Fracking: New drilling method prompts concerns

http://tribune-democrat.com/local/x1531215899/Fracking-New-drilling-method-prompts-concerns
December 13, 2010

Fracking: New drilling method prompts concerns

By Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

John Slesinger of Elton stands next to drums of water he keeps in his basement after he says his well was contaminated by a nearby drilling operation.

JOHNSTOWN — Mention Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and the subject of “fracking” quickly follows.

Fracking – hydraulic fracturing – is the process used to crack open the deep, dense shale bed that lies more than a mile below earth’s surface.

Estimates are that the Marcellus abundance is so great that Pennsylvania likely will have as many as 100,000 wells in years to come, changing the landscape dramatically.

Knowledge of the gas in the shale bed is not new, but the technology to go after it is new.

Drilling companies are now capable of drilling straight down into the Marcellus Shale, and then outward at an angle into the slanted shale bed.

Fracking involves pumping large volumes of water and sand into a drilled area to break the shale fissures to push out the gas that lies between them.

Geologists, hydrobiologists and the gas industry say fracking has been around for 60 years, not only in the oil-rich Southwest, but in the Northeast.

Fracking has been used safely and efficiently across the U.S. for more than 60 years, and in Pennsylvania since shortly after World War II, according to the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, which wrote: “The goal of the fracking process is to create a pathway of man-made cracks in the rock that allow gas to flow from the shale into the well bore.”

Improved technology allowed for a greater water volume and changes in chemical additives used in the process. That opened the door for the deep shale gases to be reached more economically, said hydrogeologist David Yoxtheimer of Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.

A bendable well casing is turned horizonally about 500 feet above the Marcellus bed.

The fracking is done through lateral drillings that are 2,000 to 7,000 feet long – opening up a natural gas drainage area.

One well pad with four or more wells can drain the natural gas from a square mile, said Michael Arthur, a geologist and MCOR co-director.

Research being done at Penn State may lead to the use of carbon dioxide and propane in the fracking process. But water continues to be the most common means, Yoxtheimer said.

‘Most previous resource’

The magnitude of the drilling/fracking process, the large volumes of water needed and the potential release of chemicals into nearby waterways concerns many people, including environmentalists.

A recent Tribune-Democrat Web poll of 2,034 readers showed that 1,226, or 60 percent, were concerned about the risks of fracking. A total of 478, or 24 precent, thought the process is safe, while 329, or 16 percent, indicated they have no knowledge of the fracking process.

Ralph Kimber, a Williams-port resident and a member of Responsible Drilling Alliance of Lycoming County, fears there is much that may be learned after the wells are already installed and operational.

“Water will be the most precious resource in the world by the end of this century,” Kimber said.

Others think the concerns are exaggerated.

The Ground Water Protection Council, a national group whose mission is to safeguard water sources, stated in a 2009 report that the potential for groundwater contamination due to hydraulic fracturing is remote.

A huge concern is the potential for human error and carelessness.

The state Department of Environmental Protection reported late last week that it had fined RN Industries Trucking Inc. $3,000 for allegedly storing drilling wastewater in five tanks at a site in Clearfield County.

An April inspection revealed that there were 1,950 barrels, or about 82,000 gallons, of the wastewater on the site in Sandy Township. No spillage or ground contamination was reported, said Dan Spadoni of DEP’s regional office in Williamsport.

A May follow-up inspection showed the site was no longer being used for storage and the wastewater had been removed.

The fine money was put into the state’s Solid Waste Abatement Fund to help pay for environmental cleanups statewide, Spadoni said.

‘Minimum of chemicals’

A concern echoed across the state is the large amount of water that fracking requires   – usually between 3 million and 5 million gallons per well, with some well pads hosting six to eight wells.

The water sources vary, but much of the fracking water in Pennsylvania comes from groundwater sources – including local streams and rivers – or is purchased from municipal water companies.

While an increasing number of drilling companies are building pipelines to move water to well sites, much water continues to be transported in tanker trucks.

Water makes up 95 percent of the fracking mix, with sand accounting for 4.5 percent. The rest is comprised of small amounts of various compounds  – hydrochloric acid, friction reducers and corrosive inhibitors, Yoxtheimer said.

The solution is mixed at the well site before high pressure injection.

An estimated 70 chemicals can be used in the fracturing process, but most drillers use very few, sometimes only three or four.

“On any given frack job, they’re using a minimum of chemicals,” Yoxtheimer said.

The fracking begins with a “charge” – a big bullet of lead or metal sent into the well. The force punctures through the shale. The water, sand and chemicals are then pumped in, Yoxtheimer said.

Engineers with Chief Gas and Oil call the puncturing device a “perf gun,” which is inserted into the drilled well. The gun uses an electrical current to set off small gunpowder-filled caps to create holes in the shale.

The sand holds the fractures open, allowing the natural gas to escape up the well. The chemicals are needed to allow the process to happen, Yoxtheimer said.

For example, he said, a surfactant reduces surface tension of the water; potassium chloride reduces friction; hydrochloric acid cleans out any cement and prevents clogging.

The industry is striving to reduce the number of chemicals, Yoxtheimer said.

Chief – which has a number of wells in the Cambria-Somerset region – has made progress, said Kristi Gittins, vice president of public affairs.

“We’ve been doing this for 12 years, and we use fewer chemicals now than we ever have,” Gittins said.

DEP’s new Marcellus well and drilling regulations require gas companies to disclose the chemicals used in a well.

‘A lot more stuff’

The fracking is done in an area of geology formed 400 million years ago, an area which once served as ocean floor and today has salt levels 10 times that of sea water, geologists say.

The bulk of the water used for fracking remains in the ground.

Currently, the most troubling part of the process for many is the estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of the frack water that comes back out of the pressurized well. Sometimes the amount can be as high as 20 percent. The back-flow contains some of the chemicals sent down the well, which then have mixed with salty solutions that have formed over hundreds of millions of years.

Frack back-flow has historically been hauled from well sites for processing at approved treatment plants.

But as state regulations have been tightened concerning where and how the water is to be treated. That has, in turn, increased the numbers of drillers who are recycling the water or treating it on-site for reuse, Yoxtheimer said.

The Marcellus formation is relatively dry and has the ability to absorb the 80 percent to 90 percent of the water, sand and chemical solution that remains in the well after the fracturing, Yoxtheimer said.

“Ideally there wouldn’t be any interaction or noticeable disturbance,” he said.

Dennis Beck, chairman of the Cambria County Conservation District’s Water Resources and Watershed Development Committee, sees the potential for big problems.

Beck, who also is a member of the Portage Water Authority, would like to see clearer identification on tanker trucks used when the frack water overflow is taken from a well site.

Generally, signage says the tankers are carrying “brine and residual waste.”

“There is a lot more stuff in there than salty water,” he said.

If a tanker comes around the north of Blue Knob and flips over on the Route 164 hairpin curve at the reservoir, significant problems could result, Beck said.

“The firemen will look at that placard and think it’s just brine and wash it off the highway into the reservoir,” Beck said.