Pact with devil? California farmers use oil firms' fracking water

[n2doc]

Bakersfield (United States) (AFP) - An efficient solution to a historic drought, or an environmentally risky pact with the devil?

That's the question raised by California farmers who are irrigating their crops with waste water supplied by oil companies, in an arrangement slammed as dangerous by environmental campaigners.

Driving into the parched region around Bakersfield, in the western US state's fertile Central Valley, it is evident how closely the agriculture and oil industries are related.

Lines of orchards stand near fields of oil wells stretched out as far as the eye can see.

Eighty percent of the state's oil production and 45 percent of the farming industry is concentrated in a single county, Kern County, said Madeline Stano of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment.

more

http://news.yahoo.com/pact-devil-california-farmers-oil-firms-water-075541481.html

[Peacetrain]

1. O sweet mother mcrea.

. Yeah lets pollute our food supply with water that has been used to frack oil etc..

[BlueJazz]

2. "Honey, these tomatoes taste different" "I believe the package did say "extra ingrediants""

"Honey, I can't sleep tonight...I have this urge to "Get out on the hi-way""

[n2doc]

3. On the plus side, your salad no longer needs oil…..

Just vinegar. And maybe a hazmat container.

[tularetom]

4. Not to worry I'm sure Monsanto is hard at work GMing new plant strains that will thrive

Last edited Fri Jul 3, 2015, 03:09 PM - Edit history (1)

on irrigation with chemical laden fracking waste.

And then sue any farmer who refuses to use it.

[Cleita]

8. *this*

[enough]

5. Apparently this has been going on for a long time.

snip from the article>

In a bid to diversify supplies, the Cawelo Water District, a cooperative financed by local farmers, has for 20 years used waste water from oil companies.

snip>

[GitRDun]

6. This may be a great solution

See

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/20140809-fracking-companies-begin-slow-shift-to-recycling-wastewater.ece

Money quote, "The technology’s nothing new. It’s the same thing they’ve been using for years in Africa to clean the drinking water."

Folks should give this one close look before condemning it.

[Cleita]

9. I've lived in CA most of my life and am familiar with the practices of the oil companies and

Big Agra. They always paint a bright daisy over their practices, telling us how good they are going to be, when in fact it's the same old poison underneath it all. I challenge anyone to light a match to that cleansed water.

[GitRDun]

10. I've been a part of the oil and gas industry for a long time

We're not all the scum you paint with your broad brush.

There are real possibilities here. I know people raising money to do this. It can even be profitable.

There are plenty of villains in oil and gas. It would be a shame if good ideas like this one can't develop because the public does not have the obectivity to sort out good ideas from shams.

[Cleita]

11. Your industry is scum. I've been going to meetings about bringing the oil bomb trains through

our area and we have caught the oil and RR companies pushing this in lie after lie. There is nothing the energy industries have done that doesn't pollute and that doesn't put the population in danger one way or the other. I know that people like you who work for them are not scum and pretty much believe the company propaganda presented to you but they are endangering you as well by not telling you everything.

[GitRDun]

12. Your comments highlight what can really go wrong if your certainty overrides reason

I don't "work for them" as you say. I participate/invest in projects with the small independents, who do none of the things you describe.

Your comments really should be reserved for the large companies whose armies of lawyers ensure regular people get screwed, just as it is in most industries. Safe hydrocarbon transportation is a huge problem perpetrated by large companies with government officials in their pockets.

As an fyi, most small independents don't do the big fracks because they know those types of wells don't cash flow, e.g. make money unless you are trying to falsely inflate a stock price with reserves that are, truth be told, non-economic unless you are in the fairway of the play. Small guys also use trucks to transport oil. You should get your facts straight before you insinuate people are stupid or naive.

The concerned public would do itself a huge favor by finding people in the industry to help rather than assume we are all scum.

[Cleita]

13. You didn't mention small independents. I am talking about the BPs and Exxons here although they

aren't the particular company that's attempting to bring the trains to their refinery here. However, I'm of the opinion that the oil and gas industries should all be nationalized and the proceeds used for the benefit of the people whose land is being exploited, for schools and infrastructure, not investor profits. Sorry if that treads on your interests but I come from a mining background myself and I know what damage the extraction industries do, especially when done by private companies for profit.

[GitRDun]

14. I have no problem with your position on nationalization

although I would respectfully suggest that oil and gas, like most other industries needs a Teddy R like trust-buster to downsize these companies.

Nationalization would leave us with a concentration of power, which is equally corrupting in public hands versus private.

The industry is far better off with smaller companies who don't want a company killing pollution suit or have enough capital to hide behind an army of lawyers.

All that being said, you ARE EXACTLY RIGHT about the damage being done. Transportation via rail can be safe if companies are forced to use rail cars that won't blow if derailed. Take a look at safety requirements for ethylene oxide rail cars. Far more dangerous than oil. No disasters. Why? Higher rail car standards.

Same with pipelines. Required infra red scannings over shorter time frames and replacement with higher grade stainless steel can eliminate (yes, eliminate) risk. It just costs money....the sad truth.

[Cleita]

7. Irrigating the Central Valley has always been a pact with the devil.

In the past it has salinized the soil, drained rivers and other water sources and now is leading to this. These conditions have led to diseases including one named Valley Fever because it originates from there. There has been a decades long war to let it go back to the desert that it is. I know it will be a big loss for food production, but a lot of the toxic waste in the soil, water and air that is being left behind and now this makes it even more necessary to admit that the party is over for Big Agra.

[Bill USA]

15. Incredible. The insanity!!!