Energy Secretary Takes Lies to Podcast-verse

Energy Secretary Chris Wright continues to reveal himself as an insufferable, lying, amoral, self dealing fossil fuel shill.

Below, a few years ago when he was still at the company he founded, Liberty Energy, a fracking services firm, Wright produced a video where he and employees whipped up and drank fracking fluid.

What’s missing is that the concerns about fracking center around what happens to fluid after it goes down the hole, and then comes back up with a lot of other “produced water”, that contains a host of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and even radioactive isotopes.
Draw your own conclusions.

EPA:

Q: Have you found scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing can impact drinking water resources? 
A: Yes.  EPA has found scientific evidence that activities in the hydraulic fracturing water cycle can impact drinking water resources under some circumstances. Impacts can range in frequency and severity, depending on the combination of hydraulic fracturing water cycle activities and local- or regional-scale factors. The following combinations of activities and factors are more likely than others to result in more frequent or more severe impacts:

• Water withdrawals for hydraulic fracturing in times or areas of low water availability, particularly in areas with limited or declining groundwater resources;
• Spills during the management of hydraulic fracturing fluids and chemicals or produced water that result in large volumes or high concentrations of chemicals reaching groundwater resources;
• Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into wells with inadequate mechanical integrity, allowing gases or liquids to move to groundwater resources;
• Injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids directly into groundwater resources;
• Discharge of inadequately treated hydraulic fracturing wastewater to surface water resources; and,
• Disposal or storage of hydraulic fracturing wastewater in unlined pits, resulting in contamination of groundwater resources.

The above conclusions are based on cases of identified impacts and other data, information, and analyses presented in the report. Cases of impacts were identified for all stages of the hydraulic fracturing water cycle. Identified impacts generally occurred near hydraulically fractured oil and gas production wells and ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality to contamination that made private drinking water wells unusable. 

Center for Biological Diversity:

2. How does fracking contaminate our water?
Fracking requires an enormous amount of water — as much as 5 million gallons per well. It routinely employs numerous toxic chemicals, including methanol, benzene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene. 
About 25 percent of fracking chemicals could cause cancer, according to scientists with the Endocrine Disruption Exchange. Evidence is mounting throughout the country that these chemicals are making their way into aquifers and drinking water. 

Water quality can also be threatened by methane contamination tied to drilling and the fracturing of rock formations. This problem has been highlighted by footage of people in fracked areas accidentally setting fire to methane-laced water from kitchen faucets. Water pollution from fracking can happen in variety of ways, including through surface spills and well casing failures. Such accidents are disturbingly common. A fracking boom in North Dakota, for example, has led to thousands of accidental releases of oil, waste water and other fluids, according to a ProPublica investigation. 

Fracking can also expose people to harm from lead, arsenic and radioactivity brought back to the surface of the land with fracking flowback fluid. In fact, fracking waste water is so dangerous that it can’t be reused for other purposes. The water we use for fracking is permanently removed from our water supply — a serious problem, especially in western states, where water is an extremely precious resource.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

Chemicals associated with natural gas and hydraulic fracturing may travel through cracks in the rock into an underground drinking water source. Water contamination could also occur if a well is improperly installed, if chemicals are spilled from trucks or tanks, or if flowback is not effectively contained. Flowback is when water used in the hydraulic fracturing process flows out of the well.

The EPA found scientific evidence that hydraulic fracking activities can affect drinking water resources under some circumstances. The extent of water contamination from these sources is currently unknown.

Indirect evidence shows water contamination related to fracking influences health. But direct evidence is needed.

The Chemical Engineer:

RESEARCHERS at Dartmouth College, US, have released a study explaining the transfer of radium to wastewater during hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction. An understanding of the mechanisms involved could lead to the development of strategies to mitigate wastewater production.

During hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, fluid is pumped underground at high pressure to break apart rock and create fractures which oil and natural gas can flow through. A common practice is to use “slick water”, which is a combination of water, a proppant – typically sand – and a mixture of chemicals. After the hydraulic pressure has been dropped the proppant holds the fractures open. Friction reducers, usually a polyacrylamide, are a critical component added to increase fluid flow. Other chemicals, such as biocides, surfactants, and scale inhibitors can also be added.

Once the pressure has been dropped slick-water returns to the surface as wastewater which is salty and highly toxic. It contains toxins such as barium (Ba) and radioactive radium (Ra). As Ra decays it releases a cascade of other elements, such as radon, that collectively generate high radioactivity.

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Since Wright started running Energy policy, the shares of his own company have dropped by half.