{"id":6740,"date":"2014-08-01T19:23:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T19:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=6740"},"modified":"2014-08-01T19:23:19","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T19:23:19","slug":"frackers-spill-olympic-pools-worth-of-hydrochloric-acid-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=6740","title":{"rendered":"Frackers Spill Olympic Pool\u2019s Worth Of Hydrochloric Acid In Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frackers Spill Olympic Pool\u2019s Worth Of Hydrochloric Acid In Oklahoma<\/strong><\/p>\n

BY ARI PHILLIPS<\/p>\n

\"HOLDCREDIT: AP\/ ORLIN WAGNER<\/div>\n

An acid spill on Monday in rural Kingfisher County northwest of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma could turn out to be the largest spill \u201cin relation to fracking materials\u201d in the state\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0an Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman.<\/p>\n

Spokesman Matt Skinner said 480 barrels of fracking-related hydrochloric (HCL) acid, nearly enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, emptied out of a tank where it was stored. Acid is used in the fracking process to both clean wells and stimulate the flow of oil and gas. The cause of the spill, which occurred in an alfalfa field, is under investigation.<\/p>\n

Skinner told ThinkProgress this is the largest frack-related spill he is aware of in the state\u2019s history. He was unable to comment on the cause of the spill because it is currently under investigation, but said they \u201cthink they know the cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main concern is to get the area back to the way it was before the spill happened,\u201d said Skinner. While there are no water wells in the immediate vicinity, there were concerns if not properly taken care of the acid could taint the nearby town of Hennessey\u2019s water supply. A nearby creek flows into the town\u2019s water system and a a rainstorm could result in contamination. However, Skinner said the area was bermed off and the remediation company was able to contain the chemicals through any rain so far. A berm is a small hill or wall or dirt or sand separating two areas.<\/p>\n

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission is overseeing the cleanup of the well, which was operated by Blake Production, an independent oil and gas producer operating wells in four states. The company\u2019s owner, Blake Vernon\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the company will compensate the landowner for the next six years for the loss of his alfalfa crop. The landowners\u2019 lawyer Matthew R. Oppel\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0this may not suffice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spill occurred in the center of my client\u2019s alfalfa field and while the property is currently used for agricultural purposes the Hawks hoped to build a home on their Turkey Creek property,\u201d said Oppel. \u201cUnfortunately the spill will not only affect the Hawks immediate use and enjoyment, but future development may be impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent studies have also\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0a probable link between the wastewater injection process of fracking, in which leftover water used during fracking is injected deep into the ground, and earthquakes. In Oklahoma, these so-called \u201cfrackquakes\u201d may belinked<\/a>\u00a0to the more than 2,500 small earthquakes that have hit the state in the last five years.<\/p>\n

Other nearby states including Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas have also seen a\u00a0distinct rise<\/a>\u00a0in small- to medium-sized earthquakes over the last few years just as the fracking boom has escalated. As of early July, Oklahoma had experienced more than twice the number of earthquakes as California, making it the most seismically active state in the lower 48. Just\u00a0ten years ago<\/a>\u00a0it was ranked 17th.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma is also one of the top states in overall oil spills, having\u00a0experienced<\/a>\u00a0951 reported oil spills in 2013 \u2014\u00a0more than<\/a>\u00a0every other fossil-fuel producing state except North Dakota according to an EnergyWire investigation. However in North Dakota companies have\u00a0to report<\/a>\u00a0any spill larger than one barrel, or 42 gallons, whereas in Oklahoma the threshold is 10 barrels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frackers Spill Olympic Pool\u2019s Worth Of Hydrochloric Acid In Oklahoma BY ARI PHILLIPS CREDIT: AP\/ ORLIN WAGNER An acid spill on Monday in rural Kingfisher County northwest of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma could turn out to be the largest spill \u201cin … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}