[Green] Proposed Fracking Offload Facility

[gbanz42 at suddenlink.net]

Roger:

    I've attached it again. Just to make sure I've copied/pasted it below:

    
May 31, 2020
To the Editor:
     I would like to thank Mr. Mike Chadsey, Public Relations Director for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, for trying to cast some light on the proposed barge offload facility for waste from hydraulic fracturing to be built just south of Marietta. His comments provided in a report which appeared in the May 27, 2020 edition of the Marietta Times is the first attempt we have seen to explain to the people in this area about this proposed facility.
     We first learned of the application to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for this facility from a watchdog group. No public notice was ever published in the Marietta Times, the major newspaper in this area. The comment period for public reaction to the application (Project # LRH-2020-293-OHR) ended May 6, a period when everyone's attention was focused on the coronavirus pandemic. These actions by the USACE demonstrate serious insensitivity to the people in this area who will have to live with the severe risks to public health and to the environment associated with this facility.
     In his comments to the Times reporter, Mr. Chadsey mentions three types of oil field fluids that will come to Marietta. But what is mentioned in the application to the USACE by Deep Rock Disposal Solutions is “traditional well waste.” Which type of waste among the three types he mentioned is this? The most common of these wastes is brine or salt water, which Mr. Chadsey describes as 99% water, but the remaining one per cent is composed of chemicals many of them toxic, such as benzene, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chlorine, mercury, formaldehyde. Given that the average fracking well uses 1 million gallons of water we are not talking about teaspoon amounts of these chemicals. Mr Chadsey further asserts that  the brine to be offloaded is not radioactive. Can he be  certain of this in light of a Pennsylvania study which showed high levels of Radium 226 and 228 in brine waste? Furthermore, brine itself  can be harmful to municipal water systems and to wildlife.
     Before this application is approved by the USACE, residents of the Marietta need to know the answers to several questions: What exactly is contained in the “traditional well waste” to be offloaded? What safety precautions are being built into this facility for offloading from river to land? What happens if the barge capacity for this waste exceeds the shore tank capacity? What safety practices will be followed in the loading of the shore tanks into tanker trucks (presumably numbering up to 250 trucks each of 5,000-gallon capacity)? What are the destinations of the tanker trucks and what routes will they follow? What is the estimated increase in wear and tear on state, county, township roads and city streets caused by these trucks?
       The answers to these questions should be posed by the USACE and are best provided by Deep Rock Disposal Solutions. In the May 27 Times article  it was stated, “Wes Mossor, General Manger of Deep Rock Solutions LLC, was unable to speak on the record about the permit or offloading facility.” There is no good reason that Mr. Mossor or any other official from Deep Rock should be unable to comment. The residents of the Marietta area need to know answers to these questions. This proposed project is best presented to the Marietta area in the form of a public meeting when representatives from the USACE and from Deep Rock can be questioned —that is, when public meetings can be done safely. Until such time as a public meeting can take place and these questions addressed, this project should not be approved. 
     Several of us who are concerned about this issue have expressed our views to Ohio U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman.
     Many people in the Marietta area would like to support the shale gas industry because of its importance to the economy., but it is difficult to do that when they are not transparent about their projects. 
George Banziger

---- roger kalter via Green <green at fuusm.org> wrote: 
> George, I cant access your letter to the Times. Can please you resend it. Roger
> 
> 
> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
> 
> 
> On Friday, May 29, 2020, 10:15 AM, gbanz42--- via Green <green at fuusm.org> wrote:
> 
> Green Sanctuary Colleagues:
> 
>   Attached is a draft of my letter to the Marietta Times in response to the May 27 Times article where Mr Chadsey of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association is quoted. I would like to submit this to the Times Sunday evening (May 311).
> 
>     In my cover note to the Times I would like to mention that the Times itself should take an editorial position on this issue and call out the Deep Rock and USACE for their lack of transparency as they have called out City Council and the County Commissioners for their lack of transparency on other issues.
> 
> 
> --
> George Banziger
> 202 Lawton Road
> Marietta, OH 45750-1111
> 740-434-5685
> cell: 740-434-3354_______________________________________________
> Green mailing list
> Green at fuusm.org
> http://fuusm.org/mailman/listinfo/green_fuusm.org
> 
> 
> 

--
George Banziger
202 Lawton Road
Marietta, OH 45750-1111
740-434-5685
cell: 740-434-3354
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