Letters to the Editor

Sunday 30 October 2011

Company claims safe way to remove contaminants from aquifers damaged by shale gas



Calgary-based company, McMillan-McGee Corp, is a company wholly dedicated to the complete remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater through it's patented process of ET-DISP, or Electro-Thermal Dynamic Stripping Process.

It works by electrical power heating the subsurface of the damaged area with electrodes. They are placed at various depths and locations optimized to the unique dimensions of a site. Electrical current to each electrode is controlled continuously by computer in uniform heating of the target contamination zone, making solvents runny enough to be pumped to the surface. Unlike many remediation processes in the oil and gas industry today,  ET-DISP doesn't require large quantities of fresh water to remediate soil and ground water.

Company founder Bruce McGee created the ET-DISP model in 1995, where other processes were found wanting, when it came to removing contaminants left subsurface from underground operations from the oil and gas companies in Alberta.

Company Vice-President Brent Winder said this technology is also feasible for removing contaminants from underground aquifers damaged due to shale gas fracking, as long as the toxic substance is a liquid. It doesn't work, for example, for removing contaminants from solids such as salt deposits.

For more information, you can click on the following line to go to the company's website: http://www.mcmillan-mcgee.com/mcmillan-mcgee/index.php