Penn State Professor Discusses Marcellus Shale and Water Quality

Bryan Swistock, Ph.D., spoke at the Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference at Lehigh University March 11.

Although the Lehigh Valley does not sit atop the Marcellus Shale, the extraction of natural gas from this geological formation in other parts of Pennsylvania was a hot topic at the recent Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference.

The conference, held at Lehigh University’s Packard Lab March 11, attracted dozens of environmentalists, naturalists, elected officials, fishermen, academics and businesspeople to hear speakers like Bruce Swistock, Ph.D., who delivered a “Report on Marcellus Shale and Water Quality Across Pennsylvania.”

Introduced by Lehigh professor of earth and environmental science Frank Pazzaglia, Ph.D., Swistock is a professor with Penn State University’s Water Resources Extension and a leading authority on the impact of fracking on water quality in the Keystone State.

That impact has grown as the number of gas wells has grown exponentially since 2007, he pointed out.

In 2007, there were just 27 wells in Pennsylvania. In 2008, there were 161 wells; in 2009, there were 785 wells; and in 2010, there were 1,213 wells, primarily throughout rural central and northern Pennsylvania.

“It’s really our old gas drilling on steroids,” he said. “Everything is much, much bigger.”

In some parts of the state, where the Marcellus Shale formation is very thick, some residents have literally become “overnight millionaires” from selling drilling rights to natural gas extraction companies, with lease rates of $6,000 to $7,000 per acre and royalties of 20 to 25 percent, Swistock said.

Along with the direct impacts from drilling, emotion over the benefits versus the environmental consequences of natural gas drilling has increased dramatically, Swistock told his audience.

“In the last three years I’ve done dozens of programs where there are police,” he said, adding that in areas where drilling isn’t permitted people tend to be angry that they’re forbidden from tapping into the voluminous natural gas reserves 5,000 to 10,000 feet beneath their properties. In areas where gas drilling is permitted, people tend to be angrier over the prevalence and impact of drilling, he said.

“People who have their own water supplies are very concerned about what Marcellus might do to their groundwater,” he said. “Nobody knows exactly how many wells will be drilled when this is all said and done.”

In terms of regulations, Pennsylvania lags behind, with many of its regulations for Marcellus Shale drilling dating from 1984, Swistock said.

For example, the bonds required to cover the cost of water supply replacement are only equal to $2,500, he said.

There are no regulations on seismic testing in Pennsylvania and 3D seismic testing with dynamite is allowed without setbacks, he added.

When it comes to water quality in the areas surrounding where drilling is occurring, the issues related to Marcellus Shale are numerous, he continued.

Sediments and detergents may be used in the fracking process–a process which can result in waste fluids containing “very high” levels of radionuclides, including radium and uranium, being brought to the surface, Swistock said.

Benzine–a carcinogen–has also been found in waste fluids associated with fracking, with an average of four to five million gallons of fresh water needed for each horizontal well drilled, Swistock said.

In many cases access to the water needed for fracking is under landowner control, and although property owners can’t legally sell their water in Pennsylvania, they can charge a trespass fee to individuals accessing it, Swistock explained.

Of the 50 states, Alaska and Pennsylvania “are the only two states that don’t regulate private water systems at all,” Swistock said, referencing the wells from which most people in rural parts of the state obtain their drinking water. “We find that only about 5 percent of the water wells we tested have sanitary construction that would be required in 48 other states.”

For residents whose private wells are located near fracking sites “the only way you can really prove a water supply problem is if you have pre-drilling and post-drilling data,” he added.

This is especially true because many wells were never tested before Marcellus Shale drilling began and may have had “pre-existing” problems such as methane contamination, making it difficult to know if the methane in them is the result of methane gas migration from nearby fracking operations, he said.

For wells located within 1,000 feet of a gas well and tested within six months of drilling, there is a “presumed responsibility” on the part of those drilling for gas, he said.

Swistock cautioned against pulling YouTube-type stunts such as lighting a faucet on fire, which he said can be done if high levels of methane are contaminating the water supply.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do,” he commented.

For homeowners who want to test and monitor their wells there are devices available, but they can be expensive, he added.

“I’ve had a lot of people at programs crying because they want to protect their water but they can’t afford testing,” he said. “They feel very helpless.”

“There are no easy answers,” he concluded, before answering questions from audience members.

Among the entities sponsoring the watershed conference were the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, the Northampton County Conservation District, Wildlands Conservancy the Lehigh County Conservation District, the Saucon Creek Watershed Association, Lower Macungie Township and Lower Saucon Township.

By Josh Popichak
March 21, 2011

http://hellertown.patch.com/articles/penn-state-professor-discusses-marcellus-shale-and-water-quality