Witness Blog
The Oil Industry’s Big Bluff
In a recent Wall Street Week video report on oil industry methane emissions there was a great insight into what the oil industry plans to do when it comes to environmental liabilities and the world in general. After hearing how there was potential to plug old oil and gas wells and have...
Soil Vapor Extraction: A False Cleanup Solution?
Soil vapor extraction (SVE) is a remediation technology for cleaning up contaminated soil and groundwater. However, SVE has significant limitations and drawbacks, particularly when it comes to its environmental impact. In this blog post, I’ll talk about SVE, exploring what it is, how it works, and why it's not as...
The Harms of US LNG – From Calcasieu Pass to Puerto Libertad
The U.S. is working hard to get the rest of the world hooked on expensive and dirty liquefied natural gas (LNG) and is getting plenty of help from the banking system in other countries like Japan. The example I will focus on today is the proposed Mexico Pacific LNG export...
My Observations of the Devastating Impact of Oil and Gas on Biodiversity
Prior to joining Oilfield Witness as a thermographer and field ecologist, I worked as an ecologist and Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) cruiser for the Texas A&M University Forest Service. Cruisers gather info on tree species, size, and age. We look at forest structure and composition, vegetation density and diversity, soil...
The Cleanup Bill for the Fracking Boom is Already Here
In the world of shale oil and gas production there is a concept known as “the Red Queen effect.” In this 2014 article, it explains that, “The ‘Red Queen’ effect refers to the relatively short lifespan of fracking wells, which tend to reach peak production earlier than conventional wells.” The Red...
America’s Oil and Gas Export Delusions
The true hoax of this energy transition is the idea that the U.S. has unlimited oil and gas that is just waiting to be produced as soon as those tree-hugging liberals stop standing in the way. Did you hear that the Republicans have threatened Europe that if they don’t buy...
101: Blowdowns: Invisible oil and gas spills in our air
BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster on April 20, 2010, was the worst oil spill in human history. BP stopped the flow of leaking oil on July 15th and finally announced that the well was successfully plugged on September 19th. One poll found that 70% of Americans disapproved of BP's response to...
American Lung Association Warns of “unseen hazards” of Methane
The American Lung Association just put out a strong statement on the danger of methane noting the unseen hazards of methane and the “cascade of risks” that harm communities. “As the colder months settle in and we spend more time indoors, it’s crucial to recognize the unseen hazards that methane...
Our Methane Blindspot
Methane is getting some attention as we also learn new information on the severity of the problem of methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. Unfortunately, despite all of the good intentions (e.g. better monitoring via satellites, oil company promises, etc) methane emissions continue to rise. Sharon Wilson continues...
101: Methane emissions. Unintentional Leaks vs Intentional Releases
Unintentional leaks of methane are the side show. Intentional releases, required by design, are the problem. Analysis of industry’s own data, which we know is underreported*, shows that only 6% of the methane released is from unintentional leaks. The rest, 94%, is intentional. Page 6. Benchmarking...