GAO Issues Report on Class II Injection Well Fluid Info Collection
Several anti-drilling U.S. senators and congressman requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct research and issue a report to describe what information the federal EPA and the individual states collect from class II injection well operators on the characteristics of injected fluids. That is, the Dems wanted the GAO to write a book report on just how nasty and vile the chemicals are from oil and gas drilling that get injected deep into the earth, never to return, and how those nasty chemicals may one day pollute all of our drinking water supplies. The Democrat staffers at the GAO were only too happy to comply. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio’s programs are part of the “study”…
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A new research study from Stanford University titled “Enhanced Formation of Disinfection By-Products in Shale Gas Wastewater-Impacted Drinking Water Supplies” proves what we already knew more than three years ago: When you send frack wastewater untreated, or lightly treated, to a municipal sewage treatment plant–the plant can’t get the residual water clean enough to not cause problems down river. Back in 2011, then-PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer ended the practice of municipal treatment plants without special equipment from processing frack wastewater (see 
You may have thought snake handling was something done in tiny fringe churches tucked away in the backwoods of Appalachia. Think again. Snake handlers, or wranglers, are very much in demand in the Marcellus Shale to protect oil and gas workers on location, and to protect the snakes themselves–Timber rattlesnakes, a candidate for the threatened species list. Drillers and pipeline companies have to jump through many hoops to drill a well or lay pipeline. MANY hoops. One of those hoops is to ensure their work does not unduly harm a threatened or endangered species, plant or animal (called T&E in the business). When it comes to rattlesnakes, drillers call in the specialists to handle them…
In March 2013, the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) burst onto the scene. It had been a closely guarded secret, the creation of a few hand-picked people from both industry and the environmental movement working together to see if there is any common ground on which both sides can agree that shale development would be safe, sustainable AND affordable. They worked hard for over a year and finally hammered out a set of 15 standards that if a driller (or midstream company or contractor) would meet, it would get a stamp of approval from both the industry and environmental groups as being a good goobie–a safe driller. We were somewhat skeptical from the start (see 
Another new “study” and already the headlines are blaring. A research team led by Ohio State University and composed of researchers at Duke, Stanford, Dartmouth, and the University of Rochester have just published their findings that methane migrates from some shale wells into local water wells. It certainly doesn’t sound like earth-shattering news, but the headlines across the country range from “Bad fracking wells taint water, scientists find” (Sacramento Bee) to “Weak wells not fracking caused US gas leaks into water” (BBC). The media has picked up on this latest study and, depending on the view of the reporter, has spun it to either say fracking is the culprit, or fracking isn’t the culprit–and just about everything in between. Once again MDN will break it down for you and tell you what the study really says. And, we have a copy of the published findings (embedded below) so you can read it for yourself and make up your own mind…