Marcellus Outreach Butler
Connect with us
  • Home
  • Get Involved
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Write Letters to the Editor
    • Contact Elected Officials
    • Track Permit Activity
    • Local Groups
    • PAF Farmers Letter to Governor Wolf
  • Concerned?
    • Krendale Neighbors
    • Emergency Contacts for Gasfield Residents
    • File a Complaint or Report an Incident
    • Property Values
    • Before You Sign a Lease
    • Water Testing
  • Fracking Impacts
    • Toxic Chemicals
    • Human Health Impacts
    • First Person Experiences
    • The Impact of Act 13 (HB 1950)
  • Resources
    • MOB Generated Info >
      • Butler Water Supply at Risk
      • Bat Signal
      • Spill Baby Spill
    • Books >
      • Fracking
      • Climate Change
    • Films
    • Websites
  • Membership & Giving
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Blog

Rex Energy and the Woodlands

3/15/2012

 
In the Feb. 24 Butler Eagle article, “Pa. Lacks Water Well Regulations,” Shell representative Scott Bruner avoided answering a question about natural gas drilling and groundwater contamination by focusing instead on the article's headline topic. It was as if the lack of water well regulations in Pennsylvania somehow exonerates the gas industry from any groundwater contamination culpability in our state. A 2010 DEP report documents dozens of groundwater contamination incidents linked to natural gas drilling. Not one incident is blamed on poor water well construction. That and the numerous documented cases of drilling-related groundwater contamination in states like Wyoming, Colorado and Texas, all of which have water well regulations, make Bruner's deflection of the topic both irrelevant and irresponsible.
Which leads us to Rex Energy and its arguments regarding the groundwater issues in the Woodlands area of Connoquenessing Township.  The plethora of excuses and explanations as to why Rex Energy couldn't possibly be to blame for residents' water woes disintegrates quickly upon closer examination.
  • “The affected water wells are uphill from our drilling operations.” Anyone with the most basic knowledge of hydraulic fracturing is familiar with the phenomenon of “flowback,” in which the mixture of water, sand and chemicals injected into the earth at high pressure returns to the surface at high pressure through the vertical wellbore. Sometimes this occurs so forcibly and uncontrollably as to result in a “blowout,” as has occurred in Clearfield and Bradford counties. In both those cases, the fluids were under sufficient pressure to keep them spewing forth for 12-16 hours from thousands of feet beneath the surface. That kind of pressure can also push fluids thousands of feet uphill through permeable bedrock to pollute an aquifer if the seals around the cement gas-well casings are flawed. A recent Associated Press investigation revealed previously undisclosed well-casing issues at Rex wells in the Woodlands area, just prior to the first complaints of water issues from Woodlands residents. (“Smoking gun” #1.)

  • “There are other residents in the area who have had no water problems.” This is consistent with drilling-related contamination reports statewide and nationwide: some domestic water supplies are affected and others are not. I liken it to the well-known capricious damage patterns that can occur with tornadoes: one house can be demolished while one next to it escapes unscathed. This speaks to the well-documented unpredictability of migratory pathways for gases, fluids and pollutants underground.

  • “Scientific tests show that natural gas development has not impacted water quality in the area.” Research that I have been engaged in for several months has yielded several statements from scientists and scientific organizations saying that high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas extraction has not been adequately studied to understand all of its potential environmental impacts. If the DEP, Rex Energy and its hired laboratories are not finding a link between drilling and contamination in the Woodlands, it could be because they don't know what to look for. That sounds better than saying that they know what to look for and are intentionally not looking for it. Unfortunately, that seems to have occurred, also: pollutants that showed up in initial water testings were not tested for in follow-up testings. This also occurred in a contamination case in Washington County, resulting in a lawsuit: Voyles v. DEP.

  • “There's been bad water out there for years.” This statement has been made repeatedly by Connoquenessing Township officials and area old-timers, and alluded to by Rex Energy in suggesting other causes for the area's water woes. While I can't speak to the “ancient history” of the Woodlands area, I can speak to the recent history of its impacted residents. For at least a decade, each of these families had good, clean water to drink, cook with and bathe in. Then Rex Energy began drilling in the area, and within a few months they had water that looked bad, smelled bad, tasted bad, made them sick and gave them rashes. Either that or they lost their water completely, and dependable natural springs on their properties dried up. Not just one family, but multiple residences, more or less simultaneously.
This is a “smoking gun” (#2) if ever there was one. At the very least, it seems that Rex Energy has “knocked something loose” out there with its drillings and fracturings, its high-pressure injections and subterranean explosions, to cause all this trouble. The circumstantial evidence alone warrants a follow-up investigation of the broadest scope. If Rex Energy and the DEP won't lower themselves to re-open this investigation, maybe the EPA will intervene, as it has elsewhere. Maybe a truly independent study will be conducted – one not contracted by Rex Energy or connected to a state government that is increasingly protective of the gas industry. Maybe then we'll learn the truth of what has happened in the Woodlands.

The gas industry likes to say that residents may be “inconvenienced” by natural gas drilling. The residents of the Woodlands have not been “inconvenienced.” Their lives have been severely disrupted and their health has been severely impacted. To unceremoniously “close the book” on investigations into their troubles when so many indicators point to the culpability of the gas industry for the disruption of their lives is unconscionable.

j.p.m.

King Neece link
6/12/2012 01:29:14 am

Easily remove radiation from any water source

Our University of Alabama patented solar desalination product uses no electricity, has no filters to replace, can be taken anywhere and extracts pure water from any contaminated water source. It removes radiation, fluoride, salt, pesticides, bacteria, dirt and other contaminants from any water. It aids people to be prepared for disasters. Made tough in the U.S.A.

Please visit us:
http://freshwater.ecogreenenergies.com

These units can also be placed together in arrays of literally any number of panels, as needed, to accommodate a desert farm or any remote area that needs water.

fun link
1/22/2013 11:24:25 pm

Rex energy is fun.

Clicca link
7/12/2013 11:48:13 pm

Thanks for the link!

King Neece link
7/13/2013 04:03:44 am

We have a new website...same owner as above. Thank You !

Easily remove radiation from any water source

Our University of Alabama patented solar desalination product uses no electricity, has no filters to replace, can be taken anywhere and extracts pure water from any

contaminated water source. It removes radiation, fluoride, salt, pesticides, bacteria, dirt and other contaminants from any water. It aids people to be prepared for disasters.

Made tough in the U.S.A.

Please visit us:

http://values.cc

These units can also be placed together in arrays of literally any number of panels, as needed, to accommodate a desert farm or any remote area that needs water.

Hialeah Girls link
7/4/2012 01:16:41 pm

Where can I find out when this was posted?

loto link
3/20/2013 09:36:38 am

You can find it just under tje title of the post. This one was on 03/15/2012

rsa queensland online link
9/26/2012 11:56:16 pm

I am sure that the informative you shared through your post is useful for people. I am impressed with the way of writing. It kept connected me all the time. Keep up the good work.

sullivan solar power panels link
7/19/2013 11:25:57 pm

We need much more that uses solar energy to providing electricity


Comments are closed.

    Authors

    Blog posts written by members of Marcellus Outreach Butler.

    Archives

    April 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    May 2011

    Categories

    All
    13
    Act
    Act 13
    Action
    Activism
    Air Pollution
    Alternative Energy
    Aquifer
    Banking
    Birth Defects
    Butler Township
    Cement Casings
    Chainsaw
    Challenge
    Chemicals Used
    Children
    Children's Health
    Civil Disobedience
    Civil Rights
    Clean Air Act
    Clean Air Council
    Clean Energy
    Clean Water Act
    Climate Change
    Commomwealth Court
    Concerned Health Professionals Of New York
    Constitution
    Constitution Pipeline
    Contaminated Water
    County Commissioners
    Court
    Cutting Trees For Pipelines
    Deception
    Definition
    Delaware Riverkeeper Network
    Dep
    Doctor
    Drilling Ban
    EMA
    Emergency Management
    Eminent Domain
    Energy Revolution
    Environment
    Environmental Impacts
    Environmental Regulations
    Evacuation
    Farmers
    Farmers Against Fracking
    Farms
    Farm Show
    Flaring
    Flowback
    Forest Stewardship Program
    Fracking
    Franklin Township
    Gas Industry Lies
    Gas Lease
    Gerhart
    Geyer Wellpad
    Governor Tom Wolf
    Grandparents
    Groundwater Contamination Cases
    Halliburtan Loophole
    Health
    Health & Safety
    Health Study
    Holleran
    Holleran-Zeffer
    Hormone-disrupting
    House Bill 1950
    Impact Fees
    Jackson Township
    James Cromwell
    Lake Arthur
    Law
    Law Suit
    Lawyer
    Legislation
    Long Term Effects
    Long-term Effects
    Maggie Henry
    Maple Farm
    Maple Sugaring
    Margaret Flower
    Mars Parent Group
    Mars School Board
    Mars Schools
    M.D.
    Middlesex Planning Commission
    Middlesex Township
    Moraine State Park
    Mortgage
    Municipal Water
    Nonviolent Direct Action
    Pa Constitution
    Pediatrician
    Pennsylvanians Against Fracking
    Pipeline
    Property Value
    Proposed Processing Plant
    Protest
    Radiation
    Rally
    Real Estate
    Renewable Energy
    Rep. Brian Ellis
    Residential Drilling
    Resist
    Rex Energy
    Rights Of The People
    Sacrifice Zone
    Safety
    School
    Seneca Valley School
    Sen. White
    Solar
    Stephen Cleghorn
    Stop The Frack Attack
    Supreme Court Ruling
    Sustainable
    Tar Sands
    Tourism
    Unconventional
    Vehicle Acidents
    Violations
    Water
    Water Testing
    Well Casings
    Well Integrity
    Wendell Berry
    Woodlands
    XTO
    Zoning

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.