Denton, TX - Drilling Mud & Waste Dumping ("Landfarming") Dividing Communities, Ruining Farms

[hatrack]

Dick Ross lies awake in bed as 18-wheelers crawl past his house. Their headlights stream through his window. They are waiting to dump drilling waste on a corn farm 50 feet from his front door. The concoction is a mystery to him, except that when it blows through the air, it strips the paint off his house. For two years, he has fought the Texas Railroad Commission over permit violations involving the dumpsite, submitting photos of trucks dumping waste at all hours of the night and letters demanding that his neighbor’s dumpsite be tested for contamination, as required by law. His campaign to shut down the dumpsite triggered threats of litigation from the waste haulers and a giant pile of e-mail correspondence from commission staff, attorneys and scientists assuring him that the dumpsite doesn’t pose any health risks.

EDIT

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to study much of the lifecycle of hydraulic fracturing — the controversial process of pressure-pumping chemical-laden water to release the gas — including the final disposition of millions of barrels of wastewater that flows back with the gas. But far less attention has been paid to the tons of drilling mud and other solids being spread across the land.

Some landowners open their gates and bank accounts to the industry’s need to dump the waste, oblivious to environmental risks. While official eyes are averted, permits to dump are stretched beyond their limits. And as neighbors eye each other with increasing distrust, millions of gallons of toxic waste are spread on the land, sometimes overflowing into waterways, sometimes becoming airborne and blowing across the prairie. The 986 square miles of Hill County has around 35,000 residents. Much of the land is owned by ranchers and farmers. “These people believe what they’re told — that this waste is safe,” Ross says. “Now their crops won’t grow.”

The landfarm near Ross’ home was properly permitted within the regulations current at that time, according to Railroad Commission spokeswoman Ramona Nye. After Ross complained to the commission, an inspector tested the landfarm for NORM, naturally occurring radioactive material often present in drilling waste, and found readings “within background levels for NORM” in the soil, Nye wrote in an e-mail.

EDIT

http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_landfarming_0331.23836361b.html

[ixion]

1. apparently, the so-called 'Kingdom of God' includes a vast wasteland

since that what these self-serving, er, I mean self-righteous religious whackos claim that GOD wants them to do.

[Angry Dragon]

2. We might as well open our borders to the world

and claim #1 status for the toxic dump site of the world.........

[Newest Reality]

3. Amerca is becoming a

cesspool of toxic waste with no end in sight.

Pristine may become an archaic term when we refer to what is left if the toxic frad'ing and dumping continues unabated. And, as long as it is profitable, (which is our Nation's priority) it will continue.

When it is not your government, it is not your country. Just check on who owns most of it and consider that there is no place for the common good in the bottom-line.

Firewater has taken on a new meaning.

[freshwest]

4. So true.

[cpamomfromtexas]

5. 30 years ago my parents fought this same battle in Oklahoma

Couldn't get a jury to fix anything since so many were employed by oil companies. The EPA was bought off.

My dad said you couldn't expect anything from a state with an oil well on it's capital. He said it was a shrine so the politicians could bow down to it.

We have hundreds of hours of tapes with their conversations on it. When it looked like it would rain they told their guys in the field to "cut the dikes" and dump the sludge in the creek. By the way, that creek went right into Lake Texoma, no way I'd eat a fish from there.

If that weren't bad enough, when they did fill up a tanker with sludge, they'd get out the front gate, open the pet cock and drive around on public roads until everything leaked out. That way they wouldn't have to pay to dump it.

[Nihil]

6. K&R for visibility - people really need to read the OP article ...

... especially the pro-natural-gas people around here ...

[txlibdem]

7. America, I'll make you a deal

America, I'll make you a deal: I will lie to you, cheat you in every way possible, pour the toxic by-products of my companies on land near your homes/schools/parks and you'll never be able to stop me. I'll bribe the politicians and officials you think are representing or protecting you so they actually serve only me. I'll make huge and obscene profits but pay zero income taxes, and when my greed and stupidity collapse the economy you will all pay to bail me out and protect my billions yet you will never get any bailouts or protections from my evil corporations. And you'd better not dream of retiring one day because I'll have all the laws and regulations twisted so that they ultimately favor me and in the end you'll be too broke to ever stop being my wage slave. I control the economy (I'm "too big to fail"). I control how many jobs there are and how much I'm willing to pay. I'll use some of you as tools of my agenda to keep the rest in line (but only so long as you are useful to me -- then you, too, will be out on your ass). I'll encourage you to dream of achieving some of my wealth but I've set up all the rules of the game (the "House" always wins) so you'll never take a penny from me ever.

If you accept this deal, simply do nothing because I've already won. So long, suckers!

[txlibdem]

8. What? No takers?

I'm surprised, since a majority of my state's voters voted for exactly that, as did a majority in WI, Ohio, and quite a few other states.

You should jump at the deal I'm offering because it's identical to the deal you have agreed to already.