FRACKING And Man-made Earthquakes

Image: The Equation

FRACKING

Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of fluids including toxic chemicals into oil or gas wells at very high pressure  Other forms of underground injection are regulated to protect drinking water, but in 2005 Congress created exemptions for hydraulic fracturing to benefit Halliburton and other oil and gas companies The Safe Drinking Water Act excludes Fracking See it in the ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005.  Go to Page 102, Section 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.  SEC. 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING. Paragraph (1) of section 1421(d) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)) is amended to read as follows: ‘‘(1) UNDERGROUND INJECTION.—The term ‘underground injection’— ‘‘(A) means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection; and ‘‘(B) EXCLUDES— ‘‘(i) the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage; and ‘‘(ii) the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities.’’ The Clean Water Act changes the definition of pollutant The word “Pollutant.”  What it means.  And what it does NOT mean. (6) The term “pollutant” means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. This TERM DOES NOT MEAN (A) “sewage from vessels” within the meaning of section 312 of this Act; or (B) water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil or gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes is approved by authority of the State in which the well is located, and if such State determines that such injection or disposal will not result in the degradation of ground or surface water resources.  See it in the Clean Water Act. SEC. 502 [33 U.S.C. 1362] General Definitions

Would it surprise you to know that the Bush Administration in 2005 facilitated a loophole in a clean water bill that would allow Halliburton new technology exclusive rights to Hydraulic Fracturing? Of course that doesn’t surprise you; you are a person who maintains a level of knowledge that insulates you from a paradigm that is engulfing millions. Millions of our fellow citizens have become unquestioning zombie-like (Do what you wish, we trust you or we do not care) enablers of all things big business, all things uber wealthy and all things plutocrat.

Since, you were not at all surprised that Bush/Cheney gave the nation “FRACKING”, you certainly know the Hydraulic Fracturing patent gave Cheney’s former employer a lucrative financial windfall.

Now, where else have we heard Halliburton “exclusives?” Think in terms of the War in Iraq (Hint: No Bid contracts).

And, of course, you know that as a former CEO Cheney couldn’t avoid personal financial windfall from both FRACKING and the Iraq War No Bid contracts. Do you think he would have expended any energy attempt to avoid such financial gains? 

If there is a person reading this piece who spent 1999 through 2009 on a mission in outer space, the person may not know Cheney was Bush’s Vice-President during the periods of FRACKING approval and Halliburton’s No Bid Iraq War contracts.

We do not hear President Obama often speak about US energy production (Oil and Natural Gas). Maybe, the good Democratic is a bit reticent in waving the world energy leader flag when the status is based on US FRACKING. And, yes, due to the South Dakota oil fields. 

SLATE October 2013

And let’s face it: No matter which side you’re on, if someone had told you when Obama took office that the United States would substantially ramp up its oil and gas production while substantially reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, you probably would have scoffed. But here we are, poised to produce more oil than Saudi Arabia while cutting carbon emissions by 17 percent by 2020. Not bad, eh? Not bad.  Oil, gas production chart: United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia The United States has surged past Russia in recent years to lead the world in oil and gas production. (SLATE image would not embed properly) dailyreckoning.com Source: United States Energy Information Administration

“Facts are pesky things.” The quote for some is without question “point-on.” As is often the case such bountiful availability has a back-end that is far less desirable than the prevailing bounty.

Fracking is contributing to man-made earthquakes.

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The Raw Story

U.S. Geological Survey confirms: Human activity caused 5.7 quake in Oklahoma (via Raw Story )

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) issued a press release yesterday indicating that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake that struck Prague, Oklahoma in 2011 was unintentionally human-induced. The USGS claims that the magnitude 5.0 earthquake triggered…

Dick Cheney: Irrelevant, But He And Fox News Don’t Yet Know It

 

It isn’t unusual for Right-wing zealots and war-mongers like Dick Cheney to rise to any occasion (self perceived opportunity) for a bit of Obama Derangement Bashing. Yet, Cheney’s insanity of late is a bit unusual. His use of SNAP benefits for political rhetoric is shameful. Fox News and Cheney joined this week to take political shots at the Obama Administration while ignoring the benefit of SNAP benefits for segments of the population that include military families.

 

Cheney has again come-out of obscurity to lead the insanity after Secretary of Defense Hagel mentioned Obama Administration intent to trim the nation’s defense budget. MSNBC’s Ari Melber filling-in for Melissa Harris-Perry broadcast a segment befitting Cheney’s penchant for speaking out after sensing the ‘red meat’ opportunity.  

We offer a few visual perspectives of Dick Cheney as fallacy. The following represent a few points for clear delineation.

Dick Cheney….

…. was as active as anyone in the fabrication of WMD to facilitate the charge into Iraq. 

….is a former CEO of Halliburton (and an inevitable high-level benefactor of the billions you and I spent to perpetrate that war). 

…. was without doubt an conspirator in the first time eve outing of a US CIA agent as retribution against her husband (who would not support lies about Uranium foe WMD form Niger: Joe Wilson). 

…. never spoke out once about GOP cuts to the SNAP program while lower rank military families in the thousands derive life-sustaining benefit from Food Stamps.

Media Matters illustrates the insanity of Dick Cheney and the network that allows him to call-in for spewing anti-Obama drivel while using food stamps as a prop.

 

February 12th, 2013 excerpt

The U.S. spends more on defense than the next 12 top-spending countries combined. PolitiFact examined data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), both “considered to be leading authorities on worldwide military spending numbers,” and determined that, “In 2011 — the most recent year available — the United States led the world in military spending at $711 billion … The next top 12 spending nations accounted for a combined total of $670.9 billion.” IISS data discovered that the U.S spends $252.6 billion more on defense than the next top nine nations.

SIPRI also foundthat U.S. military spending accounted for 41 percent of the world’s total military spending in 2011. The U.S.’s expenditure is about five times more than the second-highest spender, China, which accounted for 8.2 percent of the world total. Russia’s military spending is in third place with 4.1 percent. 

The United States’ defense spending compared to the rest of the world looks something like this, from George Washington University’s School of Media Public Affairs:

Now for a quick visuals that place defense spending in perspective.

Defense Spending as a percent of US Discretionary Spending (2013)

A closer look at how our tax dollars are used to fund the military industrial complex.

 

WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES 5 1% T O WA R HUMAN

WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES 5 1 T O WA R HUMAN”

“WHERE YOUR INCOME TAX MONEY REALLY GOES 5 1 T O WA R HUMAN”;

How about a little something from the Daily Kos

Click here for interactive chart.

Cheney and the spoils of war

Ari Melber  http://on.msnbc.com/1eM79b5

Dick Cheney’s national approval rating only slightly higher than the ratings of the US Congress. Yet for sake of propaganda Fox News provides the Cheney a platform. 

Halliburton Pleads Guilty, Pays Hand-slap Fine, And Moves On to The Next Catastrophe

A root contributor to the Gulf Spill and 22 deaths

             
NBC News and other sources reporting Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destroying records associated with the Deep Water Horizon explosion and resultant catastrophe. We should always remember, 11 oil platform workers died on the poorly constructed and poorly managed platform. Moreover, environmental damage to the Gulf may not come to full realization of impact for decades. 

NBC News

Halliburton admits destroying evidence in Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Handout / Reuters

Fire boat response crews battled the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in April 2010.

Halliburton Energy Services has agreed to plead guilty and pay the maximum fine for destroying evidence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the company and the Justice Department said Thursday.

Besides agreeing to pay a $200,000 fine, Halliburton accepted three years’ probation for its guilty plea to one misdemeanor count related to deletion of records. In return, the Justice Department stipulated that it won’t pursue further charges in the April 2010 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 rig workers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Read much more

Halliburton continues to carve a place in the annuls of US History. Small fines and “gifts” should not exonerate the conglomerate from punitive remedies. Remedies which should trickle down to Halliburton employees and executives. Destroying documents to avoid full investigation and possible prosecution should receive legal actions similar withholding evidence from congressional investigations or lying to federal agents.  A fine of $200,000 is nothing shy of an insult and a miscarriage of justice. 

Halliburton: a path littered with privilege, catastrophe, pandering and cronyism

Wiki Halliburton Deep Horizon oil drilling platform (Design)

Advanced systems played a key role in the rig’s operation, from pressure and drill monitoring technology, to automated shutoff systems[16] and modelling systems for cementing. The OptiCem cement modelling system, used by Halliburton in April 2010 for BP’s Gulf of Mexico drill, played a crucial part in cement slurry mix and support decisions. These decisions have become a focus for investigations into the explosion on the rig that month.[17]

Halliburton has become a scar on US History comparable to inevitable legacy of its CEO from 1995 – 2000: Dick Cheney.  It is virtually impossible to think of Halliburton without conjuring up the ugly memories of political cronyism and insider (no bid) contracts.

Do you recall which US corporation received innumerable no bid contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan? Dick Cheney always speaks as if protection of the homeland and combating terror were his motivation for pursuing wars in foreign lands. The cynical could make a case that he may have held such fervor, along with the real prospect of “return investments in perpetrating war” to the greedy revenue streams of Halliburton. All Halliburton revenue steams lead to money in the bank for Dick Cheney. As Cheney agreed to the Vice Presidency reports indicated his Halliburton holdings would be placed in trust. Of course, the type of this went undefined.

Halliburton and Cheney benefited from war! 

On The Issues Dot Org 

FactCheck: Yes, Cheney has received $2M from Halliburton

KERRY-EDWARDS CLAIM:“ As vice president, Dick Cheney received $2 million from Halliburton.”  

CNN FACT CHECK:The vice president received about $2 million in various benefits resulting from his former position as CEO of Halliburton Co., but he received the bulk of the compensation before he became vice president. Of the $2 million, $1.6 million came in January 200, after Cheney was elected but before he was sworn into office. The rest comes from a multiyear deferred salary package.   

Source: CNN FactCheck on 2004 statements by Bush and Kerry , Oct 29, 2004

FactCheck: Yes, Halliburton got $7B in no-bid Iraq contracts

KERRY-EDWARDS CLAIM: “Halliburton got billions in no bid contracts in Iraq.”  

CNN FACT CHECK:The Pentagon did award a no-bid, or sole-source, contract to a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown &Root in March 2003. However, a Congressional report aid the contract was “properly” awarded and that KBR was the “only contractor that was determined to be in a position to provide the services within the required time frame.” The Kerry campaign estimates that the KBR oil reconstruction contract was worth proximately $7 billion, and the Defense Department estimates $8.2 billion. KBR also provides various logistical support in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries under a competitively awarded contract granted in late 2001. In September 2004, the Pentagon announced it was considering breaking up part of the KBR logistical contract and accepting new bids in an effort to save money. Halliburton would be allowed to re-bid on the contract, but a company official said that it might not do so.  

Source: CNN FactCheck on 2004 statements by Bush and Kerry , Oct 29, 2004 

FactCheck: Cheney profited from Halliburton’s past actions 

CHENEY: Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they’re trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false. They know that if you go, for example, to FactCheck.com (sic), an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton. 

FACT CHECK: Cheney got the FactCheck.org domain name wrong-calling us “FactCheck.com”-and wrongly implied that we had rebutted allegations Edwards was making about what Cheney had done as chief executive officer of Halliburton. In fact, we did post an article pointing out that Cheney hasn’t profited personally while in office from Halliburton’s Iraq contracts, as falsely implied by a Kerry TV ad. But Edwards was talking about Cheney’s responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right.  

Source: Edwards-Cheney debate analysis by FactCheck 2004 , Oct 6, 2004 

How do you feel about Hydraulic Fracking? Independent Water Testing offers yet another example of ‘insider privilege” and Executive Branch cronyism. Could Dick Cheney’s service in the White House have led to additional corporate privilege for Halliburton? I believe we have established that revenue for Halliburton means increased assets for Cheney. It only takes a bit of deductive reasoning or a simply syllogism to answer the question. 

If >Dick Cheney earns as Halliburton earns.
  >Revenue for Halliburton directly increases Dick Cheney’s assets.
  >Dick Cheney’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and potential influence on the Halliburton Loophole increased his net worth.

Independent Water Testign Dot Com

Under President Bush and Vice President Cheney, fracking was exempted from significant EPA regulation 

Hydraulic fracturing, an increasingly common aspect of the oil and gas production process, is not subject to the same standards as other industries when it comes to protecting underground sources of drinking water 

Hydraulic fracturing involves the injection of fluids including toxic chemicals into oil or gas wells at very high pressure 

Other forms of underground injection are regulated to protect drinking water, but in 2005 Congress created exemptions for hydraulic fracturing to benefit Halliburton and other oil and gas companies The Safe Drinking Water Act excludes Fracking 

See it in the ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005.  Go to Page 102, Section 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.SEC. 322. HYDRAULIC FRACTURING.Paragraph (1) of section 1421(d) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘(1) UNDERGROUND INJECTION.—The term ‘underground injection’—‘‘(A) means the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection; and‘‘(B) EXCLUDES— 

‘‘(i) the underground injection of natural gas for purposes of storage; and 

‘‘ (ii) the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities.’’  The Clean Water Act changes the definition of pollutant  

The word “Pollutant.”   What it means.  And what it does NOT mean.

(6) The term “pollutant” means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. This TERM DOES NOT MEAN  

(A) “sewage from vessels” within the meaning of section 312 of this Act; or 

(B) water, gas, or other material which is injected into a well to facilitate production of oil or gas, or water derived in association with oil or gas production and disposed of in a well, if the well used either to facilitate production or for disposal purposes is approved by authority of the State in which the well is located, and if such State determines that such injection or disposal will not result in the degradation of ground or surface water resources.See it in the Clean Water Act. SEC. 502 [33 U.S.C. 1362] General Definitions  P.S. Halliburton did not live up to its voluntary commitment to frack without diesel fuel anyhow  

Despite agreeing to stop using diesel fuel when fracking in this agreement with the EPA, between 2005 and 2007, Halliburton used 807,000 gallons of diesel fuel as a fracturing fluid.

Cheney: Mr. Halliburton 

Wiki Private Sector Career

With the new Democratic administration under President Bill Clinton in January 1993, Cheney left the Department of Defense and joined the American Enterprise Institute. He also served a second term as a Council on Foreign Relations director from 1993 to 1995.^[58] From 1995 until 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton, a Fortune 500 company.

Cheney’s record as CEO was subject to some dispute among Wall Street analysts. A 1998 merger between Halliburton and Dresser Industries attracted the criticism of some Dresser executives for Halliburton’s lack of accounting transparency.^[59] Although Cheney is not named as an individual defendant in the suit, Halliburton shareholders are pursuing a class-action lawsuit alleging that the corporation artificially inflated its stock price during this period. In June 2011, the United States Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling and allowed the case to continue be litigated.^[60]Cheney was named in a December 2010 corruption complaint filed by the Nigerian government against Halliburton, which the company settled for $250 million.^[61] 

During Cheney’s tenure, Halliburton changed its accounting practices regarding revenue realization of disputed costs on major construction projects.^[62] Cheney resigned as CEO of Halliburton on July 25, 2000. As vice president, he argued that this step removed any conflict of interest. Cheney’s net worth, estimated to be between $19 million and $86 million,^[63] is largely derived from his post at Halliburton.^[64] His 2006 gross joint income with his wife was nearly $8.82 million.^[65]

The US may never grow beyond the 21 Century setbacks of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Some economist have posited it could take as long as the end of the first third of the century to recover from the economic and fiscal disasters of Bush/Cheney. Should we also have to live with the continuing malfeasance of corporations like Halliburton? And, to add more insult, corporations with financial fissures back to the very people who dump us all in economic hell is a clear indicator of an American Oligarchy.

Keystone XL Pipeline Protest Continue

Yesterday we promised to post a few links to previous pieces we developed related to the Keystone Pipeline. We remain committed to our opinion and position the project is a major mistake about to be perpetrated by 1% (ers) who care far less about the US geographic environment than profits.

Tarsandblockade.org (Update) 

The Keystone XL Pipeline has some application within the confines of our borders, but its primary existence, functionality and operations are focused on oil products to the Orient, specially China.

Linked.image. Does this make any real sense?

Why does Canada not have plans to build the pipeline across its western provinces?  We are perplexed with no confirmed answer. However, we have read that many in Canada do not wish to have the pipeline exit continental Canada via their western borders. If true, WHAT? 

We offer a couple more points before posting a few back links.

A short digression into fracking and the environment.

During the Bush Administration and the passing of an energy bill, Dick Cheney’s Halliburton was given opportunity to use an invention for which the company had sole rights to the technology (and may still have such).   Halliburton was actually given an exception from compliance on certain parts of the EPA regulation. The Halliburton Loophole gave Dick Cheney’s former employer (for which he large holdings in abeyance serving as VP) the rights to Fracking .  If you follow environmental news or if you visit with Sunday late afternoon news shows like 60 Minutes you have seen the downsides of Fracking.  If not, we offer two quick video links: a.) What is Fracking, b.) Impact in one community (8 minutes).  

Fracking may provide energy for the nation and export opportunity, but it has documented negative impact on people and the environment. We offered the short digression into fracking as critical to our position on the Keystone Pipeline. Fossil fuel extraction and transport has ever-present potential (threats) to ruin environments.  As stated in the piece posed yesterday, one has to look no farther than TransOcean and the US Gulf of Mexico and many oil spills from shipping transport of crude oil and via pipelines.

One last point, when we discovered that President Obama had approved the southern leg of the pipeline it was devastating.  We can only hope rational thought ‘trumps’ profit motive and politics as the administration consider the northern leg of the Pipeline.  The project will not only span parts of sensitive ecosystems, it will touch into our agriculture belt and it will come far too close to the nations main inland river system: the Mississippi River.

Decision that benefit ‘big energy’ often work against ‘the good’ for people.

Nichalos.duke.edu (2011)

Please excuse fuzziness of image

Path of proposed Keystone XL pipeline. Click image for larger view. (Source: State Department)

Without Expansion

The Keystone XL represents the final two phases of a $13 billion, 3,800-mile pipeline system owned and operated by TransCanada. (See map and excerpt:encoded.) Its proposed U.S. path would enter Montana and cut across South Dakota and Nebraska before joining with Phase II in Steel City, Kansas — crossing some of our wildest and most productive lands, including our agricultural heartland and the Ogallala Aquifer, which supports a huge part of our nation’s breadbasket.

US Pipelines (and Candian sources)

CLICK for Larger View

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A few past pieces on the Keystone Pipeline: (The list is not comprehensive we have chosen a few from 2011 and 2012.) 

I. Why The GOP Obsession with The Keystone Pipeline XL?

Dec 13, 2011

II. The Progressive Influence: Keystone XL: JOBS? Pants of Fire! How …

Dec 18, 2011

III. Keystone revisited…. presidential review is Required.. GOP “Swift

Dec 21, 2011

IV. A case for influence peddling: one of many? – The Progressive …

Feb 03, 2012

V. The Progressive Influence: The Crazy World of Fox News and …

Feb 28, 2012

VI. The Progressive Influence: Keystone XL Pipeline: Environmental …

Mar 10, 2012

VII. 

The Progressive Influence: Myths And Facts About Oil And Gasoline

Apr 13, 2012