Haynesville Shale: Contaminated Water

DeBerry Texas

FOR SEVERAL YEARS, FRANK ROBERSON AND HIS FAMILY LIVED WITH TAP WATER THEY COULDN'T BE SURE WAS SAFE.

"well they say ur not supposed to shower with it - you're not supposed to use it for any reason but you have no other choice you have to take a shower".




THEY DEFINITELY DIDN'T TAKE ANY CHANCES *DRINKING THE STUFF..



FRANK ROBERSON: well the taste started getting bad, and also the smell.




AND ROBERSON WASN'T THE ONLY ONE...
HUDSON: smelled funny, it had a foul odor to it, and the coloration wasn't - it didn't look like water.




IN FACT, THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY *DID FIND CONTAMINATION, BUT ONLY *AFTER DAVID HUDSON HAD THE GROUNDWATER TESTED BY A PRIVATE LAB -- PROMPTING STATE REGULATORS TO CONDUCT SOME TESTS OF THEIR OWN....FINDING PETROLEUM HYDROCARBONS.

BARIUM, LEAD, ARSENIC, CADMIUM, MERCURY, FECAL CHOLIFORM AND E COLI AMONG OTHER THINGS.


THAT CONTAMINATION WAS TRACED TO *THIS DRILLING WASTE DISPOSAL WELL SITE...OPERATED MOST RECENTLY BY BASIC ENERGY. IT WAS SHUT DOWN IN 2005.

"
You can see here that a lot of the oil contaminants (talks more about berm, push in to laptop, talks about TCS BTEX, oil & gas related contaminants still in the ground, causes hi bp, kidney problems, breathing problems".




STATE INSPECTION PHOTOS FROM 2004 SHOW THE SITE STREWN WITH JUNK, OILY SLUDGE AND DEGRADED TANKS. IN 2000, THE RAILROAD COMMISSION FINED A LOUISIANA COMPANY 27-THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR ILLEGALLY DUMPING CHEMICAL WASTE DOWN THE WELL.

AFTER THAT, STATE OFFICIALS RECOMMENDED RESIDENTS *AVOID USING WATER FOR *ANY DOMESTIC PURPOSE - LIKE BATHING, COOKING OR WASHING CLOTHES.


FOR *THREE YEARS, THE EPA PROVIDED BOTTLED WATER FOR ROBERSON AND HIS NEIGHBORS ALONG COUNTY ROAD 329.
UNTIL THE TINY COMMUNITY NEAR DEBERRY, TEXAS WAS HOOKED UP TO THE PANOLA-BETHANY WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM. THAT WAS JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO.




STILL, STATE REGULATORS NEVER BLAMED THE WELL'S OPERATOR FOR HARMING IT'S NEIGHBOR'S WATER.
HUDSON: being there's more than one company in here you cannot pinpoint one bc when you say it was you, it was the company before me and it was the company before me.




THE EPA SAYS IT WASN'T NECESSARILY THE WELL ITSELF - BUT PIPELINE BREAKS, LEAKS AND SPILLS ...WHERE POOR MAINTENANCE ALLOWED CORROSION...AND FOUND THAT THERE WERE *OTHER SOURCES OF CONTAMINATION THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PRODUCTION WASTE DISPOSAL.

HUDSON: outta sight, outta mind per se...



BUT HUDSON IS DETERMINED NOT TO LET IT GO, FILING SUIT AGAINST THE RAILROAD COMMISSION FOR NOT INFORMING THE COMMUNITY ABOUT THE PROBLEMS -- PROBLEMS *HE SAYS REGULATORS KNEW ABOUT FOR SEVERAL YEARS -- AND CONTAMINATION HE BELIEVES *CONTINUES TODAY. "otherwise, you can't see it it's not there hopefully that it would go away and the citizens wouldn't say anything about this and I don't think there's really no date or plan to remediate this site. Until we get resolved through the court system".




HUDSON'S ATTORNEY SAYS THE RAILROAD COMMISSION DID MORE THAN DROP THE BALL. BEROUDY "this particular well poisoned the groundwater in the community which they continued to overlook. So the two things we're alleging that they allowed this to happen in a predominately African American community and two, what happened drastically decreased the value of these people's property.




IN THE MEANTIME, DAVID HUDSON'S WATCHING WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE HAYNESVILLE SHALE...AS DRILLING OPERATIONS RAMP UP...CREATING MORE WASTE -- AND IT ALL HAS TO GO *SOMEWHERE.

"I'm worried about the same thing happening in this community happening in every community that a permit is issued".
IN EAST TEXAS, CAROLYN ROY, KSLA NEWS 12.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• PETROLEUM
• HYDROCARBONS
• BARIUM
• LEAD
• ARSENIC
• CADMIUM
• MERCURY
• FECAL
• CHOLIFORM
• E.COLI
• Basic
• energy
• Haynesville
• Shale
• HVX200AP

[CleanWaterActionPA]

This is the very thing we are trying to fight in Pennsylvania. We are facing the onslaught of Marcellus shale drilling and the environmental/health costs. It is a very hazardous process, especially if done irresponsibly.

[ArubaGreed]

Wow. $27,000. The fine should have been $2.7 MILLION-at the very least, it should have been the entire cost of the install of the new water system. As far as 'pin pointing the culprit operator-that's easy-sue them all, let the court decide which

ones(s) is/are guilty. They operate pretty much the same way, so they are all likely responsible.

[thehaircrow]

someone tapped the tainted water supply

[ezpowerequipment]

Michelle Bachman is all for ruining your water

[chipperdoda]

This is a sad thing. I grew up in DeBerry.....left there many years ago.......this appears to be a classic case of serial corporate neglect and poor regulatory oversight.