pipelines) on the fiberglass pipelines and then had lots of duct tape on the ends. metal clamps don’t work on fiberglass pipelines. One can actually see they don’t fit and seep – so Chevron wraps the duct tape so that it will seep underground and take years to come to the surface. Its just the way it’s done.

        • Ghostlogger says

          Wow, I thought it was only XOM using duct tape on the flowlines, from your old blog. Chevron as well?

  3. GhostBlogger says

    Note that this is Apache based in Houston.

    http://beaconnews.ca/blog/2013/06/apache-pipeline-spill-first-nation-ndp-express-concerned-over-safety-measures/

    Dene Tha’ First Nation, Alberta NDP calling for more safety measures after Apache pipeline spill

    The Dene Tha’ First Nation and Alberta NDP are questioning the effectiveness of safety measures after an Apache pipeline spill leaked approximately 57,000 barrels (9.5 million litres) of “produced water” in northern Alberta.

    The Dene Tha’ said they are worried that the spill may contain a number of materials, including hydrocarbons, sulphurous compounds, metals, radioactive materials and chemicals.

    In a release sent on Thursday, the Dene Tha’ said the spill may have contaminated the water and killed fish, birds and wildlife.

    • Alberta Neighbor says

      This is from your link Ghostblogger:

      “A spokesman for the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) told Beacon News the water is not toxic.

      ‘There have been some reports referring to it as toxic waste but that’s not really accurate when you look at the definition of those terms,’ Bob Curran said.

      ‘Produced water has a high saline content, which is of concern when it gets into contact with vegetation. In this case there are trace levels of hydrocarbons, but there is predominately a high salt content.’

      Curran said he could not give anymore information until tests are completed.”

      I think that should include a regulator taste-test. Nice that Bob comes to the conclusion it’s not toxic before the tests are completed … go figure.

      I think Apache is really fortunate to have such unwavering support from our “world-class” regulator, I suppose that’s to be expected since they’re now 100% funded by the industry they’re supposed to regulate. Comforting to see how well our 2 countries work together.

      “The wastewater spill near Zama City, Alberta, at 9.5 million litres, is North America’s biggest in recent history.

      … The spill is Alberta’s tenth largest ‘produced water’ spill since 1975, Global News reported.

      In that time, Apache has been responsible for 949 spills – 517 of which have been produced water spills.

      Produced water is a salty chemical that contains hydrocarbons, radioactive material and additional substances, Global reports.

      … James Ahnassay, chief of the Dene Tha First Nation, told the Globe and Mail ‘every plant and tree died’ in the area affected by the Apache spill.”

      http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/13/zama-city-spill-largest-in-recent-history_n_3435913.html

  4. Andy Mechling says

    So this 60 year-old fiberglass pipe carries produced water to a nearby injection well? That seems a little odd, and raises several questions in my mind about the nature of that injection well….
    In any case; I hope that everybody will recognize by now that
    Saltwater aint what it used to be. Salinity is not the biggest concern here.