Anyone heard of this
http://m.clevescene.com/scene-and-h...o-wetlands-one-month-after-construction-began
http://m.clevescene.com/scene-and-h...o-wetlands-one-month-after-construction-began
Pipeline spill
- Thread starter Clay Showalter
- Start date
teenbowhunter
Junior Member
That bentonite will kill several species in the river. I'm going to drive out tomorrow and talk to a farmer I know who's land I think this happened on.
Hmmm. Bentonite is a naturally occurring clay. Pollutant, sure... But is it truly hazardous? Hell, it's what's used to seal casing around private water wells. The spill is still a major fuck up though. Hate to see shit like this...
Hey man I was just sharing the story, I am no expert in these things. I didn't write the story.
Sorry, I wasn't being critical of you. Just curious is all. I had no idea bentonite would cause such a stir.
bthompson1004
Member
A lot of "quotation marks" in that article about "what" was spilled with no explanation as to "what" the "chemical make up" was of the fluid...I only read a little bit of the article though.
read somewhere else that the "drilling fluid" is something like 99.9% water.
read somewhere else that the "drilling fluid" is something like 99.9% water.
Easy for someone to say that doesn't utilize the Tuscarawas river. I have nothing against pipelines, I understand they are needed.
bigten05
*Supporting Member*
we have built and fixed a few leaking ponds with bentonite. they all have fish in them. im not saying that it doesnt affect an area, or maybe its not as bad in what we have done because the amounts is alot smaller. its not good either way you look at it tho, the river ecosystem suffers and fuel for more pipeline protests.
In small amounts like that I'm sure it causes little to no harm, 1.5-2 million gallons is a different story.
I wouldn't think so in running water, especially. Maybe a few small fish that don't have the gill capacity to filter (re..drowning) may die but that is all I would think would happen. We lined our whole pond with it. Didn't find one dead fish and it is a thriving pond (.66 acres I believe).
Should they minimize this sort of thing, surr. But mother nature takes care of most things pretty easilly by herself.
Everything I've read about big spills of drilling fluid containing bentonite state that it's harmful to aquatic life. I realize that it's used to line ponds, but when you line a pond the clay hardens and then you fill it, correct? Here we are talking about 2 million gallons dumped into a fairly small area.
For a leaking pond most just dump it in. Ours was in bulk and used the backhoe to dump the powder. I feel like it would be equal to dumping the same amount of dirty sand. It will dirty the water, kill some fish from filling gills with material, and maybe trap a few. It all settles and doesn't have any "toxic" qualities.
Anything "foreign" to the water body could potentially be harmful to aquatic life. But of all the things to spill in a river, a fluid containing bentonite would be my first choice. It might kill some smaller fish and inverts and whatnot, but I mean it's used to seal our DRINKING water wells. That wouldn't be the case if it was as harmful as the article leads the reader to believe. A spill like this is definitely not a good thing.... But one has to question the motive behind the article.... Is the writer just another liberal tree hugger trying to throw gas on the fire in hopes of preventing more pipelines in the future?