Elk county

[csoult]

Shale pollution

 

[MHanes]

Says right in the article it is not oil and gas related.

 

[csoult]

Sorry, thought I heard them say on the news last night that it was. My fault, I heard it on the news, searched the article and posted it without reading it.

 

[dryflyguy]

So, does anyone know what bentonite is?

 

[Maurice]

Through a short search it apprears to be a form of naturally occurring clay. A result of volcanic ash or something. Often it cantains various heavy metals.

So its um dirt.

 

[troutbert]

From this article it appears that is was Marcellus related.
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Drilling halted after spill into NW Pa. reservoir
JOHNSONBURG, Pa. (AP) — A company has halted Marcellus drilling in one northwestern Pennsylvania town after a kind of clay used to expedite the process spilled into a local reservoir.

Hunt Marcellus Operating Co. tells the Bradford Era (http://bit.ly/vf5OUf ) that it stopped drilling in Johnsonburg after some bentonite gel was released into Silver Creek and made its way into a drinking water reservoir controlled by the Johnsonburg Municipal Authority.

Bentonite is a form of impure clay that easily absorbs water and is used to facilitate gas and oil well drilling.

It wasn't immediately clear how much of the substance got into the reservoir.

But water authority chairman Eric Poague says the substance is not expected to affect the safety of the water — though it could make it cloudy — because bentonite is a "non-toxic substance that comes from the earth."

Information from: The Bradford Era, http://www.bradfordera.com
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[tomgamber]

Yes, the article does NOT say it wasn't oil and gas RELATED. It only states it wasn't "an oil or gas spill". It was definitely drilling related.

...but I love that dirty water.....

 

[Maurice]

And interestingly the quantity "96 bags" is used int he original article.

So I would draw from that; either someone found 96 empty bags somewhere, water got cloudy and someone traced it back to the well site and they revealed the number. It is interesting that the spiller and resulting shut-down was not mentioned in the article.

 

[MHanes]

Drilling and boring a pipeline are very different. Pretty minor spill really 5 years ago it would have never even made the news.

 

[tomgamber]

"boring " a pipeline?