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Hauling fracking explosives through our streets

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As Fish Creek Monitor reminded us, fracking, It’s a Blast.

Did you think those perforations that blow holes in the casing to allow the fracking fluid into the formation just happen by themselves? They either load the perf guns full of explosives at the site, or they haul loaded perf guns through our streets to the drill site. Either way, it’s another example of why fracking is not clean, not safe and it’s not the answer.

In the photo below, it appears that loaded perf guns–explosive–are being hauled through the streets of this town.

PerfGuns

You will need to view a larger version of the photo HERE to see the “Explosives” sign.  It appears the trailer is loaded with pipe and that pipe is explosive. I’m going to take a wild guess that those pipes are loaded perf guns and  they are hauling those loaded perf guns though the streets of our towns and neighborhoods. We know that hugh quantities of explosives are stored in drilling areas.  You can see a video of the perf process at Fish Creek Monitor.

This from the citizen who took the photo:

Pickup truck pulling small ranch trailer loaded with small pipes w/exlposives. Note sign at front of trailer. Location main downtown intersection Broadway and Esplanade at 3:00 pm in heavy traffic. Cuero TX Dewitt County. Reported to local police dispatcher. Please post. In a few days there will be school buses in this traffic at this hour.

Explosives on the same streets with our families and school buses.

PLEASE SEE COMMENTS for more informaiton!

This post was translated into French.

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.

Comments

  1. Another Alberta Neighbour says

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq0AAXlYk3Q

    “I wonder what would happen if there was a surface detonation.”

    Here’s an example:

    On September 12, 2005, Employees #1 and #2 were conducting oil and gas well wire line activities in the conversion of a well into an injection disposal well. They had logged the well, set an explosive bridge plug, and cemented the plug. They prepared an electrically initiated perforating gun that consisted of 36 shape charges in an 11-ft-long steel tube that was to be lowered into the well. The gun accidently discharged, and Employee #1 was hit with at least one charge on the upper thighs, which nearly severed both legs. Employee #2 was blown back onto the service rig floor and wellhead area. He had shrapnel wounds over his entire body and sustained nerve damage to a leg. Both employees were airlifted to a hospital. Employee #1 died upon arrival, and Employee #2 was treated and hospitalized until the next day. After he was released he required further medical treatment. The wire line was still energized from the prior logging activity and a check for the presence of electrical energy on the wire line was not conducted. This test would have shown electrical energy present on the wire line center conductor, and in all likelihood would have prevented the accident.
    https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accidentsearch.accident_detail?id=200643302

    More perf gun fatalities in America: https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/AccidentSearch.search?acc_keyword=%22Perforating%20Gun%22&keyword_list=on

    Below copied from a document I found on the internet and saved years ago (and to think Encana perforated repeatedly into my community’s drinking water aquifers):

    PERFORATING GUN DISCHARGE AT SURFACE IN ALBERTA, File: F-310462
    Date of Incident: 99 09 09
    Type of Incident: Fatal

    On September 9th, 1999 at approximately 13:00, a tool used to perforate well casing to allow the flow of oil into the wellbore explosively discharged prematurely, fatally injuring one worker and seriously injuring another.

    Alberta Human Resources and Employment, Workplace Health and Safety investigated the accident and concluded the following are contributing factors to this incident:

    • Safe industry practice and the contractor’s procedures were not followed when an armed perforating device was removed from a well casing.

    • Safe industry practice and the contractor’s procedures were not followed when the perforating device was being prepared for use, prior to returning the device to the well casing.

    • The worker responsible for the perforating activity did not effectively control the designated blasting area, while the perforating device was being prepared for use.

    • The worker responsible for the perforating activity was not sufficiently familiar with industry practice, or competent regarding company policies and procedures, products being used at the lease site, and the regulations pertaining to explosive safety in Alberta.

    • The worker responsible for the perforating activity had not received instruction from his employer concerning the “Baker Atlas Cased Hole Operations Manual – Explosives Safety, General Operating Procedures and Explosives Checklist”.
    …
    Prior to sending the perforating device back down the well, the Blaster decided
    to “check the circuitry”. The Blaster connected two white wires together, and
    instructed his Helper to “short together” the remaining red and white wires
    when the Blaster signalled from the wireline vehicle. The Blaster returned to
    the wireline vehicle and hand-signalled the Helper to short the “wires
    together”, the Blaster then applied power to the circuit via the control panel
    located in the wireline vehicle control cab.

    12.7 The perforating device discharged on the catwalk once the test was initiated, fatally injuring the Consultant who was standing next to the perforating device, and seriously injuring the Helper.

    12.8 The Owner’s emergency response number and 911 were immediately
    contacted, with the RCMP, STARS air ambulance and ground ambulances
    responding to the accident scene.

    12.9 The Consultant was pronounced dead at the lease site. The Helper was
    transported to the hospital via STARS air ambulance.
    …
    Based on the information collected at the scene, the following factors
    contributed to this incident:

    13.2.1 When the perforating device was removed from the well and placed on the catwalk, the Blaster disarmed the perforating device electrically, but failed to disarm it ballistically by removing the detonator from the detonator cord (See
    Attachment “B”, Drawing # 1).

    13.2.2 Prior to sending the perforating device down the well the second time, the Blaster decided to “check the circuitry”. The Blaster thought he had connected the detonator wires together, when in fact the wires were misidentified and a circuit was created, allowing the perforating device to be electrically armed. When the remaining two wires were shorted together by the Helper, and power applied to the circuit by the Blaster, the perforating device discharged….

    13.2.3 The Blaster had not received instruction from his employer concerning the
    “Baker Atlas Cased Hole Operations Manual – Explosives Safety, General
    Operating Procedures and Explosives Checklist”, or their video titled
    “Perforating Safety”. Both of these documents describe in detail the
    Contractor’s required work processes, including the requirement to “disarm the
    gun by reversing the arming sequence”, and the additional reference to follow
    safety procedures described in the “GENERAL and ARMING THE GUN”
    sections of their manual. Although an abbreviated list of perforating
    procedures were posted on the wall of the wireline vehicle control cab, the
    Blaster had not received instruction in these, nor did the posted procedures
    sufficiently address all of the necessary procedures, protocols or parameters of
    testing outlined in the “Baker Atlas Cased Hole Operations Manual –
    Explosives Safety, General Operating Procedures and Explosives Checklist”,
    or the video.

    13.2.4 The Blaster had only used the Supplier’s Top Fire Sub arrangement and this
    type of detonator on one other occasion. The Blaster had not received
    equipment-specific training, instruction or literature concerning the Supplier’s
    Top Fire Sub product.

    While preparing the explosives, the Blaster failed to assert direction and
    control over the 45 metre blasting area (See Attachment “B”, Drawing #3).
    13.2.6 Design of the Supplier’s Top Fire Sub, and time constraints imposed by the
    Blaster’s immediate supervisor, may have influenced the Blaster’s decision not
    to disarm the perforating device ballistically.

    13.2.7 When the Blaster initially assembled the perforating device, the only wire that was readily identifiable was the red ground wire. The remaining feed wire and two detonator wires were white. The lack of a wire colour coding or
    identification protocol may have contributed to the misidentification of wiring.
    It should be noted that this would not normally be a factor if the perforating
    device was handled in strict accordance with the Contractor’s procedures, or
    safe industry practice.

    13.2.8 The Contractor’s wireline vehicle was not properly equipped to perform the function intended. At the lease site, the Blaster did not have the appropriate portable magazine for storing detonators, the required detonator blast shield, or the proper detonator crimpers. It should be noted that although the required electrical test equipment was present at the lease site, all of the required checks were not performed, nor was the keyed safety switch electrical lockout protocol followed.

      • Sr. Elizabeth Riebschlaeger says

        Sharon,
        Thanks for covering this. NOTE one correction: this picture was not taken at Main and Esplanade as I had told you, but at Broadway and Esplanade, an even busier intersection that is constantly seeing all kinds of industry trucks carrying condensate, gasoline, oilfield waste headed for disposal wells north and south of Cuero, fracking sand, heavy equipment, fracking crews, rigs in transport, pipes of all kinds, fracking chemicals in transport and of course, probably more explosives.

        The Exxon station on the right has several pumps at this intersection’s corner, and across the street is Shell station. On the diagonal corner from the Exxon station is a McDonald’s which is always very busy. Also traveling through this intersection (US77A/US 183 and US 87) are cars, pickup trucks, ranchers pulling trailers of livestock headed for the auction barn outside town, families and fishermen headed for vacations or fishing trips to the coast, supply trucks of all kinds headed for Victoria, and soon, many school buses loaded with children bound for their school days or home, and high school athletes and pep squads headed for games, etc. An explosion at this intersection would be a true disaster and is only 3 blocks from downtown Main Street. Not a nice picture.

        Our alert Mayor is pursuing this incident with the appropriate city officials.
        I’m calling TxDOT to see what the regulations are for transporting explosives in the State of Texas. Surely, some citizens must have ordinances dealing with this horrific potential.

        Oh, and by the way: I suggest “Holy Guacamole!!! as an exclamation phrase. Probably more people prefer guacamole than the other substance. I’ll get you a Barton Springs Road, Austin Chuy’s tee shirt that has that phrase on the back. That’s for keeping the fracking story before Texas, the US and the world.

  2. BH says

    Thanks Sharon.

    Interesting side note#1: The type of explosives used in fracking perf guns are some of the highest explosives ever invented: RDX, HMX, TATB, HNS, and others.

    Side note#2: I had previously found 3 patents which mention in passing that Depleted Uranium is used in the “shaped charge” of the perf gun. One of them is by Owen Oil Tools, who made the video you provided.

    US20060266551 Schlumberger
    US20070240599 Owen Oil Tools
    US20110000669 Halliburton

    http://williamahuston.blogspot.com/2013/07/halliburtonschlumberger-radiation.html

    According to Google Patents, it turns out that there are more like 122 patents on using Depleted Uranium in Perf Guns:

    http://tinyurl.com/l5ltxvt

    When DU burns, it turns into a fine powder. Do you think any aerosolized DU is coming back up when they vent or flare right after a well is completed? Is this getting into our air?

    Next is, as anyone looked at the health impacts of DU in fracking perf guns?

    • Sr. Elizabeth Riebschlaeger says

      Can anyone tell me what possible use that depleted uranium has in a fracking operation?? My understanding is that terrorists would like to use it in building “dirty bombs”, i.e. wrapped around an explosive device so that it would be scattered into the air, thus spreading deadly radiation into a circle around the exploded device. The uranium is not for use as an explosive in this case–as I understand it. This potential is why depleted uranium is so heavily guarded–or at least WAS. Of course, am not a nuclear scientist or explosives expert.

      Also, C-4, the same plastics explosive that brought down Pan AM 108 over Scotland many years ago, is also used in fracking by some companies. Need I say more?

      Just hope no terrorist walked up to this small trailer somewhere and helped themselves to a perf gun–if that is indeed what these “explosives” were. Where is Homeland Security when we need them??? Looks like we need a “Neighborhood Watch” for our highways and byways.

  3. Alberta Neighbor says

    No kidding holy shit.

    That youtube shows only one perf gun going off at a time, how many perf guns are in the back of that trailer … which I’m sure must be sporting an invisible force field and shrapnel-proof-chain-link-protector-shields.

    • frackit says

      ok, there is some truth and a lot of fiction going on in this comment section. So, here we go.

      1) yes, RDX, PETN, HMX and other explosives are extremely powerful when detonated. However, they are used in fracturing ops because they are incredibly stable and insensitive to external stimulation unless detonated with a specifically designed detonation device containing a more volatile explosive (and said explosives are carried in US DOT compliant packing separate from all other explosive materials). For example, you can shoot RDX with an AK-47 and it will just get holes in it, or light it on fire and it will just burn.

      2) those perf guns pictured could be loaded, but not with any shape charges or detonation devices. As per US DOT regulations, said explosives must be stored and transported in much safer ways than rolling around in a trailer. The vehicle pictured is placarded for explosives in compliance with regulation, and odds are that if those perf guns are loaded, it is with miniscule amounts of secondary explosive (the really insensitive type). the placard does not mean the trailer.

      3) Depleted Uranium is not used in shape charges. No radioactive material is used in shape charges, it’s horribly illegal and would be a poor perforating agent. Shape charges rely on metals that will particulate readily when heated instantly by a blast, so that the metal can serve the purpose of what you might call a “plasma jet” in the direction of the “shape” of the charge.
      Radioactive materials are only used in contained sources, and they are not holding Uranium. Most radioactive sources used emit gamma radiation that can be compared to that of an X-ray machine commonly found in a doctor’s office. Nobody blows up uranium in the US.

  4. Fish Creek Neighbor says

    Hopefully, these perf guns are not loaded. A Railroad Commission representative told us that OnStar is not to be used near these perf guns on drill sites since the signal could accidentally detonate a charge with disastrous consequences.

    • TXsharon says

      So, if they aren’t loaded when they go through our streets, they will have to be loaded when they get to the site, which means the explosives to load into the perf guns will go though our streets and sit at the site and get loaded into the guns at the site, near our homes and schools and churches and athletic fields and…

      Either way…

          • WCGasette says

            But it very well could be the PERF Gun transport truck. It’s not like they would necessarily have one for Pre-PERF and After-PERF. Maybe they would need two different drivers or at least one driver who has no idea what he’s transporting. Or maybe the 1st driver says “See ya later” after he drops off the guns and gets his $$$$. We know they don’t pay all that much attention to the signage in some areas of the state.
            WCGasette recently posted..Perforating the Horizontal Wellbore: The DocumentaryMy Profile

  5. WCGasette says

    A Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for a Perf Gun is definitely a killer. It contains lots of skulls and crossbones.

    And we have been told that different skull and crossbone types of ingredients are used depending on the perfing contractor. Our city’s (and maybe yours) Gas Drilling Ordinance doesn’t even address the PERFING process.

    Here’s just one company’s contribution to helping industry get all excited about PERFING. The “History of Perfing” Movie. Get some popcorn. If you like violent movies, this movie has some big bazookas. AND listen to the wrap up for how it’s described as an advanced “ballistic system for optimizing oil and gas assets.”

    No mention of how it will affect our communities or possibly endanger our lives or other living creatures. Look over to the right sidebar there on Youtube (at the link) to see lots of “Well Completion Videos,” also known as “Perfing and Fracking.”

    In the Barnett Shale (East, Newark Field) there are specific field rules that have allowed the industry to create NPZs (No Perf Zones) on the horizontal wellbores. This means that property owners of tracts of land that are NOT leased on a Pooled Unit AND that are within 330 feet of the unperfed wellbore (down there in the shale) must (unless they choose to ignore the process, and many do) travel to Austin, TX and go before the Railroad Commission of Texas Hearings Examiner to argue their case.

    So, under very strict timelines and after wading through paperwork with complex legal language that arrives in their mail, mineral owners must appear in Austin, Texas at the designated time and date. They must then present their case for NOT allowing the minerals to be mined (via perfing and fracking) from the wellbore (already drilled through the shale) and situated below and within 330 feet from their surface property line.

    They do this before a team of attorneys and witnesses (representing the operator). Out of thousands of these cases (in the Barnett Shale), only one (that we know about) has ever been won (due to a notification error).

    Everyone else that “chooses” to go through the bizarre “Barnett Shale Rule 37 Spacing Exception Dog and Pony Show” has been eventually told (in no uncertain terms) that they have NO right to prevent the taking of the minerals from below their personal property because it would be considered “WASTE” of minerals in the state of Texas. And to waste minerals is against the laws of our state. Case closed. AMEN!.
    WCGasette recently posted..Rest in Peace Mrs. Jackson.My Profile

  7. Mike K says

    Never mind the 20 gallons of liquid explosives stored in a tank under your seat. Or the danger of multi ton hunks of metal hurtling along mere feet from smashing you in a head on collision that would likely lead to your untimely death, or serious injury.

    Car accidents kill enough people to fill up a few pro hockey arenas every year. How many people have been injured by perf guns inadvertently firing out on a highway?

    Scare tactics.

    Also, not so subtle irony in the fact that car the photographer is driving is made of and powered by fracking, as is the camera, the servers hosting the picture, and this site itself.

    Bitching about fracking… brought to you by fracking.

    Not a lot of leading by example with your lot. I suppose this is why you always advocate a ban on drilling, not a ban on the use of oil and gas. That would hit a bit too close to home.

    • WCGasette says

      Mike, did you know that according to the Centers for Disease Control ~ suicide rates now surpass car accidents per year?

      […]
      In 2010 [the latest year that suicide rates are available] there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides.
      […]

      Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in the United States

      So, it now looks as if we’re more likely to die by suicide than in a car accident! If the oil and gas industry is making life so much better in the USA (as we’re told constantly in the commercials and promotional spots) those numbers of suicides should not be rising at these disturbing rates.

      So, really, it only seems fair that the oil and gas industry should spend a good portion of their billions on healthcare since so many Texans and Americans are making huge sacrifices for them to drill, perforate, frack and lay pipeline networks throughout our communities and so close to our backyards and school playgrounds.

      It’s clear that all Americans and Texans will need access to very affordable and excellent healthcare and mental healthcare in the future ~ based on the current realities of living on top of these industrialized, fossil fuel shale formations that cover our country.

      Think.About.It.
      WCGasette recently posted..Perforating the Horizontal Wellbore: The DocumentaryMy Profile

        • TXsharon says

          I particularly like that comment and was going to make a best comment award so please enlighten us exactly how misguided that comment is. Be specific please.

          • Alberta Neighbor says

            Time’s up for wr755a, please make your best comment award.

            Thank you.

            WCGasette, that’s a startling statistic and a great comment, thanks for the info.

    • Alberta Neighbor says

      “Never mind the 20 gallons of liquid explosives stored in a tank under your seat. Or the danger of multi ton hunks of metal hurtling along mere feet from smashing you in a head on collision that would likely lead to your untimely death, or serious injury.”

      It sounds like you’re pretty well informed and aware of the risks. Makes it easier to drive defensively when you have an idea of what might be coming at you. Did someone share that information with you at some point?

      Fortunately, driving is a choice, you can weigh those risks, hone your skills, and decide to drive, or not.

      Unfortunately, frac’ing and the toxic industrialization of our communities is not a choice. It is being shoved down our throats at an alarming rate, and the industry, regulators and governments are hardly forthcoming with the risks, nor do they publicly acknowledge or address the damages.

      The “not so subtle irony” here, is “bitching about” people who have been frac’d, blindsided and harmed – when you yourself, have not.

      Actually, I think that’s more cruel than ironic.

  8. TW says

    Question for Mike~

    Do you live near any gas sites? If so, how close? If not, would you want to?

  9. TW says

    They never answer my questions. I ask the same questions every time I see a pro-drller posting here, and they never answer.

      • TXsharon says

        I have not deleted anything so it must be another operator error. I can answer that question though, Mike.

        Mike Knapp is a particularly venomous Landman in PA. He has his own blog where he tries to be a Joe Camel. He needs to be very careful about what he says here.

        • Another Alberta Neighbour says

          Speaking of land agents …

          Grand jury indicts Pa. man over drilling leases Aug 20, 2013, WTRF
          A Pittsburgh grand jury has indicted a man on mail and wire fraud charges related to natural gas drilling leases. Prosecutors say in a Tuesday release that 33-year-old Derek A. Candelore of Jeannette worked as a landman, trying to get mineral rights owners to sign gas drilling leases. Authorities allege that Candelore used forged signatures, fake companies and forged notary signatures and stamps to acquire mineral rights to four separate blocks of land in Washington County, south of Pittsburgh. The alleged frauds began in 2010 and ended in June, 2012. Candelore also allegedly used the fake names of Dan Kun and Kevin Kelly. The indictment seeks the forfeiture of nearly $1.2 million in proceeds and could result in prison time and fines.

  10. TW says

    I see. So Mike is just another pro-driller who doesn’t have a gas/industrial site in his own backyard. And likely would never live near one.

    I wonder how he sleeps at night, destroying peoples’ lives for greed.

    Good luck to him when Karma comes calling.

  11. Mike K says

    We Drilled a well less than 100 yards from my house.

    Drilled a well 75′ off back porch of the president of the company.

    Drilled one 75′ off the back of our president’s parents house, and one about 100′ from his grandparents house and my parents house (they are neighbors).

    Drilled a well 100′ off the front porch of our VP of Operations house.

    The property we just moved from had a large compressor station 100′ off our property line.

    We practice what we preach. To us, it is important to show our neighbors in the community that we would never ask them to do something we wouldn’t do in our own backyards. And I’m actually a pretty easy guy to get along with. Just get a bit defensive when demonized by people who have never even met me.

    • TXsharon says

      Oh I totally believe you, Mike, because I have no reason not to. Oh wait! I actually do have a very good reason to not believe you. So, I call BS on the mister nice guy routine.

    • Alberta Neighbor says

      “We Drilled a well less than 100 yards from my house.

      Drilled a well 75′ off back porch of the president of the company.

      Drilled one 75′ off the back of our president’s parents house, and one about 100′ from his grandparents house and my parents house (they are neighbors).

      Drilled a well 100′ off the front porch of our VP of Operations house.”

      Water wells don’t count Mike.

      “The property we just moved from had a large compressor station 100′ off our property line.”

      That however, speaks volumes.

  12. TW says

    If all of what you described is true (everyone in your life living on top of gas sites and loving it), that’s rare. So rare, I’ve never heard of anything like it. I’m very skeptical of the claims, but I’m allowed to be, and you shouldn’t take it so hard. In other words: grow a set.

    I have very, very tragic reasons for my feelings about gas sites being so close to residences. Someday, you may say the same.