Wastewater

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Regulation | Wastewater | West Virginia

Wheeling Councilwoman Vows to Prevent Frack Water Treatment Plant
March 26, 2013March 26, 2013

Less than two weeks ago, GreenHunter Water announced they had purchased a 10.8 acre barge terminal site in Wheeling, WV that sits along the Ohio River. GreenHunter has plans to convert the former gasoline storage facility into a shale wastewater handling and storage facility that will recycle wastewater so drillers can reuse it, or ship it by barge to other locations for disposal (see GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater).

GreenHunter made a mistake. They didn’t first approach Wheeling City Council to ask, “Mother, May I?” If they had, in all likelihood the outcome would have not been any different. At least one council member is strongly anti-drilling—Gloria Delbrugge (Democrat). She’s upset GreenHunter didn’t ask for permission first, and she’s pledging to stop the project altogether:

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Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

NFL QB Drew Bledsoe Stumps for Frack Wastewater Recycling Company
March 26, 2013March 26, 2013

MDN does not often run press releases from companies that service the drilling industry (supply chain stuff) unless there’s something newsworthy about it. We’ve just run across one such press release, from a company called Ecosphere that produces a technology to allow oil and gas companies to recycle drilling wastewater. The “new and different” thing about Ecosphere is not necessarily their technology (we don’t really know much about it), but instead the news is about who’s promoting it: former NFL superstar quarterback Drew Bledsoe (starting QB for the New England Patriots).

Bledsoe appeared on CNBC last Friday to promote Ecosphere’s fracking wastewater treatment solution, and Ecosphere is leveraging that appearance with a press release:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Anti-Drilling Groups Want ODNR to Shut Down All Injection Wells
March 19, 2013March 19, 2013

Anti-drilling groups held multiple concurrent press conferences in Ohio yesterday to demand the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) stop doing their job in regulating wastewater injection wells. Instead, the enviro-extremist groups want the federal EPA to take over the job. Whacko. Their rationale? One bad actor, Ben Lupo, dumped wastewater down a storm drain in Youngstown.

What does Lupo’s actions have to do with wastewater injection wells? Er right…Nothing, actually! Such twisted reasoning is called a non sequitur—an illogical argument. Just because one bad actor dumped wastewater instead of properly disposing of it in an injection well doesn’t mean injection wells are not properly regulated. It “doesn’t follow.” But that’s what passes for logic among the fracking-deranged crowd.

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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Youngstown Wastewater Dumper Pleads Not Guilty in Federal Court
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Some truly amazing chutzpah from the Youngstown, OH company caught dumping untreated frack wastewater down a drain that eventually emptied into the Mahoning River (see Youngstown Shale Wastewater Dumper Faces Jail and Big Fines for background).

Ben Lupo, the owner of the company who concocted the “allegedly” illegal plan, and Michael Guesman, the employee he co-opted into participating, both pled “not guilty” in federal court on Friday to the very acts they’ve already admitted doing:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Study Finds Potential Problems with Frack Wastewater Pits
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

As part of the West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act passed and signed into law in December 2011, the state legislature directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection to conduct several studies. One of those studies, due by Dec. 31, 2012, was the Impoundment and Pit Safety Study. The study was done on Dec. 17, but only recently released to the public (February 15, 2013).

Details are now emerging from the study (full copy of the study is embedded below), including a warning there may be problems with the way oil and gas drillers are building waste pits for shale drilling, and with how state inspectors are checking them:

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Gets Violation Notice for Wastewater Spill in SW PA
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

A very small spill (about 40 barrels, or 1,680 gallons) of recycled fracking water with no chemical additives in it was spilled in Cross Creek County Park (Washington County), PA on Feb. 12 by Range Resources. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued Range a notice of violation and is investigating…

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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Wastewater | West Virginia

GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

Yesterday, GreenHunter Water announced they have purchased a 10.8 acre barge terminal site in Wheeling, WV that sits along the Ohio River. GreenHunter plans to convert the former gasoline storage facility into a shale wastewater handling and storage facility that will recycle wastewater so drillers can reuse it, or ship it by barge to other locations (like injection wells) for disposal. The GreenHunter announcement raises a number of questions and observations. MDN will add its analysis below.

First, the announcement from GreenHunter issued yesterday:

Read More “GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trucking | Washington County (OH) | Wastewater

OH Group “Demands” Coast Guard Do Assessment of Brine Facility
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

Anti-drilling group Meigs Citizens Action Now (Meigs CAN) is “demanding” an answer from the U.S. Coast Guard about whether or not they will require an environmental impact study for a proposed brine wastewater transfer facility that will store and send brine on barges down the Ohio River. The brine wastewater transfer station is located in New Matamoras (Washington County), OH and is already operational (run by GreenHunter) using trucks. GreenHunter proposes to reduce the number of trucks in and out of the facility by using barges to move the brine. This is the same facility that was vandalized a few weeks ago by protesters who shut down the facility for part of a day (see Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant).

Meigs CAN, via a press release (see below), erroneously claims the facility handles fracking wastewater containing diesel fuel and chemicals classified as hazardous waste. In fact the facility does not handle fracking wastewater—it only handles water that comes of of the hole weeks and months after fracking is done—after the water containing chemicals is already removed. Brine is naturally occurring water from the depths full of minerals and yes, perhaps even a touch of radium (well below radiation safety limits).

Read More “OH Group “Demands” Coast Guard Do Assessment of Brine Facility”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Youngstown Wastewater Dumper Says He’ll Plead Not Guilty
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

Ben Lupo, owner of both Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy in Youngstown, OH, will plead “not guilty” when he appears in U.S. District Court on March 15, according to his lawyer. Lupo has been charged with instructing one of his employees to illegally dump untreated shale drilling wastewater down a sewer drain—after hours and in the dark of night (see Youngstown Shale Wastewater Dumper Faces Jail and Big Fines). The water ended up in the Mahoning River.

Lupo’s lawyer is appealing the decision of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources to rescind all operating permits for D&L and effectively shut it down. The attorney says the “alleged” actions were done by D&L’s sister company, Hardrock, and D&L should not be penalized for it—even though D&L and Hardrock share the same owner and some of the same facilities. The attorney claims no D&L employees have been charged in the case. Here’s the latest:

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Noble Energy | Wastewater | West Virginia

Brine Wastewater Spill in Marshall County, WV Investigated
March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

Last Friday Noble Energy discovered a valve left open on a brine wastewater storage pond was allowing brine water to pour out—some 2,264 barrels (95,000 gallons) in Marshall County, WV. Brine “wastewater” is not fracking wastewater and does not contain fracking chemicals. It’s naturally-occurring water from deep below the surface that seeps out of drilled holes long after initial drilling is done. Brine contains a lot of minerals, and sometimes low amounts of radium—hence the anti-drillers mantra “it’s radioactive!”

When an accident like this happens, and when the water reaches a local tributary as it did with this incident by getting into the Big Wheeling Creek, it’s not nothing. It’s also not an ecological disaster. Fortunately, the spill was largely contained in sediment traps designed to do just what they did—stop most of the water from spreading. Here’s what we know so far about the accident:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trucking | Washington County (OH) | Wastewater

Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant
February 21, 2013February 21, 2013

GreenHunter Energy operates a bulk storage and shipping facility near New Matamoras (Washington County), Ohio for salt water (“brine”) that comes from shale wells long after they are drilled and fracked. Brine is naturally occurring water from deep below the ground—water without chemicals from fracking—it just contains a lot of minerals. That fact doesn’t seem to matter to some obtuse protesters.

Yesterday, a group of 100 or so protesters, organized by an extremist group called Appalachia Resist!, stormed the New Matamoras brine facility and shut it down. They engaged in criminal acts by plugging the toilets, stealing keys and in general terrorizing the employees at the facility. Ten of the protesters were arrested (their names, ages and home cities are listed below). More will be charged once police are done reviewing video tapes of the incident.

You may be interested to know that almost all of the people arrested were from other states—not even Ohio residents. GreenHunter is pressing charges, which includes felony counts and possibly charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Read More “Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation
February 21, 2013February 21, 2013

A new fracking wastewater injection well in northwest Pennsylvania has just opened for business. Bear Lake Properties in Warren County (near the New York border) is now accepting Marcellus Shale wastewater, although for now they’re only accepting the wastewater produced from their own drilling activities.

Read More “NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation”
Bradford County | Energy Services | Eureka Resources | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Eureka Resources Building PA’s Biggest Marcellus Wastewater Plant
February 19, 2013March 7, 2019

Eureka Resources currently operates a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility in Williamsport, PA that processes 8,000 barrels of wastewater per day. The company announced today it is building a new, second facility near Towanda, PA. The new plant will have the capacity to treat up to 10,000 barrels of wastewater per day. Target completion date is October of this year…

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Patriot Water in Warren, OH Objects to ODNR Directive
February 19, 2013February 19, 2013

A feud that stretches back to June 2011 between shale wastewater treatment company Patriot Water Treatment of Warren, Ohio and the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources continues.

The latest skirmish in what has become a legal battle is over the ODNR’s order to D&L Energy to stop shipping wastewater to Patriot’s Warren plant:

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Oneida County | Regulation | Wastewater

Oneida County, NY Bans Fracking Wastewater as De-Icer for Roads
February 19, 2013February 19, 2013

In what is becoming a more frequent occurrence, another municipality has banned the use of treated fracking wastewater as a de-icer on its roadways. This time it’s Oneida County, NY:

Read More “Oneida County, NY Bans Fracking Wastewater as De-Icer for Roads”
Elk County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Wastewater

Seneca Resources Threatens to Sue PA Town over Injection Well
February 18, 2013February 18, 2013

Marcellus Shale driller Seneca Resources, the exploration and production division of National Fuel Gas Company, is threatening to sue Highland Township (Elk County), PA if they block an injection well Seneca plans to drill on their own property. The details from SNL:

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