Atascosa County deputies, DPS, Christine and Jourdanton Volunteer Fire Departments responded. TX Hwy. 16 was closed between FM140 and FM 3387 roughly about 7 hours.
Additional tank batteries caught fire from the initial battery fire.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ATASCOSA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Open pit disposal of Fracking Fluid causes extremely dangerous airborne oil pollution of the air. Any governor that has and continues to entertain fracking as some kind of answer to some kind of problem needs to tour all the facilities in Texas. It is quite an eyeopener.
That black smoke is burning chemicals, including oil, from fracking wells.
How many of these wells are in Texas?(click here)
Texas is the nation’s number one oil and gas producer with more than 216,000 active oil and gas wells statewide. Injection and saltwater disposal wells are also located statewide to safely dispose of the produced water and frac fluid from these oil and gas wells. Texas has more than 50,000 permitted oil and gas injection and disposal wells.
That means besides the 3 million gallons of water needed for fracking there are at least one disposal site for very four drilling sites.
Before all those businesses Perry has been pandering to actually move to Texas, they might want to check the air quality in the state. I would not dismiss the concerns for water quality either.
How often are these wells inspected?
The Railroad Commission (Know as the RRC) inspects commercial disposal wells (wells that take produced water from various operators for a fee) at least once per year.
There is no "schedule" for non-commercial disposal or injection well inspections. These wells are inspected based on several factors including their location (near sensitive environmental areas or public areas) and the operator’s compliance record.
During Fiscal Year 12, there were 3,693 inspections related to Commercial Disposal Wells and 18,617 inspections related to non-commercial Disposal/Injection Wells.
Currently Permitted Commercial Injection/Disposal Wells for each RRC District. (click here)
District Number 4 is involved in the fire above. The answer by Texas is put out the fire, not close down the dangerous facility. Permit Number 180783 should be cancelled, the site closed and made into at the very least a Brownfields Site if not a Superfund site. Will that happen in Texas? No. I would venture a guess that at least 50% of the fracking salt well sites should be shut down and evaluated for Brownfields or worse.
Hydraulic Fracturing is disgusting. It destroys air and water quality both with the drilling and waste water sites. Additionally, the underground storage wells cause seismic activity. Repeated seismic activity. This repeated seismic activity causes liquifaction otherwise known as sink holes and/or quick sand.
Now you it, now you don't. This picture is from Christchurch, New Zealand. It illustrates exactly how dramatic, dangerous and sudden liquifaction is to the land.
