There are two main points from this article that I want to quickly address.
Loophole lets gas drillers inject chemical; Texas official says water untainted
Ramona Nye, a spokeswoman for the Texas Railroad Commission, said in an e-mail that the agency does not ask drilling companies operating in Texas what is in the fluids they inject into the ground. That is because state rules for well construction have prevented even a single documented case of groundwater contamination from the injected fluids, she said.
“Therefore, the commission does not see a need to monitor fracturing fluids,” Nye said.
1. Just because there are no documented cases of water contamination does not mean there is no water contaminated because of hydraulic fracturing. Remember, the regulatory agencies that document contamination have been accused of conflicts of interest so severe that it was highlighted on Bill Moyers.
Two cases that come readily to mind:
Water Foul
Texas Supreme Court ruling discouraged suits against gas drillers
2. The Texas Railroad Commission claims our water is protected by the wellbore. Read what industry says about how the wellbore can be compromised by hydraulic fracturing. Texas has NO regulation specific to hydraulic fracturing
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Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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I know I'm new at this, so bear with me……
If there are no regulations, and we have no regulations because the TRRC sees no reason to have regulations because there's no documented cases of ground water contamination, therefore, no reason to waste valuable time and resources inspecting, we'll just keep letting the industry do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, using whatever chemicals and 'petroleum distillates' it wants, because the industry has never given us any reason to suspect otherwise.
While the tens of millions of gallons of this carcinogenic brew of chemicals is 2/3 of a mile or more away from the water table, there's only a layer of cement separating the well bore from the water source.
I guess we're also to believe the industry uses the type of cement that is impervious to cracking, splitting, crumbling or disintegrating? And oh, by the way, I guess the Earth doesn't move or shift anymore, there is no more geological forces or pressure anywhere underground?
Did I understand this correctly?
Have you ever tried to make a documented case to the RRC? Costs a lot of money and if it shows up the O&G company that they are doing something bad, it can't be introduced! So, net results, no documented cases. Just like O&G wants.