Case of the Dead Cows Solved

X File case of the "bellowing and bleeding" cows has been solved. No, it wasn't occult practices or aliens mutilating and doing countless tests, but a toxic spill from a Chesapeake owned well. Is Chesapeake in trouble? Oh, you bet they are, here's a short list of the offenses:

Chesapeake violated state law by allowing a solid waste to be deposited without a permit. Chesapeake attempted to cover the truth by stating the cows death had nothing to with ingesting of the fraccing fluid but actual autopsy reports proved otherwise.

Chesapeake failed to notify the state Dept of Public Safety and they can't say it was because the office was closed because the hazardous materials line is open for business 24 - 7. Do you think maybe Chesapeake didn't notify the authorities because they truly believed that the fraccing fluid is non-hazardous?

Chesapeake also failed to turn in a written report of the incident within seven days. Why the stall tactics? Remember, if ground water contamination isn't reported, then the Oil & Gas industry can claim there's no proof of ground water contamination.

What Have We Done?

I went on a mini vacation and came back to this...98 comments on the proposed beginning of drilling the Shale beneath New York. Here's my favorite part of the original article:


"If done carefully — and in carefully selected places — drilling should cause minimal environmental harm."



Ha! That made me laugh. Because you and I both know, that ain't likely to happen...you know...the careful part. Remember this? And how about this? Oh, recollect this one? Well, you get my drift...and if you haven't then you should really read this.

Tag You're It...Pass It On

I read a very interesting article in the Denver Post. I'm wondering why it is that in Colorado, more than just average citizens are taking notice of the fracking process used by oil companies? After reading the article, I then read the comments and this one stuck out:

ILoveChipotle wrote:Oil companies do not frac the aquifers - they do not touch the ground water. The area that is touched by a frac is 8000 feet below the aquifer (that's about a mile & a half away).

Ms. Greenes ignorance & hatred for the industry is astounding.

You are the only one mentioning aquifers.

Are you saying that Coalbed Methane is never found near underground sources of drinking water?

I'm really confused. I'm gonna have to ask some of the smart people I know about the aquifers being touched by fracking. I was thinking that over in Midland, the groundwater has been contaminated, but I could be mistaken. Then I kept reading the comments and came across this one:

I oftentimes disagree with what a columnist writes. Very rarely am I shocked at their ignorance. The two or three articles written by Ms. Greene on fracking are shockingly ignorant. Certain rules, including the chemical disclosure rule that Susan believes to be at issue, were not, and are not, disputed by energy companies. The rules that industry is trying to overturn are those that have have made it nearly impossible to get new permits from the state (yes the state - state regulators - not "you and me").

Fracking is regulated by the state, very heavily so in fact. Anyone who understands even basic geology knows that it would be impossible for fluids from fracking to travel from 8000 feet below the surface to anywhere near water supplies. The important issue when it comes to fracking is the integrity of the cement and metal casing of the pipe. The state requires myriad tests to ensure that integrity, which is why federal regulations would be overly burdensome.

Now, I'm almost certain that there was some leak in some kind of equipment over in Louisiana of fracking fluids. I'm also remembering that some cows, about 16 or so, drank some of that leakage and died. Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that one.

See...it Wasn't Liberal Propaganda after all

A while back I blogged about 17 cows that were poisoned by drilling water over in Shreveport, LA. Well, I got several phone calls and a couple of emails from some of my friends about the matter. Some of them insisted that I have "fallen" for liberal propaganda, that they hadn't heard any such story. I went searching the net for the newspaper story, but it had already been archived and I would have had to pay for the story. I would have paid for the story, but I never activated my debit card and my Chase credit card was closed. I thought about that incident and wondered what the outcome had been. Truly, I was thinking about that last night and today...look, here are the results, straight from the Shreveport Times.

There were several things in the article that stood out:
1. ONLY 1% of the water was chemical.
2. HOURS passed before deciding to report it.
3. The owner of the cattle was COMPENSATED.

You know, I'm a bit exhausted with people choosing compensation over the truth. Instead, you know what I would of wanted? For Chesapeake to get the Hell out of Shreveport! There's a Chesapeake office over in Kermit, about 7 miles from my house, I'm thinking about staging a protest...anybody interested?