No matter how things changes, people stay the same. I doubt the government can clean this **** up when they can't even send adequate amounts of tax men to oppress job creators. Obviously we have to privatize these wells and allow companies to charge markup with never seen before rates to clean up this naturally induced problem. /hipster libertarian dip****
This could all be solved with better regulation, so hopefully they get that up ASAP. It's pretty annoying to clean wastewater containing oil, since the bacteria in conventional wastewater treatment can't handle that.
I'm very disturbed about what this is doing to the groundwater of a state that's been in a drought now for years. Hell, I'd be disturbed if we didn't have a drought. Yes, fracking has been an enormous economic boon for Texas and other states. It's making us far less dependent on imports. It's creating good paying jobs. All that good is blinding a lot of influential people in and out of government, and the general public, to the dangers of fracking to the environment. I'm of the opinion that it needs to be far more closely regulated than it is, and a hell of a lot harder to get a permit. I think they need to slow down and examine closely just what effect this is going to have long term.
Until one fracker fracks another fracker not a single fracking thing will be done about the motherfracking fracking.
For the millionth time, the leakage of fracking water into fresh water aquifers is NOT a legitimate concern as it is virtually impossible (I say virtually because a crappy engineering job might lead to it in very rare cases, but if done correctly, it is impossible). I would go into the technical reasons for this claim but frankly I don't want to. Just take my word for it (trust me I'm an engineer haha).
Except for the minor detail that it's already happened: In one instance, a Texas disposal well contaminated an aquifer, according to Christi Craddick, a recently elected railroad commissioner.
As long as crappy engineering costs less than "correct" engineering, no one is going to trust or believe you.
Most of what I've read, it isn't the fracking that is the problem. It is not using best management practices with normal oil and gas operations that has been the issue. Oil and gas operations have less than a stellar environmental record.
