Obama Administration Sues Exxon for Polluting Pennsylvania Drinking Water with Toxic Fracking Waste

[The Straight Story]

Obama Administration Sues Exxon for Polluting Pennsylvania Drinking Water with Toxic Fracking Waste

Having settled one water pollution case, an Exxon subsidiary is now facing a federal lawsuit alleging its hydraulic fracturing operations contaminated water supplies in Pennsylvania.

XTO Energy is accused of polluting groundwater with fracking waste from its natural gas well pad and storage facility in Hughesville, Lycoming County, according to the lawsuit.

The U.S. Department of Justice claims XTO Energy allowed flowback fluid and wastewater byproduct to reach water supplies.

The complaint says that “flowback fluid and produced fluid contain brine, proppant, hydraulic fracturing chemicals, dissolved solids, heavy metals and radionuclides.”


The litigation comes only days after the Exxon subsidiary agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and to spend $20 million to improve wastewater management practices involving its Pennsylvania and West Virginia natural gas operations. The improvements are to include installation of an alarm system that will warn plant operators of onset of spills.

http://www.allgov.com/news/controversies/obama-administration-sues-exxon-for-polluting-pennsylvania-drinking-water-with-toxic-fracking-waste-130724?news=850650

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. hmmmm...interesting..

Something to follow carefully, from start to finish..and hoping the finish is not so far down the road the case gets wrapped in cobwebs.

[Champion Jack]

2. It's a start but much much more is needed

[G_j]

3. mixed messages, I suppose..

http://www.mintpressnews.com/epa-pushes-back-fracking-impact-study-to-2016/163927/

EPA Pushes Back Fracking Impact Study To 2016
By Trisha Marczak | June 20, 2013

The Environmental Protection Agency is moving back its timeline for release of its study on the impact of hydraulic fracturing from 2014 to 2016, the agency announced this week at the Shale Gas: Promises and Challenges conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

The study, aimed at assessing the threats fracking poses to groundwater supplies and air quality, began in 2010 under the direction of Congress. The intent was to create a thorough assessment of the drilling method so states could make informed decisions on whether to ban fracking or regulate the industry.

With the study’s release still years away, some observers question whether it will mean much at all, as the industry is likely to continue its takeover. Horizontal drilling is already taking off in North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Ohio, to name a few. Just this week, Illinois enacted a new law welcoming the industry into the southern portion of the state.

In June 2012, there were more than 680,000 fracking wells throughout the country, according to a Scientific American report — and there’s no sign of it slowing down. By 2018, North America’s daily supply of oil will be 3.9 million barrels higher than it was in 2012, according to the International Energy Agency.

This expansion of the industry will happen before the EPA study can provide guidance on the possibility of water contamination from the fracking process, which injects a combination of water, chemicals and silica sand deep into the earth to break up formation where oil is locked. The concern is that, once injected, those chemicals will seep into the groundwater supply.

[Poll_Blind]

4. This is good but it's likely to end in another lowball settlement. Rinse, repeat.

Last edited Wed Jul 24, 2013, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Not that that's necessarily the Obama administration's fault but if this were a law-breaking individual, repeat offenses would likely yield greater and greater penalties. As a corporate entity, the federal government simply pursues settlements in all but the most egregious of cases. And so the perpetrator is free to commit crimes again.

Again, though, this isn't unique to the Obama administration, it's a "flaw" in how the government deals with corporate crimes, period.

PB

[Igel]

7. I'm not ruling that out as the goal.

It worked once, it'll work again. Think "boiled frog."

If you can't get a regulation to compel $1 billion in private investment for government goals, if you can't make it illegal or prohibitively expensive with executive regulations or laws, nickel and dime them to death.

Get the $1 billion in $20 million increments. Only 50 such cases needed--it's a nuisance, but the staff is already on the payroll for it and the settlement will cover the costs of bringing the actions so they're largely self-funding. Or just think of the settlements as possibly increasing the cost of doing business to where it doesn't pay to frack.

Either win, it's a win for the administration with environmental subconstituencies and makes the corporations pay, which is a win for the administration's anti-corporate constituencies.

[femmocrat]

5. That's interesting...

Maybe someone in DC was actually paying attention?

[kestrel91316]

6. It's about time.

[Wednesdays]

8. $100,000 fine?