Our collective disregard for the consequences of rampant drilling is nothing new:
BOWLING GREEN - Thousands of wells from the Ohio oil boom at the turn of the 20th century are surfacing in Wood County as dangerous relics that may threaten public health, county commissioners were warned recently. …To demonstrate the potential for water contamination, [Mike Coyer of Black Swamp Oil Field Services] offered a clear jar of liquid to Commissioner Alvie Perkins.
"Shake it," Coyer said.
The agitation stirred a flurry of dark sediment to discolor the liquid black. Coyer told the commissioners the jar was filled with a water sample from a ditch near Devils Hole and Mercer roads north of Bowling Green, where an old oil well was improperly sliced down to rest several inches below ground level. The sediment was likely decomposed sewage and debris that had settled in the open well, he said.
Mr. Williams, owner of Able Well Drilling and Pump Services, said he often finds such contaminants in aquifers near old oil wells as he drills fresh water wells for customers in rural Wood County.
Read the rest here. — Frank Lewis
