100s of 1,000s Of Abandoned Oil Wells In PA; Wastes From New Fracking Don't Stay Put; Hmmmm . . .

[hatrack]

Last edited Mon Mar 22, 2021, 08:54 AM - Edit history (1)

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In Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells have been drilled, tens of thousands in Ohio. Often, if they stopped producing, they were abandoned. “Pennsylvania and Ohio are the two states with the oldest wells and probably the highest density of wells, especially these really old wells,” said Susan Brantley, professor of geosciences at Penn State University, who studies the movement of fluids underground.

In recent years, another type of well has become common: fracked shale wells, which can be drilled to 9,000 feet or more below the surface. According to Brantley, about 12,000 fracked shale wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania in the last 15 years or so. Drillers use millions of gallons of water mixed with sand and chemicals at high pressure to crack the deeper Marcellus and Utica shale formations, releasing the oil and gas. Salty wastewater called brine also flows up to the surface. “Some people say the oil and gas industry, they should call it a water industry because every oil and gas well brings up water with the oil and gas,” said Brantley.

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Just last month, an unused gas well in Noble County, Ohio started spewing salty brine water. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), more than 1.5 million gallons of the wastewater were collected, but not before enough escaped into a nearby creek to kill fish and salamanders. Engelder examined state records and thinks that brine spray was wastewater from a nearby injection well.

The injection well and the unused well were drilled into the same underground rock formation, a sandstone layer nearly 6,000 feet underground. “It flowed along the Medina [sandstone] 2.54 miles, and then back up,” he said. He also theorized that the wastewater also could have come from another injection well in the Medina sandstone nearly four miles away.

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https://www.alleghenyfront.org/why-frack-wastewater-injected-underground-doesnt-always-stay-there/

[PJMcK]

1. Fracking in Pennsylvania

A number of years ago, we received an offer from an energy company offering to pay $1,000 per acre for drilling rights. Our house is on the Upper Delaware River and we banded together with our neighbors to prevent fracking in our area. Thankfully, the state recently banned fracking permanently from the state.

We know one woman in a nearby county who agreed to the offer for her 400 acre woodlands. Our beginning friendship with her ended when she took the $400 K. She later moved to Arizona.

The greed of these energy companies could destroy our natural lands and wildlife. It's such a terrible idea and the creativity and ingenuity used to develop fracking should be re-focused on developing renewable energy sources. Burning fossil fuels will contribute to the destruction of our planet.