Pro-Frack PR Letter Writer Joni Inman Tries To Twist Facts on Fracking And Fails

Woe betide any teacher (especially in Weld County) that enters into a fracking protest and also tries to educate her students on the dangers of this misshapen energy industry, including pollution of soil, air and water. She will likely pay dearly when a pro-fracking PR clown attacks her in the media. Apart from that, WHY is it the frackers need so many PR hacks & outfits to defend their abominable operations? Like those mentioned in the book 'Toxic Sludge Is Good For You'.

Such was the case yesterday when a fracker PR hack named Joni Inman tried to push her bafflegab on Denver Post readers in a letter dismissing a Weld Co. teacher's complaints and writings. First, WHO is this Joni Inman?  A cursory Google check reveals she's head of a Lakewood, CO PR firm, Joni Inman Consulting  - obviously helping the frackers to forge their absurd arguments in the media (including in letters to editors) to attempt to convince the gullible to accept fracking the state into oblivion.

In this sense, she and her outfit are no different from the legions of PR mavens already exposed who tried to push smoking on an unsuspecting public.  Thus her "consulting" firm joins the public relations liars from Hill and Knowlton which in the 1950s-60s (and later) was responsible for mounting the phony campaign that tobacco smoke doesn't cause cancer- sowing enough doubt to postpone regulation for decades. No surprise that America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) hired Hill and Knowlton in 2009 as their PR firm,

Most people, sadly, are unaware that much of the "news" today is not truly that, but carefully crafted PR designed to manipulate public opinion. That goes for letters to the editor like that of Inman, appearing in the Post's Op -Ed page yesterday. (Yes, it's on an "opinion page"  - but many hacks state opinions as facts and too many of the hoi polloi can't tell the difference.)

Inman writes, for example:

"The oil and gas industry paid $265 million in property taxes to Weld County in 2013. Schools are supported primarily by property taxes. This industry also supports the jobs of families in the district."

But no mention of the hundreds of millions of dollars lost to Weld home owners in terms of their diving property values - such that most couldn't sell a home now if their lives depended on it - and in many cases they do. Also, no mention of the exploding medical costs to Weld residents, what with respiratory diseases from polluted air on the rise, as well as cancers of lungs, kidneys, breast, and liver. The crock about jobs is also just that and as Bill Maher has often pointed out, what good are these jobs if for every buck earned two bucks are lost in medical treatment or PhrMA drug costs? Get other jobs for fuck's sake!

Another canard:

"Fracking is what makes oil and gas development financially feasible"

To which I say, bull pockey! Read any pages in recent issues of  the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times and see how banks are now calling in hundreds of millions of bucks in loans from the frackers because their exploits are no longer financially sound - given we are in the midst of an oil glut. As we know,  once the cost of oil falls below about $70 a barrel fracking is no longer financially rational since it costs more to extract the oil (actually kerogen) than the cost of the energy put into extraction - including transportation, well maintenance and cost of pumping etc.

Right now then, fracking is adding to the oil glut, driving oil costs down even lower, and making it necessary to lay thousands off, even as many well outlets are shut down. The cost of running them is simply not worth it given the pitiful remuneration.

Inman then minimizes the scale and effects of fractures, writing:

"Hydraulic fractures are half the size of a human hair and occur more than a mile underground."

But no mention of the leaks or well failures.

Tony Ingraffea, a Cornell Professor of geological engineering has shown (on Gasland II) how cement can fail and methane can migrate into ground water. Referencing one of the typical fracking pipes, Ingraffea sketched the interior cement annulus of 1 -inch which is the sole barrier between the fracking contaminants and the water supply, noting,  "what you don't want is for that cement to fail".

"Failure" includes: corrosion, crumbling, or disappearing entirely as a barrier over time. If that happens, then "what's down there" (i.e. the contaminants) can get into the annulus. He then adds:

"So now shallow gas goes into the open annulus, pressurizes the annulus, and the gas migrates into an underground source of drinking water."

Once this happens, other frack contaminants can also migrate into the water, such benzene, toluene and dozens of cancer causing chemicals.

Prof. Ingraffea notes that the cement failure phenomena he illustrates are "very well known and at least as long as we've been drilling wells and casing them".  He adds "there are only three things that are certain: death, taxes, and fracture".  In the latter case, he observes that among the thousands of gas wells including those offshore, there is a probability of 1 in 20  they will immediately show a failure (opening between the well casing and rock), and that means methane migration. It also means anything else stored in the rock, including salts, heavy metals, other deleterious things now have a pathway. This probability means even if a frack well is "only operating 30 days" as Inman cllaims, there is a good chance of immediate failure in one of every twenty wells. If Weld County then puts up 1,000 wells in the next year and runs them for 30 days each, we're looking at 50 "immediate" failures.

That is, 5 percent of all wells will be affected and woe betide any home owners in their vicinity. Ingraffea invoked the 100,000 odd wells in PA alone, noting that failure rate means 5,000 wells have immediately failed in Pennsylvania .  That translates to 5,000 methane migrations into the ground water and ruination of citizens' lives.

So much for Inman's soft soaping..

What about the ANGA PR  liars re: the extent of gas leaking? One document actually retrieved from the frackers,  'Leaking Through Casing' indicated "2,000 components" in the fracked liquid, and problems they've been trying to solve "for decades".  Worse, they conceded in the documents that there's no way of completely preventing or fixing the leakage problem.

In one document, from Southwestern Energy, the diagram clearly showed that the gas well had a cement barrier with a casing that prevented gases from migrating upwards. But this wasn't a Powerpoint about drilling wells but rather about how cement and casings failed  and allowed methane gas and other substances to migrate into aquifers.  Thus, we could see from the frackers' own documents how cement fails.

Thus, Inman's blabber about "hydraulic fractures occuring more than a mile underground." is mere misdirection from the real risks.

Another document from Schlumberger, showed that cement failure occured at alarming rates - as depicted in one of their graphs showing "f'raction of wells affected by cement failure' vs. the well age in years".  Their graphs showed a failure fraction of 40 percent after only 12 years, and a failure fraction of 50 percent after 30 years.  That means if 1.5 million new wells are added in the US of A, as projected, 750,000 will leak after thirty years. If 150,000 are added to CO, that means 75,000 will leak after 30 years.

Another document from Archer, a well servicing outfit, showed the existing percent of wells with "integrity issues" and in the Gulf of Mexico this is 45% of all 6, 650 wells (and according to news reports last night, one is already burning, reminiscent of the BP disaster) and 34% in the North Sea, out of some 1, 600 wells. Moreover, 40 percent are at high risk of "uncontrolled discharge".

Another power point slide is shown from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, showed that given an existing global well population of 1.8 million, and that 35% of them are leaking.  Despite this, the idiots plan to drill MORE wells in the next decade than have been drilled in the last 100 years.

Inman can complain all she wants about the "wasted space" of teachers (and others) attempting to educate the public, but the real wasted space belongs to her and her PR ilk.

Why Oil Spills, Leaks Are Not Ending Anytime Soon

Cleaning up the Santa Barbara oil spill. Feds have now issued a cleanup order to the company.

The horrendous images of sea birds and seals gooed up with black oil on the California coast near Santa Barbara may cause many to want to lose their lunch - and with good reason. This recent underground pipeline failure caused up to 105,000 gallons of crude to spill into one of the most picturesque beaches of the coast and has threatened many species of aquatic animal.  No cause has yet been determined though the spill is among the largest in the U.S. over the past few decades.

The oil covered sand and rocks with a tar-like goo and a fifth of the crude reached the Pacific Ocean turning it into a brackish scene no normal person would stick even a toe into, e.g.


But if you believe such leaks or spills can be stopped anytime soon, you are dreaming. The reason is that neither the oil industry or the government seems willing to invest the billions needed to bring the aging pipeline and delivery infrastructure up to scratch. As a point of reference, nearly two -thirds of all the leaks since 2009 have been linked to the corrosion of the material - as well as welding and equipment failures. These are problems associated with older pipelines - though they can occur in newer ones as well. The so-called failure rate can in fact depend on a number of factors.

The potential for massive failures and leaks also inheres in the fracking infrastructure now operating across dozens of states. In the documentary 'Gasland II'.  Tony Ingraffea, a Cornell Professor of geological engineering.  explained clearly and with easily understood diagrams, how cement can fail and methane can migrate into ground water owing to failure in fracking pipes..  Referencing one of the pipes, Ingraffea sketched the interior cement annulus of 1 -inch which is the sole barrier between the fracking contaminants and the water supply. As he observed, "what you don't want is for that cement to fail".

"Failure" includes: corrosion, crumbling, or disappearing entirely as a barrier over time. If that happens, then "what's down there" (i.e. the contaminants) can get into the annulus. For effect, Ingraffea then rubbed out the chalk barrier representing the cement in the annulus,  and indicated an arrow moving into it from outside. To quote. Ingraffea:

"So now shallow gas goes into the open annulus, pressurizes the annulus, and the gas migrates into an underground source of drinking water."

Once this happens, other frack contaminants can also migrate into the water, such as benzene, toluene and dozens of  other cancer causing chemicals.

In the case of fracking,  Ingraffea noted that the cement failure phenomena he illustrated was "very well known and at least as long as we've been drilling wells and casing them".  He added that in his view there were only "three things that are certain: death, taxes, and fracture".  In the latter case, he explained that among the thousands of gas wells including those offshore, there is a probability that 1 in 20 will immediately show a failure (opening between the well casing and rock), and that meant methane migration. It also meant anything else stored in the rock, including salts, heavy metals, other deleterious things now have a pathway.

That is, 5 percent of all wells will be affected rapidly and woe betide any home owners in their vicinity. Ingraffea invoked the 100,000 odd wells in PA alone, noting that failure rate meant  5,000 wells immediately failed in Pennsylvania alone. That translates to 5,000 methane migrations into the ground water and ruination of citizens' lives. Just one well going bad means one aquifer will be polluted, such as in Dimock. PA

Even the companies don't deny the disastrous leaks and assorted documents Josh Fox obtained show that. For example, in one document, from Southwestern Energy, a diagram clearly showed that the gas well had a cement barrier with a casing that prevented gases from migrating upwards. But this wasn't a Powerpoint poster about drilling wells but rather about how cement and casings fail and allow methane gas and other substances to migrate into aquifers.

Another document from Schlumberger, showed that cement failure occured at alarming rates - as depicted in one of their graphs showing 'fraction of wells affected by cement failure' vs. the well age in years.  The graph depicted a failure fraction of 40 percent after only 12 years, and a failure fraction of 50 percent after 30 years.  That meant if 1.5 million new wells are added in the U.S. by 2025 as projected, 750,000 will leak after thirty years. If 180,000 are added to PA, that means 90,000 will leak after 30 years.
.
Crude oil pipelines fare no better and leaks can often spring from human error - such as a backhoe striking a pipeline in a vulnerable place, as well as natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes) and welding failures. When we visited the Alaska pipeline in March, 2005,

We were informed by our guide that repairs were already underway to several sections they believed wouldn't be able to withstand even a minor (Richter 4.0) earthquake.

In the case of the pipeline causing the Santa Barbara spill, Plains All American Pipeline LP- the company which operates the pipeline and its subsidiaries, have reported 223 accidents since 2006 which have resulted in a total of 864,300 gallons of spilled oil, hazardous liquids with damages payouts topping $32 million. (With 25 enforcement regulations by federal regulators)

In 76 percent of the incidents corrosion was determined to be the major cause. Meanwhile, failures in materials, welds, and other equipment were cited more than 80 times.  The company and its affiliates have the fifth highest number of significant pipeline accidents since 2006.

Last Friday, Plains All American Pipeline insisted it "spent $300 million last year on maintenance and integrity".

Bit what they haven't said, and no other pipeline company likely will (whether for crude transport or fracking) is that the more pipelines generated the greater the incidence of failures. In a world of limited resources the maintenance costs will always exceed benefits beyond a certain level. The question is what is that level? If the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) gets passed there will be no limit on the demand for additional fracking infrastructure and crude pipelines in the U.S. - to meet global demand. There may then be such a frequency of spills, leakage that no amount of maintenance will contain them - or fed enforcement regulations.

Bottom line, if the oil industry continues to get its way - especially with indiscriminate fracking as well as drilling in the Arctic - look for a very bleak, and blackish oil spill future!

West Virginia Water Catastrophe Could Happen Anywhere

As 300,000 water-deprived citizens of the Charleston area of West Virginia continue to grapple with the six day old contamination of their water supply, it behooves Americans to understand this could happen to any of us - as the fracking insanity expands to many communities. Yes, those scenes of West Virginians in long lines to get a couple gallons of fresh water could in the future arrive at any place in which fracking wells and waste pits exist.

In the W Va case businesses in downtown Charleston are all shuttered as one beholds  'DO NOT USE WATER” signs taped over sinks at the airport.    What went wrong?  A chemical used in coal processing leaked from a storage tank upstream of the affected communities. The chemical, dubbed  “crude MCHM" and the technical name is 4- methylcyclohexane methanol.  In the water supply, the chemical betrays a licorice odor, and if the water is ingested it can wreak havoc on organs, from immediate nausea and vomiting to cancer of the pancreas, colon, liver and kidneys in the long term - as well as likely skin afflictions if bathed in.

Indeed scores of people in the affected area have reported to hospitals, complaining of rashes, upset stomachs and other ailments.  The problem is that despite the authorities telling citizens the water has been cleared (in progressive stages) the MCHM solvent has invaded the entire system from the treatment plant to the pipes in people's homes. Thus, even if the water itself may have been restored to its original drinkable-washable form, it is still subject to re-contamination as it passes through the now MCHM -laden pipes.  Thus, the complaints of people (as reported on the news shows last night) that they still smell the chemical. Of course they do, because the water is collecting it as it's transferred into and out of the pipes. To be truly clear, all the pipes will have to be replaced, though the authorities are unlikely to admit it. Meanwhile, one mother - a food stamps recipient with an infant -  said last night she will have to use a significant portion of food stamps on fresh   bottled water. (At the Dollar General in Charleston, a 20 oz Dasani bottle sells for $1.60, and a flat of 24 bottles can be had for $39. 

Seeing, reading of this brings to mind Jeremiah Gee, featured in Josh Fox's 'Gasland II'.  Viewers may recall the interior scenes of Gee's barn and the loads of bottled water which he needed to ship in monthly by the truckload, because ingesting the fracked water would be a death sentence. At a cost of over $1,000 a month he had no other choice, and as he noted, he even had to provide it to his chickens and pet dogs. The alternative was obviously too horrific to contemplate, the creatures would've died in agony from drinking the methane-laden crap.  This after the frack company, Shell Appalachia, despoiled the area reservoirs with its frack operations. When Gee inquired  about his tap water and why it was no longer clean, he was told that  "fresh" now meant "fresh to THIS site" - where the Co. was now fracking.  It didn't mean pure or free of contaminants, just free of contaminants from previous frack sites.   

In West Virginia, meanwhile, we learn two state employees tracked the MCHM leak to Freedom Industries which owns a row of vintage storage tanks along the banks of the Elk River. The chemical had leaked from a hole in the bottom of one tank. It had been pooling in a containment area and then seeped out through a porous, cinderblock retaining wall., down the bank and into the river. 

The water system itself was primed for a catastrophe. The intake for the West Virginia American Water Company's is just downriver by about a mile - and on the same side of the river -  as the leaking tanks with the MCHM.   Ironically, Freedom Industries had set aside $1 million in escrow to upgrade the containment area around the tanks, but the work had not yet begun.

Not so ironically, a state regulatory report in 2002 noted no fewer than 53 major sites of potential water contamination located upstream of the currently effected Elk River communities. The total number of potential contaminating sites was estimated "in the thousands".  West Virginia regulations, undoubtedly written by the corporatists and their political bedfellow, omitted any oversight on storage or containment facilities. Now, the citizens must pay.

But none of the rest of us ought to feel smug or secure, because if we have fracking nearby then we also can fell victim to a water contamination catastrophe. Any fracking pipe near or around a water supply can undergo failure. In one segment of Gasland II, Tony Ingraffea, a Cornell Professor of geological engineering sketched the interior cement annulus of 1 -inch frack pipe,  the sole barrier between the fracking contaminants and the proximate water supply. As he said, "What you don't want is for that cement to fail".

"Failure" included: corrosion, crumbling, or disappearing entirely as a barrier over time. If that happened, then "what's down there" (i.e. the contaminants) would get into the annulus

Prof. Ingraffea then rubbed out the chalk barrier representing the cement in the annulus, using his fingers and indicates an arrow moving into it from outside. To quote Prof. Ingraffea:

"So now shallow gas goes into the open annulus, pressurizes the annulus, and the gas migrates into an underground source of drinking water."

Once this occurred, other frack contaminants could also migrate into the water, such benzene, toluene and dozens of cancer causing chemicals.


Gasland II also showed how the frack well failure rates are progressive. As more years go by a greater and greater percentage of wells fail meaning leakage of pollutants.  Graphics presented showed a failure fraction of 40 percent after only 12 years, and a failure fraction of 50 percent after 30 years.  That means if 1.5 million new wells are added in the US of A, as projected, 750,000 will leak after thirty years. If 180,000 are added to PA, that means 90,000 will leak after 30 years. (Recall from Gasland II the citizens of Dimock were deprived of fresh water and had to get bottled shipped in, especially after being denied a water pipeline connection to the public supply in Montrose, PA after Repuke Guv John Corbett came to power (with the help of $1.6m in donations from frackers).

Rest easy as those in West Virginia are left without clean water? No way because we are all at risk. How else explain the writing and passing of a law that actually exempts the frackers from the Safe Drinking Water Act?  Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/06/gasland-part-ii-sequel_n_3554756.html

and: https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/04

Also, see this Youtube presentation on the gas industry's misinformation campaign and why you, as a citizen, need to see this documentary however you can. What befalls and affects your fellow citizens also affects you. The corporate gangster state laying waste to your fellow citizens' lives will also one day come to destroy yours, if you are passive, blasé  and non-engaged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNhpxIkhgBc

As Josh Fox observes, quoting the mayor of Dish, TX, "Now you know. Once you know, you can't  not know".

See also:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/20/erin-brockovich-chemical-spill_n_4629472.html

and:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-rivers-pitt/54061/diary-of-a-dying-country

Gasland II - Fracking is Worse Than You Think

Josh Fox during filming of 'Gasland II'- you'll be appalled at what he reveals.

Part 2 of Gasland II,  Josh Fox's intense and informative HBO documentary,  begins with interviewing Jeremiah Gee, a Pennsylvanian, and Ph.D. candidate at Penn State.  Gee relates the "real" definition of fresh water is - as provided by the company(Shell Appalachia) fracking near his home.  That is, one can no longer go by the standard definition, but rather that "fresh" means "fresh to THIS site" - where they are now fracking.  It doesn't mean pure or free of contaminants, just free of contaminants from previous frack sites - maybe.

Then the camera pans to Gee's barn and the loads of bottled water which he now needs to ship in, because ingesting the fracked water would be a death sentence. At a cost of over $1,000 a month he has no other choice, and as he notes, he even has to provide it to his chickens and pet dogs. The alternative is obviously too horrific to contemplate.  As one watches this, absolute fury builds at the assholes that have destroyed his quality of life and imposed such destruction of his prime life resource. Meanwhile, a realtor conveys the actual current  market value of his home, at 00.00. Readers can see more in this article:

http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/565860/Tioga-County-family-struggles-with-methane-in-its-well-water.html

The emphasis then shifts to  Tony Ingraffea, a Cornell Professor of geological engineering. He is a two time award winner - from the National Research Council - for rock mechanics research - so is in no way the bozo that the frackers' anti-Fox disinformation websites have portrayed! Ingraffea explains clearly and with easily understood diagrams, how cement can fail and methane can migrate into ground water. Referencing one of the fracking pipes, Ingraffea sketches the interior cement annulus of 1 -inch which is the sole barrier between the fracking contaminants and the water supply. As he says, "what you don't want is for that cement to fail".

"Failure" includes: corrosion, crumbling, or disappearing entirely as a barrier over time. If that happens, then "what's down there" (i.e. the contaminants) can get into the annulus. He then rubs out the chalk barrier representing the cement in the annulus, using his fingers and indicates an arrow moving into it from outside. To quote Prof. Ingraffea:

"So now shallow gas goes into the open annulus, pressurizes the annulus, and the gas migrates into an underground source of drinking water."

Once this happens, other frack contaminants can also migrate into the water, such benzene, toluene and dozens of cancer causing chemicals.

Alternately, the scene flashes to the lying scumball Tom Ridge - appearing on a talk show- who insists that such problems as methane in water "occurred long before there were any fracking wells." In truth, such incidents were relatively rare and represented no where near the level of contamination of water currently experienced, when water issuing from hoses can be set afire - and homeowners are advised to not even water their lawns. Ridge, as a PR whore hire, is merely repeating the bollocks fed to him by the PR firms underwriting the misinformation campaign waged against citizens, and those like Josh Fox who seek to expose their disastrous schemes.

Prof. Ingraffea notes that the cement failure phenomena he illustrates are "very well known and at least as long as we've been drilling wells and casing them".  He adds that in his view there are only "three things that are certain: death, taxes, and fracture".  In the latter case, he explains that amongst the thousands of gas wells including those offshore, there is a probability of 1 in 20 will immediately show a failure (opening between the well casing and rock), and that means methane migration. It also means anything else stored in the rock, including salts, heavy metals, other deleterious things now have a pathway.

That is, 5 percent of all wells will be affected and woe betide any home owners in their vicinity. Ingraffea invokes the 100,000 odd wells in PA alone, noting that failure rate means 5,000 wells have immediately failed in Pennsylvania alone. That translates to 5,000 methane migrations into the ground water and ruination of citizens' lives. Just one well going bad means one aquifer will be polluted, such as in Dimock.

From Prof. Ingraffea, Josh goes to an expert on corporate public relations, Naomi Oreskes, on the PR Departments that serve the vermin frackers and their lot. She is the author of 'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming'.  Oreskes explains that the job of corporate PR depts. is not to necessarily show they're right, but merely to spur and stir phony debate. Once the debate is consolidated, it becomes a matter of endless back and forth, "he said, she said" etc, and the ruse succeeds by staving off regulation because, hey, "the issue isn't settled". But in reality it is, as much as the fact that 6 million Jews perished in a holocaust.

Josh names the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton which in the 1950s-60s and later was responsible for mounting the phony campaign that tobacco smoke doesn't cause cancer- sowing enough doubt to postpone regulation for decades. America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) hired Hill and Knowlton in 2009 as their PR firm, so when you google  'Gasland 2' and find ANGA website blistering Josh Fox and his documentary, you know it's really Hill and Knowlton behind it.  And be sure, they want to sow enough doubt in your mind to foist a national debate, as opposed to the undeniable observed facts that Fox has revealed. (The recently released "DOE study" - see next blog- which claims fracked water is now "safe" - smells to me like another elaborate PR stunt wrapped up in the supposed gravitas of "gov't scientists". Well, hey, government "scientists" i.e. in the Ramsey panel, were also behind the botched acoustic interpretation of the shots fired in the JFK assassination!)

To show ANGA are liars about the extent of gas leaking, Josh presents actually published memos (Some "fell off the back of a truck" - fortunately for the rest of us!) from the gas industry, headed up 'Leaking Through Casing'. They indicate aspects like "2,000 components" in the fracked liquid, the influence of "harsh conditions",  how wells fail and that they've been trying to solve the problem "for decades".  Worse, they concede in the documents that there's no way of completely preventing or fixing the problem.

In one document, from Southwestern Energy, the diagram clearly shows that the gas well has a cement barrier with a casing that prevents gases from migrating upwards. But this isn't a Powerpoint about drilling wells but rather about how cement and casings fail and allow methane gas and other substances to migrate into aquifers.  Thus, we see from their own documents how cement fails.

Another document from Schlumberger, shows that cement failure occurs at alarming rates - as depicted in one of their graphs showing 'fraction of wells affected by cement failure' vs. the well age in years.  Pausing the DVR to show the graph, I can read off a failure fraction of 40 percent after only 12 years, and a failure fraction of 50 percent after 30 years.  That means if 1.5 million new wells are added in the US of A, as projected, 750,000 will leak after thirty years. If 180,000 are added to PA, that means 90,000 will leak after 30 years.

Another document from Archer, a well servicing outfit, shows the existing percent of wells with "integrity issues" and in the Gulf of Mexico this is 45% of all 6, 650 wells (and according to news reports last night, one is already burning, reminiscent of the BP disaster) and 34% in the North Sea, out of some 1, 600 wells. Moreover, 40 percent are at high risk of "uncontrolled discharge".

Another power point slide is shown from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, that shows given an existing global well population of 1.8 million, and that 35% of them are leaking.  Despite this, the idiots plan to drill MORE wells in the next decade than have been drilled in the last 100 years. (All of which, btw, points to the fact we indeed have passed the Peak Oil mark, and which explains the extent to which extreme drilling is now becoming so common- to the point people's drinking water, air quality is an accepted collateral casualty.)

Recent Department of Pennsylvania Environmental Protection stats back up findings of failure, showing 1,609 wells were drilled in 2010 an there were 97 well failures, or a 6% failure rate. Of the 1,972 wells drilled in 2011, 140 failed, for a 7.1% failure rate.  Of the 1, 346 wells drilled in 2012, there were 120 failures, or an 8.9% rate. Who are you going to believe on this, the paid PR liars for the gas fuckers....errrr....frackers, or your lying eyes?

The Dept. document concluded that the published statistics are "consistent with previous industry data" and that the situation "is not improving".

As Josh puts it, "just as there are no safe cigarettes, there is no safe drilling, and they know it".

Indeed they do. So why LIE to us about it? Why make us, the citizens who note the lies and complain about the destruction of our life quality, the bad guys? The "anarchists"? The "terrorists"? Well, because money is on the line, lots of it, and they want to spread this malignancy worldwide!  That is the next part of Gasland II, Part 2 designed to send shivers down your spine.

Thus we see a humble Australian farmer also is having to deal with flaming water, contaminated by methane gas, and an inability to tend to his land. This, in a country with an already at- risk water table because of prolonged drought. But does the industry care? Does the U.S.? Hell no! As Josh goes on to show, in 2010 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration started the 'Global Shale Gas Initiative', charting shale "plays"  in over thirty countries and pledging a "government to government engagement to help develop shale gas around the World, from Europe, to Africa, to the Arabian peninsula to southeast Asia and South America. Everything now will be destroyed, all the planet's remaining potable water, for the profits of the gas -shale oil frackers. So, in a matter of months, the blighted U.S. map (smeared with red for fracking contaminated regions) metastasized into the map of the world undergoing the same. (Believe me the Germans are pissed off at this as well, and my friend Reinhard assured me they're prepared to fight it tooth and nail!)

Now, all this might be accepted IF the technology of hydraulic fracturing was proven safe and reliable, but as the stats presented show, it isn't.  Hence, it follows that the spread of shale fracking is indefensible.

It's even more indefensible because contrary to the spin, according to Prof. of Environmental Biology at Cornell, Bob Howarth, shale gas is not any better for global warming than other fossil fuels. He notes that the hypothesis that natural gas is a "good transitional fuel" has been tested and the answer is 'NO!'. Howarth adds:

"The White House has clearly bought into this idea that natural gas is part of the solution to moving us gradually off fossil fuel. But they didn't do that with good science".

Howarth estimates that between 3.6% and 7.9% of the total amount of gas produced over the lifetime of a well is emitted into the atmosphere as methane. As he notes there is "continual leakage at the well head, at the storage and processing facilities, purposeful venting and also in the pipeline systems."

This is important since methane is 120 times more efficient at trapping heat than CO2 is over a short 20 -year period. That means that if much more methane outgassing also occurs - from melting permafrost in the Arctic- and those global drilling wells are multiplied, we will likely be in the throes of the runaway greenhouse effect much, much sooner.

Sadly, at the end we see the Paar family in Texas moving from their family home, as well as the Gee family in PA, as well as hundreds of other families. None of them are allowed to tell their stories due to binding 'shut your mouth' mandates issued by the frackers. As Josh notes, "there is something inhuman about not even allowing people to talk". And having to leave their life long homes is bad enough.

Louis Meeks, in Pavilion, WY, meanwhile, isn't about to leave and he attends a meeting with neighbors where the water tests conducted by the EPA are being disclosed. The findings?

-Methane in 10 of 28 water wells at "near saturation" level of 19 mg/L, with "similar isotropic signature to production gas"

- Presence of synthetic organic compounds including glycols, alcohols and 2-butoxyethanol.

- Other petroleum -related detections including - benzene at 50 times the safe drinking water level, as well as phenols, tri-methylbenzenes and diesel and gasoline based organics on a "fairly widespread basis"

The last scenes of the documentary are heartbreaking to a real citizen, as Josh attempts to gain access to a House fracking hearing with his camera (to film for the public's benefit) but is instead handcuffed and led away. NO first amendment rights, at least if you show up with a video camera to hold the vermin weasels in our gov't to account for their own words!
Does this nonsense have to be stopped? Absolutely! The alternative is our total water supply being filthed and undrinkable within another five years. 'Good' only for rats and vermin and I doubt even they'd drink it.

THIS is what's driving the anti-fracking movement (including returned, outraged vets from Iraq shown having to deal with fracking effects including from poisoned water and earthquakes), and what's for sure is it will not stop - not so long as citizens are engaged and aware

To be fully aware, citizens need to know the massive misinformation campaign mounted by the gas frackers against Fox and his documentaries. To see one illustration of the misinfo (as well as disinfo) see:

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/07/09/new-plan-from-gasland-ii-the-faucet-fire-lie-wasnt-big-enough-were-going-full-garden-hose/


Sadly, Fox shows the power basis of much of this is because our government has become corporatized, and now corporations wield more power over it than do citizens. (Whose cyclical votes are inevitably trumped by corporate campaign contributions and lobbyist bribes once the dust settles.) How else explain the writing and passing of a law that actually exempts the frackers from the Safe Drinking Water Act?  Read more at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/06/gasland-part-ii-sequel_n_3554756.html

and: https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/06/04

Also, see this Youtube presentation on the gas industry's misinformation campaign and why you, as a citizen, need to see this documentary however you can. What befalls and affects your fellow citizens also affects you. The corporate gangster state laying waste to your fellow citizens' lives will also one day come to destroy yours, if you are passive and non-engaged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNhpxIkhgBc

As Fox observes, quoting the mayor of Dish, TX, "Now you know. Once you know, you can't  not know".