Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Gas well flaring  (Read 2570 times)

Offline Burl

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 139
  • Gender: Male
Gas well flaring
« on: March 04, 2013, 12:17:43 pm »
We are in a part of Canada that is experiencing a boom in drilling wells for natural gas .  I am very interested in knowing more about whether there is a consequence of the resulting pollution from the flares which burn off the undesireable ( to the drilling company ) gas like sour gas .  Specifically in regards to honeybees .  Within the last two years our peaceful and quiet community has been surrounded by gas wells with flares .  The horizon of our night sky pulses from all directions with the throbs of the the light of the flares .  Now we have learned that another wellsite is being planned less than 1/2 mile away .  Sad thing is that we are downhill from the proposed project and we are in a residential area of 24 homes .  I am concerned for my family and neighbors and will try to learn more about the human effects from other sources .  But , what do any of my fellow beekeepers here know about the topic of gas flares and bees ?  Any experience ?  Solid research ?
        Thanks in advance .         Burl
Of all the things I've ever been called ;
I do like "Dad" the most .   ---Burl---

Offline Vance G

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1170
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2013, 12:40:34 pm »
I kept bees in close proximity to oil well flares and they had no effect I could tell.  Great locations actually.  I know that the H2S needs to burn or it will kill you.  The flares are equipped with a pilot light so they don't go out if there is a flow interruption in the gas.  Upwind is much more important than down hill.  The burning produces water and sulfer.  The sulfer is a good trace element for the soil.  That nat gas is great cheap fuel that makes industries possible and heats homes without much pollution.  It is a little rough that it is in your back yard if you don't own the mineral rights. 

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20363
  • Gender: Female
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2013, 12:42:36 pm »
don't know about the bees, but i grew up in CA when there were wells in every backyard, vacant lot, school yards, etc.  not all of them burned off gas, but you sure could see them light up the night around those that did. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Maryland Beekeeper

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 282
  • Nature does nothing uselessly. Aristotle
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2013, 11:15:07 pm »
studies to demonstrate causation in communities like yours take decades, in the meantime the ceo's raise their right hand in front of Senate committee and swear its kosher ;) settle w/ whatever Dept/agncy for whatever amount after another decade of appeals, join your town air/water quality committee, advocate, insist, good luck :)


Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20363
  • Gender: Female
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 12:02:50 am »
Quote
studies to demonstrate causation in communities like yours take decades,

some of us are decades old and spent decades in oil country.  my advice?  enjoy the revenue it brings in.  if CA had not given in to the tree hugging nuts, it would not be broke and we'd all still have oil wells in the backyard next to the pool.
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline edward

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2013, 08:00:23 am »
have oil wells in the backyard next to the pool.

Ok? how does this work? how does the home owner sell the oil he pumps up?

mvh edward  :-P

Offline capt44

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 740
  • Gender: Male
  • If it don't work I'll always think it should have
    • RV BEES
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2013, 10:16:06 am »
Here in Central Arkansas they have and are still drilling alot of gas wells, some with 6 to 8 wells to the pad.
They do have burn offs at some point in the drilling and fracking process.
I can't tell that it makes any difference to my bees.
I worry more about the ground water than anything.
Within 1 mile of this location there are 10 gas well pads each covering around 5 acres each.
Richard Vardaman (capt44)

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20363
  • Gender: Female
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2013, 12:47:15 pm »
Quote
Ok? how does this work? how does the home owner sell the oil he pumps up?

same way cell towers and stuff work on private property now.  company leases the space.  and i kid you not, if there was a space, there was a pump!  :-)  school yards had them and the money offset education cost.  farmers had them in fields.  when we traveled, we used to try to count the ones that were not moving.  i don't know why.  probably something my father came up with to keep us from fighting  :evil:
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline Vance G

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1170
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2013, 03:52:38 pm »
Edward, whether you get paid, at least in my part of the country, depends on whether you own the mineral rights.  I still own mineral rights on land that my sisters decided to sell.  If a well is drilled, I will get my share of the 16 2/3 percent we negotiated from the company who bought rights to possibly drill.  The person who now owns the surface, will get a place to farm around and possibly a gas flare two miles from his house.  But, he knew that when he bought the surface WITHOUT the mineral rights.  It was an auction and lots of people including me tried to buy the surface without those mineral rights and the possibility of developement.

Offline edward

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2013, 06:32:35 pm »
Ahh beekeeping the things we learn  :-D

I wondered more in the way they collected the oil or gas, did they connect to a pipeline or did a tanker come, was there some kind of meter?

So if I understand it right in CA "they" owned the oil under the ground and they paid you for putting the pump on the ground of "your" property?

mvh edward  :-P

Offline Kathyp

  • Global Moderator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 20363
  • Gender: Female
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2013, 07:39:17 pm »
Quote
So if I understand it right in CA "they" owned the oil under the ground and they paid you for putting the pump on the ground of "your" property?

oh...that level of detail i don't know.  guess i'll have to do some research  :-D

had to have pumped into pipes, i think.  i remember big oil farms out in the middle of nowhere that had lots of pipes and stuff. 
Someone really ought to tell them that the world of Ayn Rand?s novel was not meant to be aspirational.

Offline edward

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1203
  • Gender: Male
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2013, 07:43:12 pm »
to bad they didn't own the oil, would bee nice to have your own well with today's gas prices  :-X

mvh edward  :-P

Offline Vance G

  • Queen Bee
  • ****
  • Posts: 1170
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #12 on: March 05, 2013, 08:59:47 pm »
Out here in the great open, individual wells have tanks that are pumped into trucks and the trucks deliver the oil to railcars or pipelines like the unbuilt Keystone.  In the Bakken formation which is a huge play, there is enough oil and the pool is going to last long enough that they are building pipelines to take the oil from the wells and directly to terminals or bigger pipelines.

  Since a a Bakken well, thanks to the miracle of fracking, can produce up to 3600 barrels a day; a pipeline is the most efficient way to go.  Some are trying to stop the fracking and pipelines.  A really embarassing amount of wealth is being produced and it hard to make a man who has a good job and money subservient to more guvmint.

 Fracking chemicals could all be eaten without harming you other than the veggie oil cleaning out your system and the special sand crystals mostly imported from Russia would be a little sharp when the toilet paper hit them.  So nothing very toxic and I don't know of any drinking or industrial water coming from 12-14,000 feet where the shale layer is.

If you know anyone with no dependence on drugs or at least a controllable one who is willing to work hard and wants a six or seven figure income, have them contact me and I will tell them how to get a job there.  It won't be fun.  Thats why they call it a 'job' and not 'vacation'.    Used to be an old saying.  Don't sit on your A__ and whine.  Go out and get your dime, the way I got mine.  Work, it's a beautiful thing!

Offline Georgia Boy

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 500
  • Gender: Male
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2013, 01:53:57 am »
If you know anyone with no dependence on drugs or at least a controllable one who is willing to work hard and wants a six or seven figure income, have them contact me and I will tell them how to get a job there.  It won't be fun.  Thats why they call it a 'job' and not 'vacation'.    Used to be an old saying.  Don't sit on your A__ and whine.  Go out and get your dime, the way I got mine.  Work, it's a beautiful thing!

CURIOUS, please tell me more. PM me if you would.

Thanks David
"Give it All You've Got"
"Never give up. Never surrender."

Offline T Beek

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2775
  • Gender: Male
Re: Gas well flaring
« Reply #14 on: March 06, 2013, 09:48:42 am »
For answers (and solutions) to all of the above;        

http://www.progress.org/
Better known as the Progress Report, the link doesn't seem to work w/out that inclusion
"Trust those who seek the truth, doubt those who say they've found it."

 

anything