Seems pretty concerning that it’s such a discussed problem. Any indication it’s as prevalent in 2024 models?
I‘m going to look at a 2024 mx pack today and will be in the lookout for signs, but just wondering how rare it is or if models are more affected than others. I‘m not seeing much on point for this question online.
I’m wondering if there are common problem areas in a used R1S that a visual inspection and a test drive can reveal? Just want to come armed with some tips on what to look for.
Marietta, Ohio, a historic city along the Ohio River, has become an unwitting hub for interstate fracking wastewater disposal, with hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive brine pumped underground into more than 240 permitted injection wells statewide, far more than neighboring Pennsylvania’s 19 or West Virginia’s few dozen. Pennsylvania alone exported roughly three-quarters of its fracking brine needing permanent disposal to Ohio last year, and rural Washington County, home to Marietta, saw 59 percent of the 562 million gallons of waste injected under it over the past two years come from out of state. Ohio’s status as a dumping ground traces back to a decades-old federal decision allowing the state to self-regulate its injection wells long before fracking existed, making it easier to drill wells there than in states with federal oversight.
The wastewater isn’t staying underground as intended. Bob Wilson, who owns traditional oil and gas wells outside Marietta, has watched brine erupt from his own wells, telling reporters, “There should not be any water here at all,” while noting pressure readings higher than he’d ever seen, and he’s now suing several injection well companies after losing wells to the intrusions. Geologist David Jeffery of Marietta College said the flooded wells show brine is “migrating” through underground rock formations, a danger compounded by as many as 66,000 undocumented old oil and gas wells scattered across Ohio that could serve as unknown conduits for contamination. Cory Haydocy, former executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission, said, “The state and industry have possessed definitive proof for years that these injection wells were threatening the surrounding geology,” after the commission “explicitly confirmed” underground migration back in 2024.
The stakes are especially high because four injection wells within two miles of Marietta’s drinking water source have taken in wastewater from Pennsylvania fracking sites with median radium-226 levels ranging from 428 to 1,800 times the EPA’s drinking water standard, prompting City Council President Susan Vessels to warn, “If we get anything nuclear in our water, that’s it. We’re done.” After the state approved a fifth and sixth injection well near the city, officials declared an emergency last year, citing brine “regularly migrating to the surface” and seismic activity in Washington County that had increased nearly 20-fold since 2023, evidence they said showed underground rock formations were “moving and likely fracturing.” Marietta and eight other local water authorities have since called for a moratorium on new wells and a halt to injection within six miles of the aquifer, while a lawsuit from Buckeye Environmental Network and Earthjustice challenges permits issued to DeepRock Disposal Solutions, the company behind several proposed wells; in July, regulators shut down four injection wells in the county, including one owned by DeepRock, after determining nearby high pressures at wells like Wilson’s “could only be caused by nearby injection wells.”
It’s no joke trying to remove a season‘s worth of grime by hand. This little electric power washer was the best thing I’ve bought in a long time.
I did a good wash while Trifecta was on the hard and then once she was in the water for a couple months did another quick pass while in my slip. The unit is light enough to get on and off deck easily by yourself and has pressure sufficient to do the job.
That and a couple eraser pads and she probably hasn’t looked this good since she was new.