The sidewall core samples from well 299-E24-19, which were comprised of a mixture of bentonite and silt lens material, had an average porewater chloride concentration of 376 mg/L. The sidewall core samples collected from well 299-E25-46 had calculated porewater chloride concentrations ranging from 1,200 to more than 10,000 mg/L. Clearly, the sidewall core samples tested were capable of generating porewaters with sufficient chloride concentrations to cause corrosion of the stainless steel well casing. Furthermore, analysis of the sidewall core samples yielded a clear relationship between chloride concentration and well casing corrosion. The sidewall core samples containing the greatest amount of chloride, 3000 {micro}g/g of sediment, came from the well that experienced the longest length of casing failure (4.2 feet in well 299-E25-46). All of the sidewall core samples tested from both decommissioned wells contained more chloride than the Wyoming bentonite test material. However, since chloride was present as a trace constituent in all of the sidewall core samples (less than 0.4 weight percent), it is possible that it could have been introduced to the system as a ''contaminant'' contained in the bentonite backfill material. Therefore, it is likely that chloride leached from the bentonite material and/or chloride carried by/as a …

This project was undertaken to demonstrate that oil and gas can be drilled and produced safely and economically from a fractured Monterey reservoir in the Santa Maria Basin of California by employing horizontal wellbores and underbalanced drilling technologies. Two vertical wells were previously drilled in this area with heavy mud and conventional completions; neither was commercially productive. A new well was drilled by the project team in 2004 with the objective of accessing an extended length of oil-bearing, high-resistivity Monterey shale via a horizontal wellbore, while implementing managed-pressure drilling (MPD) techniques to avoid formation damage. Initial project meetings were conducted in October 2003. The team confirmed that the demonstration well would be completed open-hole to minimize productivity impairment. Following an overview of the geologic setting and local field experience, critical aspects of the application were identified. At the pre-spud meeting in January 2004, the final well design was confirmed and the well programming/service company requirements assigned. Various design elements were reduced in scope due to significant budgetary constraints. Major alterations to the original plan included: (1) a VSP seismic survey was delayed to a later phase; (2) a new (larger) surface hole would be drilled rather than re-enter an existing …

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arlos L. Awalt. He was born in Brady, Texas, drafted into the Army, and inducted at Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio. After basic training at Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas, he took a troop train to New York Harbor and boarded the Louis S. Pasteur to Southhampton, England where he was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division, 424 Regiment, in the 81mm mortars in H Company, a heavy weapons company. They went right into the Battle of the Bulge where he suffered frost bite and pneumonia. Later assignments included the following: the occupation army in charge of prisoner of war camps interviewing POWs and displaced persons, serving at General Eisenhower's headquarters building in a little red schoolhouse in Rheims, France (where peace was later signed), in the Grand Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Germany where General Patton was officed, and in Renea Lanay, France. He served 22 months in the Army, 19 overseas - returning as a corporal. He received the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and two medals from the Belgian government.

Successful exploitation of the vast amount of heat stored beneath the earth’s surface in hydrothermal and fluid-limited, low permeability geothermal resources would greatly expand the Nation’s domestic energy inventory and thereby promote a more secure energy supply, a stronger economy and a cleaner environment. However, a major factor limiting the expanded development of current hydrothermal resources as well as the production of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is insufficient knowledge about the chemical processes controlling subsurface fluid flow. With funding from past grants from the DOE geothermal program and other agencies, we successfully developed advanced equation of state (EOS) and simulation technologies that accurately describe the chemistry of geothermal reservoirs and energy production processes via their free energies for wide XTP ranges. Using the specific interaction equations of Pitzer, we showed that our TEQUIL chemical models can correctly simulate behavior (e.g., mineral scaling and saturation ratios, gas break out, brine mixing effects, down hole temperatures and fluid chemical composition, spent brine incompatibilities) within the compositional range (Na-K-Ca-Cl-SO4-CO3-H2O-SiO2-CO2(g)) and temperature range (T < 350°C) associated with many current geothermal energy production sites that produce brines with temperatures below the critical point of water. The goal of research carried out under DOE grant …

This document was prepared as a groundwater quality assessment plan revision for the single-shell tank systems in Waste Management Area B-BX-BY at the Hanford Site. Groundwater monitoring is conducted at this facility in accordance with 40 CFR Part 265, Subpart F. In FY 1996, the groundwater monitoring program was changed from detection-level indicator evaluation to a groundwater quality assessment program when elevated specific conductance in downgradient monitoring well 299 E33-32 was confirmed by verification sampling. During the course of the ensuing investigation, elevated technetium-99 and nitrate were observed above the drinking water standard at well 299-E33-41, a well located between 241-B and 241-BX Tank Farms. Earlier observations of the groundwater contamination and tank farm leak occurrences combined with a qualitative analysis of possible solutions, led to the conclusion that waste from the waste management area had entered the groundwater and were observed in this well. Based on 40 CFR 265.93 [d] paragraph (7), the owner-operator must continue to make the minimum required determinations of contaminant level and rate/extent of migrations on a quarterly basis until final facility closure. These continued determinations are required because the groundwater quality assessment was implemented prior to final closure of the facility.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Arlos L. Awalt. He was born in Brady, Texas, drafted into the Army, and inducted at Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio. After basic training at Camp Wolters in Mineral Wells, Texas, he took a troop train to New York Harbor and boarded the Louis S. Pasteur to Southhampton, England where he was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division, 424 Regiment, in the 81mm mortars in H Company, a heavy weapons company. They went right into the Battle of the Bulge where he suffered frost bite and pneumonia. Later assignments included the following: the occupation army in charge of prisoner of war camps interviewing POWs and displaced persons, serving at General Eisenhower's headquarters building in a little red schoolhouse in Rheims, France (where peace was later signed), in the Grand Hotel in Bad Nauheim, Germany where General Patton was officed, and in Renea Lanay, France. He served 22 months in the Army, 19 overseas - returning as a corporal. He received the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and two medals from the Belgian government.

Coupled modeling of subsurface multiphase fluid and heat flow, solute transport, and chemical reactions can be applied to many geologic systems and environmental problems, including geothermal systems, diagenetic and weathering processes, subsurface waste disposal, acid mine drainage remediation, contaminant transport, and groundwater quality. TOUGHREACT has been developed as a comprehensive non-isothermal multi-component reactive fluid flow and geochemical transport simulator to investigate these and other problems. A number of subsurface thermo-physical-chemical processes are considered under various thermohydrological and geochemical conditions of pressure, temperature, water saturation, and ionic strength. TOUGHREACT can be applied to one-, two- or three-dimensional porous and fractured media with physical and chemical heterogeneity. The code can accommodate any number of chemical species present in liquid, gas and solid phases. A variety of equilibrium chemical reactions are considered, such as aqueous complexation, gas dissolution/exsolution, and cation exchange. Mineral dissolution/precipitation can take place subject to either local equilibrium or kinetic controls, with coupling to changes in porosity and permeability and capillary pressure in unsaturated systems. Chemical components can also be treated by linear adsorption and radioactive decay. The first version of the non-isothermal reactive geochemical transport code TOUGHREACT was developed (Xu and Pruess, 1998) by introducing reactive geochemistry into the …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The mission of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) includes administering a national network of refuges for the conservation, management, and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations. The refuges are unique in that they are the only federal lands managed primarily for the benefit of wildlife. The refuge system's 95 million acres, which represent more than 14 percent of all federal lands and are found in every state, include land that has always been federally owned and land that has been acquired from others. While the federal government owns almost all of the surface lands in the system, in many cases it does not own the subsurface mineral rights. Subject to some restrictions, owners of subsurface mineral rights have the legal authority to explore for mineral resources such as oil and gas and to extract resources that are found. In August 2003, we reported that oil and gas activities were occurring on many wildlife refuges and that little was known about the effects of those …

The objectives of this five-year project were: (1) to achieve improved understanding of the surface and interfacial properties of crude oils and their interactions with mineral surfaces, (2) to apply the results of surface studies to improve predictions of oil production from laboratory measurements, and (3) to use the results of this research to recommend ways to improve oil recovery by waterflooding.

The principal research efforts for Phase II of the project were drilling an infill well strategically located in Section 13, T. 10 N., R. 2 W., of the Womack Hill Field, Choctaw and Clarke Counties, Alabama, and obtaining fresh core from the upper Smackover reservoir to test the feasibility of implementing an immobilized enzyme technology project in this field. The Turner Land and Timber Company 13-10 No. 1 well was successfully drilled and tested at a daily rate of 132 barrels of oil in Section 13. The well has produced 27,720 barrels of oil, and is currently producing at a rate of 60 barrels of oil per day. The 13-10 well confirmed the presence of 175,000 barrels of attic (undrained) oil in Section 13. As predicted from reservoir characterization, modeling and simulation, the top of the Smackover reservoir in the 13-10 well is structurally high to the tops of the Smackover in offsetting wells, and the 13-10 well has significantly more net pay than the offsetting wells. The drilling and testing of the 13-10 well showed that the eastern part of the field continues to have a strong water drive and that there is no need to implement a pressure …

Strontium isotope compositions (87Sr/86Sr) measured in groundwater samples from 273 wells in the Pasco Basin unconfined aquifer below the Hanford Site show large and systematic variations that provide constraints on groundwater recharge, weathering rates of the aquifer host rocks, communication between unconfined and deeper confined aquifers, and vadose zone-groundwater interaction. The impact of millions of cubic meters of wastewater discharged to the vadose zone (103-105 times higher than ambient drainage) shows up strikingly on maps of groundwater 87Sr/86Sr. Extensive access through the many groundwater monitoring wells at the site allows for an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate the strontium geochemistry of a major aquifer, hosted primarily in unconsolidated sediments, and relate it to both long term properties and recent disturbances. Groundwater 87Sr/86Sr increases systematically from 0.707 to 0.712 from west to east across the Hanford Site, in the general direction of groundwater flow, as a result of addition of Sr from the weathering of aquifer sediments and from diffuse drainage through the vadose zone. The lower 87Sr/86Sr groundwater reflects recharge waters that have acquired Sr from Columbia River Basalts. Based on a steady-state model of Sr reactive transport and drainage, there is an average natural drainage flux of 0-1.4 mm/yr near …

A critical component of the State Water Resource Control Board's Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program is to assess the major threats to groundwater resources that supply drinking water to Californians (Belitz et al., 2004). Nitrate is the most pervasive and intractable contaminant in California groundwater and is the focus of special studies under the GAMA program. This report presents results of a study of nitrate contamination in the aquifer beneath the cities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy, CA, in the Llagas Subbasin of Santa Clara County, where high nitrate levels affect several hundred private domestic wells. The main objectives of the study are: (1) to identify the main source(s) of nitrate that issue a flux to the shallow regional aquifer (2) to determine whether denitrification plays a role in the fate of nitrate in the subbasin and (3) to assess the impact that a nitrate management plan implemented by the local water agency has had on the flux of nitrate to the regional aquifer. Analyses of 56 well water samples for major anions and cations, nitrogen and oxygen isotopes of nitrate, dissolved excess nitrogen, tritium and groundwater age, and trace organic compounds, show that synthetic fertilizer is the …

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Rusk, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with extensive advertising.

Many significant expenses encountered by the geothermal energy industry are related to chemical effects. When the composition, temperature of pressure of the fluids in the geological formation are changed, during reservoir evolution, well production, energy extraction or injection processes, the fluids that were originally at equilibrium with the formation minerals come to a new equilibrium composition, temperature and pressure. As a result, solid material can be precipitated, dissolved gases released and/or heat lost. Most geothermal energy operations experience these phenomena. For some resources, they create only minor problems. For others, they can have serious results, such as major scaling or corrosion of wells and plant equipment, reservoir permeability losses and toxic gas emission, that can significantly increase the costs of energy production and sometimes lead to site abandonment. In future operations that exploit deep heat sources and low permeability reservoirs, new chemical problems involving very high T, P rock/water interactions and unknown injection effects will arise.

Boiling temperature measurements have been made for saturated ternary solutions of NaCl + KNO{sub 3} + H{sub 2}O and NaNO{sub 3} + KNO{sub 3} + H{sub 2}O at three selected salt ratios and for NaCl + Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} + H{sub 2}O over the full composition range. The maximum boiling temperature found for the NaCl + Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} + H{sub 2}O system is 164.7 {+-} 0.6 C, and the composition is estimated to occur at x(Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}) {approx} 0.25. Experiments were also performed for the five component NaCl + NaNO{sub 3} + KNO{sub 3} + Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} + H{sub 2}O mixtures with the molar ratio of NaCl:NaNO{sub 3}:KNO{sub 3} held essentially constant at 1:0.9780:1.1468 as the solute mole fraction of Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}, x(Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}), was varied between 0 and 0.25. The NaCl + NaNO{sub 3} + KNO{sub 3} + Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2} + H{sub 2}O system forms low melting mixtures and thus boiling temperatures for saturated were not determined. Instead, the temperatures corresponding to the cessation of boiling (i.e., dry out temperatures) of these liquid mixtures were determined. These dry out temperatures range from {approx} 300 C when x(Ca(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}) = 0 to {ge} …

Weekly newspaper from De Leon, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Archer City, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from De Leon, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Holliday, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Rackley. Rackley was born in Nueces County, Texas, 26 April 1926. Graduating from high school in 1943, he was drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Wolters, Texas for basic training. Upon completion of basic he was sent to Camp Stoneman, California and went aboard the USS General John Pope (AP-110) for a 31 day trip to New Guinea. He was assigned to the 37th Infantry Division, 145th Infantry Regiment as a combat radio operator in the headquarters section to serve as radioman for the company commander. He landed at Bougainville and describes the difficulties encountered in landing, the heavy rains that fell and the high number of casualties. During January 1945, the division landed on Luzon unopposed with orders to recapture General MacArthur’s former residence. Rackley remembers being ordered to take Bilibid Prison in Manila and he tells of the condition of some of the former prisoners. After spending two weeks retaking Clark Field they were ordered to conduct mop-up operations. Rackley recalls heavy fighting during the operation and mentions his captain being seriously wounded as he used the radio. He recalls receiving a radio …