Almost remediation of saltwater spills at E and P sites
- K. W. Brown Environmental Services, College Station, TX (United States)
At exploration and production (E and P) sites crude spills restricted to topsoil are often self-remediating, but salt spills rarely are. Most soils naturally biodegrade crude. Without appropriate human intervention, brine spills can result in decades of barren land and seriously degrade surface water and aquifers. Servicing the E and P industry are remediation practitioners with a limited array of often expensive remediation concepts and materials which they hope will work, and sometimes do. Unfortunately, many remediation practitioners are unfamiliar with, or disregard, the natural physical, chemical, and biotic complexity of the soil and aquatic media. All too often this results in exacerbating injury to an already damaged ecosystem. Likewise, important cultural factors such as public relations, environmental regulations, property rights, and water rights are also overlooked until after implementation of an ill-advised or illegal remediation design has been initiated. A major issue is determining what constitutes ``successful`` remediation of a brine spill. Environmental managers have long sought one or two universally applicable fast and cheap amendment/treatment protocols for all their diverse multi-state salt affected spill scenarios. This presentation describes aspects of common spill-affected ecosystems which must be considered to achieve ``successful`` remediation.
- OSTI ID:
- 148099
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950152-; TRN: 96:005826
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Petro-Safe `95 conference and exhibition, Houston, TX (United States), 31 Jan - 2 Feb 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Petro-safe `95: 6. Annual environmental, safety and health conference and exhibition for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Book 1; PB: 590 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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