Report Confirms Fracking is Poisoning California’s Dwindling Aquifers

In July, California state regulators, Department of Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR),  shut down eleven fracking wastewater injection wells over concerns that what precious water the severely drought-stricken state has left is being contaminated with toxins and carcinogens; particularly in highly productive agricultural areas. According to its due diligence, the agency the oil industry and Republicans hate above all others, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), promptly ordered a report within 60 days to determine if the oil industry did indeed poison what little water California has left and what extent, if any, the damage might have on the agriculture industry and drinking water supply.
This past week, with little to no mention in the conservative media, the California State water Resources Board issued a report to the EPA confirming that yes, at least nine of the eleven fracking sites were deliberately dumping poisoned waste water directly into central California aquifers. The waste water is laden with extremely hazardous toxins and carcinogenic chemicals used in fracking and the aquifers the industry destroyed are protected by both state laws as well as the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Of course, both Republicans and the oil industry (read Koch brothers) can not countenance either California’s environmental protections or the Safe Drinking Water Act as evidenced by a campaign pledge by an incumbent Republican representative, Jeff Denham, promising an all-out federal drive to abolish California’s water regulations permanently.
According to the damning report, over 3 billion gallons of poisoned waste-water was illegally injected directly into central California aquifers, and that water samples collected at water supply wells tested in the proximity of the fracking injection sites all had extremely high levels of known carcinogenic chemicals such as arsenic. Arsenic, besides being a cancer-causing agent, also weakens the human immune system. The arsenic is combined with a toxin used in rat poison, thallium, that was found in water supplies in and around the fracking injection sites. The water wells are useless as a safe drinking-water resource as well as worthless for the state’s very substantial agricultural industry.


http://www.politicususa.com/2014/10/11/report-confirms-fracking-poisoning-californias-dwindling-aquifers.html




And read this....


"...California’s remaining aquifers are being illegally poisoned with highly toxic industrial wastewater that is being injected into wells...."


http://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/the-illegal-poisoning-of-californias-remaining-water-supply/

I guess fracking must be cheaper (at this point) than harvesting natural gas from landfills:

Landfill (Methane) Gas -- Turning Waste in to Usable Energy
The process of capturing methane or "landfill" gas begins after organic waste dumped at the landfill is digested by anaerobic bacteria. The bacteria produces methane, which is recovered via a series of wells drilled into the landfill. The wells are connected by a common pipe system. A section of the pipes called the lateral system creates a vacuum and sucks the gas into a nearby compression facility.

Once the methane gas is at the facility, blowers continue to push it, at a temperature of 99 degrees Fahrenheit, through the system at a positive pressure. After this process, the gas cools between 75 to 80 degrees. The landfill gas is then de-watered and cooled by chillers to 30 degrees to remove dirt and other small particles. The gas then passes through a micron filter and is heated again.

To complete the process, the gas is pumped into six 20-cylinder combustion engines, which power several generators to make electricity. Each engine can produce 1.6 megawatts of electricity, equaling an energy output of 9.6 megawatts.

According to Waste Management, converting trash to energy reduces the volume of waste by 90 percent, saving valuable space in landfills while providing a viable and economical alternative to the use of fossil fuels.

http://www.cpsenergy.com/Services/Generate_Deliver_Energy/landfill_gas.asp

If it were more expensive to frack, I don't think companies would be doing it ...

Or is it a convenient way of dumping hazardous chemicals too....?

Tommy Monk wrote:Or is it a convenient way of dumping hazardous chemicals too....?

Maybe the money saved by getting a cheap site for dumping poisonous chemicals makes the overall cost of the operation less expensive! I'd love to see some follow-up reporting on this, and not have this be an instance of drive-by journalism where people get outraged for a few days and then it's business as usual.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out in the States, where we tend to think that businesses have all the answers. I would expect something to be done faster in Europe about something like this.

The evidence of hazardous chemicals is in the water.

... um, I didn't say it wasn't ...

I never said you did....