Environmental Impacts of Gas Well Drilling

How much of the water used in horizontal hydrofracing is recovered?
If the frac job is done correctly, most, if not all, the volume of water used in hydrofracing is returned, but its composition changes over time as saline formation water begins to mix in with the frac water and is recovered with it. The time it takes to recover the frac water depends on whether there is enough gas to push the water out of the hole, or if the water needs to be pumped (initially) to get the gas to flow and carry out the rest. Generally it takes about two weeks to recover the volume of water initially injected; after that the water recovered is generally considered formation water.

How can homeowners protect their private well supplies?
Penn State has a bulletin Gas Well Drilling and Your Private Water Supply addressing this question.

While possible adverse impacts to water quality are often associated with Natural Gas extraction, impacts to air quality are many times overlooked. Few people dispute that air pollution occurs from the use of diesel-powered drilling rigs, pick-up trucks, tractor-trailers, and earth moving equipment, in addition to the particulate matter dispersed from dust, natural gas flaring, and gas dehydration and separation equipment.  

What is disputed is the amount of air polution and what effects this pollution may have.  

In Sublette County, Wyoming, one of the most sparsely populated counties in the continental United States and home to massive natural gas fields, the State of Wyoming recently recommended “non-attainment” status be given by the EPA for ozone levels that breach the Clean Air Act for the past several years.  However, industry groups and other skeptics portend that the heightened ozone levels are the result of  a combination of industry pollutants and rare weather patterns that concentrate the ozone to unnatural levels, a feat they say is nearly un-reproducable in other areas or in a consistent manner. 

Meanwhile, in the Barnett Shale region of Texas, a recent report from  Southern Methodist University claims that trucks, compressors, and tank batteries produce more ozone-causing volatile organic compounds each day than do all the non-gas field cars and trucks operated in the entire Dallas -Ft. Worth region. However, industry trade groups counter that if the study were accurate, then ozone would have skyrocketed in recent years as drilling activity has exploded, but in fact ozone levels in Dallas Ft. Worth have decreased over the past several years. 

And while the previous two examples involve nearly Los Angeles-sized Ozone levels, the LA Times recently ran a story about a 18-year study that shows long-term exposure to even low levels of Ozone is lethal over time.

While the national newspapers are penning breathless stories on the demise of the natural gas drilling industry, energy firms with drilling programs in the Marcellus Shale are planning to dramatically expand their drilling operations in 2009, especially in Pennsylvania, according to an analysis of publicly released investor statements and local newspaper interviews with gas company officals. 

The major gas companies had an average of 18 or so drilling rigs targeting the Marcellus Shale formation by the end of 2008. Investor statements and newspaper interviews indicate this number will jump to 45 or more by the end of 2009.  While companies currently face multiple constraints from lowered commodity prices, limited water permitting and disposal availability, and limitied infrastructure capability, statements from gas company officials indicate that the energy companies are currently positioning themselves for  time frames of 2011 or 2012 when these constraints are expected to be mitigated. 

Here are a list of investor statements or interviews from some of the major Marcellus Shale drilling companies:

CABOT: Plans to stay at 6 drilling rigs  through 2009. 

RANGE: Plans to increase from 3 to 6 drilling rigs.
FORTUNA: Plans to increase from 1 to 5 drilling rigs. 
CHESAPEAKE: Plans to increase from 6 to 16 drilling rigs. 
CHIEF: Plans to increase from  1 to 6 drilling rigs
EOG: Plans to increase from from 0 to 1 drilling rigs

ATLAS: Plans to increase from 1 to 2 drilling rigs.

Natural gas drilling operations in Dimock, Pa., are violating laws to protect water and the public, Pennsylvania regulators have determined.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is holding Cabot Oil & Gas accountable for allowing natural gas from lower formations to contaminate fresh water supplies, according to a “Notice of Violation” sent to Cabot dated Feb. 27.

While tapping gas from the Marcellus Shale formation, the company has violated the state’s Oil and Gas Act and Clean Stream Laws, the notice states. Both of those regulations protect drinking water supplies from natural gas hazards.

Gas from Cabot drilling operations has migrated into an aquifer providing water for local residents, the DEP has determined. More than a dozen wells proving water to homes along and near Carter Road have been affected. Four have been taken offline and others have been vented.

Read the rest of the article at:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090310/NEWS01/903100336/1006

Announcing an open, educational forum on Natural Gas Drilling- Health Effects, Economics and the Watershed
Ithaca High School Cafeteria
1401 N. Cayuga Street, Ithaca
THURSDAY, MARCH 26
7:00 – 9:15 pm
Light refreshments and seating begin at 6:30
Keynote Speaker: Albert F. Appleton,
former NY City Commissioner of Environmental Protection
Presentations also by Barbara Arrindell and Joe Levine of
Damascus Citizens for Sustainability
Al Appleton is an international consultant on water resource management, the environmental management of watershed and rural landscapes, and the economics of sustainable development. Mr. Appleton also teaches research seminars on sustainability at Cooper Union and Hunter College City University graduate program. As NY City Commissioner of Environmental Protection in the 1990s, he designed and initiated the world renowned Catskill watershed protection program.

Sponsored by: Social Ventures, Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga, CRESP Center for Transformative Action, Sustainable Tompkins, Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell, Ithaca Health Alliance, Back to Democracy, Shaleshock Citizens Coalition.

For more information, call 202-368-8753.
Please share this announcement with others.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

Fortuna Energy held a public meeting at the Van Etten High School auditorium near Spencer, NY on Wednesday March 4th regarding their plans to test water injection into the Mallula #1 well in Chemung County. The company plans to test the water storage capabilities of the well and target formation. 

Fortuna engineers on hand said the 9.500 foot deep test well is a currently a gas well in the Trenton Black River Formation that is nearing the end of production. Fortuna plans to inject an initial 2,000 gallons of Brine water into the formation and test water pressure levels over the course of a month.  

The engeneers explained that the level of drop in water pressure over time will indicate the ultimate storage capacity of the formation, and if the pressure drops to an acceptable level after a month the company will repeat the injection process to perform further testing.  

The company expects initial down-hole water pressures of approximately 5000 PSI.  The Engineers explained that the 5000 PSI required is indeed comparable to the pressures used in Hydraulic Fracturing of the Marcellus Shale, however the Trenton Black River geologic formation is such that pressures greater than 50,000 psi would be needed to rupture the target zone.  The company also expressed their confidence that there is no possibly of underground migration of the water and that proper testing and bonding would be performed. 

The company says that if successful, they currently plan to inject only produced Brine water from Trenton Black River wells and not used “frac water” from Marcellus Shale operations, although they said it was possible they could choose to do so in the future. The company said it is also planning to test an injection well in northern Pennsylvania, but noted that except for these few areas, the vast majority of geology in the region is not favorable to water storage.  

-Jeffrey

Public Forum on Local Disposal of Spent Hydrofracturing Fluids
Wednesday, March 4th, 6 PM
Spencer-Van Etten High School Auditorium
16 Dartt Cross Rd. off Route 224, Spencer NY

Injection wells are the number one choice on DEC’s scoping document for disposal of spent frac fluids. In order to accommodate the scope of development anticipated in the Marcellus Shale, there would need to hundreds of injection sites accross our region.

The CitizensEnergyAlliance announces the following public forum hosted by Fortuna Energy Corporation of Horseheads NY (see attached press release), concerning storage of hydrofracturing (“fracking”) drilling waste water in spent Southern Tier gas wells, a process that has already been permitted by the DEC (NYS Department of Environmental Conservationwww.dec.ny.gov) and which is scheduled to proceed in the testing phase in the Mallula well in Van Etten NY, Chemung County this summer.
Fortuna Energy chemists, engineers, legal and public relations advisors will be on hand to present information, receive comments and answer questions from the public, local officials and residents.

For further information:

Citizen’s Energy Alliance: Autumn Stoschek 607-229-0230

jlobdell@fortunaene rgy.com Horseheads HQ Public Relations, Fortuna Energy 607-562-4000

Fortuna Energy Good Neighbor Hotline (866-566-4747)

Some of you may be interested in the Cornell Engineering Colloquium talk today, which is open to the public. Sherri Stuewer, a Cornell Trustee and Vice President, Environmental Policy & Planning Exxon Mobil Corporation is speaking on Oil and Natural Gas – Sustainable in a World with CO2 Constraints? The talk is Wednesday, March 4 in B17 Upson Hall.

Susan Riha, WRI Director