If you haven't seen Split Estate yet on the Green or other channel which covers gas mining mostly in Colorado, I suggest you tune in the next time it is shown. This documentary is a real eye opener as to the health risks associated with this new method of horizontal drilling and fracting of the rock to release the trapped natural gas. Essentially during the fracting process, a million or more gallons of water are pumped down the well shaft along with a mixture of sand and other chemicals which the companies are not required to disclose. During this documentary an environmental researcher who apparently is able to break down some of the chemical composition of these drilling/fracting fluids lists some of the many chemical compounds. Of course this fracting fluid is pumped back out of the wells prior to beginning gas recovery and then must be disposed of. These pits are an environmental nightmare. A significant number of producing wells have blown out, and are burned creating hazardous air pollution. People are getting sick, people are having to move out and their property values have plummeted. In some cases people have simply abandoned ther dream homes and family lands. Methane gas has been seen bubbling up in local streams to the point where they can be ignited with a match. This new type of mining is growing leaps and bounds and is touted as the worlds solution to the energy crises. In reality, the firms mining this gas a take no responsibility for the environmental damage or the health problems which are occurring and if fact on this documentary seen as claiming the fluids are drinkable and completely safe.
Frac mining requires huge amounts of water and a special type of very fine essentially round sand particles. To support all the new gas mining operations, the search for more deposits of this fine sand are underway. A new sand mine is being planned in Izard County, a North Arkansas Ozark Region which has been noted for its pristine waters and many forests teaming with wildlife. This region is a huge recreational area providing world class trout fishing, deer, turkey, bear and other hunting opportunities. Canoeing and other water sports on our many streams and rivers is big business in this area. Another silica mine which has been in existence for a very long time at Guion in Izard County is planning on increasing its sand mining production 700%. And, other sand processing plants are in the works. Do we want our region destroyed by uncontrolled mining in our area? Are we willing to suffer the health consequences when frac mining moves into our area. Do we trust the new mining companies to tell the whole story when it comes to all the hazards to our air and water from these processes? Who will replace our ground water when the aquifers are pumped dry? Who will clean up our streams and rivers when they dump their waste water into our creeks? If you think ADEQ has the resources to oversee what is going on you are terribly mistaken. ADEQ has only 17 people committed to investigate and monitor all the mining, water and waste disposal sites in the entire State.
It is absolutely critical that our citizens become involved and learn the potential risks to our environment, Ozark way of life and our health. These energy companies don't give a damn about your welfare. Think they do? Please watch this video and come to your own conclusions as to whether this is what you want in your region and whether you believe you can trust these energy related companies!
Water authority lowers amount asked from lake
Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2009
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/262121/
The Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority will ask to pull less water from Bull Shoals Lake to serve 22 water systems in rural Northwest Arkansas.
Tim Mays, the authority's project engineer, said Monday that the Ozark Mountain group promised the Army Corps of Engineers that it will reduce its water storage request from 12 million gallons a day to 4 million-6 million gallons per day.
"If we get 4 million gallons, the amount we're asking for is about the thickness of a sheet of paper spread across the whole lake," said Mays, who works for Engineering Services Inc. in Springdale.
The Corps of Engineers has scheduled two public workshops regarding the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority's plan to pull drinking water from Bull Shoals Lake and send it to areas of Boone, Newton, Searcy and Marion counties.
Those meetings are June 30 at the James A. Gaston Visitor Center at the Bull Shoals-White River State Park near Bull Shoals and July 1 at the Diamond City Community Center, 232 Grand Ave. Both meetings start at 6 p.m.
Corps spokesman P.J. Spaul said those meetings will help "dispel rumors" about how much water the Ozark Mountain group is seeking.
In an interview, Spaul said there are no rumors about how much water the group wants yet, but the Corps doesn't intend to wait for them to start.
During the 1990s, rumors "ran wild" after the Community Water System serving 65,000 people in four counties near Greers Ferry Lake sought additional water from the lake.
"When we talk about dispelling rumors, that's why," Spaul said. "There were fears that it was going to drain the lake. They were flying, but you aren't talking about drastic changes in lake levels. It's relatively small."
The Ozark Mountain authority has received about $7 million in federal and state grants to support its $65 million project that would deliver drinking water to 22 water systems with homes and businesses in areas around the Buffalo National River and north to Bull Shoals, Mays said.
Those 22 systems serve about 22,000 people in the four counties and want $32 million to build a water treatment plant and water intake structure west of Diamond City. There would also be 115 miles of water transmission lines to deliver water to the 22 associations.
The $7 million raised so far isn't enough to start the project and the goal is to seek about $40 million in federal stimulus money later this year, Mays said.
There is federal funding for a $4.5 million part of the project that's considered the "criticalneeds phase," focused on bringing drinking water to the three authority members that deal with high amounts of radium in their groundwater wells.
There's too much radium in the groundwater pulled from water wells by Mount Sherman Waterworks in Newton County, and by the SDM and South Mountain water associations in Searcy County, said Lance Jones, an engineer supervisor for the Arkansas Department of Health. Two of those systems would hook up to Marshall city water; Mount Sherman would connect to Jasper's supply, Mays said.
Leaders of rural water systems in the four counties have been encouraged by the state Health Department for years to rely less on groundwater wells and to seek out surface water supplies. For instance, water systems in Newton County met in 2004 to talk about ways to bring drinking water from Beaver Lake and about the possibility of building a 104-acre lake on the Illinois Bayou in northern Pope County.
They decided the best option would be attaching water pipes to highway bridges that go over the Buffalo National River and to extend those lines from Bull Shoals Lake, the state's biggest lake.
