Moms Musings

April 11

Around the 5th of April there was a little incident down the road....there is a drilling rig that is set up in a farmers field, its about 60 feet high.  Now these drilling rigs are "flaring". The rig takes a line from the well head to a flare stack. When they hit a pocket of gas this is what causes the burning off  from the flare stack. On this particular day a young fellow told me that the rig was very close to completely burning down. When the rig is overwhelmed with a high pressure pocket of gas, this is called a kick back. There was a kickback that took place and the stacks melted down. They were dragging all the surrounding equipment away in case the whole rig exploded. There is a BOP valve that sits on top of the well that prevents a complete blowout. The pressure can sometimes reach 56 thousand PSI (pounds per square inch). As we drive into our little town each week we can count ten drilling rigs flaring, three pumping stations, and a Gas Plant that has taken over 65 acres on the river bank.

Its very interesting about the flare stacks off of this very large Gas Plant. The stacks are approximately 100 feet high from the ground but because they are down by the river the flaring is level with the road and  homes that are 1/2 a mile from the actual stack. Its a very odd situation to me and causes me to ponder. Coming off of these flare stacks are hydrocarbons, H2s, hydrogen sulfide, and benzene. So my musings cause me to understand, I could not burn any amount of cardboard or garbage in my life time to ever come close to the impact that this flaring has on our environment, and little community. So I happily burn my garbage.



This is not from our local drilling rigs. Its a lovely shot of someone elses.


                              April 4th
We live in the north of British Columbia. We hear a lot about the green movement. There are a lot of good things coming out of that movement(old time farming really) or better yet (common sense). One day I saw my neighbor driving down the road and her truck was full of cardboard. I could hardly see her for the cardboard blocking the windows. She pulled in as she was on her way to town and I just had to ask her "where are you taking all that cardboard?" With a shocked look on her face she said ..."the recycling depot of course" I said "why don't you burn it?" She just stared at me like I had sworn, a bad swear! She said its really bad for the environment. I thought, how odd. What an odd thing to say. We were at odds trying to understand each other. I know they have a wood burning stove and I also know cardboard is the best thing to use to get your fire going really good. I always save all my cardboard for that purpose alone. It caused me to ponder.....think deeply....why she would choose to make that choice for her cardboard.


                              March 28
Hello, Kaylee has given me, her mom, a small little spot on her blog for some of my musings! I would love to share what is going on in our community. Each Monday I hope to have a musing for you. I just asked Kaylee what musing meant, to make sure I had the right word for what I had in mind. She promptly told me to look in the dictionary!! So I am happy to say its meaning is: to ponder; to think deeply; meditate. I will be posting the happenings in our community that cause me to ponder and think deeply. Till then....Kaylee's mom, from Mondays Musings. 

2 comments:

  1. Hey Mom ! to true about the oil and gas and the flare stacks. Very sad what is happening to our farmlands:( Love Meg

    ReplyDelete

I always love to hear from you!