Today was a bad news day for fracking

This is a very busy time for me with early voting in Denton. The “Responsible Drilling” hired guns at the polls are misleading voters about how to vote so they must be constantly watched. And today has been a busy day for some rather bad news for fracking. I’m popping in there with some random thoughts about today’s news.

First up:

New Report: FRACKING’S TOXIC LOOPHOLE: Thanks to the “Halliburton Loophole,” Hydraulic Fracturing Companies Are Injecting Chemicals More Toxic than Diesel

Using information from FracFocus, the Environmental Integrity Project found that the fracking industry is using chemicals with 10 to 50 times more benzene than diesel. Remember that only 1/4 teaspoon of benzene will contaminate an olympic sized pool of water. One example from Texas:

Between August 22 and 28, 2014, Blackbrush O&G, LLC, injected nearly 150,000 gallons of base fluid containing up to 9% benzene – or 14,300 gallons –into a well in Dimmit County, Texas. That is as much benzene as contained in 14.3 million gallons of diesel fluid with a maximum concentration of 0.1% benzene.

Next, we could have done something earlier but we pretended there was a debate and waited three years:

Energy Department: U.S. must act now on methane emissions

This is the same Energy Department whose leader, Dr. Chu, proclaimed the Howarth/Ingraffea study as not credible. Seems Chu was wrong and Howarth/Ingraffea were right. Too bad we wasted three years and allowed more methane to vent from the wells into the air.

ICYMI,

We released some FLIR videos yesterday taken in and around Denton that show the emissions are a chronic problem. Important to note that natural gas is methane. So Denton is doing it’s part to speed up the climate crisis. Think about that then vote FOR the ordinance to prohibit hydraulic fracturing in the city limits of Denton.

Industry likes to claim that FLIR videos only show hot air. Are we supposed to believe that industry, state and federal regulators are spending millions for cameras that show hot air? (rhetorical question) I made a home video that shows no hot air:

Texas received some Doctor’s orders from the top toxicologist in the state:

No running, no gardening and don’t walk your dog because you need to stay inside. No joke, Texas air is that bad.

Texas’ Top Toxicologist: EPA’s New Smog Regulations Unnecessary, Just Stay Indoors

Pièce de résistance

The last bit of news tells us that McCarthyism is alive and well in Denton, Texas. There are two video interviews of councilman Roden who busts some of the misinformation being circulated by all 2 of the “Responsible Drilling” advocates in Denton along with their buddies from industry.