TEDX: The Endocrine Disruptor Exchange

Chemicals in Natural Gas Operations

Introduction

As natural gas production rapidly increases across the U.S., its associated pollution has reached the stage where it is contaminating essential life support systems - water, air, and soil - and causing harm to the health of humans, wildlife, domestic animals, and vegetation. This project was designed to explore the health effects of products and chemicals used in drilling, fracturing (frac’ing, or stimulation), recovery and delivery of natural gas. It provides a glimpse at the pattern(s) of possible health hazards posed by the chemicals being used. There are hundreds of products in current use, the components of which are, in many cases, unavailable for public scrutiny and for which we have information only on a small percentage. We therefore make no claim that our list is complete.

Toxic chemicals are used at every stage of development to reach and release the gas. ...............

In addition to the land and water contamination issues, at each stage of production and delivery, tons of toxic volatile compounds, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, etc., and fugitive natural gas (methane), escape and mix with nitrogen oxides from the exhaust of diesel-driven, mobile and stationary equipment to produce ground-level ozone. Ozone combined with particulate matter less than 2.5 microns produces smog (haze). Gas field produced ozone has created a serious air pollution problem similar to that found in large urban areas, and can spread up to 200 miles beyond the immediate region where gas is being produced. Ozone not only causes irreversible damage to the lungs, it is equally damaging to conifers, aspen, forage, alfalfa, and other crops commonly grown in the West. Adding to this is the dust created by fleets of diesel-driven water trucks working around the clock hauling the constantly accumulating condensate water from well pads to central evaporation pits.

All meaningful environmental oversight and regulation of the natural gas production was removed by the executive branch and Congress in the 2005 Federal Energy Appropriations Bill. Without restraints from the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, and CERCLA, the gas industry is steamrolling over vast land segments in the West. Exploitation is so rapid that in less than 6 months in one county, 10 new well pads were built on the banks of the Colorado River, the source of agricultural and drinking water for 25 million people downstream. Spacing has dropped from one well pad per 240 acres to one per 10 acres. From the air it appears as a spreading, cancer-like network of dirt roads over vast acreage, contributing to desertification.

For the complete intro, CLICK HERE.

What you need to know about natural gas production

TEDX has produced a video of Dr. Theo Colborn's 47 minute lecture, complete with photos and data slides to illustrate the fact that natural gas is not the 'clean energy' that industry is touting it to be.
CLICK HERE to view.
CLICK HERE to order a DVD.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

Radioactive Wastes from Oil and Gas Drilling

Saturday's post regarding the proposed wastewater treatment facility in Athens Twp., PA raised the issue of radioactive waste, a topic which is minimalized or not often referred to, but is, nonetheless a topic of significant concern, particularly as levels accumulate.

"The permit application states “Radium 226, Radium 228, Gross Alpha, and Gross Beta radiation” are present in the water incoming for treatment, and because of this, “SRWR is concerned that concentrations (of radioactive materials) will accumulate in the clarifier sludge, rendering the sludge a radioactive waste.

The document adds that SRWR is considering two different methods to help reduce the radioactivity of the sludge, and that “evaluation is continuing to determine the optimum location for this process and the most appropriate and safest* means for handling and disposing of the waste that would be generated.”

*Remember, "safest" doesn't mean safe. It merely means least dangerous.

Here then is the EPA publication on the subject:

Overview

The oil and gas industry provides three-fifths of the energy for the United States. When most of us drive a car, turn on a light bulb, or cook on a stove, a large portion of the energy we use comes from the fossils of plants and animals. While fossil fuels are chemical sources of energy, the processes used to extract them from the earth often generate radioactive waste.

Even though we use them on a daily basis, most people know little about the processes that take oil and gas from the ground to produce energy. These processes may leave behind waste containing concentrations of naturally-occurring radioactive material (NORM) from the surrounding soils and rocks. Once exposed or concentrated by human activity, this naturally-occurring material becomes Technologically-Enhanced NORM or TENORM. Radioactive materials are not necessarily present in the soils at every well or drilling site. However in some areas of the country, such as the upper Midwest or Gulf Coast states, the soils are more like to contain radioactive material.

Radioactive wastes from oil and gas drilling take the form of produced water, drilling mud, sludge, slimes, or evaporation ponds and pits. It can also concentrate in the mineral scales that form in pipes (pipe scale), storage tanks, or other extraction equipment. Radionuclides in these wastes are primarily radium-226, radium-228, and radon gas. The radon is released to the atmosphere, while the produced water and mud containing radium are placed in ponds or pits for evaporation, re-use, or recovery.

The people most likely to be exposed to this source of radiation are workers at the site. They may inhale radon gas which is released during drilling and produced by the decay of radium, raising their risk of lung cancer. ...

Who is protecting you

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

EPA is responsible for setting federal radiation standards for exposure to NORM and TENORM.

EPA develops standards for the oil and gas extraction and production industry under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act*, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.

*Please urge Congress to vote for the FRAC Act, removing industry exemptions for hydraulic fracturing! (see sidebar at left)

The States

Each state has one or more programs that address both NORM and TENORM.
Some states have established or set limits to control to TENORM. These limits apply to the oil and gas drilling industry. Most states also control public exposure to radiation through programs implementing the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and other environmental laws authorized by the EPA.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

DOL’s Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) establishes health and safety regulations for the oil and gas extraction, production, and servicing industry. OSHA also issues hazardous information bulletins to inform staff and the public of significant occupational safety and health issues including radiation hazard recognition, evaluation, and control in the workplace.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

DOE provides grants for research on the use and disposal of radioactive materials related to the development of energy sources.

What you can do to protect yourself

Government organizations continue to address potential threats from oil and gas drilling and production for the public health and safety but you can take actions as well for your own health and safety.

Workers in the industry have the potential for overexposure to radioactive material and must stay up-to-date on federal, state, and industry health and safety guidelines. Following these procedures will reduce total on-site exposure. Workers also need to take precautions to avoid bringing radioactive material residue on their clothes and shoes home to their families and neighborhoods.

• Change out of potentially contaminated clothes and shoes before returning to the family car and to your home or office.
• Do not re-use or bring home discarded equipment or material such as pipes, devices, bricks, rocks, or water.

Members of the public should contact their local state geological survey or bureau of health to determine if there is a likelihood of NORM and TENORM occurrence associated with oil and gas production in their state, or area where they live. Until then:

• Limit exposures and disturbance of the production site and any abandoned equipment.
• Do not handle, dispose or re-use abandoned equipment used at drilling sites.

For Resources and the complete report, CLICK HERE.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

******** GOOD NEWS RELEASE! ********

WildEarth Guardians' Petition Ruling Promises to Protect Clean Air in the West from Oil and Gas Drilling 

EPA Reverses Bush-era Rollbacks: Rules Pollution from Oil and Gas Operations Must be Aggregated and Assessed Cumulatively, Rejects State of Colorado-Issued Air Permit

For Immediate Release:

October 14, 2009

For More Information Contact:

Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director, WildEarth Guardians, (303) 573-4898 x 1303, cell (303) 437-7663.


Denver—In response to a petition filed by WildEarth Guardians challenging an air pollution permit issued by the State of Colorado, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a landmark ruling that oil and gas operations must be held to aggregation safeguards under the Clean Air Act, reversing a Bush-era rollback and promising greater protection of public health and the environment throughout the American West.

“This ruling is clear: the oil and gas industry doesn’t get a free pass to pollute,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “This is a major victory for clean air and public health.”

Under the Clean Air Act, connected sources of air pollution must be aggregated together when determining what constitutes a single source for permitting purposes. Aggregation is a standard requirement that ensures connected sources of air pollution are not arbitrarily broken down into smaller sources and ensures that polluters secure permits that meet stringent emission control requirements under the Clean Air Act.

Oil and gas operations consist of hundreds to thousands of polluting pieces of equipment including drill rigs, compressor engines, and leaking pipelines and tanks. Collectively, this pollution adds up. In the Denver metropolitan area for example, state inventories show that oil and gas operations in the Wattenberg gas field of Weld County release more smog forming compounds than all the cars and trucks in the region.

Colorado, as well as other Western states, have failed to aggregate oil and gas operations under the Clean Air Act. This has led states to ignore the cumulative pollution from oil and gas wells when issuing permits. This refusal to aggregate was upheld by a 2007 memo issued by a Bush Administration political appointee within the EPA, which exempted the oil and gas industry from aggregation safeguards. The failure to aggregate has led to numerous air quality problems in West, including unhealthy ground-level ozone levels in oil and gas producing regions of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

“The failure to aggregate is the root of many of the West’s air pollution problems,” said Nichols. “By ignoring the pollution impacts of individual oil and gas wells, states have turned their backs on the cumulative impacts of oil and gas drilling. Sadly, this was not only condoned, but encouraged by the Bush Administration.”

In 2008, WildEarth Guardians challenged the failure of Colorado to aggregate oil and gas operations under the Clean Air Act and challenged the 2007 Bush Administration memo. In a petition filed with the Administrator of the EPA, WildEarth Guardians attacked the failure of Colorado to aggregate connected oil and gas wells with the Frederick natural gas compressor station, a massive compressor station owned by Kerr-McGee, a subsidiary of Anadarko Petroleum in Weld County north of Denver, before issuing an operating permit under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA agreed on both counts. On September 22, 2009, the agency reversed the 2007 Bush Administration memo, holding that oil and gas operations must be subject to aggregation safeguards under the Clean Air Act like any other industry. And on October 8, 2009, the EPA Administrator upheld WildEarth Guardians’ petition, overturning the permit issued by Colorado for the operation of the Frederick natural gas compressor station. The EPA ruled, “I grant the Petitioner’s request for an objection to the permit on the issue of CDPHE’s failure to provide an adequate basis in the permit record for its determination of the source” under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA further recommended that Colorado undertake a never-before done assessment of the oil and gas operations connected to the Frederick natural gas compressor station, including:

* An evaluation of Kerr-McGee/Anadarko’s complete system, including all pollution emitting activities, in the Wattenberg gas field north of Denver;

* A determination of whether the pollutant emitting activities that are a part of the system are contiguous or adjacent to, and under common control with the Frederick natural gas compressor station; and

* An assessment of the flow of natural gas within the Wattenberg gas field to determine whether facilities are interrelated with the Frederick natural gas compressor station.


According to Kerr-McGee/Anadarko, the company owns and operates more than 3,600 gas wells north of Denver in the Wattenberg gas field, many of which are connected to the Frederick natural gas compressor station. Data from Colorado indicates that each well annually may release 2.2 tons of volatile organic compounds individually and more than 7,000 tons of volatile organic compounds together. The ruling promises to ensure that these sources and pollution are aggregated with the Frederick natural gas compressor station to determine whether Kerr-McGee/Anadarko should be held to more stringent emission limits.

If aggregated, Kerr-McGee/Anadarko would likely be required to install the best available pollution controls at its oil and gas wells. With available controls, emissions could be reduced by as much as 95% or more.

“This is great news. Never before has the EPA set the bar this high,” said Nichols. “This all but ensures that states throughout the U.S. will be finally forced to hold the oil and gas industry accountable to aggregation safeguards, ensuring lasting protection of clean air and public health.”

Under the Clean Air Act, the State of Colorado has 90 days to respond to the EPA's ruling.
 


The EPA's ruling can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/region7/programs/artd/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/anadarko_response2008.pdf.

WildEarth Guardians’ petition can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/region7/programs/artd/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/anadarko_petition2008.pdf.

The EPA’s reversal of the Bush-era memo can be downloaded at http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=0900006480a3309c&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf. 



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