Fracking industry cleanup workers exposed to benzene in Colorado, feds allege

Grist

judylcrook

Parachute Creek

By John Upton

We told you about the drawn-out spill of 241 barrels of natural gas liquids earlier this year at a Williams Energy plant that handles fracked gas in Colorado. It turns out that Parachute Creek and its wildlife weren’t the only things exposed to cancer-causing benzene because of the accident.

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John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles toFacebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Fracking Wastewater Disposal Linked to Remotely Triggered Quakes

Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic

Water impoundments like this one beside a Colorado oil rig are typical at hydraulic fracturing sites. Underground disposal of the wastewater after fracking may increase seismic risks from remote earthquakes, a new study says.

Fracking for oil and natural gas, and the underground disposal of wastewater that occurs in the process, has been linked to earthquakes in recent years. Now seismologists have discovered a new twist in that relationship, finding that wastewater injection can also contribute to temblors induced remotely by faraway seismic events.

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EPA to Allow Consumption of Toxic Fracking Wastewater by Wildlife and Livestock

New Mexico Coalition for Community Rights

Millions of gallons of water laced with toxic chemicals from oil and gas drilling rigs are pumped for consumption by wildlife and livestock with the formal approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to public comments filed yesterday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Contrary to its own regulations, EPA is issuing permits for surface application of drilling wastewater without even identifying the chemicals in fluids used for hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, let alone setting effluent limits for the contaminants contained within them.

Photo credit: J Henry Fair / LightHawk

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LETTERMAN STOPS JOKING AROUND TO DELIVER ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RANTS EVER