+40 million gallons of water taken out of our ecosystem -- Really? Fracking

Time to Idle No More, work keep the blood of our planet running not just for us, but for our children, and their children, and all beings who depend on our Mother Earth.

Michigan’s 21 Million Gallon Frack Job: A National Record? 02-05-2013

The destruction of the world’s fresh water due to fracking is at the uppermost of our minds, as we live and drink the water in the Great Lakes state. How much water is being used for Michigan’s frack industry is now proven to be obscenely underestimated. Michigan may have set a national record for allowing Encana Oil & Gas USA to frack a natural gas well with more than 21 million gallons of water.

A second nearby well is set to be fracked with more than 16 million gallons, according to a permit granted Encana late last year by Michigan regulators.
These big numbers are a big surprise. Most industry and government claims of water usage go by Marcellus shale figures, but here in Michigan, the frackers are using more water than perhaps anywhere else in the nation.

• According to Michigan regulators [[Department of Environmental Quality) “up to 5,000,000 gallons or more.”
  
• According to industry’s public relations front group, Energy In Depth “as much as 5 million gallons.”
  
• According to the industry group website, FracFocus, by Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission states it takes [[referring to the Marcellus shale in the eastern U.S.) “5 million gallons of water per well.”

The truth is now coming out
FracFocus says the first well, State Excelsior 3-25 HD1, was fracked on Oct. 30, and Encana used 21,112,194 gallons of water. Combined with two other horizontal wells on the same pad, FracFocus says more than 42 million gallons went permanently downhole. The Excelsior pad [[named after the township) is on Sunset Trail between Kalkaska and Grayling in the Mackinaw State Forest in Kalkaska County.

http://ecowatch.com/2013/mi-frack-jo...addtoany%22%7D
Some of the 42 million gallons of fresh water being poured into the drilling pit at the State Excelsior frack well can be seen in this video by Respect My Planet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=C0vXPEm-J_Q

Published on Dec 8, 2012
Frack pit filling from multiple fresh water wells simultaneously. The two large diameter tubes going into the water will extract the fresh water and mix it into a toxic 'slick water'. It will then be pumped at pressures of roughly 8,000 to 9,000 psi to break apart the Collingwood Shale deep below the ground's surface. According to FracFocus.org, over 42.1 million gallons of fresh water were consumed to frack the three wells here on Encana's South Sunset pad in Kalkaska county. 1-25HD1 used 8.4 million gallons, 2-25HD1 used 12.6 million gallons, and 3-25HD1 used over 21.1 million gallons of water.

This fresh water consumed in this video was for the 3-25 frack which, at the time, was the biggest water consumption ever to complete a single well in the State of Michigan. This record will fall, however, as Encana has plans to drill more than 1,700 wells in Michigan's Collingwood shale according to their January 2013 corporate presentation. [[http://www.encana.com/pdf/investors/p...) Encana plans to continue to use 10,000 foot laterals which is the length of the 3-25 lateral [[10,131 ft). Water consumption for fracking is generally a function of the length of well bore that gets fracked, so that will most likely continue to be 20 million gallons of water per well. Water is easier to come by for drillers in Michigan because they're able to drill water wells in close proximity to the frack site at high volume quantities. This makes drilling in Michigan attractive to drillers as it helps to cut transportation costs because water does not need to be trucked to the well pad. The downside is that citizens of Michigan will see more of their valuable public water resources consumed and removed from the hydro-logic cycle as drilling proliferates.

What's scary is that fresh water is still being looked at as an infinite resource. I'm afraid it's going to get really bad before people open their eyes and realize just how precious it is.

People are stupid. And when you get rich people promising states tons of money that they will never see, that stupidity increases in a geometric progression

Salt water isnt an option?

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Originally Posted by Papasito

Salt water isnt an option?

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It wouldn't be my first choice.

Huge sand strip mines are being opened in western Wisconsin. The sand is being pumped into gas mines as part of the fracking process. These are permanent scars on the land. There is an alternative way of using local clays but it costs a little more so dairy and crop lands are being stripped and the sand is shipped off in Warren Buffets trains.
http://geology.com/articles/frac-san...and-mining.jpg
Wisconsin sand strip mine. Article at http://geology.com/articles/frac-sand/

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Originally Posted by oladub

Huge sand strip mines are being opened in western Wisconsin. The sand is being pumped into gas mines as part of the fracking process. These are permanent scars on the land. There is an alternative way of using local clays but it costs a little more so dairy and crop lands are being stripped and the sand is shipped off in Warren Buffets trains.
http://geology.com/articles/frac-san...and-mining.jpg
Wisconsin sand strip mine. Article at http://geology.com/articles/frac-sand/

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Ouch! You just ruined my day oladub. I didn't realize they were here in such force yet. What's really scary on that link is the sidebar ads. Got some property, want to make some extra cash? Come on down.

To put the amount the amount into perspective it takes about 26 seconds for 40 million gallons of water to pass by any given point in the Detroit River.

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Originally Posted by old guy

Ouch! You just ruined my day oladub. I didn't realize they were here in such force yet. What's really scary on that link is the sidebar ads. Got some property, want to make some extra cash? Come on down.

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Trempealeau County is getting hit bad with multiple strip mines. 20 so far. This article says there are 87 such mines in the works in Wisconsin and another 20 on the drawing board. Big money talks. I wish that someone would think that the temporary jobs and profits don't begin to offset the reduced farm and timber production value from now until the next ice age.

“We have the best sand in the world,” said Tom Woletz, the frac sand specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources."

http://www.wisconsinwatch.org/2012/0...-sites-double/

We can still drown our sorrows at the Trempealeau Hotel when in that neck of the woods. I hate to see our hills come down so someone can make a quick buck.http://media.merchantcircle.com/1468...tel5_full.jpeg

As a matter of fact, my son and I stopped in there for lunch and a few beers last summer.
Attachment 18860

We were proud a few years back when a grass roots effort in our area managed to give Perrier/Nestle the boot when they came to the area and wanted to remove our fresh water. Unfortunately they went to Michigan.

I'm afraid this fracking deal is a whole different beast.

Makes the 700K gallons of Perrier seem like a proverbial drop in the bucket... doesn't it Old Guy?

Yeah, the numbers are staggering. I saw a while back that in Colorado and other western states it's even worse. The state is selling off rights to fracking companies under peoples property that have existing ranches and farms.
If the land owners won't come to terms with the gas companies, the state gives them the ok to go on the property and set up their drilling operations. Sometimes within several hundred yards from their homes.
People are powerless to stop them.
This isn't a conspiracy theory, they're actually doing it. Not secretly, but out in the open and with the states blessing.

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Originally Posted by old guy

Yeah, the numbers are staggering. I saw a while back that in Colorado and other western states it's even worse. The state is selling off rights to fracking companies under peoples property that have existing ranches and farms.
If the land owners won't come to terms with the gas companies, the state gives them the ok to go on the property and set up their drilling operations. Sometimes within several hundred yards from their homes.
People are powerless to stop them.
This isn't a conspiracy theory, they're actually doing it. Not secretly, but out in the open and with the states blessing.

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I cannot see this ending well. Who allows these companies to TRESPASS on private property with such impunity? Does the landowner not have rights to prevent this kind of situation?

More bad news in Michigan. Remember the Rio Tinto nickel mine under sacred Eagle Rock west of Marquette? The mine sits over the Salmon Trout River which eventually empties into Lake Superior.

http://www.yellowdogwatershed.org/bl...at-eagle-mine/

Uranium found in Water Samples at Eagle Mine

The Superior Watershed Partnership [[SWP) found a high concentration of uranium in water samples from the bottom layer of the Temporary Development Rock Storage Area [[TDRSA) at Eagle Mine in Northern Marquette County. The samples confirm the presence of uranium at 72.6ug/L, a level of uranium that exceeds the federal maximum concentration level for drinking water.

The SWP has been conducting water quality and air quality testing at the Eagle Mine site through an agreement called the [[CEMP) Community Environmental Monitoring Program. The program will monitor the Eagle mine site, the Humboldt mill and transportation routes. Rio Tinto is providing the Marquette County Community Foundation with funding [[$300,000 annually) to establish the CEMP which allows the SWP to conduct environmental monitoring related to Eagle mining operations.
The lab where water samples are processed is called Underwriters Laboratory and has reported [[as required by law) that the results exceed the EPA Maximum Concentration Level under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and that level for uranium is 30 ug/L.

“When the initial sample results were received, SWP notified Rio Tinto and scheduled a re-sample to verify results. SWP requested expedited reporting from Underwriters for the re-samples and the lab report confirmed the presence of uranium in the TDRSA Leak Detection Sump [[61 ug/L and 58 ug/L) but not in the TDRSA Contact Water Sump [[<1 ug/L or not-detected). Rio Tinto’s independent laboratory results from the re-sample also confirm the presence of uranium [[56 ug/L) in the TDRSA Leak Detection Sump and at extremely low concentrations in the Contact Water Sump [[0.13 ug/L)” [[SWP CEMP Monitoring, April 5, 2013).

However, water in the TDRSA and the Water Treatment Plant is not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Rio Tinto’s Mine Permit and Groundwater Discharge Permit did not include regulation of uranium or limits for uranium. So the concentration of uranium is not in violation of any current state or federal permit. Water from the Leak Detection Sump will be removed and processed in the mine’s water treatment plant for ion exchange and reverse osmosis processing. Water from the WTP is either recycled through the mining process or discharged to the Treated Water Infiltration System [[TWIS). The solids that are removed by the water treatment process will be disposed of at a municipal landfill.

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Originally Posted by TKshreve

I cannot see this ending well. Who allows these companies to TRESPASS on private property with such impunity? Does the landowner not have rights to prevent this kind of situation?

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This is from the Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management.

Did You Know?
There is a good chance if you purchase property in Montana
[[and many other areas in the Rocky Mountain West), you
may not be getting ownership of as much of the
property as you think you are. An estimated 11.7 million
acres of the private land in the state of Montana is split
estate, meaning the surface land rights are privately owned
and the subsurface mineral rights are federally owned.



What does this mean to you, as a land owner?
• You own the surface rights on lands patented under
SRHA and have the right to develop these lands in the
manner set forth by the Homestead Acts, as intended by
Congress. This includes developing water sources and
infrastructures associated with grazing and raising
forage crops.
• Available mineral resources found on these patented
lands can be used for the improvement and mainte-
nance of said lands. Generally, the owners of the surface
estate where the federal government owns the mineral
estate may use, without the benefit of a sales contract or
permit, minimal amounts of mineral materials for their
personal use within the boundaries of the surface
estate.
• As the land owner, you do not have the right to sell the
mineral resources from lands patented under SRHA.
The mineral rights are reserved to the United States and
are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the
Interior and managed by the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment [[BLM).
Stock Raising Homestead Act [[SRHA)
Why do landowners find themselves in this situation? It's
largely the legacy of the Stock Raising Homestead Act
passed by Congress and signed into law by President
Woodrow Wilson in 1916. This law allowed a settler to
claim 640 acres of nonirrigable land that had been desig.
nated by the Secretary of the Interior as "stock raising" land.
At a time when mineral exploration was beginning to
escalate, the federal government opted to maintain the
mineral rights to the land claimed under that 1916 law.
The actual language found on a SRHA patent for this mineral
reservation is: “Excepting and reserving, however, to the
United States all the coal and other minerals in the lands so
entered and patented, together with the right to prospect
for, mine, and remove the same pursuant to the provisions
and limitations of the Act of December 29, 1916 [[39 Stat.,
862).”

I watched a documentary a few weeks ago, [[downloaded from netflix) called Split Estate, as seen in the text of this document. It's very informative as to the whole process and shows actual footage of numerous land grabs and it's effect on the environment and peoples lives. It also shows that it's perfectly legal. It's several years old and talks about plans to add somewhere in the region of an additional 1700 fracking wells. I don't know if that happened or not. My guess would be yes. It's an eye popper.

Also,

Colorado property owners faced with possibility of being forced into drilling plans

The landman for Chesapeake Energy Corp. presented Mark Faut with a choice: sign a lease for his oil rights or have his 7 acres forced into the drilling plan by the state.
"That was it, no questions, no discussion," said Faut, who owns a rental home in the Cross Diamond subdivision in Elbert County. "It was, 'Sign or we'll force pool.' "
Across Elbert and Douglas counties, where energy companies are competing for leases, landmen are using the "forced pooling" card as leverage, property owners say.
"Everybody was told the alternative to a lease was forced pooling," said Steve Budnack, president of the homeowners association for Centennial Ranch in Douglas County.
Under the state's 1951 Oil and Gas Conservation Act, the mineral rights of a landowner who has not signed a lease, or refuses to sign one, can by state order be force pooled, meaning he or she can be included in an energy company's drilling plan.
In 2010, the state oil and gas commission issued 136 orders for items such as variances and rule changes, and 48 of the orders were for forced pooling, according to agency data.

This is disgusting. Our founding fathers would be outraged at the concept of land ownership in our era. It used to be that owning land was noble and worth fighting for. Now bureaucrats have gamed the system in the name of the almighty dollar and there is nothing anyone can do about it.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

To put the amount the amount into perspective it takes about 26 seconds for 40 million gallons of water to pass by any given point in the Detroit River.

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Johnny, scoop up a 16 ounce glass of water out of the Detroit River and drink it. Then I'll be impressed and put it into perspective.

Most states, including Michigan, allow the separation of surface land rights from the mineral rights. It's not a new idea, as the laws allowing it date back the first discoveries and widespread use of coal, and then oil and gas, in the 1800s. What is new is that mineral rights once thought to be worthless have value because of new extraction techniques.

An owner of mineral rights has a right to enter a property if needed to extract the minerals. Most states have enacted some regulation over what that entity is allowed and required to do.

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Originally Posted by Johnnny5

To put the amount the amount into perspective it takes about 26 seconds for 40 million gallons of water to pass by any given point in the Detroit River.

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I found that hard to believe so I checked it and came up with 28.4 seconds.

That is one impressive river! :)

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Originally Posted by Papasito

Salt water isnt an option?

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Once you invent a way that we can CHEAPLY clean salt water to the point that it's just as good to drink as fresh water, then get back to us.