Families in Toledo, Ohio, need your help.
BP is seeking approval of a $2.5 billion refinery expansion in Toledo in order to process tar sands crude oil from Canada.
Right now, we have the opportunity to challenge this expansion and we need you to send a comment to the Toledo EPA today. Comment close June 10, 2013.
Please send an email to Peter Park, Toledo Department of Environmental Services, peter.park@toledo.oh.gov through this web site: http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1541/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=13628
Iceland Glacier Gone
Monday, June 10, 2013
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Information about Savoy Energy LP
I finally localized a little bit more information about our local oil developer Savoy.
The interesting WikiMarcellus Site lists the following (http://waytogoto.com/wiki/index.php/Savoy_Energy_LP):
Savoy Energy LP
Here is where some info about Savoy Energy LP
should go. This article is still a stub and needs your attention. It does
not have a template and contains minimal information. Please dive
in and help it grow!
Traverse City, Michigan-based Savoy Energy LP is an oil and gas exploration company that has drilled almost 300 wells since it was formed in 1989. It focuses primarily on the State of Michigan, but has also branched out to Oklahoma.
A news account in March, 2011 identified the Adrian Field in formerly non-producing Lenawee County, located in the southeast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula as one of Savoy's areas of operations. A #1-16 Ruesink well there flowed 250 bbl of 39 gravity oil and 95 Mcf of natural gas from a perforated interval between 3,722 ro 3,734 feet deep after being treated with acid. The pay interval was said to extend from close to the top of the Trenton at 3,238 feet to the base of the perforated interval in Black-River at 3,734 feet. The bottom-hole pressure was 1,538 psi.
Six additional wells in the field, #4-8 Ruesink, #2-16 Ruesink, #5-8 Ruesink, #1-17 Buehrer, #2-8 Goetz, and #3-8A Goetz, were collectively producing 1,000 bbl/d.
Tom Pangborn is Savoy's Chairman and CEO,
Bill Sperry is the company's President and General Counsel.
Cheryl DeYoung is Secretary, Treasurer., and Manager of Accounting.
Jack Rokos is Operations Manager.
Mike Flynn is Land Managefr.
Then on http://www.zoominfo.com/c/Savoy-Energy-L.P/356416753 I found a short profile with the actual but very cryptic website of Savoy at: http://www.savoyexp.com/
The interesting WikiMarcellus Site lists the following (http://waytogoto.com/wiki/index.php/Savoy_Energy_LP):
Savoy Energy LP
Here is where some info about Savoy Energy LP
should go. This article is still a stub and needs your attention. It does
not have a template and contains minimal information. Please dive
in and help it grow!
Traverse City, Michigan-based Savoy Energy LP is an oil and gas exploration company that has drilled almost 300 wells since it was formed in 1989. It focuses primarily on the State of Michigan, but has also branched out to Oklahoma.
A news account in March, 2011 identified the Adrian Field in formerly non-producing Lenawee County, located in the southeast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula as one of Savoy's areas of operations. A #1-16 Ruesink well there flowed 250 bbl of 39 gravity oil and 95 Mcf of natural gas from a perforated interval between 3,722 ro 3,734 feet deep after being treated with acid. The pay interval was said to extend from close to the top of the Trenton at 3,238 feet to the base of the perforated interval in Black-River at 3,734 feet. The bottom-hole pressure was 1,538 psi.
Six additional wells in the field, #4-8 Ruesink, #2-16 Ruesink, #5-8 Ruesink, #1-17 Buehrer, #2-8 Goetz, and #3-8A Goetz, were collectively producing 1,000 bbl/d.
Tom Pangborn is Savoy's Chairman and CEO,
Bill Sperry is the company's President and General Counsel.
Cheryl DeYoung is Secretary, Treasurer., and Manager of Accounting.
Jack Rokos is Operations Manager.
Mike Flynn is Land Managefr.
Then on http://www.zoominfo.com/c/Savoy-Energy-L.P/356416753 I found a short profile with the actual but very cryptic website of Savoy at: http://www.savoyexp.com/
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Drilling on Stratton's Landscaping Done - Derrick Moved Next to Purse Funeral Home
After about 2 weeks of drilling on the property of Stratton Landscaping between Heritage Park and M52, the specialized derrick for horizontal drilling was disassembled on Monday, and just moved across Beaver Creek Howell Highway to the property of Purse Funeral Home, where a "christmas tree" capped the bore hole from a previous - supposably unsuccessful conventional drill.
Drilling Derrick on Stratton's last Saturday (June 1).
Intensive grading to prepare for more drilling also on Saturday, June 1 on the Purse Funeral Home Site. Note the "christmas tree" capping the old bore hole.
Yesterday morning, the special derrick for horizontal drilling was swiftly moved just across Beaver Creek and Howell Highway to the new drill site at the Purse Funeral Home.
The derrick arrived on the Purse Site on Tuesday, June 4th 10:27 EDT.
And was setup within a couple of hours. The first two pictures are from around 11:30 am, just an hour after the last 2 pictures.
And was soon erected.
At 4:30 pm yesterday, the derrick looked almost functional..
An hour later (6/4/2013 at 5:22 pm).
And today (6/5/2013) at 10:50 am.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Heritage Park Wells are Hooked-Up to Witt Farm - Flare Now Larger
Yesterday morning, the central processing facility on Witt Farm, which is currently setup to receive 4 wells, was temporarily of grid.
4 broiler/separator chimneys - and
4 tanks are indicating that 4 wells are currently exploited on Witt Farm
The flare did not burn for a few hours while the temporarily plugged wells in Heritage Park and the pipeline were primed for production.
The hidden flare in the open barrel chimney was not visible yesterday morning
However, by about 6:00 pm the flare was back and seemed to produce more heat and soot than before. This is only the visible consequences of the now increased production of oil AND gas and volatiles that contain several poisonous and cancerous chemicals - beyond bad smell that will impair the health of many residents in at least a mile radius around the flare - depending on the wind direction and wind speed.
More is soon to come when the drilling operation on the neighboring landscaping business will hit oil.
4 broiler/separator chimneys - and
4 tanks are indicating that 4 wells are currently exploited on Witt Farm
The flare did not burn for a few hours while the temporarily plugged wells in Heritage Park and the pipeline were primed for production.
The hidden flare in the open barrel chimney was not visible yesterday morning
However, by about 6:00 pm the flare was back and seemed to produce more heat and soot than before. This is only the visible consequences of the now increased production of oil AND gas and volatiles that contain several poisonous and cancerous chemicals - beyond bad smell that will impair the health of many residents in at least a mile radius around the flare - depending on the wind direction and wind speed.
By 6:00 pm, the flare was back and seemed much larger. See the hot air swirling around on to of the chimney and the darkening indicating more soot.
More is soon to come when the drilling operation on the neighboring landscaping business will hit oil.
Meanwhile the drill site at Heritage Park is now abandoned of workers and equipment and looks almost peaceful if you forget that the black gold is now flowing 4 feet underneath the ground, and the drilling mud was buried under ground in a sandwich of plastic tarps.
Friday, May 24, 2013
Pipeline connected - Heritage Park drill site is being prepared to deliver to Witt Farm
Brine trucks are at the Heritage Park drill site all day. They seem to prepare the delivery of the 3 wells connected to the bore hole to deliver oil and - unfortunately also poisonous and cancerous flare gases and volatiles to Witt Farm.
There is also a lot going on at Witt Farm to prepare for the receipt of the new wells - eventually also from the new drill site on Stratton's Landscaping. The number of separators will tell us how many wells will be processed soon - more oil coming in - and more truck traffic - and the flare will get much bigger - their poisonous gases and volatiles will get much more concentrated...
At the disc golf area everything is now underground - as if not really there...
Response to the DT article: Health Department leaving oil regulation toDEQ
While I appreciate any news keeping the public aware of this topic, this article contained factual and implied misinformation that I will address with this response. A copy of this blog post will go to Patricia Bourgeois, Lenawee county health officer, Lou Schineman and Kristy Shimko, Michigan DEQ, and the Adrian city commissioners with the request to comment.
1. I do not think that the county's (or the city's) responsibility ends because a higher entity is watching upon us. If these authorities are not protecting our health and the integrity of air and water as essential resources adequately, then the county's health department(, and the city) are obliged to step in! I will provide good arguments that exactly that is needed.
2. The DEQ is NOT monitoring surface water, ground water or air quality near drilling or processing facilities. There are no baseline tests nor any follow-up tests done that could show changes through the activities of that industry. The burden of proof is once more on citizens to arrange for such tests and to do so - restricting them to only certain certified and very expensive test labs - and requiring commercial lab staff to take the samples - thus even raising costs further - which in the end leads to not many citizens being able to test their - our vital resources.
3. Most site visits and checkups (which do NOT include actual sampling!) are done by the oil and gas companies themselves. The DEQ is understaffed and instead of raising permit fees to have enough money to adequately monitor the activities of oil and gas drilling and processing, it is simply assumed that the oil and gas companies are honest and doing a good objective job in self-monitoring themselves. This is more than wishful thinking as corporations are by law required to maximize shareholder profit even at the cost of externalizing (environmental) costs - meaning having somebody else (often the government) pay the bill.
4. Lou Schineman, district manager of the DEQ’s Office of Oil, Gas and Minerals - or the staff writer Dennis Pelham, or an anonymous editor is wrong (does not know better or is misleading) when they state: "The gas being burned is basically the same as what is piped into businesses and homes and burned in furnaces, stoves, clothes dryers and water heaters". Several publications analyzing flare gases and volatiles found high concentration of toxic and cancerous BTEXs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) and other compounds in flare gases. They partially originate from the oil and gas deposits themselves and come up in the extraction process, or are in drilling aid chemicals or site treatment chemicals. I am more than happy to produce a full list of publications and chemicals upon request. Most of these dangerous chemicals are NOT in the natural gas that we use in our houses - the gas companies are required to take these dangerous chemicals out before delivering the natural gas to the customers.
5. Kristy Shimko - or the staff writer Dennis Pelham, or an anonymous editor are wrong when they say that "the flares are burning methane and nitrogen". Methane yes (about 65% of the flammable composition), but nitrogen does not burn and is as such not flared off. While it is great that the DEQ monitors for hydrogen sulfide, that should not be the only thing they do (see above)!
6. Why is the industry permitted to flare off and WASTE a potential energy resource while POLLUTING the air for SO LONG (more than 6 months)? They should NOT be able to acquire permits to start drilling before they have the infrastructure to collect and market the gases in place!
7. If flares are located on the country-side with maybe one farmhouse close to the flare (I am idealizing here - in the Irish Hills it is often many houses, and unfortunately not only owned by the profiteer of the royalties), it is an entirely different situation within the city of Adrian with quite a few residences around the flare on Witt Farm.
8. In addition to the danger to air and water by the drilling operations and the processing facilities (tank farms), the highest chances of oil and gas spills occur during loading and unloading (e.g. into trucks) as well as during transportation (by pipelines and trucks). Both areas are to my knowledge not regulated by the DEQ - and therefore the county health department cannot depend on the DEQ to safeguard health in these error-prone sectors of the oil and gas business. Looking on the shortcomings of DOT regulations for pipelines (remember the 2010 pipeline accident near Kalamazoo, Michigan?) and trucks (several accidents involving oil trucks every year) - the nearly operational pipeline from Heritage Park (and soon other surrounding drill sites) to the Witt Farm cutting through the River Raisin floodplain, and the increased truck traffic that the central facility on Witt Farm will bring to the city once more wells are connected, the county health department (and the City of Adrian) obviously have to get and stay involved to safeguard the health of our citizens!
1. I do not think that the county's (or the city's) responsibility ends because a higher entity is watching upon us. If these authorities are not protecting our health and the integrity of air and water as essential resources adequately, then the county's health department(, and the city) are obliged to step in! I will provide good arguments that exactly that is needed.
2. The DEQ is NOT monitoring surface water, ground water or air quality near drilling or processing facilities. There are no baseline tests nor any follow-up tests done that could show changes through the activities of that industry. The burden of proof is once more on citizens to arrange for such tests and to do so - restricting them to only certain certified and very expensive test labs - and requiring commercial lab staff to take the samples - thus even raising costs further - which in the end leads to not many citizens being able to test their - our vital resources.
3. Most site visits and checkups (which do NOT include actual sampling!) are done by the oil and gas companies themselves. The DEQ is understaffed and instead of raising permit fees to have enough money to adequately monitor the activities of oil and gas drilling and processing, it is simply assumed that the oil and gas companies are honest and doing a good objective job in self-monitoring themselves. This is more than wishful thinking as corporations are by law required to maximize shareholder profit even at the cost of externalizing (environmental) costs - meaning having somebody else (often the government) pay the bill.
4. Lou Schineman, district manager of the DEQ’s Office of Oil, Gas and Minerals - or the staff writer Dennis Pelham, or an anonymous editor is wrong (does not know better or is misleading) when they state: "The gas being burned is basically the same as what is piped into businesses and homes and burned in furnaces, stoves, clothes dryers and water heaters". Several publications analyzing flare gases and volatiles found high concentration of toxic and cancerous BTEXs (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) and other compounds in flare gases. They partially originate from the oil and gas deposits themselves and come up in the extraction process, or are in drilling aid chemicals or site treatment chemicals. I am more than happy to produce a full list of publications and chemicals upon request. Most of these dangerous chemicals are NOT in the natural gas that we use in our houses - the gas companies are required to take these dangerous chemicals out before delivering the natural gas to the customers.
5. Kristy Shimko - or the staff writer Dennis Pelham, or an anonymous editor are wrong when they say that "the flares are burning methane and nitrogen". Methane yes (about 65% of the flammable composition), but nitrogen does not burn and is as such not flared off. While it is great that the DEQ monitors for hydrogen sulfide, that should not be the only thing they do (see above)!
6. Why is the industry permitted to flare off and WASTE a potential energy resource while POLLUTING the air for SO LONG (more than 6 months)? They should NOT be able to acquire permits to start drilling before they have the infrastructure to collect and market the gases in place!
7. If flares are located on the country-side with maybe one farmhouse close to the flare (I am idealizing here - in the Irish Hills it is often many houses, and unfortunately not only owned by the profiteer of the royalties), it is an entirely different situation within the city of Adrian with quite a few residences around the flare on Witt Farm.
8. In addition to the danger to air and water by the drilling operations and the processing facilities (tank farms), the highest chances of oil and gas spills occur during loading and unloading (e.g. into trucks) as well as during transportation (by pipelines and trucks). Both areas are to my knowledge not regulated by the DEQ - and therefore the county health department cannot depend on the DEQ to safeguard health in these error-prone sectors of the oil and gas business. Looking on the shortcomings of DOT regulations for pipelines (remember the 2010 pipeline accident near Kalamazoo, Michigan?) and trucks (several accidents involving oil trucks every year) - the nearly operational pipeline from Heritage Park (and soon other surrounding drill sites) to the Witt Farm cutting through the River Raisin floodplain, and the increased truck traffic that the central facility on Witt Farm will bring to the city once more wells are connected, the county health department (and the City of Adrian) obviously have to get and stay involved to safeguard the health of our citizens!
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