Waste Water - America's Hidden 60 Million Barrel A Day Industry

Waste Water: America's Hidden 60 Million Barrel A Day Industry
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/16/waste-water-barrel_n_...
March 16, 2014
First Posted: 01/16/12 09:04 AM ET Updated: 01/16/12 07:02 PM ET
(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are h By John Kemp LONDON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The biggest output of the U.S. oil and gas industry is not oil or ga Every day, U.S. oil and gas producers bring to the surface 60 million barrels of waste water, w than sea water and laced with hazardous chemicals. For the most part, they dispose of it safely, as required by federal and state laws. Most of it is re-injected into oil and gas bearing formations to maintain pressure, or into dispo aquifers. Safe disposal of so much hazardous water should put into perspective some of the recent conc opponents of hydraulic fracturing.
60 MILLION BARRELS Environmentalists and policymakers have raised concerns about the massive amount of water resulting strain on local water supplies, as well as the safe disposal of fracking fluids and brin fracked wells. Risks to freshwater aquifers are often cited as a key reason to restrict fracking or subject it to st But the challenges of disposing of waste water contaminated with hazardous chemicals are n
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already a comprehensive framework of federal and state rules governing safe disposal designe Environmentalists have zeroed in on the huge amount of water injected into oil and gas wells to chemicals added to help carry the frack sand into the cracks, reduce corrosion and remove exc Fracturing a multi-stage well can involve injecting millions of gallons of water under intense added to reduce friction and address site specific problems, according to the U.S. Depa Development in the United States," Apr 2009). But the problem of disposing of fracking fluids pales beside the challenge of disposing of all th and gas, from conventional wells as much as fracked ones. The average oil well produces 7.6 barrels of water for every barrel of crude. The water/oil ratio in states like Florida and Illinois. On average, 88 percent of the material brought to the surfa percent for wells nearing the end of their productive lives. For gas wells, 260 barrels of water are produced for every million cubic feet of natural gas. In 2007, the daily output of the U.S. oil and gas industry was 4.8 million barrels of crude, 66 million barrels of waste water, according to a study by the Argonne National Laboratory's Env Water Volumes and Management Practices in the United States", Sep 2009). "Produced water is the largest volume by-product or waste stream associated with oil and gas e the Argonne study. "The cost of managing such a large volume of water is a key consideration t
150,000 DISPOSAL WELLS Produced water occurs alongside oil and gas in the same underground formations and bro content of produced water can be 20 times higher than sea water, and it contains traces alongside, including chemicals harmful to human health such as benzene. Safe disposal of so much briny and contaminated water presents an enormous challenge and is Of the 58 million barrels of waste water produced every day, roughly half (29 million barrels formations to help maintain pressure and enhance ultimate oil recovery. Another 20 million b formations for disposal. Less than 2 million barrels per day are discharged on the surface, and almost all of those are are discharged onshore. Disposal through re-injection of into non-oil bearing formations is already subject to the Safe federal regulations. The act prohibits injection which endangers an underground source of drinking water (USDW (EPA) has established minimum standards for Underground Injection Control (UIC). But state own standards provided they are certified as at least as stringent, and most have now done so. In 2002, EPA estimated there were 147,000 wells licensed for the disposal of wastes assoc
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(so-called Class II waste disposal wells). To prevent waste migrating into freshwater aquifers, EPA regulations require Class II disposal w cemented, particularly in the sections crossing freshwater-bearing layers; and the wells must containment remains effective ("Protecting Drinking Water Through Underground Injection Cont None of this is meant to imply fracking does not pose challenges. However, the industry is alrea per day of waste water contaminated with high-levels of salt and cancer-causing chemicals considered "conventional" rather than fracked. The oil and gas industry's use of water to fracture wells needs to be carefully regulated to e competing uses without proper compensation. And waste disposal must continue to b management problems posed by fracking are no different from those which have long been ass References: (1) "Produced Water Volumes and Management Practices in the United States" /ANL_EVS__R09_produced_water_volume_report_2437.pdf (2) "Modern Shale Gas Devel http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/publications/EPreports/Shale_Gas_Primer_2009.p (3) "Protecting Drinking Water Through Underground Injection Control" (2002): http://ww /Protecting%20Drinking%20Water%20Through%20Underground%20injection%20Control-%20 Filed 45 people are
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Martin W. (missiontango)
SUPER USER 260 Fans I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to too.
There will be a day in the not too distant future when Americans will scratch their heads and say that we allowed hydraulic fracturing to go on long after it was found to be devastating to our wel
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are allowing the bottom line of energy companies to continue to drive practices that will harm us all in due of their companies and reap incredible fortunes in stock options. They will then hide that money off shore where they have not destroyed the environment, probably in Belize, Costa Rica etc. These companies ar and spin to make you think that their practices are not doing what they are absolutely doing. Once again State legislatures and our Congress which are owned by the energy companies lock, stock and barrel.
17 JAN 2012 7:49 AM FAVE SHARE MORE
celcius232
17 Fans
Where do you get your conspiracy theories that produced water disposal and hydraulic fracturin aquifers? If you took the time to stop, read, listen, and learn from the voluminous peer reviewd t wastewater practices of the recent (not pre-1940s) onshore petroleum production industry have I have worked both sides of this as both an exploration geoscientist for 8 years and 20+ years a nonsensical scare aguments posed by teh renewable-now zealots do not hold "water". I see the science education in this country--nothing more.
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moonwolfph
182 Fans Open the Doors, See All the Sheeple.
ALL fresh water is drinking water! How is this not tantamount to state-sponsored ECO-TERROR If a foreign entity came in and permanently POISONED BILIONS of gallons of American's drink labelred "ECO-TERRORISTS"? More human parasites in operation. I've gone solar. F the gas companies and the legal bribing of congress and the governors to look the other way.
16 JAN 2012 7:51 PM FAVE SHARE MORE
mhh310351
143 Fans Roosevelt Democrat
You think because the number seems large that this is a crime. You really should compare the numbers to something that means something to others. Take An operate 30 different breweries. A large brewery will use about 1.5 million gallons a day. Say all 3 barrels a day making beer. Please don't tell me we should all give up beer!
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Want to talk really big numbers in water usage? Let's talk farming. Please don't tell I'll have to give up ea Just thought I'd throw some perspective into the discussion.
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bbrecht
444 Fans "pray for the dead, fight like hell for the liv
Except that fracking waste is exempt from the Clearn Water Act & it has in fact been dumped in Thank you for the industry's best attempt at assaying our concerns about clean water.
mhh310351
http://www.independentwatertesting.com/education-center/148-what-is-the-halliburton-loophole The Halliburton Loophole really doesn't apply if a municipality agrees to take it. As for the water and chemicals injected 6-10 thousand feet below ground it would not have bee based on past Supreme Court limitations of the Clean Water Act. http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/CWAwaters.cfm Drilling Companies get fined all the time for spills they don't get a Halliburton Loophole pass.
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willowtree3
SUPER USER 574 Fans Adopt a shelter animal.
Is it any wonder why we're dropping like flies from multiple cancers across the globe? Dirty water, nuclear testing, chemicals. We sure know how to ruin a perfectly good planet.
17 JAN 2012 7:16 AM
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mater
2,052 Fans mater
Not only dangerous fracking and drilling chemicals are in the water. Also the antibiotics, hormon left-over prescription meds and toilet article products are tossed into every city's water supply vi products cannot be safely and with 100% accuracy be refined out of the water, thus when one m water, there's no telling what's in that bottle. I'm glad there are starting to be regulations and law with and has caused damage already in ND and TX, fracking in several more states as well.
RobertFromMN
340 Fans Fiercely secular Luxemburgist
You're right, and the hundreds of millions of plastic water bottles that people toss out aren't doin
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mhh310351
To put the 60 million barrels a day into perspective the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. uses a breweries.
abbienormal
2,344 Fans What hump?
So? That isn't good either. Nor is the huge amount of water used by coal fired electric plants.
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GJZM
83 Fans
but but but but jobs

abbienormal
2,344 Fans What hump?
Fanned.
Caren O. (observingstupiditydaily)
SUPER USER 982 Fans "Is this a private fight, or can anyone join?" -Ol
"The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, an strontium, most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush. There, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water. In the two years since the frenzy of activity began in the vast underground rock formation known has been the only state allowing waterways to serve as the primary disposal place for the huge drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. State regulators, initially caught flat-footed, tightened the rules this year for any new water treat operations to continue discharging water into rivers." Read more: http://auburnpub.com/news/local/article_4450c5ba-17ba-11e0-bf0e-001cc4c03286
she343
335 Fans
and that is the point!! as long as it is legal--companies will do whatever is cheapest to maximize proffits (as they are d for the consequences of their actions. Get several players involved and no one is ever guitly because you can't pin point exactlty whic responcible. Was it the bad water-- or the bad air? Maybe you ate the wrong foods? Or are genetically dispo
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Laws are reactive--not proactive. And often when they react--they over react. We have neglected for decades the hard discussions about what are the responcibilities of the CITIZENS and freedoms so many worry about,
Chris_Zumbrunnen
33 Fans
Oh the waste from frackin is Very Different Mr Author ! Why because of this simple fact. Ask yourself this question Mr Market analyst, do you personally have a Frackin Operation within been able to catch on Fire ? Do your Live Stock refuse to drink from ponds that have watered th going on ? Your Take on this issue is very very subjective and not all an open minded look at th Fracking Operations.
altohone
1,008 Fans
1.6 million barrels of contaminated water dumped into the ocean daily is called management? 340,000 barrels disposed on land every day is hardly insignificant. Pumping limited fresh water into the ground is also a very different concern than reinjection. Downplaying the risks is industry PR.
mhh310351
Did you know that one medium sized textile dye plant will use 10 million barrels in a year. So will a pulp paper mill. So would a brewery. Starting to get the picture?
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Waste Water - America's Hidden 60 Million Barrel A Day Industry

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Waste Water: America's Hidden 60 Million Barrel A Day Industry

March 16, 2014

First Posted: 01/16/12 09:04 AM ET Updated: 01/16/12 07:02 PM ET