Fracking Waste Disposal Fuels Opposition in U.S. and Abroad | EcoWatch

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http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/14/fracking-waste-disposal-opposition/2/

Fracking Waste Disposal Fuels Opposition in U.S. and Abroad

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In England, the government approved the injection of a million and a half gallons of potentially radioactive water under the North Moors National Park. Photo credit: Spinwatch
Spinwatch’s Andy Rowell reports:

The commercial success of the Ebberston Moor field depends on Third Energy being allowed to re-inject the potentially radioactive water that is produced with the gas back into what is known as the Sherwood Sandstone formation, which overlies the limestone where the gas will be extracted from. The sandstone lies 1400 metres below the ground. Notes of a meeting between Third Energy and the regulator involved, the Environment Agency, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), reveals that “the success of the Ebberston Moor Field is dependent on the disposal of [produced] water to the Sherman Sandstone.”

As in Michigan, there are unanswered questions surrounding the impact of fracking waste disposal. While Third Energy says the risk of contaminating drinking water is minimal, local anti-fracking activists have expressed concern about leakage, since the re-injection well would pass through aquifers that supply drinking water.

Activist Russell Scott points out at Frack Free Yorkshire that the proposed waste is equivalent to “a full sized Olympic swimming pool full of hazardous waste pumped down the well under high pressure every day for over nine years. ” He says, “Third Energy’s suggestions that this process will not have any negative impacts on the integrity of the well casing protecting our drinking water from the injected waste is simply ridiculous.”

With so much unclear about the safety of fracking waste and where it is ending up, citizen protests are becoming increasingly common. Illinois People’s Action reports that 100 protestors from its organization and others showed up at an appearance by Governor Pat Quinn at the Illinois State Fair.

100 protestors showed up at an appearance by Governor Pat Quinn at the Illinois State Fair. Photo credit: Illinois People’s Action
“The real tragedy here is that corporate greed could win out over the welfare of the people of Illinois,” said IPA spokesman Bill Rau. “This is not about jobs for Illinoisians. This is about profit for oil and gas companies. The choice our elected officials are facing is whether they are going to stand with families and our environment as our Illinois Constitution says, or blindly support what oil and gas wants to do for its own profits. We’re asking Governor Quinn, Whose side are you on?”

It’s a question being asked in Michigan and New Jersey and England—and many other places—as well.

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