I have a collection of informational emails sent by HOLD to post here, as my internet connection has decided to become problematic. Still haven’t figured out exactly what the problem(s) is/are. May be a combination of internet and computer issues, but I am fed up with it, that’s for sure!
These are only a few of them, others in my inbox and/or on other computer. I will add the newer ones when it all comes back together again.
a new report you may be interested in
Oil and Gas Bonds: BLM Needs a Comprehensive Strategy to Better Manage
Potential Oil and Gas Well Liability GAO-11-292 February 25, 2011
GAO Report on BLM well liability
BLM Must Improve Oil, Gas Well Risk Oversight: GAO
By Martin Bricketto
Law360, New York (February 28, 2011) — The U.S. Government
Accountability Office said in a report Friday that the Bureau of Land
Management has failed to consistently implement policies for
overseeing potential liabilities related to an increasing number of
oil and gas wells on leased federal land.
The GAO said the agency, within the U.S. Department of the Interior,
should tighten its handling of policies that cover reviews of the
bonds that oil and gas operators must provide before beginning
drilling operations and the management of idle and orphan wells.
The GAO said the number of oil and gas wells on leased federal land
has jumped dramatically in recent years.
About 19,000 of the 93,000 wells on federal land in fiscal year 2010
were drilled within the past five years, according to the report,
titled “Oil and Gas Bonds: BLM Needs a Comprehensive Strategy to
Better Manage Potential Oil and Gas Well Liability.”
During fiscal year 2010, 11 percent of the country’s natural gas
supply and five percent of its oil supply came from wells on federal
land, the report says.
Oil and gas operators are required to reclaim the land once operations are finished, returning it as close to its original condition as possible, the report says.
Such work can include plugging wells, removing structures, reshaping
land around the wells and installing vegetation, according to the
report, which adds that operators are supposed to provide a bond to
ensure they perform reclamation work and satisfy other lease terms and conditions.
Thirty-three of 48 BLM field offices manage the agency’s oil and
natural gas program and fall within the jurisdiction of 10 state
offices, the report says.
Under the BLM’s bond adequacy policy, field offices are supposed to
regularly review bonds when certain events occur, or periodically, and
increase the amount of the bond as necessary to reflect the
appropriate level of risk, according to the report.
The GAO said 13 of the 33 field offices reported that, for fiscal
years 2005 through 2009, they either did not conduct any reviews or
did not know the number of reviews conducted, with most blaming a lack of resources and more pressing priorities.
The GAO further found that BLM state offices didn’t consistently
follow policies on when to increase bond amounts, noting officials in
three state offices who generally required evidence of operator
noncompliance before raising a bond amount and another state office
that increased amounts for most operators because it viewed them as a potential risk.
The BLM’s policy covering idle wells, which haven’t produced for at
least seven years, and orphan wells, which typically aren’t tied to a
responsible party, is intended to ensure nonproducing wells are either
plugged or returned to production, the GAO said.
BLM offices under the policy are supposed to put together an inventory of such wells and rank them for reclamation based on environmental harm and other factors, according to the GAO.
However, 11 of 33 field offices had not conducted any reviews in one
or more years of the five-year period under review, the GAO said,
adding that the field offices blamed a shortage of resources.
The GAO also said two BLM state offices and 22 field offices don’t
have action plans for analyzing bond adequacy and idle and orphan
wells, as required by BLM policies.
The GAO recommended increasing regulatory minimum bonding amounts over time to better ensure operator compliance, and revising the policy for bond adequacy reviews to better define terms and conditions that lead to an increase.
The agency also recommended improving the completeness and consistency of well records and better monitoring agency performance on reviewing bond adequacy and idle wells.
Representatives for the BLM and DOI did not immediately return
requests for comment on Monday.
–Editing by John Williams.
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The below information and link to article were sent to us from concerned citizens
http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-01-like-natural-gas-then-get-used-to-earthquakes
The following issue arose in Arkansas today after a strong quake. Given the Chemical and Radiation Injection drilling just beginning to get underway in our area, earthquake movement are a legitimate issue to require the county to work up in their EIR or MNDs on fracking wells.
The maximum credible quake on the San Andreas and other regional faults and the chance of techtonic shifts sufficient to release injection chemicals and radiation into ground and surface water should be calculated.
Thanks all……..
Note that Arkansas is now added to the lists of states with moratoriums in place on all forms of hydraulic fracking. And Arkansas is not typically in the forefront of environmental issues……..
Until studied by the EPA, this seems a reasonable position to take.
It also suggests full EIRs on all chemical-radiation hydraulic fracking injectiion wells are required.
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Toxic Contamination From Natural Gas Wells
The New York Times collected data from more than 200 natural gas wells
in Pennsylvania. Many of them are tapping into the Marcellus Shale, a
vast underground rock formation. But a method being used to stimulate
wells, called hydraulic fracturing, produces wastewater containing
corrosive salts and radioactive and carcinogenic materials. In
Pennsylvania, this wastewater has been sent through sewage treatment
plants that cannot remove some of the contaminants before the water is
discharged into rivers and streams that provide drinking water. The
Times was able to map 149 of the wells.
Go to the below link to view the interactive map –
RESOURCE:
(Could be time for a new computer. Lenovo coupon codes might come in handy.)