Sparta aquifer being drained for natural-gas storage site in north Louisiana, reports the Shreveport Times.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
What Arkansans need to deal with the drillers in the fayetteville shale
New report on Shale Natural Gas Development in AR
7:18 PM
Shawn Portergreensinger@fastmail.fm- Send email
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| From: | Shawn Porter (greensinger@fastmail.fm) |
| Sent: | Thu 2/17/11 7:18 PM |
| To: |
We've added this sender to your safe list. That way you can always see what they've sent you. Pardon cross posting..
Please review and reply with any formal business, civic group, or organizational endorsement that would help demonstrate wide public support for this formal paper (attached). Proposed text for legislative remedies will soon be sent out.
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Arkansas In The Balance: Managing the Risks of Shale Natural Gas Development in the Natural State provides an assessment of risks from the industry at each stage in the life cycle of a typical hydraulically fractured gas well, and it concludes with recommendations that we think should be implemented for responsible development of gas reserves in Arkansas. I'm sure that industry will claim that these reforms are unnecessary and cost prohibitive, but several other states are already implementing these protections.
The recommendations in the report include:
1. Improve protections for private landowners, including more information about their rights and the best management practices they should expect from gas companies, better notification when gas company officials will be on their land, and disclosure of gas company practices and chemicals used on their property.
2. Improve disclosure from gas companies so the public knows the amounts and types of chemicals used, assurance that chemical waste is disposed of properly, the source of water used in the process, the level of contamination of the produced water, how much water is left inside the well, and the fate of the remaining contaminated water after the fracture process.
3. Require gas companies to reduce the noise from their operations to preserve the peace of rural communities.
4. Monitor and regulate air emissions from the gas industry, especially in places where many wells and compressors are concentrated near populated areas, and require the companies to use all cost effective measures to reduce air emissions.
5. Protect water quality from contamination by the gas industry by requiring the gas industry to follow their own best management practices; testing of private water wells that are near proposed gas wells before and after drilling occurs; strengthening regulations and monitoring to ensure that chemicals do not contaminate water at any stage of the drilling process; strengthening regulations that ensure the drill shafts do not corrode or leak into underground aquifers; and requiring the industry to reduce the erosion impacts of the thousands of miles of pipelines, roads and drilling pads.
6. Improve inspection and enforcement at gas drilling sites to make sure each well is inspected at least once a year and more often during critical stages of development to ensure that violations are caught and corrected quickly. The report recommends that Arkansas agencies create a fee system for gas drillers to pay for better inspection and enforcement programs so Arkansas tax payers are not asked to subsidize the industry.
7. Increase bonding requirements to make sure Arkansans do not have to pay for the clean up and closure of abandoned mines.
2. Improve disclosure from gas companies so the public knows the amounts and types of chemicals used, assurance that chemical waste is disposed of properly, the source of water used in the process, the level of contamination of the produced water, how much water is left inside the well, and the fate of the remaining contaminated water after the fracture process.
3. Require gas companies to reduce the noise from their operations to preserve the peace of rural communities.
4. Monitor and regulate air emissions from the gas industry, especially in places where many wells and compressors are concentrated near populated areas, and require the companies to use all cost effective measures to reduce air emissions.
5. Protect water quality from contamination by the gas industry by requiring the gas industry to follow their own best management practices; testing of private water wells that are near proposed gas wells before and after drilling occurs; strengthening regulations and monitoring to ensure that chemicals do not contaminate water at any stage of the drilling process; strengthening regulations that ensure the drill shafts do not corrode or leak into underground aquifers; and requiring the industry to reduce the erosion impacts of the thousands of miles of pipelines, roads and drilling pads.
6. Improve inspection and enforcement at gas drilling sites to make sure each well is inspected at least once a year and more often during critical stages of development to ensure that violations are caught and corrected quickly. The report recommends that Arkansas agencies create a fee system for gas drillers to pay for better inspection and enforcement programs so Arkansas tax payers are not asked to subsidize the industry.
7. Increase bonding requirements to make sure Arkansans do not have to pay for the clean up and closure of abandoned mines.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
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