Witt Farm Prepared to process up to 6 Wells - Flare is very Large and Smelly

Since a few days the wind carries very strong fumes from the hidden flare on Witt Farm all the way to Heritage Park. The smell reminds me of sulfur and hydrochloric acid, which could be connected to the intense drilling and brine pumping we see since a while on the Purse, Stratton and Heritage Park wells. I took a look from the farm entrance but had only my cell phone so the pictures are not very good. But will be updated now:

 The flickering of the air above the barrel from the strong flare inside is not really visible but you can see that there are now 6 storage barrels, which corresponds to 6 wells being processed now or soon to come 

Look at the sizzling air above the barrel. This will give you an indication of how much stuff is emitted into the air all the time.

 

There are now also six separators for up to six wells

Adrian Dominican Sisters Invited City Commissioners and New Commission Applicants

Tonight at 6 pm at the Weber Center. Open to the General Public

New Drilling Sites in Adrian

First the North East. There are two permitted well on Sutton's Landscaping, two new permitted wells with horizontal drilling on two farms off Valley Rd (60770 and 60771). Nobody saw the drilling rigs - they were probably not visible from the road - or are permitted (already a month ago) but not yet drilled. Both locations are very close to the Cook Drain that flows into the South Branch of  the River Raisin.

There is also a re-entry permit on Stratton's Landscaping (60775) - with a rig visible since a few weeks.

The rig that was off Carson and  Williamsburg Drive drilled twice horizontally (60757 and 60784). On the same old farm (Frye), there are two more bottom holes, each with a permitted horizontal drill (60785 and 60786), which also nobody saw. Again the rig must have been hidden behind trees - or the permit is not yet fulfilled - probably the latter as the well permits are not published yet on DEQ Weekly Oil & Gas Permit List. Interesting is that permit 60786 ends under Lake Drive next to Lake Adrian, one of the city's major drinking water sources.

 

In the Southeast, there is a new re-entry permit on a producing oil well (60774), and two new permits (60756 and 60758) NE of Ogden Station.

There is also movement in the West (where the other half of Adrian's drinking water comes from). It is concentrated around M34 with many older wells, most of them dry and some producing since a long time. There is one new permit for a horizontal well at the end of Douglas Drive close to two ponds and the Porter Drain (60764).

The Extend of Oil and Gas Drilling arround Adrian

We seem to be lucky here until now. Other regions were hit much harder with oil and gas wells next to each other all over the place...

The Extend of Oil and Gas Drilling in Michigan

Unbelievable - if you project all oil and gas well records (including dry holes) onto a map of Michigan - almost no place in the lower peninsula is really 100% untouched, clean, and pristine. Where is PURE MICHIGAN?

Look what's Back at Heritage Park

Pump stopped working. Guess there is not enough pressure to push the oil through the pipeline to Witt Farm.

Pipeline Safety

Two interesting resources:

Laws Don't Adequately Protect Great Lakes from Pipeline Oil Spills, New Report Finds

Stronger rules needed to prevent a repeat of historic spill in Michigan

04-30-2012 // Jordan Lubetkin

read more here

and especially the report linked in this article: After the Marshall Spill: Oil Pipelines in the Great Lakes Region, A Legal Analysis (pdf)

The other is a website dedicated to an independent critical view on pipeline safety:

The Pipeline Safety Trust

The Pipeline Safety Trust is a nonprofit public charity promoting fuel transportation safety through education and advocacy, by increasing access to information, and by building partnerships with residents, safety advocates, government, and industry, that result in safer communities and a healthier environment. More detail about the Trust’s mission, history and leadership can be found in the links below.

Link: http://pstrust.org/