The Long Dusty Road

 At the Center Square (PN), Rural road dust suppression technique called into question

To suppress dust, Pennsylvania allows oil and gas companies to spread wastewater on dirt and gravel roads.

A new bill, however, would end the practice over concerns for human health and nature alike.

Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Havertown, introduced House Bill 2384 to end the spread of wastewater – also called production brine – on all land, developed or undeveloped.

“This practice of spreading this wastewater has gone on for many years. This has been specifically prohibited by regulation with regard to the unconventional drilling industry,” Vitali said during a Monday House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing. “The issue really is the longstanding practice of the conventional industry spreading this oil and gas wastewater on our gravel roads and in other places.”

Vitali said that though the Department of Environmental Protection has not approved permits to spread brine on roads since 2018, the practice continues.

Figuring out how much wastewater has been spread on roads isn’t easy, however. One estimation counted 3.5 million gallons since 2018.

Eric Chase, an assistant teaching professor and research analyst at Penn State University, noted that studies found chlorides, bromides, radium, barium and other petroleum hydrocarbons in the wastewater, as well as dramatically higher levels of chlorine.

“Oil and gas-produced waters are not effective at suppressing dust and pose environmental risks and harm due to the high levels of chloride and radium,” Chase said.

Rep. Martin Causer, R-Bradford, called the proposed legislation an “attack on rural residents across the commonwealth.”

“We are continually lectured in this committee about the fact that the environmental rights amendment in our const provides that residents of the commonwealth are guaranteed clean air and water — but this legislation does just the opposite,” he said. “It takes away the ability of our local communities to protect air quality for their residents.”

Causer noted township governments have used brine for years to control dust on township highways and argued state officials are “very misguided” in looking to end it.

Now that it has been found the fracking waste water (which is what they're talking about here) from the Marcellus Shale contains enough lithium to satisfy half of the US demand for the element that has become a critical part of rechargeable batteries, it should only be short time until this question is moot and fracking water will all be reclaimed to extract the lithium.  

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Just What It Says On Her Label out more or less on time at The Other McCain.

Frack, Baby, Frack

 Ars Technica,  Fracking wastewater has “shocking” amount of clean-energy mineral lithium

In 2007, a geoscientist at Penn State named Terry Engelder calculated that Pennsylvania could be sitting on more than 50 trillion cubic feet of accessible natural gas deposits. Engelder later revised his calculation upward, to 489 trillion cubic feet, enough to meet US natural gas demand for 18 years. These massive numbers set off the fracking boom in Pennsylvania, leading to drilling across the state. Since the rush began, there have been 13,000 unconventional wells drilled in Pennsylvania.

Now, a new “astounding” calculation has caught the attention of the gas industry: A study from researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory shows the wastewater produced by Pennsylvania’s unconventional wells could contain enough lithium to meet 38 to 40 percent of current domestic consumption. Lithium is a critical mineral that’s an “essential component” of many clean energy technologies, including batteries for electric vehicles.

The study used chemical and production compliance data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to estimate that approximately 1,160 metric tons of lithium per year could be extracted from this produced water, which is a combination of fluids used for fracking and water from natural formations underground that returns to the surface during the drilling process. The lithium in Pennsylvania’s produced water likely comes from ancient volcanoes that were erupting at the time the natural gas deposits were being formed. This volcanic ash contained lithium that eventually seeped into the water underground.

“The researcher community in the US is really working hard to find the materials and methods that will enable us to meet our climate goals and decarbonize the economy,” said Justin Mackey, the study’s lead investigator. “Sometimes you might be surprised where that material actually comes from.”

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry trade group dedicated to the Marcellus Shale formation, the natural gas deposit beneath Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York, reacted to the news with enthusiasm. “This scientific analysis by one of the leading energy laboratories in the world shows once again how abundant Pennsylvania natural gas can enhance America’s energy, environmental and national security,” the coalition said in a statement.

The United States currently relies on imports from Argentina, Chile and China to fully meet its lithium needs, and the demand for lithium is expected to rise dramatically as the clean energy transition accelerates.

Mackey, a research geochemist at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, said he had focused on lithium because it is a strategic material for the American economy and defense industries and because it has insecure supply chains. “We’re reliant on foreign entities like China and Chile and Australia to source these raw materials, but they’re critical to our economies,” he said. “And more importantly, they’re critical to decarbonizing the US automotive fleet.”

He said the researchers were “shocked” that the highest concentrations of lithium found in the Marcellus “are comparable to lithium brine, to water that is actually being mined for lithium.”

Turning toxic waste into a valuable resource is win-win. I expect Democrats and the associated environmentalist community to oppose it heartily and try to keep us dependent of foreign lithium producers. 

US to Allow Lithium Mining for Batteries

And boy, is NPR ever pissed, Tribes object. But a federal ruling approves construction of the largest lithium mine

In a blow to tribes, a U.S. appeals court has denied a last ditch legal effort to block construction of what's expected to be the largest lithium mine in North America on federal land in Nevada.

In a decision Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. government did not violate federal environmental laws when it approved Lithium Nevada's Thacker Pass mine in the waning days of the Trump administration.

Lithium is a key component of electric vehicle batteries, and despite pressure from west coast Paiute tribes and environmentalists, the Biden administration did not reverse the decision and had continued to advocate for the mine, which would be located on remote federal land near the Nevada-Oregon border.

"We have always been confident that the permitting process for Thacker Pass was conducted thoroughly and appropriately," says Jonathan Evans, CEO of Lithium Americas in a statement provided to NPR. "Construction activities continue at the project as we look forward to playing an important role in strengthening America's domestic battery supply chains."

Heaven forfend we should actually produce some the the lithium required for all the batteries that will be required for all the electric cars they want us to buy.