By Mark Clayton
The United States (click here) is posting rapid growth in the waste of natural gas in new oil fields where the fuel is either burned of vented into the atmosphere. Experts say the process damages the environment and fails to maximize the return to investors....
Where is the US EPA? Why are people not in prison? The CEOs of these companies beyond in prison.
January 18, 2013
By USSpin Watcher
A reporter for NPR (click here) discovered a strange new light (see circled area above) where there used to be only North Dakota grassland. The light is produced by a massive 15,000 square mile area of fracking natural gas flareoffs produced by over 150 companies who have determined that it's cheaper to burn-off about 29% of the natural gas that is produced by their oil wells.
The current levels of burning gas from the field inject two million tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year which is the equivalent amount of pollution caused by 2.5 million cars. The flares produce carbon oxides, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulates.
The burnoff is equivalent to 30% of the total U.S. natural gas production.
Currently, there is no legislation that requires fracking companies to recapture the natural gas they produce through fracking, although it's only slightly more expensive to recapture the natural gas. Most of the companies have obtained government permission for the flare-offs with annual renewals. The industry argues that until the wells are completed it's too expensive to recapture the natural gas....
These are the morons that crashed the price of oil, demanded corrupt politicians to legislate oil exportations to the entire world from the USA and have endangered the lives of Americas with their oil trains. They are ruthless, careless and criminal in their intentions for the global economy.
By Robert Krulwich
...On the other hand, (click here) says Peter Lehner, blogger for the Natural Resources Defense Council, every day drillers in North Dakota "burn off enough gas to heat half a million homes." North Dakota law says that flares are subject to taxes and royalties after one year, even if the gas isn't being sold. But critics suspect that the state keeps granting exceptions. And state regulators seem less than energetic when farmers call to complain about poisons in the air and water. Many farmers in North Dakota can't prevent drillers from drilling — even if they'd like to. Decades ago, the rights to the minerals below those farms were separated from the rights to the land itself — which is why today, energy companies can move in, create drilling pads where they please, move in trucks and workers, without the farmers' consent. In some places, North Dakota feels like Texas in the early 20th century, when cattlemen fought the oil men. This time it's corn folks versus oil folks. Tempers are rising. Gas is burning. Drillers are drilling.
