Sludge Watch ==> LA plans sludge well injection - but sues a well driller for hot water mishap

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The City of Los Angeles is suing a company for pumping pressurized hot water 
into an old oil well...an action that they say caused foul smelling sludge 
onto a downtown street, forcing the evacuation of 100 residents.

On the other hand...the City of Los Angeles is planning to pump 400 tons per 
day of City sewage sludge slurry into deep wells themselves.  Yup.  At 
Terminal Island.  This sludge will decompose and release methane and other 
gases. Up to 400 tons of sludge per day for 5 years...?  That's quite the 
'demonstration project'.

Its as though the City is getting a little foretaste of the risks they are 
running with this unprecendented experiment with LA fecal wastes. Indeed, 
one could see it as a case of 'do what I say, not what I do'.  Deep 
injection of sewage sludge has never before been permitted in California.  A 
draft permit may already be completed by the EPA.  See both stories below.

Members of the concerned public need to talk to the EPA

George Robin - EPA engineer Region 9 San Francisco

robin.george at epa.gov
415 972 - 3532

Power Point Presentation on the project:
www.wef.org/NR/rdonlyres/ 
7841F444-74CD-460D-8802-D7EA7373A07D/0/Robin_Power_Point2005.pdf





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http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=4952844&nav=9qrx

LOS ANGELES Los Angeles is suing an oil company for allegedly releasing a 
foul-smelling sludge onto a downtown street, forcing the evacuation of more 
than 100 residents and closing the busy street for weeks.

The suit alleges the leak occurred on February 21st, when workers from Saint 
James Oil tried to pump pressurized hot water into old wells to extract 
excess crude oil.

The city attorney's office says the company faces fines of as much as 
25-thousand dollars if found guilty.

About 130 residents from the apartment building were displaced for three 
days when the sludge oozed from a bulge in the roadway. A portion of the 
street collapsed. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo says it also spilled into 
the city's storm drain system and flowed into Ballona Creek.



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http://www.terralog.com/los_angeles_demo_project.asp

Los Angeles Demonstration Project


The City of Los Angeles and Terralog Technologies will demonstrate an 
innovative technology to convert biosolids into clean energy by deep well 
injection and geothermal biodegradation. Slurry mixtures of treated, 
non-hazardous, municipal sludge and water will be injected into a high 
permeability unconsolidated sandstone formation at the Terminal Island 
Treatment Plant operated by City of Los Angeles. Multiple injection and 
monitoring wells will be drilled and completed in weakly consolidated, high 
permeability, sand formations at depths from about 3,800 to 5,300 ft. Up to 
400 tons per day of biosolids will be injected into soft, high porosity, 
formation sands, using technology optimized for solid waste slurry 
injection, for a period of 5 years. At this depth the material will undergo 
a natural process of high-temperature anaerobic biodegradation, similar to 
the process of diagenesis naturally deposited organic layers undergo over 
time after deposition and burial. Retention in the high temperature (114° – 
159°F, or 45° -
70°C) saline environment of the deep geologic formation will treat and 
convert the biosolids into methane, carbon dioxide, and non-volatile 
residual solids. The carbon dioxide will be preferentially dissolved and 
sequestered in the formation brine, while relatively high purity methane 
will migrate and become trapped in the reservoir to be recovered for 
beneficial use at the surface, or stored for subsequent use.

Environmental & Economic Advantages

The demonstration project will include extensive field monitoring and 
sampling from the offset monitoring wells to quantify slurry placement, 
biodegradation rates, carbon dioxide and methane separation, carbon dioxide 
sequestration and saturation in formation brine, and free gas migration and 
production. This technology provides the following environmental and 
economic benefits over current practices:

• Enhanced treatment and sterilization of biosolids
• Greater protection for surface and shallow groundwaters
• Provides a local solution, reducing long distance truck traffic
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere
• Recycles waste into high quality clean energy for beneficial use

Environmental Advantages Subsurface Geothermal Treatment