When Newspapers Mislead Readers with Sort-Of True Titles on Fracking Articles....

If you are interested in the topic of fracking, and you probably are if you are reading this, make sure you read articles all the way through. Do not judge the information by the title, and make sure, also, to go back to the original source whenever possible. I try to always provide my original sources here to make it easy for you to confirm my information, but many sites do not offer that service so some research might be required on your part - if you want to know the truth about fracking.

Now, for the inspiration for this post:

I just finished checking out a slightly older Morrow County Sentinel article with the slightly misleading title: Fracking in Morrow County not likely. (I hate it when newspapers don't capitalize titles.)

I read the article, and while the article fits the title by describing the fact that Morrow County will probably not see an influx of cash from drillers, it is misleading (accidentally so I am sure)  in that many people do not read the content - they just peruse the headlines - giving the impression that residents do not have to fear fracking brine contamination.

The article leaves out the fact that the locals in this agricultural community do face exposure through fracking brine dumping. That's right, the drillers can't get natural gas here so they are already using the county as a sort of toxic septic system and have been for some time.

Like I said, I'm just using this particular article as an example to prove my point. I want to be perfectly clear in that I feel the article mentioned is accurate about Morrow County nor seeing much money from this boom, I just think the title will give mildly interested readers who skim titles and go on a false sense of security, and I feel this is pretty common in the news industry, especially with fracking as the topic.

Fracking Industry Word-Play

Now that fracking brine injection has been determined as the source of a series of Ohio earthquakes, some pro-fracking writers and industry professionals have concluded that the true meaning of the results are: that fracking has nothing to do with earthquakes and the two are events, fracking and earthquakes are unrelated. (Sorry about that run-on sentence.)

So, a few points come immediately to mind (feel free to share your thoughts):

1. If there was no fracking, there would be no brine to inject.
2. The last I heard, the kind of high pressure (the amount of PSI) used to dump brine into disposal wells (causing earthquakes) is the same high pressure used to originally frack the wells in the first place; so, saying the dumping caused the eartquakes and not the drilling, is just word-play.
3. The lack of earthquakes at drill sites so far has more to do with luck, if you can call it that, than it has to do with the difference between drilling and dumping. (Another run-on, sorry about that one, too.)
4. Unrelated to brine injection, but having to do with roadway brine dumping in Ohio and other fracked states, according to one Forbes article, and I guess the EPA, "The U.S. EPA considers the deep injection of brine using Class II disposal wells as the preferred and environmentally safe method for disposal of oilfield fluid wastes."
5. So, why is this toxic stuff dumped on Ohio and many other states' roadways if the EPA says it should be propelled deep into the earth (and that brings us back to the earthquake thing)?
6. And, if brine causes earthquakes when injected deep into the earth, which is after all the preferred disposal method, isn't it time to find a way to do this safely - or at least stop doing it until they figure out a safe way instead of a way that is only safe if they throw in enough word-play?

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I'm not against fracking; I know people need jobs, desperately. I'm against companies putting people's lives and health at risk for the sake of a fast buck, or even millions of fast bucks.

ODOT Document About De-Icing Roads and Brine Use

I'm popping back in today in the interest of fairness to share a link to Ohio Department of Transportation's (ODOT's) document about de-icing the roads. When I found it, I was researching, attempting to find out just how much the state of Ohio spends annually on brine to dump on the roads after reviewing the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) documents about dumping oilfield completion brine and natural gas fracking brine on roadways. (Sorry about that long sentence.)

The ODOT document in question, while it does not specifically state what makes up the brine, states that all brine is made "in-house". So, depending on the breadth of the state's definition of "in-house" it leaves a lot open.

I found it interesting that two other government agencies state that it is drilling/fracking brine while the Ohio Department of Transportation offers that it is something they make. One question this raises: Does that mean the state starts with fracking brine and adds more chemicals before adding it to the road?

So, this post doesn't give any answers, it just raises more questions... and shares a link to an interesting document.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources Recommendations for Well Water Testing Before Gas and Oil Drilling

I apologize for this post's long title. I couldn't decide which part should be left out to make it shorter.

ODNR has released information for concerned Ohio residents regarding the proper procedure for testing well water.

Basically, they ask residents to foot the bill to have their water tested before drilling begins (if they are lucky enough to have advance notice of drilling or fracking brine dumping in their area), only by OEPA certified water testing labs the ODNR approves, and then pay again after drilling or dumping to have that same lab test the well water again.

Here is why it has to be labs they specify (direct quote from ODNR document)... "Samples should be submitted to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) certified drinking water laboratory. The laboratory should be certified for each chemical parameter to be tested. Without attention to these details, water analyses will be of little or no value in an oil and gas water contamination investigation or a legal proceeding."

I'm not arguing the wisdom of having your water tested before and after drilling or dumping, assuming you are forewarned. I just think it's a little disappointing that the very agencies charged with protecting the public good are telling residents not only, that they are on their own as far as water testing, but also if the residents don't send their cash to the lab the governmental agencies choose they will have very little legal recourse after their water has been contaminated.

Anyway, I invite you to check out the document, and, if your interpretation of the document varies from my own interpretation, you are welcome to stop back and leave a comment voicing your thoughts on the document, or anything about this topic.

Questionable Pro-Fracking Post

I just came across this site that says there are 80,000 fracked wells in Ohio with zero groundwater contamination.

Okay, I actually know about the number of fracked wells in Ohio because I came across numbers in the course of my research. I do not question the amount. It has been common practice to frack OIL wells in Ohio for, well, a few decades, now.

The part this other site's glowing report about the awesomeness and safety of fracking does not explain to the reader is, while some of the same hazardous chemicals are used in both oil well and gas well fracking, (by the way, they have been dumping this toxic stuff on roadways since the early 1980's to keep down dust in summer and in winter to thaw ice - want to take an educated guess at why cancer, autism, and asthma are on the rise since around that time?) some of the more explosive ones, known for causing ground to fracture are used only in natural gas drilling.

Also, saying there has been zero groundwater contamination is not completely true. Problems have just been poorly documented. Many of these wells broke through the water table when drilled, causing drinking water to become undrinkable.

So, in addition to potential problems in Ohio when natural gas drilling proceeds, the dumping of fracking brine into uncontained abandoned oil wells poses the threat of further contamination of drinking water from NG brine chemicals.