Category Archives: Fracking

Talisman frackwater pit leaked for months, kept from public

Talisman frackwater pit leaked for months, kept from public

Energy and Resources, Fracking
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Talisman frackwater pit leaked for months, kept from public
Frackwater pits in Talisman’s Farrell Creek operations in northeast BC – photo taken in March. Pond A, on the far right, suffered a rupture, leaking contaminants into the soil and groundwater (Two Island Films)

by Damien Gillis and Will Koop

A pit storing contaminated fracking water in northeast BC was leaking into the surrounding soil and groundwater for up to six months before owner Talisman formally notified the Oil and Gas Commission and undertook clean-up efforts, The Common Sense Canadian has learned.

One of five lined pits connected to Talisman’s Farrell Creek operations north of Hudson’s Hope, referred to as Pond A, suffered a puncture through both of its protective layers, causing toxic fluids to begin escaping into the environment. The pits are used to store “produced water” from previous fracks to be reused later as part of a program to cut back on freshwater use. Ironically, this practice has now threatened local groundwater due to the ruptured liners.

It has proven difficult to obtain straight answers from the regulator or company, but through a series of recent communications, we have been able to piece together a rough timeline of the incident.

Holes in Talisman’s liner, story

pond-and-liner
Pond A in Sept 2010. Both protective liners would later fail (Will Koop)

Talisman’s storage pits consist of two liners with a a layer of interstitial webbing in between. As Talisman Community Engagement Advisor Dan Glover explained this past Friday over the phone, that webbing contains sensors which detected a leak in the inside membrane during a routine inspection in “late January” of this year.

“What we didn’t pick up at that time was that there was also an issue with the second liner,” added Glover.

“From what I understand, we started draining the pond in late January when the leak was detected, but it didn’t happen quickly,” he acknowledged.

[quote]That’s a lot of water to truck away.

[/quote]

Indeed, Pond A holds approximately 30,000 cubic metres (30 million litres) of fluids at capacity. With the three neighbouring pits full, the company had to pump out Pond A by tanker truck, removing the toxic liquid waste to the Silverberry industrial waste transfer site, some 70 km away. Each truck can carry just 30-36 cubic metres, meaning almost 1,000 truck loads to empty the pit (and about 120,000-140,000 total km of travel).

That said, the above aerial image of the pits, taken on March 28, conflicts with Mr. Glover’s statement that the company began emptying the pond back in January after the sensors detected a leak in the inner membrane. At least two months later, there is no visible sign that the company has even begun pumping out Pond A.

Getting to the bottom of Pond A leak

It is unclear when Talisman did begin emptying the pit, but Mr. Glover claims it was fully drained by the beginning of June, after which the company removed the liners and discovered the outer layer had failed too, meaning the pit had been leaking for close to 5 months into the soil and groundwater at that point.

In a November 8 email to Hudson’s Hope Mayor Gwen Johansson, responding to questions from a concerned community member, Glover said, “…in June we informed the OGC that we were taking the pond out of service.” Yet, in an advisory emailed to media last week, the regulator stated, “The BC Oil and Gas Commission is investigating a leak in a Talisman frackwater storage pond that was reported by the company on July 22, 2013.”

We asked Mr. Glover to account for the discrepancy between to two conflicting dates when the spill was reported to the OGC. He explained that the first notification, in June, was an informal “heads-up” from Talisman’s regulatory compliance officer. The July date constitutes the company’s “official self-disclosure” to the regulator.

It would take another two and a half months for the OGC to issue a formal order to Talisman “to delineate the extent of soil and groundwater impact in and around Pond A and provide the results to the OGC,” according to Glover. The OGC has declined repeated requests to furnish us with a copy of the order, but has acknowledged the date was October 4 – with a deadline of November 29 for more detailed reporting of remediation and test results on the soil and groundwater.

The above sequence illustrates some serious gaps in the regulatory framework for the industry, with companies left to self-report such incidents, and an apparent lack of urgency on the part of the OGC for mandating and monitoring emergency clean-up measures.

First Nations upset at lack of disclosure

Chief Roland Wilson of West Moberly First Nations, on whose shared territory the leak occurred, is upset at the lack of disclosure by Talisman and the OGC. He says that dialogue with both entities only began once the Nation initiated it, after hearing about learning of the leak through other sources. “They didn’t come forward with anything. That’s a big concern,” says Wilson.

[quote]We have people on the ground – hunters, people practicing their treaty rights. Is this getting into the creeks where they’re camping? Who knows what’s happening? The OGC has the duty to consult. When there is a possible threat to the safety of our members, it’s their duty to inform us.[/quote]

Talisman also neglected to inform West Moberly of the incident, in spite of a memorandum of understanding between the Nation and company which mandates open dialogue. Mr. Glover doesn’t dispute this point. However, when asked why the company didn’t inform First Nations of the leak in January when it was first detected, he suggests it didn’t yet have enough information to share without further investigation.

[quote]We didn’t want to go to them and say, ‘hey guys, we have an issue with one of our ponds,’ then they would ask, ‘what’s the issue?’ and we would have told them we have no idea.[/quote]

That said, there remains the apparent contradiction between the company’s timeline for draining the pit and the above photographic evidence, which suggests Talisman’s response was far less prompt than it has portrayed.

Mr. Glover says that once First Nations contacted Talisman with concerns about the leaking pit, they were invited for a site inspection. He also maintains the company will share its reports on the clean-up with First Nations throughout the region going forward.

Liners punctured by shale

Pond A depth
The 12 metre-deep Pond A in Sept. 2010 (Will Koop)

Talisman believes the pit’s liners were punctured by a chunk of shale protruding from the surrounding soil, in the bottom third of the 12 metre-deep cavity.

Following the draining of the pit, Talisman hired  Highmark Environmental Services to remove contaminated soil and Matrix Solutions for groundwater monitoring. Results from preliminary testing were supplied to the OGC on September 16, along with an initial remediation plan, which Highmark began to implement. As of last week, an estimated 4,600 cubic metres of soil had been removed and trucked to the Silverberry facility – with approximately 300 cubic metres of contaminated soil remaining to be removed.

The work is ongoing, with follow up meetings being planned in the coming weeks between Talisman and the regulator to review the company’s progress and further testing results.

Chemicals, contamination largely unknown

The company has been unclear about the nature of contaminants in the frackwater, only acknowledging the presence of chlorides, sodium and dissolved solids. In his email to the Hudson’s Hope mayor, Mr. Glover pointed to the province’s “FracFocus” tool, a database where companies operating in BC are now mandated to file chemicals used in their fracks. However, companies are allowed to keep trade secrets and use other tricks to avoid full disclosure.

For instance, we examined the FracFocus list of ingredients used in Well 93-i of the Altares field, directly across the road from the frack fluid storage pits, as an example of the toxics potentially contained in Pond A. While contractor Schlumberger lists most of the chemicals it used in the well, it leaves out some critical details and product information (known as CAS Registry Numbers). And since the FracFocus tool has only been in place since November 2011 in BC, there is data missing for a number of older wells.

For example, Talisman only reports chemicals used in 73 out of 111 of its wells in the Altares field. The company’s total data for the 73 Altares wells indicates it used 993,832 cubic metres (almost a billion litres) of water for fracking purposes – and about 10,000 cubic metres (10 million litres) of toxic additives.

Moreover, the FracFocus tool does not include drilling additives, which, as revealed in a recent peer-reviewed, published paper, can be just as dangerous as fracking fluids.

In any event, here are just a few of the chemicals disclosed by contractor Schlumberger at Talisman’s well (view the full list here):

  • Hydrochloric Acid
  • Distillates (petroleum)
  • Sodium hydroxide (impurity)
  • 2-Methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one
  • Trisodium nitrilotriacetate (impurity)

We asked Calgary-based Talisman spokesperson Berta Gomez specifically if the water contained the known carcinogen benzene, to which she replied via email, “Yes the produced water does contain low level concentrations of Benzene. Our sampling has shown an average concentration of 0.465 mg/L with a range of 0.211 – 0.824 mg/L,” though she maintains that’s well below the allowable concentration under BC’s Contaminated Sites Regulations.

Finally, neither the OGC nor Talisman have yet to reveal to the public the naturally occurring toxics released within the fracked flow back water – such as mercury, arsenic, barium, strontium, chromium, BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes), radium, uranium, and whatever other dangerous underground substances are being dredged up by fracking (read our recent story about dead cows and radiation connected to fracking near a farm in Alberta).

Volume of leaked frackwater unknown

According to the OGC, “The volume of fluid leaked [from Pond A] at this point has not been determined.”

For his part, Mr. Glover stated by email:
[quote]At this time we don’t know the extent of the groundwater impact; however, initial results indicate the impact is quite localized (immediate vicinity of our pond) and that the groundwater chloride concentrations do not pose a significant risk to freshwater species. We continue to check our groundwater monitoring wells on an ongoing basis and we have drilled additional wells to enhance our understanding of the groundwater conditions.[/quote]

Of particular concern is the indication on a provincial mapping service, iMap BC, that a stream runs near the four waste pits (shown on the graphic below) – which are perched at the top of a hill. Pond A rests at the eastern edge nearest the downhill slope. The company maintains the penetration of fluids into the soil has been limited to .75 metres in depth and Mr. Glover says there is no visible stream in that location. That said, government data suggests otherwise and the location of the pond at the top of a hill is cause for concern.

Talisman-4Ponds-Nov12-2013

Government claims zero water contamination from fracking

The incident is highly inconvenient for industry and government on a number of fronts, as the BC Liberal Government tries to calm environmental concerns in its push to build an LNG industry on BC’s coast.

BC Minister for Natural Gas Rich Coleman penned an op-ed in The Georgia Straight one week after the story of Talisman’s leak was broken by The Globe and Mail, boldly declaring:

[quote]The net result of both our strong regulatory framework and our geology is that B.C.’s water supply is protected and safe. It has never been contaminated as a result of hydraulic fracturing.[/quote]

OGC spokesperson Hardy Friedrich echoed these comments to the media as late as last week, on November 13, stating “Water has never been contaminated as a result of hydraulic fracturing in B.C.”

And yet, both the OGC and Talisman acknowledge there has been groundwater contamination here from the leaking Pond A. The regulator was also quick to defend the industry’s record in its media lines surrounding the leak, stating, “There have been no similar incidents in 2013. There is only one similar instance in the past five years. It occurred in 2011. In that incident the leak was immediately detected, the storage pond drained and the area remediated.”

It is nevertheless incorrect to state that water has never been contaminated from fracking in BC. Moreover, as this incident demonstrates, the regulatory system in place isn’t designed to detect contamination, so we have no real sense of how many other incidents have gone undetected or unreported. As of 2012, the OGC had all of ONE hydrologist on staff.

Talisman’s shale for sale

Talisman drilling operation
A Talisman frack pad near Pond A – March 28 (Two Island Films)

This incident also comes amidst the planned sale of most of Talisman’s Montney shale gas assets to Progress Energy – a subsidiary of Malaysian energy giant and would-be BC LNG player Petronas – for $1.5 Billion. The deal involving Talisman’s Farrell Creek and Cypress operations was announced on November 8 and is expected to conclude sometime in the new year.

It would appear the Pond A incident is alreading weighing on prospective owner Progress/Petronas’ mind. Following initial conversations last week about the leaking pond, Talisman spokesperson Berta Gomez told us via email, “Since the Progress/Talisman deal was announced, we need to get approval from them for any media response we provide on any issue that involves them. Can I ask you please to hold the publication of the interview you did to me until I get responses approved by Progress?”

Chief Wilson is worried about the pending handover from Talisman to Progress/Petronas and how that will impact the remediation of Pond A and relations with his community around economic and environmental issues:

[quote]This poses a concern for us because we don’t have any kind of a working relationship with Progress. We don’t know if they’re going to honour our Memorandum of Understanding with Talisman, or the employment opportunities we’ve been working on with them for our members. What’s going to happen now?[/quote]

Mr. Glover says Talisman is aiming to have clean-up completed by year-end, but that doesn’t include any final decision about what to do with the pond beyond that.

Water Act, fracking lawsuit

The Pond A incident also comes as a lawsuit was announced this week by Ecojustice and two BC-based environmental groups over the issuance of water permits for fracking. The filing of the case  in the BC Supreme Court coincides with the call for public feedback into the modernization of BC’s antiquated Water Act, which concluded this past Friday.

Clearly, the Talisman leak has revealed holes in more than just the company’s storage pit liners. These gaps in BC’s regulatory framework need to be addressed with the new Water Sustainability Act. The incident also poses somes tough questions for a government that wants to dramatically ramp up fracking to feed proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants on BC’s coast, yet doesn’t seem prepared to acknowledge the risks the controversial practice poses on the ground.

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Canada's largest energy union calls for national fracking moratorium

Canada’s largest energy union wants national fracking moratorium

Economics, Energy and Resources, First Nations, Fracking
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Canada's largest energy union calls for national fracking moratorium
First Nations and supporters protest fracking in Vancouver last month (Damien Gillis)

Canada’s largest private sector union, Unifor, has joined the growing chorus of concern over controversial shale gas development. The labour organization representing over 300,000 members in a wide range of economic sectors, including energy, is calling for a national fracking moratorium.

Unifor issued a statement from its 25-member National Executive Board Thursday raising concerns about the impacts of  shale gas development on the environment and on First Nations’ rights.

“Unconventional gas fracking has the potential to have catastrophic effects on our environment and economy. The safety risks are also a major concern for our union,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

[quote]Just because we can carry out this activity does not mean we should. We must enact a national moratorium on fracking activity.[/quote]

Provinces pass fracking moratoriums

The call comes on the heels of provincial fracking moratoriums in Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador – and France’s recent national ban on shale gas.

Fracking has become a hot topic across the country in recent months.

In BC, a lawsuit against the provincial regulator over water permits for fracking was announced on Wednesday, while a high profile court case over water contamination winds its way through Alberta’s courts. The industry minister for the Northwest Territories is developing a new regulatory model for shale oil in advance of devolution, and fracking remains a highly controversial subject in New Brunswick, where First Nations recently clashed with the RCMP over exploratory work by an American company.

Support for First Nations

That last point was a key factor in Unifor’s decision to come out against fracking – as the union noted in its statement:

[quote]Any resource extraction industry in Canada must confront the problem of unresolved aboriginal land claims, and the inadequate economic benefits (including employment opportunities) which have been offered to First Nations communities from resource developments. [/quote]

Despite the potential job benefits to its, members, Unifor remains highly critical of the shale gas industry, concluding:

[quote]Instead of being guided by short-term swings in prices and profits for private energy producers, Canada’s federal and provincial governments must develop and implement (in cooperation with other stakeholders) a national plan for a stable, sustainable energy industry that respects our social and environmental commitments, and generates lasting wealth for all who live here.[/quote]

Council of Canadians calls for national fracking moratorium

Unifor’s call for a national moratorium echoes recent statements by public interest group The Council of Canadians.

Canada’s big energy workers’ unions are increasingly taking a critical look at the job promises from fossil fuel development. Watch this speech by president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, Dave Coles, at last year’s Defend Our Coast rally in Victoria, explaining why his members are “diametrically opposed” to Tar Sands pipelines to BC’s coast:

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NWT developing regulatory model for oil fracking in advance of devolution

NWT developing regulatory model for oil fracking before devolution

Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oil&Gas
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NWT developing regulatory model for oil fracking in advance of devolution
Controversial natural gas fracking operations in BC (Damien Gillis)

CALGARY – With the Northwest Territories preparing to take control of its resource development next spring, its industry minister has been busy looking at the best way to regulate its nascent shale oil industry.

A devolution agreement kicks in on April 1, at which point oversight of most oil, natural gas and mining activities will move from the federal to the territorial government.

That means David Ramsay — who manages the industry, tourism, investment, public utilities and justice cabinet portfolios — has a busy five months ahead of him.

The minister is in Calgary this week to speak to energy companies active in the north about what changes may be in store and get their feedback. He’s also been meeting with regulatory and Alberta government officials.

“We really just to let them know that it’s going to be as seamless a transition as possible,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Ramsay is looking at which regulatory model would best serve the territory, and a decision is expected to be made soon. Says Ramsay:

[quote]We need to be ready. We can’t afford not to be.

[/quote]

Ramsay said he likes how the Alberta Energy Regulator works. The recently created AER combines the functions of its predecessor, the Energy Resources Conservation Board, with those of other government departments, leading to less duplication.

He said the Northwest Territories has a “tremendous” opportunity in the Central Mackenzie Valley, where companies such as Husky Energy Inc. (TSX:HSE), ConocoPhillips and others are in the early stages of exploring for oil in the Canol shale.

Getting oil out of the Canol requires hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — a method that entails breaking the rock with a high-pressure mixture of water, chemicals and sand.

While fracking has been controversial and many jurisdictions have declared moratoriums on the practice, Ramsay said he’s convinced that extraction method is safe.

One of the biggest challenges ahead will be staffing the new regulator to ensure it has the right expertise to oversee the type of energy development that’s new to the territory.

The devolution agreement does not cover the offshore and the National Energy Board will continue to oversee drilling in the Beaufort Sea.

However, Ramsay said the Northwest Territories government is in talks with Ottawa about sharing some of that responsibility — perhaps under a model similar to offshore petroleum boards in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Nova Scotia.

Most of the Northwest Territory’s royalty take will be used for much-needed infrastructure projects such as roads. But a yet-to-be determined portion will be set aside in a savings fund, he said.

Read about a new lawsuit against BC’s oil and gas regulator.

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Fracking, dead cows and radiation

Fracking, dead cows and…RADIATION?

Energy and Resources, Fracking, Nuclear
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Fracking, dead cows and radiation
Alberta cattle rancher Howard Hawkwood (photo courtesy of Green Planet Monitor)

Alberta cattle rancher Howard Hawkwood has a beef with the local fracking industry. He’s convinced the controversial technique for gas extraction is responsible for killing off 18 of his cows and large swaths of his property near Airdrie, Alberta.

An online radio program released today contains some shocking allegations of impacts of fracking on the ranch Hawkwood runs with his wife Nielle, a half hour drive northwest of Calgary. Nielle has recently lost some of her hair and the Hawkwoods have seen 10 percent of their cattle herd die from a mysterious illness they believe is connected to fracking and related radiation.

The revelation comes on the heels of evidence south of the border suggesting that the process of drilling deep underground and cracking open shale formations to extract gas is also dredging up  naturally occurring radiation and pulling it to the surface.

Dead spots, dead cows

Howard describes their experience to program host David Kattenberg of the Green Planet Monitor – including 1-2 acres of dead patches on their farm, which tests reveal contain alarming levels of radioactivity. (Listen to the full program here – Howard’s interview begins at the 19 min mark)

“Towards calving season, we noticed some cows weren’t doing that great…Then all the sudden these cows started to crash – they would go down and they wouldn’t get up,” Hawkwood explains. “We did blood testing on these cows and we found out the sodium and the chlorides were out of balance, so I asked the veterinarian, ‘So, what do we do?’. And the vet did some research and we don’t know. We don’t know how to handle this.”

Hawkwood goes on to describe the series of dead patches that have sprung up after fracking activities began near his ranch.

[quote]These are the dead spots in the field, where my cows have urinated. This all showed up last spring…We’ve actually taken soil samples of the dead spot and a sample from a foot and a half away and we’ve got high levels of radon, barium, uranium, strontium, and magnesium is extremely high.[/quote]

“This spot here has never changed,” Hawkwood explains. “It’s been here since June. It’s dead. And I estimate that on my entire ranch I’ve maybe lost 1-2 acres of land due to this. Really, nothing grows…Nothing will germinate in that soil.”

“And you think this has got to do with the fracking?” asks the show’s host.

“Oh, I think so. Definitely. Because the cows have been drinking out of my well water, and the chemicals or whatever’s in there – we don’t know what’s in there, they won’t tell us – and it’s killed this.”

Radioactive fracking in Pennsylvania

This is not the first time hydraulic fracturing has been tied to radiation. Just last month, a study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found radioactive water connected fracking operations in Pennsylvania. According to a Bloomberg story on the subject:

[quote]Naturally occurring radiation brought to the surface by gas drillers has been detected in a Pennsylvania creek that flows into the Allegheny River, illustrating the risks of wastewater disposal from the boom in hydraulic fracturing.[/quote]

Speak no evil

Mr. Hawkwood believes many other ranchers are experiencing similar issues, but are afraid to speak out – some because of non-disclosure agreements they’ve signed with the industry.

[quote]The other ranchers are experiencing the same thing but they don’t want to come forward, because they don’t want to create a problem. Or they have oil and gas on their property and they’ve had to sign non-disclosure agreements. One fellow told me that if he does a cow problem, he phones them and he’s got a cheque in the mail – as long as he doesn’t speak up.[/quote]

Hawkwood appears to be the exception to the rule. He’s reached his boiling point of late and has some strong words for government regulators he feels are letting down families like his.

Something has got to change

After showing host Kattenberg a 4-year-old cow  who died the previous night, Hawkwood declares, “I am totally – maybe I shouldn’t say this – pissed off with our government.” Hawkwood continues:

[quote]Governments are supposed to protect us…and when this cow dies, and the number of cows I’ve lost and  hear about other farmers and ranchers who’ve had the same experience and the same problem…now, if this keeps up and it’s going to create more problems, we’re not even going to have a cattle herd. It is a real nightmare in this province and in this country…and something has to change.[/quote]

Hawkwood is calling for a shale gas moratorium – such as was recently passed in Newfoundland – “until we can find a way to do this safely.”

Meanwhile, in neighbouring British Columbia, a leaked government memo sparked controversy yesterday for its discussion of gutting of the 40-year-old Agricultural Land Reserve in order to prioritize gas development.

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Newfoundland passes fracking moratorium

Newfoundland passes fracking moratorium

Energy and Resources, Fracking
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Newfoundland passes fracking moratoriumST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador  is shutting the door on applications for hydraulic fracturing or fracking for oil and gas while it reviews regulations and consults residents.

Plans to frack wells near Gros Morne National Park pending government approvals had raised concerns about groundwater pollution and the impact on one of the province’s prime tourism draws.

Natural Resources Minister Derrick Dalley said Monday that no fracking applications will be accepted before the review is complete and made public. He set no deadline.

“We need to be cognizant of the consequences of the decision and we’ll move through that process in due time,” he said outside the legislature.

Dalley said the Progressive Conservative government’s top concern is health and safety, telling the house, which began its fall session Monday:

[quote]In making this decision, our government is acting responsibly and respecting the balance between economic development and environmental protection.[/quote]

Fracking concerns

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, involves pumping water, nitrogen, sand and chemical additives at high pressure to fracture shale rock formations and allow gas or oil to flow through well bores to the surface. It’s increasingly used across Canada and the United States as energy demands grow while conventional sources wane.

Fracking and UNESCO heritage

The province has not yet received formal applications to frack wells in western Newfoundland although exploration licences have been granted in what’s known as the Green Point shale near Gros Morne National Park.

The prospect of drilling near Gros Morne, a spectacular hiker’s paradise recognized by UNESCO world heritage status, set off intense debate. It has also raised alarms about groundwater pollution and other risks.

It’s believed Newfoundland’s west coast has deep shale formations that hold oil — unlike more shallow coalbed gas deposits in western Canada and parts of the U.S.

More independent research needed

Still, the Council of Canadians has warned that a lack of independent research before and after fracking means safety assurances ring hollow.

NDP Leader Lorraine Michael said her party has long urged the government to halt any fracking applications until the process is better understood.

“There are a lot of issues that are out there in the environmental world,” she told reporters. “Some of them are proven, some aren’t. And I think we have to make sure before we go any further that we have absolute proof that if there are environmental concerns, which there are, that they can be dealt with.”

Newfoundland taking its time

Dalley said the government will take the time it needs to assess the geology of western Newfoundland and compare its existing regulations to other jurisdictions.

Western Newfoundland’s shale-oil deposits have been described as a potentially huge resource. Shoal Point Energy Ltd. (CNSX:SPE) holds three exploration licences. It reached a farmout deal earlier this year with Black Spruce Exploration, a subsidiary of Foothills Capital Corp., for as many as 12 exploration wells to be drilled over the next few years in the Green Point shale, if the province approved.

No one with Black Spruce could be immediately reached to comment on Monday’s announcement.

In Quebec, a moratorium on fracking for natural gas under the St. Lawrence River is now the subject of a $250-million lawsuit by Lone Pine Resources Inc. (TSX:LPR). The company says it bought leases in good faith and is now being denied a chance to develop them.

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Bird's eye view of Texas fracking causes rumble

Bird’s eye view of Texas fracking causes rumble

Energy and Resources, Fracking
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photo: Amy Youngs - click to enlarge
photo: Amy Youngs – click to enlarge

An aerial photo taken on August 3rd of fracking operations in Texas has caused a rumble online, drawing 20,000 views on the photo sharing site, Flckr.

The photo, posted by Amy Youngs, carries the inscription:

[quote]Saw these strange new human-made landscapes on my flight from Sacramento to Houston. Not farming, not subdivisions, but many miles of rectangular patches etched out of the earth, some with pools next to them, all with roads to them. I doubt that people see these when driving on major roads – I never have – but they were very visible from a plane. Welcome to your new landscape![/quote]

Modern-day hydraulic fracturing was first developed in Texas’ Barnett Shale. As of 2011, the state led the nation with over 100,000 gas wells – many of which have involved fracking in recent years. The water-intensive process is being questioned as Texas faces drought conditions.

See an interactive image of the above fracking operations in google maps.

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Rafe: Gordon Wilson finds religion on LNG...for $12,500 a month

Rafe: Gordon Wilson finds religion on LNG…for $12,500 a month

Energy and Resources, Fracking, LNG, Politics, Western Canada
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Rafe: Gordon Wilson finds religion on LNG...for $12,500 a month
A screen capture from Gordon Wilson’s youtube endorsement of Christy Clark

Some years ago I got into hot water for calling a federal cabinet minister of the female persuasion a “political whore”, a phrase that has nothing to do with sexism and everything to do with having principles for sale.

Christy Clark is paying Gordon Wilson $12,500 a month for four months – probably a permanent gig if he keeps his nose brown enough. Wilson is going to be an advocate for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Wilson once highly critical of LNG

In April last, before this former BC Liberal leader and NDP cabinet minister endorsed Liberal Christy Clark in the May election, Wilson had this to say about LNG:

[quote]The most compelling reason to be concerned about relying on this golden goose is the fact that the markets we are told will buy all we can supply may not materialize as we think, and even if they do, the price they are prepared to pay for our product may be well below what is anticipated.[/quote]

Quite, Gordon, quite. That was Gordon Wilson the skeptic talking but there is more. Here’s what Wilson the environmentalist had to say last April: “Expanded LNG production also comes with a significant environmental cost.”

Our lad went on to say:

[quote]The impact of an expanded hydrocarbon economy will certainly speed up global warming and cause us to build a dependency on a revenue stream that originates form processes that are poisoning our atmosphere.[/quote]

Precisely, sir, precisely. Given my most articulate moment, I could not have said it better.

The story changes

So what happened to Mr. Wilson? Does he have some contract in his pocket for LNG sales from BC to an Asian customer? Has there been some host of angels descend from Heaven, urging Mr. Wilson to get on the side of God and Christy Clark?

Or is he just a grubby political whore whose price is $50,000 a quarter?

To call Wilson that cannot come without evidence of past prostitutional behaviour. (Yes, I just invented the word, dictionaries please copy.)

Wilson’s first dance with BC Liberals

Mr. Wilson, back in the 80s was a Liberal, both federal and provincial. The provincial wing was in disarray and Mr. Wilson took over, severed its ties with the federal party and built the local Libs into a force to be reckoned with in the 1991 election, when they went from zero MLAs to seventeen and he became Leader of the Opposition.

It was downhill from there. By 1993 it was obvious that there were rumblings in the Liberal caucus that he was entirely too close to their House Leader, the gorgeous Judi Tyabji. The media kept quiet until the late John Pifer got his hands on a love letter from Ms. Tyabji to our hero. None of us, least of all me with my marital record, wanted to make anything of this except the political reality that the Opposition was clearly unraveling and doing a lousy job.

Lie led to ouster

Had Mr. Wilson stated that he and Judi were a thing, with Judi leaving her post, it would have been a 48-hour story at worst.

But Wilson lied – serially lied. He destroyed himself in an interview with CKNW’s Philip Till.

The party held a leadership convention and unceremoniously dumped Wilson for the calamity called Gordon Campbell.

Wilson’s finer points

Before going further, I must acknowledge my debt to Wilson on the Meech Lake/Charlottetown issue. We were very close on that issue, along with Gordon Gibson and the late Mel Smith, QC. Wilson introduced me to Clyde Wells, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, who became all but a fixture on my show at CKNW.

Moreover, I have to say that a couple of years ago I urged him to try and form a new party of the “centre” where I perceive the political vacuum to be. I have never questioned his ability to articulate issues. In fact he may be the perfect political animal.

Trading principle for money

My quarrel is with his crass trading of principle for money.

Wilson, when Campbell was selected, most ungraciously quit the Liberal Party and formed, with the lady of his choice, Judi Tyabji, the Progressive Democratic Alliance.

This was not to last. As the NDP tottered towards its 2001 wipeout, Wilson was asked to join its cabinet, which he did, while making it abundantly clear that he would never join the party.

But he did. In fact, he ran for their leadership. And in terms that made him sound like he was as committed as if his Dad had worked the coalmines of Wales.

I was at that leadership convention and I was astonished to hear him speak as if socialism was burned into his soul. He demonstrated – dare I be so bold as to say – that he was a political whore who, quite clearly for personal aggrandizement, had gone from being an enemy of the NDP to a cabinet minister in an NDP government; from rejecting the party to an aspirant, and a serious one, for their leadership.

In deep financial trouble, Wilson takes money to shill for LNG

Now Wilson moves from being skeptical of LNG and all its obvious flaws into a position of solid support for it.

Are we supposed to believe that this volte-face had nothing to do with $12,500 a month, which could easily morph into $150,000 a year?

We learned from reporter Bob Mackin a week before the May provincial election that Wilson’s return to the Liberal fold came amidst mounting legal and financial pressures – including the court-ordered sale of the Sunshine Coast home he shared with his wife.

Am I, taking the risk of a lawsuit, not entitled to say that Gordon Wilson, for all his many talents, is indeed a political whore whose principles can be precisely valued at $12,500 a month – to be expanded, because Premier Clark will have no other choice, to $150,000 per annum and perhaps beyond?

I like Gordon Wilson. I am still an admirer of his many abilities.

But he is, price tag stamped on his forehead, a political whore.

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Protestors stage mock fracking on premier's lawn

Protestors stage mock fracking on premier’s lawn

Energy and Resources, Fracking, LNG
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Protestors stage mock fracking on premier's lawn
photo courtesy of Maryam Adrangi’s facebook page

VANCOUVER – Opponents of the British Columbia government’s liquefied natural gas plans set up a three-metre mock fracking rig on the premier’s front lawn on Sunday, as Premier Christy Clark prepares for a trade mission to Asia to sell the province’s LNG potential.

A small group from Rising Tide Vancouver Coast Salish Territories set up the mock rig and promised more protests to come in the western province as the provincial government is set to pursue a massive expansion of the LNG industry.

Over 23,000 active fracking wells in BC

Maryam Adrangi, of the Council of Canadians, said there are already 23,000-plus fracking wells in operation in northern B.C.

“With Christy Clark touring North America to promote liquefied natural gas, fracking and gas extraction is set to take over the province,” Maryam Adrangi, of the Council of Canadians, said in a statement.

Opponents of shale gas extraction say the method of injecting high-pressure water into the ground to shatter rock and release the gas contaminates drinking water and causes other environmental problems, including increased greenhouse gas emissions and earthquakes. Said Adrangi:

[quote]No one should have to face the impacts of fracking, which include having all of their freshwater being used by industry and for corporate profit and then having unidentified, toxic chemicals put back into the water cycle.[/quote]

Promises of fracking “prosperity”

But proponents of the industry — including Clark — say it’s an industry with multibillion-dollar potential that could change the face of B.C.

Natural Gas Development Minister Rich Coleman just returned from a trip to Asia, saying final investment decisions are expected on several projects in the next year.

Clark will undertake her own trade mission to the region this month with the aim of furthering the province’s LNG prospects.

Coleman spent 12 days in China, South Korea and Malaysia last month, where he met with eight companies interested in the province’s nascent LNG industry, including Petronas, a state-owned oil and gas company that announced last month that it will invest $36 billion in B.C. on an LNG plant and pipeline proposed in Prince Rupert (read a different perspective the Petronas deal, showing how it is actually a massive giveaway of BC’s gas resources, here).

“The spotlight on British Columbia’s LNG potential is shining bright and we are open for business,” Coleman said in a statement last week.

“Stakeholders in Asia want to diversify their energy portfolios and B.C.’s natural gas is in high demand. We are strengthening relationships and securing investments to make it happen, which will create unprecedented economic wealth and jobs for the people of our province.”

Fracking controversy looms

It is estimated that B.C. has 1,400 trillion cubic feet if natural gas — enough to support production and LNG exports for over 80 years, according to the province (read shale gas expert David Hughes’ rebuttal to these wildly inflated estimates). There are currently at least 10 LNG projects proposed in the province, three of which already have approved export licenses from the National Energy Board.

Clark has said the industry could be worth a total of $1 trillion by 2046, and could create over 100,000 jobs in the province, but critics vow to be vocal.

Sunday’s protest was brief, but a fracking protest in New Brunswick last month erupted in a violent clash between aboriginal protesters and police.

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Will Water Act overhaul rein in groundwater use for fracking, LNG?

Will new Water Act rein in groundwater use for fracking, LNG?

Energy and Resources, Fracking, LNG, Scarcity, WATER, Water and Hydrocarbons
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Will Water Act overhaul rein in groundwater use for fracking, LNG?
Frack water pit in BC’s Horn River Basin (photo: Damien Gillis)

By Anna Novacek – republished from Energy Law BC

As the only province in Canada that does not regulate groundwater use, BC has been referred to as the “wild west” of groundwater.

Groundwater has and will continue to be relied on heavily by the LNG industry as a key source of the extensive amount of water necessary to conduct hydraulic fracturing. While the amount of water will vary between wells due to the changes in geology and the size of the reservoir, the volumes can be immense. EnCana Corp. states that between 200,000 and 1.2 million litres of water (roughly 1/10th to one half of an Olympic swimming pool) is needed to complete one well.

Surface water is regulated by short term water use approvals found under Section 8 of the Water Act [RSBC 1996] c. 483 (“the Water Act”). Surface water licensees are required to use water in accordance with the Water Act, the terms and conditions of their licence, and to pay annual water rentals. None of these requirements currently apply to groundwater users, even those using it on a large scale.

With a legislative proposal for a new Water Sustainability Act, however, this may be changing.

Updating century-old Water Act

BC’s current Water Act is 104 years old. The Water Act Modernization process began in 2009, and has included on-going workshops and consultations with the public, First Nations and stakeholders, resulting in a Water Act Modernization Report on Engagement in September 2010, and a Policy Proposal for the new Water Sustainability Act in December 2010. The original plan was to introduce the new Water Sustainability Act in 2012; however the “complexity of developing legislation with widespread implications for British Columbians” resulted in delay.

Public feedback sought

On October 18th, 2013 the province released a legislative proposal for a new Water Sustainability Act. A summary of this proposal can be accessed here. The proposal is open for public feedback until November 15th, 2013. It is expected to be submitted to the legislative assembly as a bill in 2014 for debate and final approval.

Key changes

The changes to provincial regulation of groundwater outlined in the legislative proposal for a Water Sustainability Act include:

  • Large volume users would be required to obtain authorization and pay application fees and annual water rentals to access groundwater.  Groundwater use for ‘domestic purposes’ would generally be exempt from this requirement
  • Information will be collected from all well owners to help improve understanding of aquifers and how they interact with lakes and streams
  • A database of all groundwater wells in the province will be established to help inform future water allocation decisions
  • The minimal standards under the Ground Water Protection Regulation BC Reg. 299/2004will be expanded to require the mandatory submission of well records for new wells, as well as requiring testing and disinfection of a water supply well after drilling to reduce the risk of contamination, and guidelines for ensuring contaminants are stored away from water supply wells.
  • The requirement regarding well drilling and the protection of groundwater will be updated. It is proposed that the WSA would clarify that drilling into or penetrating an aquifer is a ‘disturbance’ and requires a qualified well driller.

The complete legislative proposal is available here.

Devil’s in the details

The key question is whether the new Water Sustainability Act will be designed to restrict or minimize groundwater use in any way, or instead focus more on initial approvals, the provision of information and increasing reporting requirements. The application of exemptions within the new legislation will also be an important factor determining how industry will ultimately be affected.

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Colorado-fracking-flood-raises-deeper-issues-like-extreme-energy-endless-growth

Colorado fracking flood raises deeper issues – like extreme energy, endless growth

Economics, Energy and Resources, Fracking, Oil&Gas
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Colorado fracking flood raises deeper issues like extreme energy endless growth
The aftermath of Colorado’s recent flood in heavily fracked Weld County (David Lavallee)

by David Lavallee

I first heard about the flood that left the Colorado fracking industry underwater by way of a story on The Common Sense Canadian. I happened to be in neighboring Utah on a shoot for my new documentary, entitled To the Ends of the Earth.  This documentary focuses on the economic consequences of our “ends of the earth” exploration for oil.

News of the flood did not draw my attention initially – after all, epic floods are commonplace nowadays. In the past year we have witnessed a series of events which, in isolation, don’t seem to add up to much – but taken together tell a powerful story of the shifting carbon balance of our planet, our home.

[quote]Not since the wholesale slaughter of cetaceans 150 years ago has energy been this violent. [/quote]

Cyclone Phailin, a storm the size of France, recently pounded the eastern coast of India. The storm surge for Hurricane Sandy (widest storm in US history)  left the global financial capital, Manhattan, underwater.  Floodwaters left the town of Canmore and the city of Calgary, Canada’s energy capital , underwater.  Meanwhile, an observatory in Mauna Loa Hawaii measured a long-feared milestone – 400 PPM carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – a record last beaten 5 million years ago.

So the simple fact of a flood in Colorado didn’t immediately grab my attention (despite being a “one in 10, 000 year event”). What grabbed my attention was the richness of the metaphor – one of the industries (among many) causing this calamity was actually underwater. Add to that Manhattan and Calgary – where myriad decisions are made, decisions changing the carbon balance of our planet – underwater!

Weld County, Colorado fracking capital

Weld County, Colorado is the site of some of the most intense fracking in the world (a powerful short film on Colorado fracking can be found here.

There are 50, 000  wells in Weld County alone.  During the flood, emergency procedures were enacted and the wells were shut in, averting a catastrophic spill of the many hundreds of proprietary toxic waste chemicals that typically get injected a mile below the ground into ancient coral reefs that have lain dormant for many millennia – until violent underground explosions crack open these formations releasing  the shale gas.

Concerns over frack fluid leaks overblown

Not since the wholesale slaughter of cetaceans 150 years ago (back then oil came from Spermaceti, not BP) has energy been this violent.  Only 75,000 gallons of crude oil/condensate were reported spilled in the flood, an amount that paled in comparaison with toxic waste from the flood that washed over feedlots – agricultural waste, because of it’s volume, is arguably a far greater contaminant than a small amount of condensate.

Yet the social media circles were abuzz with outrage over the spills, and rumours of the coming human health crisis from leaked frack fluid – tempest in a teacup.

I watched this debate unfold and wondered what parallels there were with my own province’s current  battle against Enbridge (with its focus on spills) and the fracking of northern B.C. Could it be that the environmental movement is missing the point?

Fracking your front yard

Allow me an alternate view of what the point could be.  Consider the daily operations of a frack well. In Weld County, drilling operations are occurring  in the one place that big oil has been forced to go now that there is no place else left to drill: your front yard. The proximity of wells to people’s homes, playgrounds, schools in this area is quite simply shocking.

Nosebleeds and ethyl benzenes

Near Longmont, CO. I met and interviewed Rod Brueski, a local organic farmer. He showed me his family’s “blood panel” document, a medical procedure that they underwent as part of a study to determine the effects of living near a frack well (100 metres from his house). “My son has uncontrolled nosebleeds that last three hours,” he told me as he pointed out the variety of hexanes, ethyl benzenes and xylenes that are now in their blood.

Forget the 75,000 gallons that leaked, this industry was a disaster even before the flood hit.

A flood certainly provides an opportunity for environmentalists to point out to an industry its antisocial shortcomings, but let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture.

Governor Hincklehooper sues constituents over fracking ban

Brueski took advantage of an opportunity to point out to the governor of the state his antisocial tendencies.  Governor Hincklehooper is thought of in the activist/environmental circles as being a Halliburton puppet, who advocates vociferously for the oil and gas industry at the expense of the general public. As evidence to that effect, Brueski told me he is actually using state taxpayer’s money to sue the community of Longmont for wanting to pass a municipal bill that bans fracking within city limits (a reasonable bill, one would think).

Our cameras rolled as Brueski gave the governor, who was on a flood impacts tour, a piece of his mind.  It is destined to be a powerful scene in my upcoming film, one that won’t likely end up on the cutting room floor.

The root of the problem

As easy as it is to vilify the governor though, that also isn’t the point. It’s not the man in power, it’s the culture of people that placed him there.  It’s the anachronistic, so-called democratic institutions that allow a person like Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with so little of the popular vote, to gain and hold power for so long.

It’s a culture of instant gratification, which has turned 40% of our economy into a casino (aka the financial services sector). It’s what turned our economy into a Ponzi scheme – a house of smoke and mirrors that almost collapsed completely in 2008, and will certainly collapse globally someday soon (Communism, which once held sway over half the globe, collapsed – is it that big a stretch to believe that capitalism could too?).

The bigger picture, bigger than oil spills from Enbridge into the Skeena river, bigger than poor leaders who lack a true democratic mandate, bigger than the volume of frack fluids spilled into the South Platte river of Weld County is the culture that perpetuates these things.

The Growth Imperative

If I had to boil it down into a few words, they would be these: the growth imperative.  We have created a society in which the fortunes of politicians rise and fall based on the growth numbers they post. A society and culture so out of step with the biosphere that sustains us that we have come to view infinite growth as normal , like it’s always been this way (only since the 1950’s has it been around, really).

Infinite growth is impossible in nature, and that’s a really good thing. To paraphrase Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth (whom I interviewed for my film), imagine a 2 pound hummingbird – there’s a reason nature didn’t create such a creature.

The easy stuff is gone

Globalization and our economy today is a ten pound hummingbird, struggling to fly after it has gorged on free-flowing nectar.  We are now fat, and the nectar of our civilization, oil and gas, doesn’t flow so freely anymore. It is fracked a mile down and a mile horizontally in Colorado, mined or steamed at enormous cost in the Tarsands – the only free-flowing stuff left is in the Arctic, and we need to dodge icebergs to get it.  Just ask Shell how easy it is to access after their prize drill ship, the Kulluk, ended up on the rocks of Kodiak Island last New Year’s eve.

The rise of Extreme Energy

Quick – look around the room you are in and name one object in it that doesn’t have oil’s footprint in it, either in its manufacture or in the transportation of it to your door. This era is all about the rise of extreme energy – can we have avocados from Argentina or apples from New Zealand, brought to us on ships using oil shale (energy return = neutral – it takes a barrel of oil to make a barrel of  oil shale!) or  fuel our vehicles ten years from when the energy surplus from the tarsands has diminished to a 1:1 ratio because they moved into the final marginal deposits, nothing else being left.

“Economies don’t run on money, they run on energy,” Andrew Nikiforuk told me in a recent interview.

[quote]Money is just a metaphor for energy surplus.

[/quote]

Real solutions

Do I want the fracking industry to clean up their mess in Colorado, and do I want Enbridge to use state-of-the-art spill response systems if they manage to get their stinking bitumen pipe through my province? Absolutely. But I am asking far more than that – of myself and my society.  I’m asking that we shift our culture of consumption that is the root cause of all these issues.

I’m asking that we recognize and rebuild a society in which the growth imperative is an anachronism, a barbaric incarnation of yesteryear, not the going concern it is today. I’m asking politicians to help create a structure that helps us plan for a non-growing economy, that helps us localize our food sources and transition off of fossil fuels that are becoming too expensive for our economy to afford anyways.  I’m asking those same politicians to restructure political institutions in such a way as to be adaptive of current realities (such as climate change) and to help build a resilient society.

I suspect when we go to a protest against an Enbridge pipeline, it’s more than just the pipe we are protesting. It’s what’s in it, and what that means for us all, either economically or environmentally.

Let’s not lose sight of that, because if we do, we fall into the failed paradigm of economy vs. environment – a paradigm that puts us in a position of winning a few battles here and there but losing the war. Let’s create a new paradigm – a life-after-growth paradigm that focuses on human wellbeing.

If this is too much to ask, then let’s start with this – Halliburton  and Hincklehooper: clean up your mess!  We’re gonna think real hard on how you can make it up to us.

David Lavallee is the Director and Producer of the award-winning film, White Water, Black Gold. He hopes to complete his new film,  To the Ends of the Earth, within a year. 

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