Queensland, Australia: Town of Stanthorpe runs out of water but frac’ers keep frac’ing; Trucked water costing $800,000 a month, 14 vehicles haul 42 truckloads, 130-km round trip. Ernst’s roundtrip to haul water is 100 km, which Alberta and Wheatland County make her pay herself, after the authorities enabled Encana’s illegal fresh water aquifer fracs

A lot of industry’s frac’d gas wells are leaking flammable methane in Australia (everywhere the industry operates actually).

How much is the oil and gas industry directly causing/contributing to wildfires in BC, Alberta, California, Australia, etc, because of spills; leaks at wells/facilities; millions of fracs and refracs causing gases to leak to surface outside of wellbores; leaking abandoned wells and facilities that companies refuse to deal with because that costs money, enabled by corrupt regulators, politicians and courts?

The future arrives as Aussie town runs out of water by Leith van Onselen, Jan 14, 2020, macrobusiness.com.au

Last week we reported that water wars had hit the Tamworth region. With Tamworth’s water storages plummeting to just 13.2%, the nearby small town of Manilla, located 45 kilometres North West of Tamworth, blockaded its bulk filling station to stop water being taken from the town to supply Tamworth residents.

Yesterday, the ABC reported that the Southern Queensland town of Stanthorpe had officially run out of water, with water now being trucked into the town at a cost of $800,000 per month:

The main water supply for the town in southern Queensland has hit a critical level amid a severe and ongoing drought, with its population of more than 5,000 people now relying entirely on trucked water.

To meet the daily 1.3-million-litre requirement, 14 vehicles will cart 42 truckloads of water from Connolly Dam near Warwick to Stanthorpe’s Storm King Dam, in a 130-kilometre round trip.

The emergency water solution will cost $800,000 a month, fully funded by the state.

But without rain in the coming months, the backup supply will run out by August, after which the whole Southern Downs shire will be looking for a new supply.

Stanthorpe and Tamworth are extreme microcosms of the future water crisis facing Australia.

With climate change reducing rainfall and increasing evapotranspiration rates, and Australia’s population officially projected to add 17.5 million people over the next 48 years via mass immigration:

Water will become increasingly scarce and expensive.

The obvious solution is to abandon the mass immigration ‘Big Australia’ policy and prevent the nation’s population (and water users) from growing so rapidly. [Or ban frac’ing in Australia]

Refer also to:

Ernst’s water tank, 185 gallons.

Have you experienced hauling water 100 km round trip for 11 years?

Alberta issues 40 water shortage advisories while continuing to let frackers inject hundreds of millions of gallons fresh water losing much of it from hydrogeological cycle forever. Worse, Notley Govt is subsidizing frac industry’s water abuses while making frac contaminated families live without safe water

Devolution of a Species. Alberta Venture Special Report: Towns in Alberta’s industrial heartland ran out of water last summer. Is fracking to blame? Is “No Duty of Care” legally immune AER’s one-size-fits-all, world-record quaking frac frenzy drying up Fox Creek’s drinking water supply?

Mayor Jim Ahn stands in front of Fox Creek’s reservoir, which dropped to three feet of water last summer, far below the 12 feet required for fire protection. The town had to import water, which cost around $300,000 — a lot for a small community. Mayor Jim Ahn and Roy Dell, Fox Creek’s chief operating officer, walk along a dirt road behind the town. The area has become rife with industrial activity over the past few years. Dana Boyc, a resident of Little Smoky, sits on his well, which dried up last summer leaving Boyc and his wife to buy imported water. Boyc suspects the oil and gas activity in the area is to blame. Hydrologists test a potential water well site for the Town of Fox Creek. The community drilled new wells after their existing wells went dry last summer.

Is this what the entire province of Alberta gets to look forward to, thanks to Tory Government, Encana, CAPP, AER Chair Gerard Protti et al? Losing water quality and quantity?

Encana’s illegal fracing forced Ernst rely on trucked water since March 2006; A chore getting harder and harder for someone in their senior years:

2013 10 22 Ernst still hauling alternate water, Rosedale treated water from Drumheller, Source Red Deer River polluted by Plains Midstream Sour Crude Oil
2012 06 Ernst Replacement Drinking Water Plains Midstream Crude Oil Spill into Red Deer River
2002 CCME report chapter 4 by dr john cherry hilted

After Ernst filed the 2002 Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment report in 2014 court ordered document exchange with Encana for her lawsuit, the Council removed the report off their website. Is that how badly Canadian water authorities do not want water protected? This is a vital report, and incredibly damning, so Ernst uploaded it.

No suprise they removed their highly damning 2002 report off their website!

Fracking Data Woefully Lacking in Canada, Reports Council of Canadian Academies, So also reported the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment 12 years ago

Alberta Energy “Regulator” allowing more than 22,100 oil and gas wells to violate the rules for years. What other law violations is the AER allowing?

Alberta faces growing backlog of abandoned oil and gas wells, Millions or billions needed to clean up sites and mitigate environmental risk

Trouble Beneath Our Feet: Leaking Energy Wells a Burning Issue; Big problem, Expensive to Fix, Impossible to Completely Stop

Action needed on abandoned energy wells leaking methane in Quebec

Millions of Abandoned, Leaking Oil Wells and Natural-Gas Wells Destined to Foul Our Future 

Cumulative frac harms: Who’s looking? Canada Water Network? Synergy group extraordinaire with Alberta Government Bev Yee on the Board [Yee was recently appointed by the Alberta (Kenney) govt to chair the vile, law-violating, covering industry’s polluting ass AER!]

California: first ever, statewide, mandatory water restrictions “to save water in every way possible” except “the water-intensive industry of enhanced oil production or ‘fracking’”

Promise of Fracking Three Part Series by Tom Wilbur: Was it too good to be true? “It continues to be the driller’s dirty secret: Play nice and you get water. Buck the system and you’re on your own.”

Alberta Government Low Flow Advisory in Fox Creek/Peace Region, Asks Users to Reduce Water Consumption. Does that include in AER’s Fox Creek Fracing Pilot Project?

Alberta seizes control of Sharp Hill’s community drinking water supply; Regulator says many families installed water tanks to protect against inadequate supply, Regulator says tanks are not sufficient to meet needs of families

State of agri­cul­tural dis­as­ter de­clared in Parkland County because of lack of rain, Intentional contamination and permanent loss of massive volumes of fresh water injected by oil and gas companies for fracing continues

Edmonton-area municipalities tell residents to conserve water

Germany EPA Frac Report Released: Risks Associated with Fracing are Too High

Alberta Government Low Flow Advisory in Fox Creek/Peace Region, Asks Users to Reduce Water Consumption. Does that include in AER’s Fox Creek Fracing Pilot Project?

State of agri­cul­tural dis­as­ter de­clared in Parkland County because of lack of rain, Intentional contamination and permanent loss of massive volumes of fresh water injected by oil and gas companies for fracing continues

2013: New Alberta energy regulator will weaken environmental protection and vastly diminishes citizen and landowner rights

2012 AEA: support to the identification of potential risks for the environment and human health arising from hydrocarbons operations involving hydraulic fracturing in Europe

A proportion (25% to 100%) of the water used in hydraulic fracturing is not recovered, and consequently this water is lost permanently to re-use, which differs from some other water uses in which water can be recovered and processed for re-use. 

2009: National Energy Board Primer for Understanding Canadian Shale Gas – Energy Briefing Note

Little is known about what the ultimate impact on freshwater resources will be.

1993 Husky on how serious and big a problem industrys gas migration is Slide from Ernst presentations
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