Tag: Arkansas

El Dorado plant destroying virus waste

nwaonline discusses how an El Dorado plant destroying virus waste.

A hazardous-waste facility in El Dorado is incinerating hundreds of containers full of infectious waste per week produced during the coronavirus testing and decontamination efforts taking place in the mid-Atlantic region and neighboring Southern states.

The facility, owned by the national environmental services company Clean Harbors, recently requested a temporary waiver from the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality to expedite the incineration process for covid-19 waste during the outbreak. The agency granted the request April 14.

The temporary authorization is one of a number of requests submitted to the agency and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment in recent weeks seeking regulatory relief during the crisis.

Like federal environmental regulators, earlier this month the state agency issued provisional guidance relaxing testing, permitting and enforcement for regulated entities such as landfills, utility companies and manufacturing plants on a case-by-case basis if the operators of these facilities believe they cannot comply with regulations because of the outbreak.

El Dorado plant destroying virus waste

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette (nwaonline) discusses how an El Dorado hazardous waste plant is destroying virus waste.

A hazardous-waste facility in El Dorado is incinerating hundreds of containers full of infectious waste per week produced during the coronavirus testing and decontamination efforts taking place in the mid-Atlantic region and neighboring Southern states.

The facility, owned by the national environmental services company Clean Harbors, recently requested a temporary waiver from the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality to expedite the incineration process for covid-19 waste during the outbreak. The agency granted the request April 14.

The temporary authorization is one of a number of requests submitted to the agency and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment in recent weeks seeking regulatory relief during the crisis.

Like federal environmental regulators, earlier this month the state agency issued provisional guidance relaxing testing, permitting and enforcement for regulated entities such as landfills, utility companies and manufacturing plants on a case-by-case basis if the operators of these facilities believe they cannot comply with regulations because of the outbreak.

Fracking Opens Possibilities for Growth of US Natural Gas Exports

As anyone pulling into a gas station can attest, fracking has dramatically changed the American energy market. The development of new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technology allowed domestic producers to access deposits of oil previously thought to be unexploitable, increasing the supply of oil on the market, and helping to push prices down. What is less visible is the effect fracking has had on natural gas. With the development of the Marcellus Shale as well as fields in Arkansas, Texas, and other parts of the West, the U.S. leads the world in natural gas production.

Fracking Opens Possibilities for Growth of U.S. Natural Gas Exports

USGS: Fracking not responsible for methane, benzene in some drinking water

A new report by the U.S. Geological Survey found hydraulic fracturing (fracking) of oil and natural gas wells in Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana, is not a source of benzene or methane contamination in drinking-water wells, Kallanish Energy reports, and industry website

USGS Study: Fracking Not Currently Affecting Drinking Water Quality … except

Another industry website discusses the U.S. Geological Survey study that purportedly shows that unconventional oil and gas production in some areas of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas is not currently a significant source of methane or benzene to drinking water wells. These production areas include the Eagle Ford, Fayetteville, and Haynesville shale formations, which are some of the largest sources of natural gas in the country and have trillions of cubic feet of gas.

The article includes this statement: “Groundwater in the Louisiana and Texas study areas typically entered the aquifers several thousand years ago. Nearly all the benzene detected in those areas occurred in old groundwater, indicating it was from subsurface sources such as natural hydrocarbon migration or leaking oil and gas wells.”

All gas wells leak over time; it’s not a question of “if”, it’s a question of “when”.

The Environmentalist War on Science

The EPA just threw out five years of fracking safety research to appease green extremists. Although early drafts found no evidence that fracking has had a “widespread, systemic” impact on drinking water, the final report claims that there isn’t “enough information to make a broad conclusion.”

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/01/the-environmentalist-war-on-science/

Organizing against fracking in the Americas

Just a few weeks before the end of the 2016, Earthworks joined 18 activists and advocates from Latin America for the Pan-American Workshop. The two-day workshop, held in Little Rock, Arkansas, was organized by Jorge Daniel Talliant, Founder and Director for The Center for Human Rights and the Environment(CHRE), and Jonathan Banks, Senior Climate Policy Advisor for Clean Air Task Force. The gathering included participants from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, and from several organizations in the US focused in California, Oklahoma, Colorado, New York, and Texas.

https://www.earthworksaction.org/earthblog/detail/organizing_against_fracking_in_the_americas#.WYWQ1NKCzIU

Fossil Fuel Industry Has Known Since 1967 That Injection Wells Cause Earthquakes, Despite Denials

Since 1967, the fossil fuel industry has known that injection wells cause earthquakes. The industry, in collusion with many state government regulatory agencies, has repeatedly denied this linkage publicly despite repeated studies showing the link.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/38556-frackers-knew-fossil-fuel-industry-has-known-since-1967-that-injection-wells-cause-earthquakes-despite-denials