AP Exclusive: Drilling boom means more harmful waste spills

[Omaha Steve]

X post in environment



In this April 24, 2015 photo, Carl Johnson, right, and his son, Justin, check a storage tank used for watering livestock on their ranch near Crossroads, N.M. For about 20 years, the tank was unusable because the aquifer that provided the water was contaminated with oilfield brine that a company disposed of improperly. The Johnsons say the water quality is better now. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150908/us-salting-the-earth-0a9cba66d8.html

Sep 8, 9:30 AM (ET)

By JOHN FLESHER

CROSSROADS, N.M. (AP) — Carl Johnson and son Justin are third- and fourth-generation ranchers who for decades have battled oilfield companies that left a patchwork of barren earth where the men graze cattle in the high plains of New Mexico. Blunt and profane, they stroll across a 1 1/2-acre patch of sandy soil — lifeless, save for a scattering of stunted weeds.

Five years ago, a broken pipe soaked the land with as much as 420,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater — a salty and potentially toxic drilling byproduct that can quickly turn fertile land into a dead zone. The leaked brine killed every sprig of grama and bluestem grasses and shinnery shrubs it touched.

For the Johnsons, the spill is among dozens that have taken a heavy toll: a landscape pockmarked with spots where livestock can no longer graze, legal fees running into the tens of thousands and worries about the safety of the area's underground aquifer.

"If we lose our water, that ruins our ranch," Justin Johnson said. "That's the end of the story."

FULL story at link.

[MisterP]

1. livestock + fracking =