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SCIENCEThursday 10 September
Drilling boom means more harmful waste spills
JOHN FLESHER saturated land dries up. U.S. onshore oil produc- fluids and chemicals inject- a tributary. Cleanup costs
AP Environmental Writer Trees die. Crops cannot tion. In 2009, there were ed to crack open rock — approached $2 million.
CROSSROADS, New Mex- take root. 2,470 reported spills in the the process known as hy- Two larger spills since then
ico (AP) — Carl Johnson “Oil spills may look bad, 11 states; by 2014, the to- draulic fracturing. Produc- scoured vegetation along
and son Justin, who have but we know how to clean tal was 4,643. The amount tion of methane gas from an almost 2-mile stretch.
complained for years them up,” said Kerry Sub- spilled doubled from 21.1 coal deposits also gener- — Wastewater from pits
about spills of oilfield lette, a University of Tulsa million gallons (79.9 million ates wastewater, but it is seeped beneath a 6,000-
wastewater where they environmental engineer. liters) in 2009 to 43 million less salty and harmful. acre cotton and nut farm
raise cattle in the high “Brine spills are much more gallons (162.8 million liters) The spills usually occur as oil near Bakersfield, Califor-
plains of New Mexico, stroll difficult.” in 2013. and gas are channeled to nia, and contaminated
across a 1 1/2-acre patch In addition to extreme Industry groups said waste metal tanks for separation groundwater. Oil giant
of sandy soil — lifeless, save salinity, the fluids often is often recovered during from the wastewater, and Aera Energy was ordered
for a scattering of stunted in 2009 to pay $9 million
weeds. In this April 24, 2015 photo, Carl Johnson examines a pasture near Crossroads, N.M., where an to grower Fred Starrh, who
Five years ago, a broken oilfield wastewater spill killed vegetation. had to remove 2,000 acres
pipe soaked the land with from production.
as much as 420,000 gal- Associated Press — Brine leaks exceeding
lons (1.6 million liters)of 40 million gallons on the
wastewater, a salty drilling contain heavy metals cleanups, although some the water is delivered to a Fort Peck Indian Reserva-
byproduct that killed the such as arsenic and mer- can soak into the ground. disposal site — usually an tion in Montana polluted a
shrubs and grass. It was cury. Some ranchers said “You’re going to have injection well that pumps river, private wells and the
among dozens of spills that they have lost cattle that spills in an industrial so- it back underground. Pipe- municipal water system
have damaged the John- lapped up the liquids or ciety,” said Katie Brown, lines, tank trucks and pits in Poplar. “It was undrink-
sons’ grazing lands and ate tainted grass. spokeswoman for Energy are involved. able,” said resident Donna
made them worry about “They get real thin. It mess- In Depth, a research arm Equipment malfunctions or Whitmer. “If you shook it
their groundwater. es them up,” said Melvin of the Independent Petro- human error cause most up, it’d look all orange.”
“If we lose our water,” Jus- Reed of Shidler, Oklaho- leum Association of Amer- spills, according to state re- Under a 2012 settlement,
tin Johnson said, “that ruins ma. “Sometimes you just ica. “But there are pro- ports reviewed by the AP. oil companies agreed to
our ranch.” have to shoot them.” grams in place to reduce Though no full account- monitor the town’s water
Their plight illustrates a The AP obtained data them.” ing of damage exists, the supply and pay $320,000
side effect of oil and gas from Texas, North Dakota, Concentrated brine, much scope is sketched out in a for improvements, includ-
production that has wors- California, Alaska, Colo- saltier than seawater, ex- sampling of incidents: ing new wells.
ened with the past de- rado, New Mexico, Okla- ists in rock thousands of — In North Dakota, a spill The loudest whistleblowers
cade’s drilling boom: spills homa, Wyoming, Kan- feet underground. When of nearly 1 million gallons about spills are often prop-
of wastewater that foul the sas, Utah and Montana oil and gas are pumped in 2006 caused a massive erty owners, who must al-
land, kill wildlife and threat- — states that account for to the surface, the water die-off of fish and plants in low drilling access to their
en freshwater supplies. more than 90 percent of comes up too, along with the Yellowstone River and land if they don’t own the
An Associated Press analy- mineral rights.
sis of data from leading oil- “Most ranchers are very at-
and gas-producing states tached to the land,” said
found more than 175 mil- Jeff Henry, president of
lion gallons (662 million li- the Osage County Cattle-
ters) of wastewater spilled men’s Association in Okla-
from 2009 to 2014 in inci- homa. “It’s where we de-
dents involving ruptured rive our income, raise our
pipes, overflowing storage families.”
tanks and even deliberate Some are reluctant to
dumping. There were some complain about an indus-
21,651 individual spills. The try that is the economic
numbers are incomplete backbone of their com-
because many releases munities.
go unreported. “If they treat us right, we’re
Though oil spills get more all friends of oil,” said Mike
attention, wastewater spills Artz, a grower in North Da-
can be more damaging. kota’s Bottineau County
Microbes in soil eventually who lost a five-acre bar-
degrade spilled oil. Not so ley crop in 2013 after a
with wastewater — also saltwater pipeline rupture.
known as brine, produced “But right now, it’s just a
water or saltwater. Unless horse running without the
thoroughly cleansed, salt- bridle.”q
