The most toxic substance on earth:
NORM
(Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material)
The following is a Daily News Alert from the Denton Record Chronicle that I received in an email. You can subscribe here. This alert tells about an upcoming article by award winning journalist Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe where she uncovers a secret that Barnett Shale operators don’t want us to know.
At the Barnett Shale symposium in Fort Worth, I purposely asked the Devon Energy representative if there was any sour gas in the Barnett Shale. His hasty reply was “No, there is no sour gas in the Barnett Shale.” Sour gas contains NORM. I suspected then that he was lying because, just a few days before the symposium, I heard about an incident in Saginaw…
Edit: As pointed out by a commenter, the sour gas question appears to have been the wrong question. I should have just asked about NORM. I was relying on information from someone who claimed that NORM = sour gas. Lesson Learned: I won’t rely on that person’s information again without verification. However, that does not decrease the dangers posed by a buildup of NORM in our backyards, air and drinking water. I am most anxious to see what Peggy has to say.
It is important to remember that the decontamination instances mentioned below were hidden from the public and information about those instances was obtained ONLY through FOI requests which seems to blow the other commenter’s premise completely out of the polluted water.
Daily News Alert
10:53 AM CST on Friday, November 9, 2007
Greetings from the Denton Record-Chronicle newsroom.
Get ready to have your eyes opened about a little known effect of gas-well drilling.
Reporter Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe has been working on a project for more than a month that will tell you about something called NORM.
More on that in a minute.
For several years now, Denton County has been at the center of a gas-well drilling boom. On many, many plots of rural land – and on some urban plots – gas wells are busy pulling natural gas from the Barnett Shale underneath us. I am not a geology expert, but the shale is rich with natural gas, and we need that natural gas to light up our stoves, ovens, hot water heaters and gas-log fireplaces.
For those who own land and, more specifically, the mineral rights to that land, the boom has been an easy way to make hundreds, thousands, even millions.
But, Peggy will tell you about a potential danger from all this.
A dangerous byproduct comes up out of the Barnett Shale, along with the natural gas. It’s called naturally occurring radioactive material, or NORM.
Scientists worldwide all agree that continued exposure to radioactive material leads to cancer and other health problems.
Here’s an excerpt from Peggy’s story, coming soon:
Statewide, 140 such sites were decontaminated from January 2005 to the present, according to documents obtained in an open records request to the Department of State Health Services, which oversees disposal of the state’s hottest radioactive waste.
Moreover, 25 of those decontamination sites were in Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties, the core counties of the Barnett Shale. The clean-ups signal that fracing — the water-guzzling process that busts the gas out of the shale — could be pulling up much more than energy companies have bargained for, experts say.
Click here to see a slideshow on NORM and gas-well drilling in the area.
Here are some of the astounding numbers she will tell you:
* Cubic feet of gas produced in the Barnett Shale since 2000: 2.6 trillion
* MCF (thousand cubic feet) of gas produced in Denton County in 2007: 884,662,302
* Median gallons of produced water per MCF of gas in Denton County: 2,226
* Barrels of NORM waste removed from Denton County since 2005: about 85
* Disposal cost per barrel: $150 to $300
* Number of permitted gas well operators in Denton County: 67
We cannot tell you that Person A, B or C has gotten cancer from the gas wells around us. We do not know, and wouldn’t begin to make that assumption without proof.
But we can tell alert you to the potential danger, and we can say, “Let the discussion begin.” What do you think? We want to know. E-mail Peggy at pheinkelwolfe@dentonrc.com . She wants to hear from you.
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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If you wanted to know about NORM then you should have asked about NORM. Sour gas (H2S) and NORM are two totally different things. And the Devon rep was right. There is no sour gas in the Barnett Shale. Maybe you would have got the asnwer you were looking for had you asked the right question.
When the crazies planned to blow up the gas plant in Bridgeport, they thought their was sour gas at the plant. Devon said at the time there is no sour gas in at the plant or in the Barnett Shale.
Too many locals work in the industry that know the truth. Sorry, no secrets are hidden dangers.
Anon 9:12: You are right. I should have asked a different question. Unfortunately, I was relying on information from a person who claims to be an expert and who claimed that NORM proved there was sour gas. Normally I try to verify the information and, I won’t rely on that person’s information again without verification.
Anon 6:03: It’s a little challenging to discern the meaning from your words but you seem to be saying that because local people, employed by the oil and gas operators are not aware of industry secrets and hidden dangers that means there are none. How naive! Our country has a very long history of workers being used as collateral damage in the quest for profits. It’s no different here, in fact, it’s much worse.
Burn off’s or Flaring, which is done frequently in the Barnett Shale, (as witnessed by You Sharon in your pictures from this very blog)is a process by which they burn the “Sour Gas” off at the well head. According to the state of Michigan before a hearing at the Michigan Public Service Commission (Case no. V-11445) “Sour gas is natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide, a highly toxic and corosive gas. Before Sour gas can be used safely, the H2S must be removed at a processing plant through a process called “Sweetening”.”
The RRC will permit an operator to “Flare” a well by this method to burn off “Sour Gas”. All they are required to do is to put a long tube at the well head and ignite it during intervals as to not exceed levels of contamination that will adversly effect public health. The argument is How do they know what adversly affects public health in the area they are drilling in? How do they know that continual “Flare Offs” or “Burn Offs” aren’t exceeding these levels when they aren’t regulated or monitored?
Also, “Sweetening” is done by adding the chemical Amine. Amine is used quite regulary is the drilling process and is a list of “Approved” contaminents allowed for disposals in Injection Well Facilities. This too cabn be referenced on your blog in a link to the allowed list of disposed chemicals in a Commercial Injection Well.
Sharon, Sometimes your reporting is right on and you should never allow Industry to lie about it’s operations or to take on face value what they say. You only hurt the cause and being bitter about who gets credit for a report is very childish. Your name was given to the press and it was pictures that where forwarded to the reporters on the injection well that was not being regulated properly along with your explanation of events that lead to your observation of this site. They did not choose to publish your comments nor did they choose to use YOUR pictures of this site. The original reporter of this story was no longer interested in this story after you continued your reporting and the WCM picked it up. Your pouting after my observation of your Self obsorbed motives began a fit throwing temper tantrum by you that left you unresponsive to my calls nor my emails. Your public attempt at discredit is very shallow and since you did would not answer my calls or emails I am only allowing this comment here because 1.) you will get the credit of being intuitive enough to notice that has alerted the public of the lack of regulations of a Commercial Injection Well and 2.) because I know you will read it before it is published. Please discontinue your reporting of these very serious issues because you are not qualified to report on this and you are doing more harm than good in your public service announcments.
Well, Anon 8:20 that’s certainly an interesting comment.
It doesn’t seem that sour gas, while being very, very bad which I knew because I did spend 12 years working in the industry, has anything much to do with NORM.
I’m not sure how I can “discredit” an anonymous commenter. And, sweetie, it is I who allow the comments here not you, whoever you are. Except, I don’t moderate the comments before they are posted to this blog because, you know, free speech and all that.
Hey, thanks for the advice but don’t count on my taking you up on it.
it’s kind of hard to read through all that stuff 8:20. too bad you failed to proof read. seems like you might be jealous of tx. what she does here actually draws more attention to stories in the media and adds new information they either didn’t get or couldn’t report.
anon 4:19,
not jealous, otherwise I would have posted under my own name and I would have my own blog. Sharon sometimes has good information, but usually never news, just a play by play of other peoples work.
Sharon doesn’t comprehend everything she hears and very much does what she wants. This makes her a somewhat dangerous to those who she is trying to help and it would seem she does so for her own popularity.
hmmm…when you start that blog learn proof… lots of nonsense in what you wrote here.
now, i’ve read this stuff and it seems tx was right about the norm and sour gas not being related. maybe you should do a bit of googling or try dog pile or some such…
i’d say if tx wanted to be popular she might take on a less controversial subject… or be less aggressive. i think u r jealous but it matters not to me.
Obviously, popularity is not high on my priority list. I’ve never been a popular person and it’s far too late to care about that now. In fact, I rather like it that way.
Seeing my name in print is not high on my list either or I wouldn’t post here anonymously. =)
Anon 8:20
Sounds like you have an axe to grind. Attacking someone on the same side of the issue is a little too much like a mama dog eating her puppies to me.
I look forward to continuing to follow this and other controversial matters that TXSharon “Brokovich” brings to the light of day.
Oh, and hiding behind an anonymous moniker is really cowardly. Especially if you’re going to be an attack dog.
Why don’t you sign up for your own blog instead of attempting to highjack someone else’s? You can sign up for a free blog by going to: https://www.blogger.com/login.g?d=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fhome&passive=true&skipll=true
Hmmm, I see a trend in my comments…mama dogs, puppies, attack dogs. Rhymes with WITCH?