EPA serves public interest
citizensvoice.com/news/epa-serves-public-interest-1.1261500#axzz1kIQ5EBAW
Published: January 24, 2012
The Corbett administration’s recent characterization of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as naive interlopers evaporated like so much gas last week.
Federal investigators began testing water supplies for 61 homes in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, and delivering clean water to four homes where independent testing has found health threats in contaminated water.
In December, the state Department of Environmental Protection ignored the state constitutional guarantee of clean water for Pennsylvanians, and allowed Cabot Oil & Gas Co. to stop delivering clean water to the affected homes in Dimock, on grounds that the company had fulfilled terms of an agreement.
That agreement between the DEP and the company required Cabot to create escrow accounts for the twice the value of affected properties and to offer water filtration systems.
The issue isn’t fulfilling agreements but determining whether drilling and hydraulic fracturing adversely affect the water supply. Yet when the Environmental Protection Agency continued its investigation, Michael Krancer, secretary of the state environmental agency, claimed that the federal agency had only a “rudimentary” understanding of the situation.
In water samples from eight Dimock properties, an EPA toxicologist had found “noteworthy concentrations” of chemicals that do not occur naturally in the local water.
To ensure that its understanding of the situation is not “rudimentary,” the EPA comprehensively will test water samples from a 9-square-mile area and fill in gaps it has found in the data complied by other parties, including Krancer’s agency.
Beyond the local water quality issue, the EPA’s investigation is nationally significant. It follows another EPA inquiry in Wyoming that, for the first time, indicates a link between hydraulic fracturing – the process used to extract gas from deep shale deposits – and contaminated ground water.
Given the abundance of shale gas and its growing role in the nation’s energy portfolio, it’s crucial to gain a comprehensive understanding of the environmental consequences of its extraction. In seeking those answers, the EPA serves the public interest.
Pa. needs state standards for natural gas wells
www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120119/OPINION01/120119610/-1/opinion/pa-needs-state-standards-for-natural-gas-wells-&pager=full_story
Opinion: Posted: 01/19/12
The Pennsylvania natural gas frenzy began years ago, but still the state remains one of two in the nation with no statewide standards for private water well construction.
According to the state Department of Environmental protection, 3 million Pennsylvanians rely on water from 1 million wells. Some 13,000 to 15,000 new wells are drilled every year.
Furthermore, researchers have shown that 40 percent of 700 wells sampled since 2006 were
compromised in terms of safe drinking water standards, according to Capitolwire.com.
The most frequent health-affecting pollutant, Coliform bacteria, showed up in one-third of the tested wells. E.coli bacteria, which originates from either human or animal waste, was found in 14 percent of the wells tested.
That’s not much of a surprise in a state known for its intensive animal farming operations. But it argues powerfully for some kind of construction standard. Researchers said poor well construction was a factor.Right now all one has to do to dig a well is sign a form and obtain a drilling rig.
That’s pretty astounding, even if all we had to worry about was biological waste. But wait, there’s more.
One of the recommendations made by Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission last year was establishment of construction standards on new private water wells, according to Rep. Ron Miller, R-York. Natural gas drillers, by the way, denied all responsibility for that part of the report.
In any event, Miller has sponsored legislation to authorize the Environmental Quality Board to establish statewide water well construction regulations based on National Groundwater Association standards.
The Legislature should enact that bill as soon as possible.
Once again, we have another instance of Pennsylvania public health standards struggling to catch up with intensive industrial activity, in this case by agriculture and natural gas fracking.
But, hey, better late than never, right?
Special to The Mercury, Chambersburg Public Opinion
EPA News Release: EPA to Begin Sampling Water at Some Residences in Dimock, Pa.
Contact: white.terri-a@epa.gov 215-814-5523
PHILADELPHIA (Jan. 19, 2012) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it plans to perform water sampling at approximately 60 homes in the Carter Road/Meshoppen Creek Road area of Dimock, Pa. to further assess whether any residents are being exposed to hazardous substances that cause health concerns. EPA’s decision to conduct sampling is based on EPA’s review of data provided by residents, Cabot Oil and Gas, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
“EPA is working diligently to understand the situation in Dimock and address residents’ concerns,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “We believe that the information provided to us by the residents deserves further review, and conducting our own sampling will help us fill information gaps. Our actions will be based on the science and the law and we will work to help get a more complete picture of water quality for these homes in Dimock.”
The sampling will begin in a matter of days and the agency estimates that it will take at least three weeks to sample all the homes. All sampling is contingent on access granted to the property. EPA expects validated results from quality-tested lab to be available in about five weeks after samples are taken.
In addition, EPA is taking action to ensure delivery of temporary water supplies to four homes where data reviewed by EPA indicates that residents’ well water contains levels of contaminants that pose a health concern. EPA will reevaluate this decision when it completes sampling of the wells at these four homes. Current information on other wells does not support the need for alternative water at this time. However, the information does support the need for further sampling.
Natural gas plays a key role in our nation’s clean energy future and the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that the development of this vital resource occurs safely and responsibly. At the direction of Congress, and separate from this limited sampling, EPA has begun a national study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.
For additional information regarding this site please visit the website at: http://www.epaosc.org/dimock_residential_groundwater
Well safety bill heads to governor
citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/well-safety-bill-heads-to-governor-1.1259551#axzz1jv2b8ZOm
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: January 19, 2012
HARRISBURG – A bill requiring Marcellus well operators to upgrade safety procedures is headed to Gov. Tom Corbett’s desk following final approval today in the Senate.
The measure sponsored by Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, requires operators of new and existing wells to provide sophisticated siting information to emergency responders and develop response plans to deal with accidents and spills.
“Senate Bill 995 fills a gaping information hole,” Baker said. “When something goes wrong, having emergency information posted at the site, and a plan that is shared with key emergency personnel, are vital parts of a risk reduction plan.”
The bill specifies that operators are to post signs at the well site bearing their GPS coordinates so firefighters, ambulance crews and hazmat teams know where wells and access roads are located and also to register those coordinates with county and state officials.
The Department of Environmental Protection is directed under the bill to write regulations on an emergency basis to implement the bill.
This will allow quicker enforcement of the law, Baker said. Otherwise, the regulations would have to be reviewed by the Independent Regulatory Review Commission – a process that could take up to 18 months, she added.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
Residents challenge drilling legislation
republicanherald.com/news/residents-challenge-drilling-legislation-1.1259054
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF)
Published: January 18, 2012
HARRISBURG – A local resident referred to Dallas Township’s experience with Marcellus industry facilities Tuesday as a key reason to oppose impact fee legislation that would make the state attorney general referee in disputes over gas zoning ordinances.
“Taking local zoning controls from municipalities is not good for the citizens of Pennsylvania,” said Diane Dreier.
Dreier spoke at a Capitol rally where a coalition of groups called for defeat of impact fee legislation approved by both the Senate and House. Members of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition of Luzerne attended the rally held as lawmakers returned to session from a holiday recess.
The groups’ critique focused on provisions in both bills that they say provide for state preemption of local decision-making about drilling activities.
Both measures include provisions where a driller could ask the attorney general to determine whether a gas ordinance is reasonable or not. If a municipality persists in keeping an ordinance rejected by the attorney general, it would lose out on any impact fee revenue.
Faced with plans in recent years by gas companies to build compressor stations and other infrastructure within proximity to the Dallas school district campus, the township supervisors recently amended the zoning ordinance to balance the need for gas development with the rights of local residents and protection of property values, said Dreier.
This amendment allowed the township to put safety conditions on the siting of gas metering stations, said Dreier. The township’s ability to set these kinds of condition would end if the impact fee bills in their current form are enacted, she added.
The impact fee legislation would erode a system where land use and comprehensive plans are developed with grassroots participation, said Roberta Winters, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania.
“Land use should depend on those with first hand knowledge of the terrain not those in an office with satellite technology,” she added.
The attorney general will look out for the interests of municipalities under the gas ordinance review provisions, said Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-25, Jefferson County, who drafted the Senate-approved bill.
Many municipalities where drilling is taking place lack zoning ordinances because of concerns about enforcement costs and opposition of local residents, he added.
“Nobody should be more above reproach than the attorney general,” said Scarnati.
Scarnati is pushing for a three-way agreement among the House, Senate and Corbett administration on impact fee legislation before the governor’s state budget address Feb. 7. He said it will be more difficult to find a compromise once debate over the next state budget starts.
A standalone Marcellus bill moving to passage
citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/a-standalone-marcellus-bill-moving-to-passage-1.1258401#axzz1jdK8S8y1
By Robert Swift (Staff Writer)
Published: January 17, 2012
HARRISBURG – Marcellus Shale well operators would be required to provide sophisticated siting information and develop an emergency response plan under legislation moving close to final passage this week.
Sen. Lisa Baker
The wellsite safety bill sponsored by Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, is one of a few bills addressing Marcellus drilling that’s moving separately from comprehensive impact fee legislation that includes stronger regulation of drilling activities.
The measure requires operators to post signs at the wellsite bearing their GPS coordinates, give the coordinates to local, county and state emergency officials and develop response plans. The bill specifies this information is to be posted on reflective signs at both the access road entrance and well pad.
Baker, who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, developed the bill to ensure that firefighters, ambulance crews and hazmat teams know where wells are being planned and where the access roads are.
“The changes will reduce the risk for workers, first responders and the community when things go wrong,” she said.
This safety measure has been approved by both the Senate and House once. A vote scheduled today in the Senate Rules Committee should move the bill to a final vote on the Senate floor so it can be sent to Gov. Tom Corbett for signing.
As lawmakers return from a holiday recess, three-way negotiations continue privately between the Corbett administration and Republican-controlled House and Senate over the impact fee bill.
Meanwhile, the House Finance Committee scheduled a vote Wednesday on a bill sponsored by Rep. Sandra Major, R-Montrose, to earmark 5 percent of the rents and royalties paid to the state Oil and Gas Lease Fund from drilling on most state-owned land to a small stream improvement program run by the state Department of Environmental Protection.
This program oversees projects to reduce flooding, prevent stream bank erosion and restore degraded stream channels, all factors cited by state and local emergency officials recently as contributing to the destructiveness of last fall’s flooding in the Susquehanna River Basin.
The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative research agency, will hold a session Thursday on efforts to clean streams of debris and sediment. The meeting is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Sullivan County Conservation District, Route 487, Dushore.
“The listening session will allow us to hear from local officials and residents impacted by the flooding so that we can work to improve and enhance state regulations for stream maintenance,” said Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Towanda, who chairs the center.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
More injection wells proposed for Pa. sites
citizensvoice.com/news/more-injection-wells-proposed-for-pa-sites-1.1258379#axzz1jdK8S8y1
By Kent Jackson (Staff Writer)
Published: January 17, 2012
Pennsylvania has only six injection wells like the one thought to have triggered earthquakes in Youngstown, Ohio, which is why gas companies from Pennsylvania sent drilling liquid to the Youngstown well for disposal.
Citizens respond to speakers during a community forum to discuss recent seismic activity related to deep wastewater injection wells, in Youngstown, Ohio, on Jan. 11. In Ohio, injection wells have been blamed for an increased in seismic activity. Pennsylvania has six such wells with two more proposed for Warren County.
Ohio has more than 175 injection wells. Two more wells are proposed in Pennsylvania’s Warren County, said Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Injection wells are used to store waste deep underground, well below water tables, and generally have a good track record around the nation. Some states, including oil producers Texas and Oklahoma, have hundreds of them. In Pennsylvania, the site of history’s first oil well, injection wells never gained popularity, partly because one malfunctioned. Paper mill waste pumped into an injection well in Erie County in the 1970s returned to the surface.
Now earthquakes are the unintended occurrence at one of Ohio’s wells. Since the well was drilled on Dec. 23, 2010, near Youngstown, 11 earthquakes have occurred in the vicinity. After studying readings from seismic monitors placed near the well in November, Columbia University professor John Armbruster said the most recent earthquake on Dec. 31 occurred at the same depth as the well. Armbruster said the well probably caused that quake, the largest so far, which registered magnitude 4.
Afterward, Ohio Gov. John Kasich halted injection drilling near the well.
In March 2011, Arkansas stopped developing new injection wells in a small area of the state after a series of earthquakes, the largest of which reached magnitude 4.7.
Well operators plugged four wells due to the order, whereas more than 700 wells remain in use in the state, Lawrence Bengal, director of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, said in an email.
Since the moratorium, some seismic activity has continued in Arkansas, but the number and magnitude of the events has decreased, Bengal said.
In Ohio, the earthquakes have not been powerful enough to damage property.
Moreover, nothing indicates that drilling natural gas wells in Pennsylvania has triggered earthquakes.
Gas wells generally are shallower than injection wells and receive lower volumes of liquid. The liquid pumped into gas wells flows back to the surface, whereas it remains underground in injection wells.
In Pennsylvania, companies drilling gas wells seek to reduce the amount of flowback water that they have to put in injection wells or other disposal sites.
Right now, companies recycle more than 70 percent of the fluid flowing back to the surface after drilling and hydraulically fracturing wells for natural gas, said Travis Windle, a spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
“Many operators are near a 100 percent recycle rate,” Windle said.
Recycling is better for the environment and for the budgets of gas companies. By reusing water, companies save on disposal costs and reduce the number of trucks hauling water to wells and carting away waste liquid.
The waste contains water that collects salt and from underground sources, plus sand and chemicals used in the fracturing or fracking process.
Even as technology improvements allow gas companies to recycle a higher percentage of the fluid, some fraction of the liquid still remains as waste to discard.
DEP rules forbid gas companies from treating wastewater and disposing it in streams or rivers, which means injection wells will continue to fill a need.
Lack of planning for wastewater disposal and seismic activity at injection wells in Ohio and Arkansas was the first reason that watershed and wilderness groups cited when recommending revisions to New York’s draft statement on the environmental impact of gas drilling.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates injection wells, but has no rules against locating wells near faults.
“Other than using common sense when siting these wells, I am not sure that additional regulation would help,” Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences at Penn State University, said in an email.
Engelder said the earthquakes in Youngstown are so small that the faults involved might be invisible to seismic imaging equipment used to examine underground formations.
Before gas companies drill a gas well, Windle said, technicians bounce transmissions of underground rocks to understand the rock’s depth, thickness and potential for holding natural gas.
Fault lines would discourage drillers because earthquakes could damage wells and pipelines.
“It’s not in the company’s interest to produce in a high-risk area near fault lines,” Windle said.
Engelder said fracking a well in the Marcellus Shale touches off thousands of tiny tremors.
“None are felt because they are very, very small,” he said.
Human activity, however, caused more substantial earthquakes, for example, in the 1960s at South African gold mines. The U.S. Army stopped using an injection well at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City, Colo., in 1966 because of worries that the well caused earthquakes.
Drillers seeking to tap sources of geothermal energy also have caused earthquakes in Basel, Switzerland and Landau, Germany, Philadelphia author Reese Palley writes in “The Answer: Why Only Mini Nuclear Power Plants Can Save the World.”
kjackson@standardspeaker.com, 570-455-3636
Jan. 19 webinar to look at seismic testing with Marcellus gas play
live.psu.edu/story/57147#nw69
Thursday, January 12, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Web-based seminar sponsored by Penn State Extension will examine seismic testing associated with Marcellus gas development in Pennsylvania.
A seismic testing -- or thumper -- truck is now a common sight in Pennsylvania.
Titled “Seismic Testing: What’s It All About?”, the 75-minute webinar will begin at 1 p.m. on Jan. 19. Presenters will be Kenneth Hall, of Kenneth Hall Consulting Services of Snow Shoe, Pa., and Dennis Langlois, of Houston, Appalachian region sales and marketing manager for CGG Veritas.
Hall is a retired financial adviser who has been involved in natural-gas leasing and investment for more than 15 years. He manages more than 30,000 acres of gas rights in northern Centre County and has negotiated gas leases on more than 40,000 acres.
Langlois has been in the seismic business for 32 years, the past 24 years with CGG Veritas Land Surveys. He started working on field crews in an entry-level position and worked his way up to his current job.
During the Jan. 19 webinar, Hall will discuss the potential problems that may be encountered with seismic testing and conditions property owners should require prior to approving the testing.
“Attaching conditions to the approval will minimize any potential conflicts,” he said, noting that he has been assisting property owners and mineral owners with their conflicts for many years.
“I have seen seismic testing from all sides: surface owners who do not own their mineral rights, leaseholders, gas companies and seismic companies. My experience with the potential conflicts of each party gives me unique insight into seismic-testing issues.”
Langlois will offer a slide presentation, giving a brief summary of events that take place in acquiring a 3-D seismic survey, from the initial contact with the landowners until his company has acquired the data and left the area.
“The slide presentation will show maps with surface abstracts and the recording grid needed to image the subsurface,” he said. “There also will be pictures showing the different operations and the equipment that will be used to acquire this data.”
Langlois hopes webinar participants will ask questions about the process because he is hoping to dispel misconceptions and clarify misinformation about seismic-testing operations.
The webinar is part of a monthly series of online workshops addressing opportunities and challenges related to the state’s Marcellus Shale gas boom. Information about how to register for the session is available on the webinar page of Penn State Extension’s natural-gas website.
< http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars >
Future webinars will focus on transportation patterns and impacts from Marcellus development, and municipalities’ roles related to water use and protection.
Previous webinars, publications and information also are available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website, < http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas > covering topics such as air pollution from gas development; the gas boom’s effect on landfills; water use and quality; zoning; gas-leasing considerations for landowners; implications for local communities; gas pipelines and right-of-way issues; legal issues surrounding gas development; and the impact of Marcellus gas development on forestland.
For more information, contact John Turack, extension educator based in Westmoreland County, at 724-837-1402 or by email at jdt15@psu.edu.
Penn State Extension – Natural Gas
Natural Gas < http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas >
Marcellus shale has the potential to affect many parts of Pennsylvania. Since 2001, we have been actively helping citizens, landowners, businesses, local governments, and others understand the opportunities and challenges arising from Marcellus shale. Let us help you, too.
Webinars < http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars/ >
This series includes the upcoming webinar schedule, and the recorded webinars and related materials.
Old gas wells bring risks of chemicals
www.timesleader.com/news/Old_gas_wells_bring_risks_of_chemicals_01-17-2012.html
TIMOTHY PUKO Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
January 17, 2012
PITTSBURGH — Almost all of the 20 homeowners in Belmar pay to run a water chlorination system to replace what was free well water from an Allegheny River aquifer. In the 1980s, an oil driller polluted the water, in part, they believe, by dumping waste brine into abandoned oil wells that could date to the 1800s, when Edwin L. Drake set off the boom by tapping his famous well in Titusville.
Today the latest gas-drilling rush in the Marcellus Shale may bring an opportunity to plug many of those old wells, but it also brings the risk that old wells could create a path for gas and chemicals to migrate into soil and water.
“The whole area up here is like Swiss cheese,” said Howard Weltner, 80, secretary-treasurer of Belmar Association Inc., which operates the treatment system. “It just has holes through all the different strata in the ground, so there’s an awful lot of opportunities for contamination of the groundwater. And I think a lot of people are concerned about it, and a lot more communities are getting a public system” to replace water wells.
Most of the state’s abandoned wells are in western Pennsylvania. They arc though McKean, Venango and Butler counties and, in smaller clusters, around the Pittsburgh area.
Unplugged wells pose risks of illegal dumping, water pollution, cave-ins, gas seepage and even explosions, but the state can afford to plug only about 130 a year. At that rate, it could take the state more than 61 years to plug the 8,262 remaining wells that officials know about, and more than 1,350 years to plug the rest — if crews could find them.
In the past, drillers abandoned wells because there was no rule that said they couldn’t. Companies that no longer exist cannot be held liable.
The rejuvenation of the fuel-drilling industry in Pennsylvania could provide a chance to deal with abandoned wells, officials say. With the backing of Gov. Tom Corbett, the Senate and House in November passed preliminary bills that would establish “impact fees” on the industry, and some of that money would be put toward plugging old wells.
Drillers pay a surcharge when they obtain permits, which amounts to about $1.5 million annually that the state uses to plug wells, according to DEP figures. The cost of plugging can vary. DEP contracts since 2009 have ranged from as little as $3,027 per well to as much as $194,082, an agency spokesman said.
The Senate’s bill, which proposes higher well fees than the House measure, would generate an additional $25 million annually for statewide environmental projects that would include well plugging, mine drainage cleanup, parks and water quality monitoring.
“We’re trying to tie in ancient environmental problems with new development, which is fantastic,” said David Strong, a Jefferson County environmental scientist who sits on several of DEP’s citizen advisory boards. “We can find new money to fight these old problems.”
It’s in the industry’s interest to help solve those problems, said Strong and several others, including industry officials. One of the biggest problems is finding most of the abandoned wells. If a company unwittingly drills a well near an abandoned well, it can create a path for gas to flow uncontrolled to the surface or into groundwater, costing profits and causing a safety hazard.
Even if an old and new well don’t cross, gas migrating from deep wells can reach abandoned ones and cause contamination through natural fissures, or if man-made seals don’t hold, Smith said.
“Drilling through the rocks that have previously sealed in the formation … a lot depends on the efficiency of those borehole seals in preventing any leakage,” Smith said.
“If there’s any leakage from a Marcellus well, there’s potential for it to make contact with an old, abandoned oil and gas well.”
The issue could become problematic for drillers as they explore the edges of the Marcellus shale play where the oil industry once operated, such as Butler and Venango counties and the northwestern part of the state, industry officials said.
It is not an issue right now for Royal Dutch Shell plc, which operates in western Butler County, but company officials know it could be if they move into “natural expansion” areas such as Venango County, said Bill Langin, who leads Shell’s Appalachian exploration.