Energy ... USA
Fracking

Massive Fracking Explosion in New Mexico, 36 Oil Tanks Catch Fire ... Down Deep: Unearthing the Truth About Hydraulic Fracturing

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Massive Fracking Explosion in New Mexico, 36 Oil Tanks Catch Fire

This week—as thousands of Americans urge awareness to the destruction caused by oil bomb trains—an oil field in San Juan County, New Mexico erupted in flames Monday night, highlighting the continued and increasing dangers of the fossil fuel industry.

The fire broke out around 10:15 p.m. Monday at a fracking site owned and operated by WPX Energy, setting off several explosions and temporarily closing the nearby Highway 550. Fifty-five local residents were forced out of their homes.

A photo of the fire before emergency response arrived on site. Kendra Pinto

The site—located in the Mancos shale deposit area and known as the 550 Corridor and a part of Greater Chaco Canyon—contains six new oil wells and 30 temporary oil storage tanks holding either oil or produced water. All 36 storage tanks caught fire and burned, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based energy company said.

The site was still smoldering last night and, now, 'only 7 of 36 tanks at production site on fire this morning,' the company tweeted.

'The fire is being allowed to burn itself out due to the intensity of the heat, the number of oil tanks involved and to contain petroleum fluids on WPX's five-acre site, predominantly in the storage tankage,' WPX said.

According to Albuquerque news station KOAT, WPX stopped drilling for natural gas and oil in the area last May. The company had been producing for about a week before the fire broke out.

The cause of the fire is currently unclear. 'We think that in the next couple of weeks to months, we will have that information and will be able to share that with the public,' WPX San Juan Asset Team manager, Heather Riley, told the news station.

There were no reported injuries or damage to nearby property. Most of the evacuees have returned home but 10 families are still lodged in a hotel, The Farmington Daily Times reported.

Environmental advocates are speaking out about the explosion.

'The site that exploded is a brand new facility that consists of six wells drilled to shale formations that have never been adequately analyzed for impacts and safety concerns.' Mike Eisenfeld, the Energy and Climate Program manager at the San Juan Citizens Alliance, told EcoWatch in an email.

WPX was given approval to develop the site from the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division in September. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Farmington Field Office gave final approval to drill the land in December.

'In a leap before looking scenario, the federal Bureau of Land Management in Farmington, New Mexico has allowed WPX to proceed with these shale facilities discounting the inherent danger that has now become clear with the explosion,' Eisenfeld said.

'This highlights the failure to have adequate safeguards in place to protect local communities and also raises serious questions about chemicals and toxicity associated with the explosion. Emergency response for this explosion was hours away. A thorough investigation is necessary. There should be a moratorium on these new wells until BLM completes a legally proficient Resource Management Plan Amendment/Environmental Impact Statement for the Mancos Shale/Gallup formations.'

The New Mexico environmental non-profit WildEarth Guardians noted in a statement to EcoWatch that the BLM Farmington Field Office has leased more than 90 percent of the lands it oversees to oil and gas companies and plans to auction off additional acres for fracking during the January 2017 lease sale. The office manages a total of 1.8 million acres of public land.

'Enough is enough,' Kendra Pinto, Counselor Chapter outreach intern, said. 'It seems like every month we see more wells here, and things are going to get worse if the drilling doesn't stop. At this rate, what will be left here for our children? The land has changed.'

WPX Energy has invested millions to drill into the tight shale formations in the San Juan Basin. The company has put in at least $160 million in developing oil plays in 2014 on its 60,000 leased acres, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

The rise of hydraulic fracturing has aided a U.S. energy boom but the environmental impact of the technology is under intense dispute, from polluting drinking water to earthquakes. Last year, WPX Energy itself came under scrutiny for failing to disclose how it is managing its impacts on communities and the local environment with its fracking operations.

'WPX Energy scored near the bottom of the industry in a recent scorecard report published by investors benchmarking 35 companies on their disclosed efforts to mitigate key impacts, and has faced controversy in the past over allegations that it irreparably contaminated local drinking water in Pennsylvania,' the advisory firm Green Century Funds wrote.

WPX Energy has defended its operations and even helped produce a glossy 26-minute documentary, Down Deep, as a way of 'spreading the message that fracking is safe and necessary for the U.S. energy future,' Tulsa World wrote of the film.

Still, as WildEarth Guardians pointed out, the recent oil field explosion in San Juan serves as a sobering reminder of the urgent need to build safe, clean renewable energy in place of fossil fuels.

'I know people want jobs,' Samuel Sage, Wildlife Guardians Counselor Chapter community services coordinator, said. 'But why must they come at the expense of our air, water, and climate? Many other places are building clean energy generation and creating well-paying jobs in the process. That is our future, not this dirty industry.'

'Unfortunately, this may be the tip of the iceberg,' Rebecca Sobel, senior climate and energy campaigner at WildEarth Guardians, said. 'The Obama Administration has already leased more than 10 million acres of public land to oil and gas drilling, and BLM continues to lease more land in New Mexico to fracking interests without studying these impacts. How many more explosions and evacuations will it take before we seriously consider the cost of these dirty fossil fuel industries and simply end this leasing program?'

Down Deep: Unearthing the Truth About Hydraulic Fracturing

https://youtu.be/chQ4_jo-HBk

LinksLogistics LinksLogistics Subscribe163 Add to Share More 2,643 views

Transcript

English (Automatic Captions) 0:02I'm 0:15there is an important debate underway regarding the future 0:17American energy 0:19it's a debate that demands the full attention of our citizens an issue 0:23great significance consequent we can along 0:26no 0:28polarized by divided allegiances to politics parties in popular opinion 0:32many are left wondering who to trust and what to believe 0:38this documentary examines one small critically important piece 0:41the intangibles about a process called 0:44Atlas Shrugged 0:50in 0:59God gave us all these resources and this earth 1:02weathers minerals or plants and animals for us to use 1:07K if we use them and a 1:11reasonable logical Safeway its 1:14my profession feels been in the environmental sciences 1:18and so I bit cautious any kind 1:22probation to the environment any American citizen trying to make a 1:25decision 1:26about where we should go with this should understand we have this need for 1:30energy 1:31in this country and that as with any industrial process that has an effect on 1:36the environment 1:37in that that inverted environmental sector can be mitigated to a certain 1:40extent 1:41or not mitigated depending on wilkens decisions companies make 1:45WPX Energy Commission this documentary in response to the onslaught of 1:48misinformation leveled against their industries 1:51cool in the process hydraulic fracture 1:54specific but that we can do six day to Ninewells 1:57this that when we come back to it CEO Ralph ill and brace the idea of an open 2:01discussion 2:02and willingly provided access to the people the process 2:05and even the property they work with we have a gift right now because I've 2:10up technology advances in technology to be energy independent in this country 2:15by a cleaner former energy 2:19the world runs on toward 2:22and there's not a single aspect of our lives that does not impact what powers 2:27are factories exploration traveling commute depends 2:30every advancement made in the way we connect collaborating cure disease 2:34requires we have an entire nation is completely dependent upon 2:38almost every single thing we used clothing 2:42puters contact lenses to CDs is made for 2:47there's almost nothing is not touch and 2:51well games the drug on the abundant blessings we clean from 2:56if we ever stop to consider what happened if these things we take for 3:00granted 3:00all slowly start the new to disappear 3:05we need a source of energy in right now 3:09the cleanest sources energy seems to be the natural gas industry 3:12this country needs an all-out all of the above strategy 3:17the developed every available for America now 3:25a strategy that's cleaner cheaper 3:28and full of new jobs we have a supply of natural gas 3:34they can last America nearly 100 years and my administration will take every 3:42possible action to safely develop this event 3:47for a voluntary is recognized throughout the industry is an expert in gas 3:51migration 3:51has been called upon by industry landowners universities and regulators 3:55alike 3:56fours ability to trace gas and find toward 3:59his reputation is based upon finding the truth in presenting facts 4:03how pop 4:05natural gas in my view and in a lot of an expert's view 4:10it robs a lotta other energy sources because it's cleaner 4:14its abundant its in this country we don't have to rely on other countries 4:18we don't have to arms you know worry about a supply because we have the 4:23supply 4:24here but dramatically changed everything in May production a viable alternative 4:30was combining hydraulic fracturing 4:32force drill historically what we used to do is truly single vertical well 4:36location move over build a brand new pair 4:40all over again use up another three acre supplant drew another vertical world war 4:44so perhaps there might be a well averaged forty 4:47snout we do is we go to a single pair insiders 640 acre area 4:52in from that one pair we drill down and then we go out horizontally 4:57multiple wells all on that same 3258 pair 5:00so we can put as many as 22 wells in the same space 5:04used just one well also every single one of those wheels 5:09tie back into a central location soul all the production takes 5:13everything all the traffic only comes to that one point 5:16in everything can be monitored from that one location that's a pretty big leap 5:20when you're reducing our impact that much gonna 5:23the some pounds sometimes people realize that it's 5:26really becoming a small the fact is natural gas production requires a 5:31dramatically smaller footprint than conventional drilling 5:33and other sources vintage likes all win 5:39America now had the means the wherewithal in the resources to become 5:42its own best supplier 5:43a way to make itself almost energy depend but that did me 5:48there was clear sailing ahead the there's been a lot of mystery spoken 5:53about the process 5:54hydraulic fracturing and the never-ending supply of people willing to 5:57join the course you're saying 5:59against the evil gas companies on people do not have cracked information 6:05and you know everywhere from the media just 6:08just correct information the headlines and the 6:12a the sound bites really detract from that experience 6:16them folks don't have an opportunity to to really 6:19understand falling to me every time I see something its entire industry just 6:23like 6:24well typically that person you something is powered by energy 6:28every single moment their life but they can still say you're poisoning our water 6:34because in cancer you're causing animals to die I hear that 6:37its causing earthquakes thats colonists 6:41they don't have the fax what's happening when a fracking job 6:45is going on they don't always understand that their home is he there was gas and 6:49that's what we're actually doing a 6:51they perceive us gas station you're you're the one who's making our gas 6:55prices so high it's what you guys are doing 6:57not really understanding minutes not bad aspen's 7:01what we do the community I think the biggest misconceptions people 7:05think we don't care they don't think we care about the environment for the 7:08wildlife 7:09more the area plant and we do I don't know 7:13what cause them to believes that 7:16Amaral pain and with that russians 7:20potentially a bad actor at some point in time and you know it home 7:25every industry has the attacks on them a come from every angle 7:29environmental political economical unique where they have failed they like 7:33any other industry should bear the burden pay the price 7:36States 7:37but save the other protocols are nor lives were lost people are harmed oceans 7:41are polluted 7:42economies are wiped out they should be the Cal 7:45every single thing we do from the very 7:49Mon we have an idea to go chill somewhere to when we actually the joint 7:53along with completing two more actually producing 7:55their agencies involved regulate 7:59every step we did like any industry where money and people are involved 8:02there's always the risk agreed in unethical behavior 8:05those who believe that they can increase profits by cutting corners 8:09meeting minimum requirements bar knowing say cubans 8:12altogether I think the business model where you maximize short-term profits by 8:17cutting corners 8:18and ultimately causing damage both to the environment your reputation to the 8:22communities in which work 8:23one term is not sustainable model because you've got a business fairly 8:27quickly mom but when you have one operator that does create a problem like 8:31that 8:32the public automatically sends everybody operates that way 8:35and that's that's not true known but there's nothing responsible ethical or 8:39intellectually honest 8:40about indicting an entire industry ok for the heirs 8:44above you because if you find one person died 8:47soiling the nest for everyone else is gonna hurt everybody 8:51and so report any violations 8:54see either of our own world any other operator to the regulatory 8:58I'll people as quickly as possible so those things and get clean them 9:02quickly but those represent a very small percentage in the industry 9:05in nobody works harder to expose them the industry Sony 9:10profitability sustained by billion economic growth only possible by 9:15minimizing airs in maintaining the relationship damn with the community 9:19they were killed I think everybody 9:22tries to do it right few that don't will they'll be fine 9:26they'll be put out of business things will happen the only yes industry is 9:30is unfairly small group of marines 9:34not only one channel drone operations but also to self police 9:37each other and we also please ourselves very very carefully we cannot afford the 9:42kind of expensive slip-ups 9:44that have occurred in the past free 9:51communities and residents are all impacted by the developer the site 9:56by road construction water use truck traffic and other factors 9:59a single sigh reduces all this impact on an area where populations 10:05the first part of creating a well as getting to the target source which in 10:08this case 10:09chill for lunch 10:11the shell formation to found 1000 feet deep within the earth 10:14of a mile or two block grant 10:17to reach these resources trapped within shale the energy companies drover 10:21straight down 10:22the level tongs 10:25the greatest damage you could do out here is contaminated shallow 10:29water table from which people are drawing their 10:32drinking water and other supplies and so we take 10:36rates pains it's been a great deal spence 10:39getting to the first 500 1,000 feet deep drill 10:42well the water from the aquifer that they will have to drill through his test 10:46to establish a baseline 10:48knowing exactly what the water was like before they started real and how will 10:52test throughout the life 10:53well script all we do is we drool with what's called surface casing 10:58as you're trying to protect the surface waters to draw a very large bowl 11:0218 inches to 20 inches all the way down to 11:05whatever is required by take the situation to 11:08the same 2030 we set a very large steel casing 11:13then we pump cement down the casing it goes down 11:17in the up the backside Casey 11:19informs a very 6 layer of cement 11:22between the rocks in the aquifer in this deal case 11:27every time we were on scene now 11:29will get a step up in the job 11:32only after that's that and after tested 11:35and run a cement bond marked confirmed in fact we have 11:38a cement bond time the entire casing string do we then resumed drilling with 11:42a slight smaller been 11:44the rest well the cement bond log required inspected by the state before 11:48any further operations are drilling take place 11:51pending on the flow rate in the pressures that will be demanded a full 11:54well 11:55the gas company may be required dad additional safety Lakers 11:58steel concrete nistam the sole purpose is making sure that we 12:03never have communication between the inside the well bore 12:06and that shell walk there's a lot of 12:09misunderstanding by polluting the groundwater arm 12:13we're not seeing that that that's not happening and 12:16we have no cases that have been proven 12:20are in the country as far as I know word 12:23the mechanism of hydraulic fracturing cause a gas migration problem where the 12:27gas 12:28was you know migrated because the hydraulic fracturing 12:31into the aquifer system 12:35protecting water tables is incredibly important to all energy coupled 12:38their zero profit in doing this well strong it undermines the credibility 12:42with the community they want to establish long-term relationship with 12:46they know that their integrity in relationships 12:49than we've had situations where a homeowner well 12:53see a rig nearby complain that they have a problem with her water well 12:58take a sample it reveals methane in it and they said well if we didn't have it 13:02here in till 13:03we saw that rigged people see a guy lighting is drinking faucet and a video 13:08or some guy holding up a jar 13:10dirty water claiming that some energy companies ruin their lives 13:13the people feel bad for them then we go to see 13:16and investigate where the rigors and we find out they have drilled 13:2110 inches into the ground there's no drilling the energy company had nothing 13:25to do with the fact that he could light as water and fire 13:27for the fact that the guy had dirty or contaminated water those facts 13:31never seem to get report and all the hyperbole in the media and the 13:35misinformation out there 13:37and Dom you know some other stuff the it gets put out there 13:41is just creating more this controversy is creating its 13:44it's almost like scared its however this aspect natural gas operations and 13:48hydraulic fracturing get more attention misguided attacks 13:51than almost any other have there been problems 13:55with well integrity and with gas migration absolute mint 13:58their habitat 14:00and know it today they're they're generally fixed right away and they're 14:03generally short term 14:04arm but there been a lot of problems that are naturally occurring to 14:09there they're getting in the industry is getting tagged with that natural 14:13condition being their responsibilities 14:15simply not kids their number varies in the country where organic methane is 14:20very close to the surface 14:21it is naturally occurring in has been there are migrating there since the 14:25beginning of time they can make rigs bubble unevenly to migrate into wells 14:29Rockall 14:30this near-surface gas is different from the deeper more mature thermogenic gas 14:34energy companies arms for miles served 14:38EPA and other investigative agencies at the state level have a value-added such 14:41occurrences many times 14:43defined as microbial orderly thermogenic gas and drinking 14:47nothing to do with energy companies the fractures created in these wells are 14:52very small and miles below the earth's surface 14:54ball people have been accurately reported that they can set of 14:57earthquakes 14:58the openings that are created in the shell can literally be held open 15:01the few grand sale the Santa sent down the well 15:05in fractal would pump the same and then 15:08and we hope to get two or three grains across 15:12that's when it closes it holds open about 300 to manage to 15:17maybe 607 edge that's all we need it doesn't you don't need a very big crack 15:22work because it's so tall in so long you get a lot against lying on the track and 15:27we create 15:28lots thousands is all about servicer in our best 15:32you have to have as much but thats superhighway 15:35going into the formations possibly trying to break the rock up into small 15:39pieces as you possibly can 15:41within the formation 15:47critics a minor-league fracturing site enormous amount of water used 15:50fracture well fact is indisputable 15:54hydraulic fracturing does require a lot of walking and sometimes in areas in the 15:57country 15:58for every PT we put several million gallons 16:03watered-down took the world you start adding that up 16:06miss you come through an area there will be a large strong 16:10on the available water supply nap take the community 16:13to be fair to the energy companies however are vying for water 16:16%uh the energy company will use on one well about the same amount of water used 16:20on the golf course 16:21for two weeks we mitigate then typically 16:25want to pump water down the well bore about 50 percent if it comes back up to 16:28the serbs 16:29movie Chinese we were using reason for the next racked up an extract 200 its 16:33arms it saves money 16:34and here's our operations get bigger they will recycle hundred percent 16:37another concern for those who oppose hydraulic fracturing is the actual 16:41chemicals the company's put into or draw back up the well 16:45those are very carefully regulated 16:49they're very carefully used in Applied their for it we're very conscious 16:53love what we do with the ones we recover them bring them back up to the surface 16:57typically what we do is we simply push them down the next World War 17:00for the next fracture in some cases would pull them out 17:03would put them down a deep disposal well where they go into another deep 17:06formation with can't do any harm to anybody 17:09somewhere between half a percent 17:11maybe two percent total amount of fluid pumped 17:15are what we call additives for the 17:19chemicals and everyone continues to to talk about well everything's chemical 17:23but 17:23you know with chemical manger everything dishwashing detergent bleach 17:29the same things that are in those two products household products are the 17:33constituents 17:34this summer ranging from half-percent tumors 17:38and its head leader would the point is that these chemicals used in very small 17:42quantities are closely monitored properly stored in Highland regular 17:46their control during their application completely Iceland from the freshwater 17:50teams 17:51by steel concrete safe we were one of the first companies to push very 17:56strongly for full disclosure fractals 17:58anybody in the public can go out to the track focused on work website 18:04and look up every single Campbell that we have popped down 18:08ever seen the water wells over the last few years we strongly applaud that we 18:13think it's a good movement in the industry 18:15everyone should know exactly what's being done on any well 18:18on their lawn accidental spills at the surface for quickly mitigated 18:22and even guarded against by storage tanks and specially designed spielberg 18:26additionally energy companies are leading the way to find new and better 18:30ways 18:30recommending the same one using deep water source 18:34can be used for any other purpose this is very salty water in pennsylvania 18:39early on operators were taking this very salty water 18:42to sewage treatment plants which simply were not designed to handle that is 18:47causing a lot of problems 18:48that's why companies upon neither recycling they're refract good 18:51or disposing into deep wells 18:56no one is trying to say the hydraulic fracturing is doubtless 18:59no former energy is accident prone the natural gas in hydraulic fracturing 19:03process 19:04proven itself safe and is environmentally sound discount 19:09PPS has 1200 police best majorities 19:13boys live in the areas we operate close as people out in the field 19:16any live there day hun there the research kids there 19:21their children attend the same schools attend the same churches 19:24and use the same water source as the navy's that's their way of life so 19:28there's no way 19:29if you just take common-sense white why would a screw up the place they live 19:33bradys WPX employers lived in the stretch in Colorado for most of his life 19:37this family is an active part of the community we've been here 19:42forward years and the people who work here 19:46been here for years me try to hire people that are from here in 19:49do drink the same waters and 19:52folks who were drawing on defected they're our friends our kids go to 19:56school with my daughter married some instances 19:58and Wells on sis were part of the community you really believe that 20:02reinterpret the here with our integrity in our business at nixon 20:07taking character property wildlife in 20:10in goes long 20:12with to film there's a reciprocal relationship in 20:15we try to bring something how are you today knowing that 20:19we want to be there for years to come 20:26do 20:32I believe for next seven years from the Bronx and 20:35the big chains lender valia lives in rural Pennsylvania Farm she brought to 20:41raise random 20:41she left New York to purchase a little piece a plane she could call a wrong 20:45fine piece 20:47enjoy life lower 20:50this is why I am gonna die ethic I'm not leaving it 20:54you from down a little by little building 20:57she does not work for an energy company in order she profit more girl and sets a 21:02stone's throw away from a neutral citing 21:04for multiple gas wells the hydraulic stimulating 21:07when Ralph ill stop by to see how she was doing he got a chance to do more 21:11than help her feet are all packed 21:13get an opportunity here speak about her relationship his people spend more quiet 21:18than I thought and I had met a pattern argument somebody because it was an 21:22alright so now 21:23there a mile away and we hear it now like I think I'ma 21:27half a mile and I don't hear nothing and I'm legs right on top of it 21:31but its it's not the Mike all the stories that were going on 21:35unlike those who live nowhere near her and even eyes the energy companies from 21:39afar 21:39she sees them as neighbors care about them 21:42constantly checking in on a whoever best interest in mind 21:46I have any had any problems at my water ever had any problems in my pressure 21:50water 21:50as some might say you lose pression now all started with shower 21:55told 22:07I haven't found a place that I would rather live 22:10the ground here 22:11because it's it's got everything and I enjoy it's good clean air 22:16and it's got fresh water 22:19and a good scenery as a botanist 22:22Bible and ours watch for generations a family occupy the land he owns a 22:27colorado 22:27we hear moved to this property and in 1936 22:32had to ride horses to get to school about three miles 22:35each way mother was a teacher she says we've got to get 22:39this family closer to bigger schools and and so that's when bad but this ranch 22:45i bowl and our as a scientist who understands the earth below his farms 22:49well 22:49so when the energy companies came call he was no but 22:53field 22:55and our understood the miles below is land there was an abundant source of 22:58energy 22:59to be tapped into efficiently safe an interest 23:02when he was offered a significant amount of money to sell his land 23:06did we turned down their offer which 23:09with the bay this all financially independent for the rest of their lives 23:14our family is living here and 23:18all the things I grew up with like being able to work out the back door 23:22wide open spaces where you could go and do what you wanna do 23:27those are the things that convinced me that to the 23:30that we should keep this property for the family 23:34so that they can grow up and have some the privileges I had 23:37I think has been good for everybody 23:40all the world having to work hard now but the that's what life's about 23:45work if you don't have work no you don't much it was a willing to sell as land 23:50but he was unwilling to endanger his family risk ranch 23:53need teeming with a responsible Energy Park 23:56in New that natural gas can be extracted safe my bed 24:01the PX and been very easy to work with 24:04be 24:05had a lotta dealings with them cooperation with them 24:09live analyst this is from my stead 24:13sex 24:21on 24:25it is estimated the 2.8 million jobs have been created directly or indirectly 24:30by the gas industry in the last ten years like others in controversial 24:34industries bad news and bad press 24:37travels around the world in lightning speed but the truth that follows 24:40tends to take forever 24:43we are a nation a people never complacent was sitting on yesterday 24:46success 24:47lead the world 24:48and technological discover on harnessing the change that prevent us from 24:53unlocking the vast resources below its 24:55is a cent 24:58a must come with open and honest discourse must come with safety and 25:02environmental and 25:02mild must come 25:07the viability of our economy jobs and national security 25:10ultimately depend on our ability to become self sufficient 25:13the most in Division encourage innovation 25:17and inspire generations to come energy independence cannot hold their state 25:22pearl economy are secured in our future 25:29in Published on Mar 25, 2014 WPX Energy produced this excellent quality video in Fracking. Using genuine facts and interviews with third parties, Down Deep takes on the dishonest politicking and misguided environmentalism that has become entangled with the public`s image of fracking. WPX Energy believes U.S. citizens all have the right to be informed of the facts surrounding any vital issue -- and the right to be involved in the decisions that shape America`s energy future.' Category Education License Standard YouTube License Music 'Pride of Nations' by Paul Reeves Listen ad-free with YouTube Red