Goldenkey’s stalled plan in Lethbridge affects the Pincher Creek Landfill by Greg Cowan, March 28, 2014, Pincher Creek Echo
Goldenkey Oil’s application to the Alberta Energy Regulator to drill three exploratory holes in Lethbridge has been put on hold until the province unveils its new urban drilling policy. The news affects Pincher Creek residents as Goldenkey planned to dispose of operational wastewater at the Crowsnest/Pincher Creek Landfill. Goldenkey’s plan is described at penny-project.ca: “There is an existing and approved water disposal facility in Pincher Creek. Tervita is the operator of this facility and Goldenkey currently plans on properly disposing of the water at this facility to ensure compliance with regulations.”
Now, the future of Goldenkey’s project is uncertain.
“We are currently waiting with this one,” said Qiping Men, Goldenkey’s CFO according to penny-project.ca. “We’ve heard many things and we may give up this one.”
The project has been under heavy scrutiny. An 11,000-signature petition was gathered by the organization No Drilling Lethbridge and was tabled in the Alberta Legislature.
Should the project go forward, Men suggested the wastewater disposal in Pincher Creek is nothing to worry about. [What about the many earthquakes caused by frac waste water injection, many damaging private homes and property, damage that companies refuse to be held accountable for? And where will the golden penny project dump it’s drilling waste? Emphasis added]
[Refer also to:
March 29, 2014: Seismologist: Fracking Injection Wells Linked to Earthquakes
March 27, 2104: Fracking’s Earthquake Risks Push States to Collaborate
March 11, 2014: Oil, gas wastewater disposal causes cascade of Oklahoma quakes- USGS
March 7, 2014: Wastewater Injection Triggered Oklahoma’s Earthquake Cascade
January 31, 2014: Swarms of Earthquakes Shake Up Shale Gas and Oil Fields
At these depths the waste fluids can destabilize and lubricate natural faults beyond their tipping point. While extracting oil and gas, the petroleum industry yearly produces between 15 to 20 billion barrels of highly toxic wastewater contaminated with salt, heavy metals hydrocarbons and radioactive material. … Industry injects most of this toxic brew back underground. But the fracking industry has exponentially increased the amount of toxic water needing disposal. …
Alberta has nearly 2,000 injection well sites and Oklahoma, which experienced a record 2,600 quakes last year, is home to 5,000 injection sites. As of 2007, B.C. employed more than 100 wastewater wells in its gas fields. Many of continent’s more than 680,000 injection and disposal wells have sprung leaks or have fractured into aquifers.
… In particular, clusters of tremors have increased in areas of ramped-up tight oil activity and multi-stage hydraulic fracking, such as Brazeau County and Del Bonita near the Montana border.
Landowners have also reported structural damage from tremors in Cochrane, Ponoka and Strathmore, where intense fracking has taken place. As a consequence, the government of Alberta quietly issued controls on fracking around critical infrastructure and imposed severe restrictions on activity near the Brazeau Dam after lobbying by TransAlta pressed for tighter regulations last year. [Emphasis added]
January 22, 2014: ‘Frackquakes,’ Texans Demand Halt On Wastewater Injection Well
2013: Fracking’s Latest Scandal? Earthquake Swarms
Illustration: Leanne Kroll. Animation: Brett Brownell
Fracking suspended after earthquakes rock Ohio
August 27, 2013: Insight: Arkansas lawsuits test fracking wastewater link to quakes
March 26, 2013: Wastewater Injection Spurred Biggest Earthquake Yet, Says Study
USGS Study Connects Earthquake Risk To Wastewater Injection, Fracking Advocates say, “Who Cares?”
