There was a spill on the drilling rig that is right outside the kitchen window of my friends, Christine and Tim who live on top of the Barnett Shale.
Today, Christine saw “black smokey looking liquid spewing out of a pipe on the side of the rig and shooting to the other side of the waste pit and spilling over.” And how did the workers react on the Aruba Petroleum drill site?
Here’s what didn’t happen:
All the workers sprang into action, got the spill contained and immediately started clean-up to protect the environment.
Nope. That didn’t happen. Christine reported the spill to the Texas Railroad Commission. Here’s what did happen:
David [TRC] showed up on the site and judging from what they are doing now, he told them to clean it up. First one guy just started shoveling it over the fence until another guy did a head motion over to me on the porch video taping. Then they started shoveling it into buckets and putting it in the pit.
Yeah, I’ll have that video up soon.
The black smokey stuff was probably drilling mud hot from being down below. The smoke was probably gas/methane that contains VOCs and possibly some drilling chemicals, hydrocarbons and NORM. Christine said it smelled like rotten eggs which could be deadly H2S gas.
Update: First person account from Christine Ruggiero:
I was making lunch for my daughter. We were both in the kitchen and as I looked out the window I saw black smokey liquid shooting across the pit onto the ground and into our neighbors trees.
The spill occurred at approximately 11:50. That is when I started video taping. After it had stopped, I waited to see what would happen next.
Nothing was done. Two hours later, at 1:46, I called the TRRC and reported the spill.
Nothing was done until David from the TRCC showed up.
Even after he showed up, one Aruba Petroleum worker just started slinging the contaminated soil over the fence onto my neighbors property.
He stopped when they noticed me video taping.
To think that only a month and a half ago we were living a peaceful life, the American Dream.
It is amazing to me how quickly that dream can be shattered by greed.
Everything we worked so hard to build was destroyed in a day.
In case you ever wondered what might be in drilling mud:
Don’t miss the comments on the previous posts about this site. There is a comment from someone in the industry and the homeowners respond.
Barnett Shale: In Your Backyard
NPR: State Tests Air Around Drilling And Pipeline Sites
Looking Out a Barnett Shale Kitchen Window
Aruba Petroleum, Operations in the Barnett Shale
Aruba Petroleum, Operations in the Barnett Shale – In your backyard
And the story continues…
VIDEO: Aruba Petroleum Toxic Spill in Barnett Shale
Sen. Davis Calls for Senate Investation on Barnett Shale Air
Aruba Petroleum Toxic Mess in Barnett Shale
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I was making lunch for my daughter. We were both in the kitchen and as I looked out the window I saw black smokey liquid shooting across the pit onto the ground and into our neighbors trees.
The spill occurred at approximately 11:50. That is when I started video taping. After it had stopped, I waited to see what would happen next.
Nothing was done. Two hours later, at 1:46, I called the TRRC and reported the spill.
Nothing was done until David from the TRCC showed up.
Even after he showed up, one Aruba Petroleum worker just started slinging the contaminated soil over the fence onto my neighbors property.
He stopped when they noticed me video taping.
To think that only a month and a half ago we were living a peaceful life, the American Dream.
It is amazing to me how quickly that dream can be shattered by greed.
Everything we worked so hard to build was destroyed in a day.
This is an atrocity! I can't believe that in the Land of the Free, that a crime of this magnitude could even occur against people and nature. Get the FRACK out of Texas!
Someone needs to ask the RRC for the official report of the investigation. If they feel like giving it to you, I bet it will display the complaintants name prominantly, and may even omit the name of the operator. It may say something like "we investigated the complaint and found only a small accumulation of salt water near the rig". And bla, bla, and bla.
It's also scary that the US has not outlawed the use of chromium 6 (hexavalent chromium). It can be an corrosion inhibitor , and it could be in that mud!
The corrosion inhibitors being injected at nearly every well site in Booger County has to come out into the air or into our homes at some point! Right on, inhibitors are bad stuff.
I followed up with the TRC yesterday regarding the spill. To my alarm, I learned that the TRC took their first sample of the spill yesterday, 5 days after the spill occurred. Apparently the TRC is only testing to make sure the soil is now ‘clean’. After 5 days of watering it down with water trucks, I’m sure it is. Now it’s headed to our water supply. The TRC found additional problems with the pit and they were outside late last night still cleaning up the spill and trying to fix the pit.
I was told that Aruba Petroleum would conduct its own tests and report its findings to the TRC. That’s how it works according to the TRC. Apparently it’s a self-report system. Don’t self-report the spill and you don’t have to self-report what was in the spill, clean it up, and fill out all that paperwork. Also, if you don’t self report the spill, the TRC doesn’t send the spill report to their attorneys in Austin for a hearing regarding the “unpermitted discharge”.
I requested from the TRC in Austin today that I be allowed to attend the hearing and speak, and to be notified of the date, time, and location of the hearing.
I asked the TRC if Aruba Petroleum failed to report the spill, why did the TRC trust the test results that Aruba Petroleum would self-report. This question was not answered and I was given more explanation of what had occurred and what the TRC would do.
I was told that the cause of the spill was a “jet left unattended”. From the videos I took of the spill, it looks like everything was left unattended. I asked if anyone from Aruba Petroleum reported the spill and I was told that he didn’t think so.
After two hours, no one from Aruba Petroleum reported the spill. I was told that the TRC would test their sample, but that Aruba Petroleum’s would be more extensive. I was told that I would receive the results of both tests.
When I came home the day of the spill, there was a flat-bed semi truck with two large orange tanks on the back of it. The orange tanks were connected to the rig with hoses. After the spill, I drove up to the entrance of our property to see if anyone was doing anything and video-taped the truck. The only thing the Aruba Petroleum employees did was hose off this truck and send it quickly on its way. I asked TRC what might have been in those orange tanks and he said without seeing them, he couldn’t say. I told him I would bring him the video.
I was told by the TRC that they would test for such things as chlorides and benzene, and TPH (total percent of hydrocarbons). If these carcinogens aren’t commonly found in drilling mud, why are we testing for them?
This appears to be a blowout. Did it happen while drilling was in process–before fracking and completion? If so, the color of the mud indicates that the bit was in the Barnett shale formation.
Blowouts occur when unexpected gas pockets are encountered. The pressure of the gas exceeds the hydrostatic pressure presented by the mud column in the well bore. This causes the mud in the well bore to be shot upward and expelled at the surface. The gas in the expelled stream is the raw gas containing whatever hydrocarbon liquids are in the formation. It may contain ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, H2S, CO2, benzene, etc, in addition to methane. These components are heavier than air and will gather in low places in the absence of wind.
If this happened during drilling, where were the drilling crew?
Why wasn't this shut off on an emergency basis?
Those are questions we've been asking. Thank you for the information. It's greatly appreciated.
Yes, it was before fracking while the drilling was in progress. You can see video's of the spill/blowout HERE
If I am understanding Anonymous' comments correctly, Aruba Petroleum allowed me and my daughter, had she been playing outside, to be potentially exposed to ethane, propane, butanes, pentanes, H2S, CO2, benzene, etc, in addition to methane.
Given the lack of presence of the drilling crew, it looks like they took cover, but no one notified me 300 feet away that I needed to?
If Aruba Petroleum chooses to drill 300 feet from civilians, especially children, isn't there any additional safety protocols to follow?
There is a federal environmental law, Toxic Release Inventory under that Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, that requires notification but Big Gas and Big Oil have exemptions from that law.
Big Gas Exemptions