Wastewater

Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

GreenHunter 1Q14: Injection Well Volume up 97%, Barging Soon?
May 13, 2014May 13, 2014

In the parade of quarterly analyst calls, GreenHunter Resources–the wastewater handling division of Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation–held their call yesterday. We learned some interesting things from reading the transcript. Like, GreenHunter now owns and has operational 9 wastewater injection wells (often referred to as salt water disposal wells, or SWDs). We also learn that once the U.S. Coast Guard grants permission to begin barging wastewater down the Ohio River, GreenHunter will need something like $20 million to build out their barge facilities.

Below is the opening/prepared remarks from Kirk J. Trosclair, GreenHunter’s Chief Operating Officer, along with one Q&A about the barging facilities…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Regulation | Wastewater

CT Gets Ready to Temporarily Permanently Ban Frack Waste
May 7, 2014May 7, 2014

Three weeks ago MDN told you that the Connecticut legislature was considering a permanent ban on frack wastewater being disposed anywhere in the state, to which we said maybe Pennsylvania should consider a ban on selling natural gas to the state (see CT May Pass Frack Wastewater Ban; Should PA Pass CT NatGas Ban?). Hey, it works great for Vlad Putin. Shut off the spigot for a week and listen to them squeal.

The CT Senate has reached a “compromise” on the proposed legislation. Instead of a permanent ban, they’ve vote instead on a “temporary” ban–until the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) can craft regulations to deal with fracking wastewater. Of course, DEEP is not very inclined to deal with it any time soon (see CT DEEP Wants Frack Waste Reclassified Hazardous to Keep It Away). So in the end, this is hocus pocus chicanery. The vote will happen, and frack waste will effectively be banned long-term from entering CT…
Read More “CT Gets Ready to Temporarily Permanently Ban Frack Waste”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Low Levels of Radiation Found in Range PA Wastewater Impoundment
May 5, 2014May 5, 2014

Very low levels of radiation were present in leftover sludge from a tank where wastewater is stored at a Range Resources wastewater impoundment in Mt. Pleasant Township (Washington County), PA. The good news is that rigorous testing, as Range and others do, caught the issue. The better news is that the radiation levels are so low, they’re barely above “background levels” and you would literally have to sleep next to the tank for years to be affected. In other words, it’s a non-issue, something that doesn’t happen often but when it does, the industry handles it.

Of course if you live near the impoundment and your anti-drilling, you over dramatize it and make it seem as though you’ll be glowing in the dark any day now…
Read More “Low Levels of Radiation Found in Range PA Wastewater Impoundment”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Preferred Fluids Management | Regulation | Richland County | Wastewater

Anti Group Stops Wastewater Injection Wells Near Mansfield, OH
April 23, 2014April 23, 2014

Anti-drilling group Frack Free Ohio (we call them Fracking Up Ohio) is claiming victory in stopping a pair of proposed frack wastewater injection wells that were planned for Mansfield (Richland County), OH. Fracking Up spread enough lies and innuendo around to confuse 63% of the voters into passing a resolution opposing the injection wells. Since the company planning to build the injection wells just wasted $200,000–now down the toilet–you can expect other Utica-related companies to give Mansfield a pass in the future. Bye bye jobs. Bye bye increased tax revenues. Bye bye Mansfield.

Now the folks from Fracking Up Ohio want to spread their anti-drilling disease to other locations–like Ashland and Crawford counties…
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Advanced Water Recovery | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

SD Co. Building PA Frack Wastewater Plant Wins 1st Prize in Paris
April 23, 2014April 23, 2014

MDN is aware of several companies working on a solution to “the water problem”–a better solution for handling frack wastewater–better than disposing of it via injection wells. The technologies we’ve heard about are truly exciting. One such company, which is headquartered in South Dakota (but building a treatment plant in Pennsylvania to service the Marcellus and Utica) is Advanced Water Recovery (AWR). AWR recently participated in the Global Water Initiative in Paris, France. They entered the Global Water Awards competition–and won first place in the category Water Technology Idol.

We look forward to learning more about AWR’s technology and where, precisely, they’re building their plant in Pennsylvania, which is due to be completed this summer. Below is the press release announcing their first prize placement in the Paris competition, along with other background we are able to gather up…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | XTO

Judge in XTO Criminal Spill Case Says Figure Out Your Own Charges
April 22, 2014April 22, 2014

A small development in the shameful case brought by Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, against XTO Energy over a four year-old accidental spill that she’s trying to prosecute as a crime (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). XTO filed paperwork with the court to ask for more information about the charges that have been made against them. Apparently environmental cases are quite complex and you don’t always know what, exactly, you’ve been charged with!

The judge in the case has denied XTO’s request to be told what, exactly, they’re being charged with. Last Thursday Lycoming County Judge Marc Lovecchio essentially told XTO, “You figure it out”…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Company Sets up in Youngstown to Handle Radioactive Shale Waste
April 22, 2014April 22, 2014

Too hot to handle? A Pennsylvania company operating in the Youngstown, OH area, Austin Masters Services, has been awarded a permit to handle and treat frack waste that potentially contains radioactivity. Anti-drillers want the permit revoked. Fracking waste is just too hot to handle, according to the nutters. Fortunately the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, which studies these things, has confidence that Austin Masters Services knows what it’s doing, and does it right. The company knows how to test oil and gas drilling waste for radioactivity without exposing anyone or anything in the process.

The litigious Lea Harper, head of the so-called Fresh Water Accountability Project (who is suing the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District over a drilling lease in the Seneca Lake area, and has sued to stop injection wells, etc.), has her knickers in a twist about the Austin Masters Services operation. So too do other anti-drilling wackos, although there’s not much to be upset over. Austin Masters doesn’t even have any customers for their services in Ohio, yet…
Read More “Company Sets up in Youngstown to Handle Radioactive Shale Waste”
Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

Boston Company’s “Top Gun” Innovation Cleans Shale Wastewater
April 21, 2014April 21, 2014

A former Top Gun instructor and fighter pilot jock who flew hundreds of missions in Iraq and Bosnia, Jim Matheson, is CEO of Oasys Water of Boston. Matheson’s 5 year-old company has developed and is starting to deploy desalination technology used to clean and recycle some of the world’s dirtiest waters–including frack wastewater and brine (produced water). Using a super thin membrane, the process developed by Oasys pulls rather than pushes water through the membrane to capture the smallest contaminants. It is an intriguing technology.

Here’s more on Top Gun Jim Matheson and a product that has the makings of something very important for the shale industry…
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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

3rd Person Pleads Guilty to Dumping Wastewater in Mahoning River
April 17, 2014April 17, 2014

A few weeks ago MDN told you that a third person, Mark Goff, had been charged in last year’s Youngstown, OH frack wastewater dumping case (see 3rd Person Charged in Youngstown Frack Wastewater Dumping Case). He’s now plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by dumping frack wastewater into a drain that eventually emptied into the Mahoning River on nine different occasions…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Utica Shale | Wastewater

OH Anti-Driller Suing MWCD Asks EPA to Stop OH Injection Wells
April 17, 2014April 17, 2014

The virulently anti-drilling and misnamed Fresh Water Accountability Project (FWAP) has just generated more toilet paper, er, a press release in which they claim they’ve written a letter to the Region 5 office of the federal Environmental Protection Agency asking the EPA to trample on the U.S. Constitution by stripping away the right of Ohio to issue permits for Class II injection wells. Nothing new there–such groups habitually like to enforce their fascism on common folks (which is why they should be vigorously opposed and defunded).

The interesting thing to MDN is not that the FWAP is generating yet another fundraising press release–but that it was written by Lea Harper–you know, the woman who’s suing the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to try and stop fracking and drilling on MWCD land around Seneca Lake (see Anti-Drillers Win Minor Victory Against Muskingum Watershed Dist). It’s also no coincidence that Lea Harper and her FWAP is being partially (or wholly) funded by the odious and fascist Food & Water Watch. That is, FWAP is nothing more than a front for FWW. We just thought you’d want to know how incestuous it is with anti-drillers…
Read More “OH Anti-Driller Suing MWCD Asks EPA to Stop OH Injection Wells”
Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Wastewater

Groundhog Day: Bloomberg’s Radioactive Reportage Keeps Returning
April 17, 2014April 17, 2014

Another “It’s radioactive!” hit piece from Bloomberg. We swear that reporters with an anti-drilling agenda simply have an editorial calendar and every X months it’s “write another story about how the Marcellus is producing radioactive drill cuttings and wastewater.” Sprinkle said story with comments from discredited professors from places like Duke University, vague innuendo about glowing in the dark, and voilà–another deadline met, another hit piece delivered.

That about sums up the latest piece of rubbish that passes for journalism at Bloomberg–where the only thing radioactive is the reporting…
Read More “Groundhog Day: Bloomberg’s Radioactive Reportage Keeps Returning”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

CT May Pass Frack Wastewater Ban; Should PA Pass CT NatGas Ban?
April 15, 2014April 15, 2014

Even though there is no frackable shale under the ground in Connecticut, state legislators on Monday advanced a bill that will ban frack wastewater and (presumably) drill cuttings from states with fracking operations–like Pennsylvania. We’re reasonably certain no frack wastewater or drill cuttings have ever been hauled to Connecticut for disposal, so this bill seems to be yet another empty gesture. However, the bill does seem to be headed for passage by a May 7 deadline.

So MDN would like to propose a new bill for PA legislators: How about a law that prohibits the sale of natural gas extracted by fracking to states like Connecticut that don’t want to help out with waste disposal? Seems fair to us. It’s not like Connecticut residents would have to go without natural gas–they can buy it from Russia’s Gazprom for oh, $100-$150 per thousand cubic feet (instead of purchasing PA’s Marcellus gas for $3-4 per Mcf). How about it PA? Let’s play a little hardball and see how those conceited New Englanders like a little taste of their own legislative medicine…
Read More “CT May Pass Frack Wastewater Ban; Should PA Pass CT NatGas Ban?”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Wastewater

Range Resources Fined $75K by PA DEP for Brine Spill
April 14, 2014April 14, 2014

On Friday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection slapped Range Resources with a $75,000 fine for a brine spill of 3,066 gallons at its Cornwall Mountain Hunting Club Unit A well pad in Lewis Township, Lycoming County. The spill occurred in July 2012, but according to the DEP it took Range nearly a year to remediate the spill, resulting in the fine.

Here’s what happened (and when), and what the DEP said about it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Wastewater

Athens County Anti-Frackers Continue to Fight Injection Well
April 2, 2014April 2, 2014

In January, MDN told you that a group of anti-drilling nutters in Athens County, OH had sued to try and stop a new, second injection well from being drilled by K&H Partners at the same site where there is currently an operational injection well (see Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Sue to Stop New Injection Well). The Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN) objected to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) decision to issue a permit for the new, second injection well.

ACFAN is continuing their legal challenge. The group has filed a new complaint against the ODNR saying the ODNR has not been forthcoming with certain public records sought by ACFAN as part of their original lawsuit. In other words, ACFAN is trying to abuse the law to slow down, delay and kill a legitimate and legal business from doing business in Athens County, OH. But then, that’s how petulant children who grow up to be petulant adults behave…
Read More “Athens County Anti-Frackers Continue to Fight Injection Well”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

3rd Person Charged in Youngstown Frack Wastewater Dumping Case
April 1, 2014April 1, 2014

Just when you thought there was a conclusion to the story of Ben Lupo and Hardrock Excavating and the dumping of frack wastewater down a drain that eventually emptied into the Mahoning River–the story takes a new turn. MDN previously told you that Hardrock’s owner, Ben Lupo, changed his plea to guilty last week (see Ben Lupo Admits Guilt in OH Frack Wastewater Dumping, Prison Next?). Previously one of his employees, Michael Guesman, a truck driver, plead guilty (see Youngstown, OH Illegal Wastewater Dumping Happened “At Least” 24X).

Apparently Guesman was the second employee Lupo wrangled into doing his illegal bidding. What has just come to light is there was a first employee illegally dumping the month prior to Guesman. The first employee has now been charged…
Read More “3rd Person Charged in Youngstown Frack Wastewater Dumping Case”
Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

ORSANCO Ready to Monitor Ohio River for Barge Frack Waste Spills
April 1, 2014April 1, 2014

The Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), an interstate commission representing eights states and the federal government, was set up in 1948 to monitor, issue warnings about and correct pollution issues in the Ohio River. In particular, ORSANCO handles spills from barges or boats using the mighty Ohio. According to Jerry Schulte, manager of source water protection and spokesman for ORSANCO, the organization is up to the task of protecting the Ohio from any accidents that may include barge shipments of frack wastewater.

Not only are they up to the task, ORSANCO believes the Coast Guard is now very close to allowing it, and ORSANCO is ready…
Read More “ORSANCO Ready to Monitor Ohio River for Barge Frack Waste Spills”