Oil drilling company ordered to shut down second Florida well pending tests

[TheNutcracker]

Source: Tampa Bay Times


The Texas oil company that incurred a $25,000 fine for violating its permit to drill a well in Florida panther habitat has a growing problem on its hands.

State Department of Environmental Protection officials announced Friday they have ordered the Dan A. Hughes Co. to cease operations at a second South Florida well until experts can analyze whether the violation at the first well spread pollution in the aquifer.

However, the announcement followed a call Thursday by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to open an investigation into what happened.
Hughes spokesman David Blackmon issued a terse statement that said the shutdown was something the company had agreed to after negotiations with DEP.

Hughes' drilling operations have sparked controversy among Collier County residents, who went so far as to stage a protest march on Gov. Rick Scott's Naples home. The controversy began when a Hughes contractor contacted Golden Gate Estates residents about their plans for an evacuation should something go wrong with the well being drilled less than 1,000 feet from their homes. That was the first they'd heard of it.

The company was injecting acid deep underground to fracture the limestone, then injecting a mix of sand and chemical gel under pressure, to prop open the new fractures and let the oil flow out. That's called using a "proppant."

Although the process is similar to fracking, Blackmon called it an "acid stimulation treatment," which he said is common in Florida. However, Miller of the DEP said no one has ever used a proppant in Florida before. The DEP order requires Hughes to install monitoring wells to check on whether any pollution is spreading through the aquifer, although Blackmon said the chemicals were injected thousands of feet below the drinking water supply.
Until the well results are analyzed by independent experts, Hughes has to shut down all other "new operations," DEP said Friday. Hughes has six other locations, but the only one fitting the DEP's description is a well near Immokalee, Miller said.

more at link....

Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/water/oil-drilling-company-ordered-to-shut-down-second-florida-well-pending-tests/2178106

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The Gov, Slick Rick came from TX and I'll bet he knew all about this, before Nelson stopped it!

[1monster]

1. They paved paradise and put in the oil companies...

See Florida now before all its natural beauty is covered by oil slicks, swallowed by fracking induced sink holes and water guzzling developments, and its fauna and flora are poisoned or diseased by chemicals & other anti-environmental methods used by those seeking profits above all else.

[They_Live]

3. You're right.

...and not just Florida.

[They_Live]

2. Yep, future sink hole

location.

[silvershadow]

4. This technique is beneficial only to sink holes I would think. nt

[blkmusclmachine]

5. POISON

[TheNutcracker]

6. the chemicals are nasty, but they say they are going "below" the water level. oh, i feel better now!

[freshwest]

7. Whatever happened to just drilling a well until you found oil? Simply using mechanical means?

It's not like it's frigging Spindletop there. Just lay off, Voldemort and pals, the world won't come to an end if you don't get that patch.

[DeSwiss]

8. Capitalism Kills. - K&R n/t