Wastewater

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Warren OH Fracking Wastewater Treatment Plant Future in Doubt
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

The future of wastewater treatment plant in Warren (Trumbull County), Ohio that handles fracking wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling is now in doubt. The state attorney general has ruled that the permit granted to the Patriot Water Treatment plant in Warren was granted illegally.

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Casella-Altela | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

New “Green” Fracking Wastewater Plant in McKean County, PA
November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

A new Marcellus wastewater treatment facility is coming to McKean County, PA, and by using a local railroad spur, owners of the new facility hope to service a large area of Pennsylvania and eventually New York, reducing truck traffic. The facility will use methane from a local landfill for power instead of electricity. Low-grade heat (from the methane) is used to process the wastewater, making it an “environmentally friendly” alternative technology.

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

EPA to Regulate Shale Gas Drilling via Wastewater Standards
October 21, 2011October 21, 2011

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is signaling their intent to continue overreaching their authority by regulating oil and gas drilling in the U.S., violating states’ constitutional rights to do so themselves. The EPA’s “back door” way of regulating hydraulic fracturing (buying them time while they try to regulate it by the front door with their multi-year study of the process), is by controlling the disposal of wastewater produced during fracking. From the EPA’s press release yesterday:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Warren County | Wastewater

Columbus Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells Rescinded
October 13, 2011October 13, 2011

Under threat of a lawsuit, supervisors in Columbus Township (Warren County, PA) reversed their previous ban on the disposal of fracking fluids in two injection wells in the township (see this previous MDN story about the lawsuit).

Injection wells are deep wells used to dispose of fracking fluid from those drillers who do not recycle all of the fracking fluid used in their drilling operations. The fluid is pumped into the wells under high pressure, forcing it deep into the ground. Ohio has hundreds of such injection wells due to a better underground geography. However, PA currently has only a relative handful of injection wells (less than a dozen?), including the two in Columbus Township.

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Broome County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Wastewater

Rumor: Endicott Company May Want to Treat Fracking Wastewater
October 12, 2011October 12, 2011

The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports on a rumor in today’s paper about a company in Endicott (Broome County, NY) thinking about treating fracking wastewater:

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

PA Township Sued to Allow Injection Wells for Fracking Fluids
September 20, 2011September 20, 2011

The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association has filed a lawsuit against Columbus Township in Warren County, PA challenging an ordinance that prohibits disposal of fracking fluids in the township. The fracking fluid ban was passed after the federal EPA approved permits for two underground injection wells to be operated within the township.

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Wastewater

OH Village Wants a Fracking Water Treatment Plant
August 11, 2011August 11, 2011

Mingo Junction, a small village along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio is looking to tap into revenue from the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry spouting up around it. The mayor and village council are trying to locate alternative sources of revenue since the local steel mill closed, leaving the village in a lurch after constructing a new water treatment plant specifically at the mill’s request. Mingo Junction is looking to leverage the one thing it has plenty of—water.

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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

GreenHunter Energy to Establish New Fracking Wastewater Treatment Facility in WV, Including Injection Wells
August 3, 2011August 3, 2011

Texas-based GreenHunter Energy, Inc. announced they’ve purchased acreage in West Virginia where they will establish a facility to treat and dispose of fracking wastewater. Part of GreenHunter’s plan includes disposing wastewater using an existing injection well with plans for additional injection wells. The press release (in full below) does not mention the exact location for the new facility and injection wells.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

US Dept of Energy Awards Grants for Hydraulic Fracturing Research, Looking for Greener Alternatives
August 3, 2011August 3, 2011

The U.S. Department of Energy is funding a number of research projects to help find ways to extract more energy from unconventional oil and gas resources while reducing environmental risks. The DOE grants amount to $12.4 million.

The selections include $10.3 million for eight projects that will reduce the environmental risks of shale gas development while accelerating the application of new exploration and production technologies; and $2.1 million for three projects investigating innovative processes for extracting additional oil from mature domestic oil fields including Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).

The total value of the shale-related projects is more than $17.0 million over 3 years with approximately $6.7 million of cost-share provided by the recipients in addition to the $10.3 million in federal funds. The shale gas projects include:

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Algepower | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

Could Algae be the Answer to Marcellus Wastewater? Innovative New “Green” Fracking Solution Looking for a Partner
July 22, 2011July 22, 2011

From time to time businesses contact MDN to ask for exposure to their product or service. Most times MDN passes because it wouldn’t be of interest to landowners and industry participants. However, we recently received a request about an intriguing green solution for fracking wastewater.

What if you could use algae to feed on fracking wastewater and convert that wastewater into a harmless (and useful) biofuel? And what if you ramped up the growth rate of the algae by using hydroponics technology? And what if the whole operation, covering just one acre, was enclosed in an inflatable structure that protected the environment around it, and enabled 24/7/365 growth of the algae inside? And what if that one acre super-algae farm could handle 50,000 gallons of fracking wastewater per day? Well then, you’d have something called Algeponics®.

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

PA Environmentalist Groups Try to Make a Federal Case Against McKeesport Sewage Treatment Plant over Marcellus Wastewater
July 20, 2011July 20, 2011

Two activist environmental organizations, Clean Water Action and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, are attempting to make a federal case against the McKeesport (Allegheny County) municipal sewage treatment plant that in the past has accepted hydraulic fracturing wastewater because the plant won’t categorically commit to never accepting fracking wastewater again. Here’s the very confusing setup from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

Two New PA Injection Wells Will Accept Fracking Wastewater Starting this Fall
June 27, 2011June 27, 2011

Drillers in Pennsylvania who do not recycle 100 percent of the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for reuse must dispose of that wastewater somewhere. The options are to haul the wastewater, which is mostly salt water but contains a small amount of chemicals, to certified treatment plants that are specially fitted to treat it and release it into waterways, or haul it to an underground injection well. Most of the injection wells PA drillers have been using are located in Ohio. However, two new injections wells are due to come online in Columbus Township (Warren County), PA this fall, giving drillers in PA a new option.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Public Drinking Water Not Radioactive After All
June 21, 2011June 21, 2011

Further proof that the New York Times series of “PA water is radioactive because treated Marcellus drilling wastewater was released into waterways” scare articles was nothing more than hot air and fiction:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Patriot Water Permit Renewal in Jeopardy in Northeastern Ohio
June 21, 2011June 21, 2011

Patriot Water operates a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment plant in Warren, Ohio—in the northeastern part of the state, not far from the border of PA. Patriot pre-treats drilling wastewater and then sends it to the Warren municipal sewage treatment plant where it is further processed and released to the Mahoning River. Patriot has invested $3 million and has hired 45 people to operate the plant.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) has told the Warren municipal sewage treatment plant their permit to accept Patriot’s treated wastewater will not be renewed when it expires in July 2012, even though there has not been a single “finding” or violation issued by the OEPA to Patriot.

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Marcellus Drilling Wastewater Going to Ohio
June 20, 2011June 20, 2011

Millions of barrels of fracking fluid—wastewater often referred to as “brine” because of the heavy salts in it—are being imported from Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale drilling operations into Ohio, and it has some Ohioans concerned. Fracking fluid/wastewater/brine is what comes back out of the bore hole after sending water, sand and some chemicals down the hole during drilling.

Many larger drillers now recycle 100 percent of the wastewater for reuse in other drilling. For those who do not recycle it, it must be disposed—either by treating it at special facilities where it is then safe for release back into streams and rivers, or by storing it in underground wells, known as injection wells.

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Cayuga County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Wastewater

Marcellus Drilling Debate Now Affecting Conventional Gas Drilling in New York State
June 3, 2011June 3, 2011

The debate over horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale has now spilled over to affect conventional gas drilling in New York State. Protesters rallied outside Auburn City Hall (a small city in Upstate New York) yesterday afternoon to oppose the local municipal sewage treatment plant’s practice of accepting gas drilling wastewater for treatment and release into the Owasco River. None of the wastewater accepted comes from Marcellus Shale drilling—it all comes from conventional natural gas drilling in New York State.

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