New Orleans, LA Fracking Contamination Claims Lawyer
Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, is a technique most commonly used by oil and gas companies to gain access to fossil fuel deposits. A fracking chemical mixture is injected deep into the earth through a well. The fracking chemical mixture spreads open new and pre-existing joints and fractures located deep below the earth’s surface in the underlying soil and rock. The fracking process increases the permeability of the rock and soil, allowing fossil fuels like oil and/or gas to move more freely toward a recovery well where it is harvested by oil and gas companies.
What Chemicals Are Injected Into The Earth During Fracking?
According to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, more than 2,500 fracking chemical mixtures containing 750 chemicals were used between 2005 and 2009. During this time, over 780 million gallons of the fracking chemical mixture was pumped into the ground. Louisiana had 890,000 fluid gallons of the fracking chemical mixture pumped into its ground. This figure represented the fifth highest total of any state. Only Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado had higher totals.
Some of the chemicals used in fracking are harmless. Others may pose a serious health risk. While we know what chemicals are used during the fracking process, we do not know the concentrations of the chemicals used. Importantly, we do not know the concentrations of the most harmful chemicals used. The oil and gas industry claims that the concentration data is a “trade secret” and refuses to produce it.
Fracking The Haynesville Shale Deposit.
In recent years, drilling technologies have advanced and previously unobtainable oil and gas pockets are now harvestable by chemical fracking. As such, the public has become aware of the fracking being used to harvest oil and gas deposits located in shale. One of the largest shale deposits in the world currently being fracked is located in North Louisiana. This shale fracking project is commonly referred to as the “Haynesville Shale.”
Shale is a sedimentary rock that can have a high porosity but a very low permeability. Fractures already exist in the shale but are usually very tight hairline fractures which do not permit much movement for fluids. This reality used to make recovery of oil and gas deposits uneconomical. However, with the increased technology in drilling, oil and gas companies are now able to access these deposits by pumping the fracking chemical mixture into the hairline fractures in the shale. The chemicals cause the fractures to expand and the oil and gas is more easily recoverable.
The economy of North Louisiana has boomed with the fracking of the “Haynesville Shale.” Many land owners entered into lucrative leases with oil and gas companies to harvest the shale from land primarily used for farming or raising cattle. Likewise, hundreds of new jobs were created to support the booming industry. But fracking in Louisiana has not come without its costs.
Fracking Damages
Thousands of Americans have suffered significant damages as a result of fracking contamination. Some damages associated with fracking include:
-Air Pollution
-Depletion of Fresh Water
-Ground Water Contamination
-Noise Pollution
-Well Explosions
In addition to pollution damages, there have also been many accidents associated with fracking that have resulted in personal injury and even wrongful death. These accidents include the following:
-Chemical Spills
-Industrial Accidents
-Machinery Accidents
-Rig Accidents
-Well Explosions
-18 Wheeler Trucking Accidents
Louisiana residents have already begun feeling the harmful effects of fracking. In 2009, a leak of a fracking chemical mixture in Caddo Parish caused a cattleman to lose 16 head of cattle when they dropped dead after drinking fluids located near a fracking site.
In 2009 a fracking well in Desoto Parish blew out, killing one worker and injuring another. As a result of the blow out, methane escaped into the air causing Desoto Parish residents over a two mile radius to be evacuated.
In 2010 hundreds of residents were evacuated near another well blowout when toxic chemicals contaminated an aquifer. Residents were not told what chemicals leaked into the aquifer but were advised not to drink the water.
Most recently, residents in the Mandeville and Abita Springs areas of southeast Louisiana have fought efforts of big oil and chemical companies to undertake fracking in St. Tammany Parish.
No firm is better equipped than HKGC to handle your personal injury claim stemming from a Louisiana fracking contamination event. HKGC’s experience in these types of pollution claims led the court overseeing the BP Oil Spill litigation to select HKGC partner, Steve Herman, as Co-Liaison Counsel for the plaintiffs.
The BP oil spill is widely considered to be the worst pollution disaster in American history. As Co-Liaison Counsel, Steve led the charge on behalf of thousands of shrimpers, oysterman, and other businesses that were devastated by the spill.
Our firm was instrumental in negotiating the uncapped, multi billion dollar settlement with BP. The settlement ended up being so favorable to victims of the spill, that BP actually took the unprecedented step of appealing the terms of a settlement that it actually agreed to in writing.
If your community has suffered a pollution event as a result of fracking, learn about your legal rights from an experienced Louisiana fracking lawyer by calling 504-581-4892 or by filling out our free, no obligation case review form.
