Unanimous Vote for Stronger Well Construction Standards
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=15270&typeid=1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11/18/2010
DEP Secretary Praises Unanimous Vote for Stronger Well Construction Standards to Prevent Gas Migration, Protect Public and Environment
Regulations Move to Attorney General for Approval
HARRISBURG — A set of new standards that will make natural gas wells safer were approved unanimously today on a vote of 5-0 by the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission, Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said today.
Hanger praised the IRRC vote, saying the new regulations will, among other things, impose more stringent construction standards on gas wells, making them less likely to allow natural gas to escape and contaminate water supplies or cause safety concerns.
The final-form regulations now go to the state Office of Attorney General for final review and approval. The regulations were deemed approved by the House and Senate Environmental Resources and Energy committees.
“When gas migrates from a poorly constructed gas well through the ground, it can contaminate water supplies or build up to explosive levels in water wells or even homes,” said Hanger. “These strong rules will eliminate or significantly reduce the problem of gas migration from poorly designed or constructed gas wells, as long as the rules are followed or enforced.”
Hanger added that the new rules also will require drillers to report production and waste volumes electronically and to submit a detailed report of the chemicals they use in the hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – process. In addition to these important provisions, operators will be required to keep a list of emergency contact phone numbers at the well site and follow a new set of instructions on what steps to take in the event of a gas migration incident.
The regulations also include provisions clarifying how and when blow-out prevention equipment is to be installed and operated.
The Environmental Quality Board approved the regulations on a final vote of 15-1 in October, after receiving nearly 2,000 public comments during the comment period and a series of five public hearings. A majority of the comments supported the new regulations.
In drafting the regulations, DEP also met with numerous oil and gas operators, industry groups and environmental groups to discuss the regulations in detail.
The department used the public’s input to make several important changes to the regulations, which further improved the well-design requirements to prevent gas migration incidents, including:
· A provision that requires operators to have a pressure barrier plan to minimize well control events;
· A provision that requires operators to condition the wellbore to ensure an adequate bond between the cement, casing and the formation;
· Provisions that require the use of centralizers to ensure casings are properly positioned in the wellbore; and
· A provision that improves the quality of the cement placed in the casing that protects fresh groundwater.
Once all reviews and approvals are obtained, the regulations will go into effect upon publication in the PA Bulletin.
For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa,us, and select “Public Participation.”
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
CONTACT:
John Repetz, Department of Environmental Protection
717-787-1323
Pittsburgh Bans Natural-Gas Drilling
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703628204575619030758449248.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Pittsburgh Bans Natural-Gas Drilling
By KRIS MAHER
NOVEMBER 16, 2010
Pittsburgh’s city council voted 9-0 Tuesday to ban natural-gas drilling within city limits, citing health and environmental concerns, becoming the first city in Pennsylvania state to do so.
Many rural towns and landowners around the state have embraced gas exploration into the massive Marcellus Shale formation, as an economic boon. But others fear drilling could damage drinking-water supplies and shouldn’t be conducted in highly populated areas because of the risk of accidents and emissions from equipment.
Industry groups said they were disappointed but didn’t expect the ban to have a significant impact on gas exploration in Pennsylvania because there were no imminent plans by companies to drill in the city.
Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group, said companies wouldn’t challenge the ban. “I don’t anticipate that individual companies would step into that fray,” she said. “There are lots of other places where development is welcome.”
The ban, however, could create uncertainty. “While no one is interested in drilling in the city of Pittsburgh, it’s a bad precedent,” said Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for Range Resources Corp., which operates rigs in southwest Pennsylvania. He said the company worked “to develop ordinances that provide us with predictability and local governments with reasonable regulations.”
Pittsburgh’s move comes as the incoming governor signals changes in the industry’s favor. Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett has said he would lift a moratorium on natural-gas drilling on state lands put in place by outgoing Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell. Mr. Corbett also has said he opposed a severance tax on natural-gas extraction.
Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com
Halliburton unveils website with fracking details
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN1526804120101115?sp=true
Halliburton unveils website with fracking details
By Ayesha Rascoe
Mon Nov 15, 2010 8:36pm GMT
* Halliburton outlines chemicals in 3 fracking products
* EPA issued subpoena for Halliburton on fracking fluids
WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Halliburton (HAL.N: Quote) unveiled a new website on Monday offering some details about the mix of chemicals used in a natural gas drilling technique, as the company attempts to allay public concerns about the impact of the practice on drinking water.
The new website outlines the make-up and concentration of the chemicals contained in three of its products commonly used for hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania.
(Website: http://www.halliburton.com/hydraulicfracturing )
“We believe this effort represents an important and substantive contribution to the broader long-term imperative of transparency,” David Adams, a Halliburton vice president, said in a statement.
The move follows the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision last week to subpoena Halliburton to force the company to turn over information about the chemicals it produces for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. [ID:nN0983184]
But Halliburton said the website is not a response to EPA’s actions or meant to satisfy the agency’s demands.
“That was not the intent. What we’ve done is try to provide information in a way that the public can understand,” a Halliburton spokeswoman said on a conference call.
Fracking is a process that injects a mixture of water, sand and chemicals into rock formations to stimulate oil and natural gas production. [ID:nN18229665]
Although it has been around for decades, use of the drilling practice has exploded in recent years as companies use it to extract unconventional yet abundant reserves of shale gas.
The expansion of shale gas drilling in states such as Pennsylvania has raised ire of some homeowners in areas near gas development, who complain the drilling has contaminated their drinking water.
Environmental groups have called for more federal oversight of the practice and complete disclosure of all the chemicals involved.
Energy companies argue that the practice is safe, pointing out that it is done thousands of feet below ground, much deeper than most water sources.
In response to public concerns, some companies have begun attempting to make information about the chemicals used in fracking more accessible to the public.
Halliburton said its website, which does not list the chemicals used in individual well sites, will expand in the future to include details about fracking fluids for every state where the company’s services are used. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
60 Minutes’ segment taking a look at Marcellus Shale
http://www.timesleader.com/news/TV_report__focuses_on__gas_drilling_11-14-2010.html
Posted: November 15, 2010
TV report focuses on gas drilling
Industry supporters, opponent comment on Sunday’s ’60 Minutes’ segment taking a look at Marcellus Shale development.
STEVE MOCARSKY smocarsky@timesleader.com
A primetime network news show’s look at the pros and cons of the natural gas drilling phenomenon in the United States that aired on Sunday left people on both sides of the issue satisfied with fair coverage but concerned that comments from those who were interviewed were misleading or inaccurate.
An approximately 20-minute segment of the Emmy Award winning CBS news program “60 Minutes” titled “Shaleionaires!” featured correspondent Lesley Stahl interviewing a drilling company executive, some farmers who struck it rich by leasing their farms for drilling as well as some Pennsylvania residents who say their water was contaminated by natural gas drilling activities.
Though the segment didn’t cover any ground that hasn’t already been reported in newspapers covering issues surrounding drilling into the shale formations deep beneath parts of Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado, Louisiana and West Virginia, it certainly increased exposure to those issues.
“Natural gas has been the ugly stepchild of our national energy debate,” Stahl said in her opening remarks, explaining that it never “enjoyed the political muscle” of oil or coal or “(captured) the imagination like solar panels and wind farms.”
Now, she said, that stepchild is being touted as the “hope of the future, the answer to our energy problems” and has been creating “shaleionaires” – land owners who stand to make hundreds of thousands if not millions on royalties for leasing their land to the gas extraction companies.
Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon told Stahl the United States has “the equivalent of two Saudi Arabias of oil in the form of natural gas.” Stahl noted natural gas is a much more clean burning fossil fuel, with nearly half the carbon emissions of coal and no mercury.
Stahl said 10,000 wells will be drilled in northwest Louisiana in some of the poorest communities in the country before interviewing two Louisiana farmers who struck it rich overnight, one having made $400,000 in royalties and a second who made nearly $2 million.
Stahl compared the phenomenon to a “good, old-fashioned gold rush,” having brought more than 57,000 local jobs to the region. She visited with residents of Dimock Township in Susquehanna County, which she likened to a “ghost town.”
She explained the process of hydraulic fracturing, the process of pumping millions of gallons of water with sand and some chemicals into the ground to stimulate the release of gas, and listened to Dimock residents tell how their water wells were contaminated with methane after the process began in their community.
One resident held a lighter to a jug he was filling with water from his well and flames shot out.
Chris Tucker, of EnergyInDepth.org, an organization that promotes the benefits of natural gas drilling, said the segment was “fairly balanced,” although the show didn’t get everything right.
“I think they did a great job of telling the story of real people, everyday people, all across the country whose lives have changed for the better thanks to the development of this clean, American resource,” Tucker said.
“They didn’t quite get it right when they attempted to venture into the regulatory history of hydraulic fracturing. The reality is that fracturing technology is among the most thoroughly regulated procedures that takes place at the wellsite, which is a big reason why it’s been able to compile such a solid record of safety and performance over the past 60 years of commercial use.”
Travis Windle, representing the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said “having ‘60 Minutes’ underscore the enormously positive benefits of this revolution … speaks to how transformational this development is for our nation.”
It’s also important for viewers to understand, Windle said, that Pennsylvania has a long and well-documented history of naturally occurring methane entering private water wells.
“It will take private water well standards and fact-based reporting on pre-existing methane in water wells from shallow sources of contamination to demonstrate how safe shale gas development is,” he said.
Tom Jiunta, founder and president of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, provided a viewpoint from the opposite end of the spectrum.
While McClendon noted that natural gas is a clean burning fuel, scientists, Jiunta said, have estimated that the diesel fumes from the thousands of trucks that transport the water and machinery, the diesel engines from the compressor stations used to pump the gas through the pipelines and the engines used for drilling and hydraulic fracturing, along with the natural leakage involved in methane escaping from the pipelines make the process one of the dirtiest.
And while McClendon said natural gas could free the nation from foreign oil dependence, Jiunta said he “did not mention that they have already sold some of their gas leases to foreign companies, which in effect means we will be dependent upon foreign companies for our own natural gas that we will have to buy back on the open market.”
Jiunta said Chesapeake sold part of the Eagle Ford Shale enterprise in South Texas to China, calling it “the biggest acquisition of a U.S. oil and gas asset by a Chinese company.”
As for the shaleionaires, Jiunta said their neighbors “won’t have the luxury … of moving away if the water supplies become tainted.”
Strengthened oil and gas regulations to be considered by a state review board
http://citizensvoice.com/news/new-rules-to-plumb-water-problems-1.1063833
New rules to plumb water problems
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: November 15, 2010
Strengthened oil and gas regulations to be considered by a state review board this week will help answer an increasingly urgent question in the era of Marcellus Shale exploration: how many water supplies have been impacted by drilling activities?
Right now, no one is keeping a complete count.
The Oil and Gas Act does not require drillers to notify state regulators when landowners alert them that drinking water has been harmed by the companies’ operations.
Under current law, the Department of Environmental Protection must look into cases of potential drinking water pollution only when it is asked to investigate a problem by a landowner.
The department also does not track how often gas drillers voluntarily replace drinking water supplies, either temporarily or permanently.
“Often, homeowners and drillers work out agreements without needing the department’s assistance,” DEP spokesman Tom Rathbun said. “We get involved when we are notified of a problem, but we are not made aware of every case.”
A revised Oil and Gas Act will change that. When the new regulations go into effect, likely in January if they pass all reviews, drillers will have to notify the department within 24 hours of receiving a complaint.
An earlier draft of the revisions, which gave drillers 10 days to notify the department of a complaint, was changed after commentators on the regulations argued that was not quick enough.
The change from no notification to nearly instantaneous notification signals an increasing awareness of how often drinking water complaints go uncounted at a time when everyone from farmers to the federal government is looking for more complete information on the short- and long-term impacts of gas drilling on water resources.
Without the mandatory disclosure, critics say, voluntary arrangements can take advantage of the fact that there are disincentives for landowners to ask DEP to intervene: People may feel intimidated about pushing their complaints or fear causing any disruption to the gas companies that pay them royalties.
On some occasions gas companies, even when working side-by-side with regulators to address water complaints, have made clear efforts to keep voluntary water replacement arrangements out of the public eye.
How many problems?
There is a clear gap between the relatively small number of state orders for drillers to provide homes with replacement water and the visible proliferation of water tanks (called buffaloes), well vents, new wells, treatment systems and bottled water being delivered or installed in gas drilling regions.
After a records search in June 2009, DEP reported that there had been fewer than 80 cases of groundwater contamination caused by oil and gas drilling in the state in over 15 years, as measured by the number of official orders the agency sent to drillers to permanently restore or replace damaged water supplies.
With 32,000 oil and gas wells drilled within that time span, that amounts to a 0.25 percent incident rate – a track record the industry frequently touts.
But unofficial counts put the number of disturbed water supplies much higher.
Daniel Farnham, an environmental engineer who has tested more than 2,000 water wells in Northeastern and Northcentral Pennsylvania where Marcellus Shale drilling is under way, estimates as many as 50 homes in Bradford County alone are currently getting replacement water supplies provided by gas companies.
In Susquehanna County, Dimock Township offers a vivid example of the gap between the officially determined size of the problem and the true number of drinking water supplies that have been replaced.
DEP has ordered Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. to replace 18 water supplies – connected to 19 homes – that were tainted with methane the agency traced to faulty Cabot Marcellus Shale gas wells, a claim the company refutes.
But according to Cabot documentation provided to the department as part of the order, at least 36 Dimock residences have at some point had water supplies replaced or remediated by Cabot at least temporarily.
At the time Cabot provided DEP with its water replacement list, in June, the company had drilled 89 natural gas wells in and around Dimock – meaning Cabot remedied or replaced a water supply, on average, for more than one in every three gas well it drilled.
Cabot spokesman George Stark said the numbers reflect Cabot’s policy of investigating all water supply complaints and “when we see the immediate need” providing replacement water during an investigation. Some complaints may turn out to be unfounded, unrelated to gas drilling, or temporary disruptions that clear up on their own, he said.
Cabot, the most active driller in Susquehanna County, has removed nine homes from the list of 36 receiving water, Stark said. The company drilled one replacement water well and reconditioned three others. Five homes accepted filtration systems that are in the process of being installed.
Chesapeake Energy, the most active driller in Bradford County, did not answer a request to disclose the number of water supplies it has replaced or remediated.
‘Waiting to blow me up’
Most drillers and many landowners say voluntary arrangements for solving residential water problems are amicable, even generous.
Gary Lopez, a Dimock resident, wrote grateful letters to area newspapers thanking Cabot “for solving my water problems” by first delivering replacement water then drilling a new well after his old well “tested high for methane and barium.”
In the worst cases, though, homeowners have found gas company representatives bullying even as they appear to be helping to fix the problem.
Sherry Vargson noticed her faucets began to sputter and blow what seemed like air after Chesapeake Energy performed what workers told her was a maintenance procedure on the gas wells yards from her Granville Summit home in June.
A company contractor tested the head space in her water well and found elevated levels of methane. DEP tests a month later found the flammable gas present in her water supply at 56.3 mg/L – twice the level at which water can no longer hold the gas and releases it into the atmosphere or enclosed spaces, creating a risk of explosion.
Because pre-drilling water tests “did not find the presence of the methane gas,” DEP found that the tests indicated that gas well drilling caused the change in the water supply.
Chesapeake has provided the Vargsons with bottled water since the day in June when the company detected the gas, but despite DEP recommendations that the company install a vent stack on the well to help keep the gas from concentrating, the well is still not vented.
Instead, Chesapeake presented Vargson with an agreement in July which required the family to release the company from all claims and liabilities related to the water up until that date in exchange for installing a vent “as a precautionary measure.”
The agreement, which the Vargsons refused to sign in its original form, also included a nondisclosure clause meant to bar the family from discussing the agreement, its terms or Chesapeake’s role in providing a vent.
In a statement, Chesapeake’s senior director for corporate development, Brian Grove, said the company does not believe its activities impacted the Vargson water well, which he said was “equipped with a venting cap predating our operations” because of “pre-existing methane.” The company’s pre- and post-drilling water tests show the water “virtually unchanged,” he said – a position at odds with DEP findings reported Sept. 2.
Whenever a question is raised about any water supply, Grove said, the company “routinely provides a temporary replacement source of water as a courtesy and notifies the DEP immediately while we begin to investigate” – a process that “most often” finds that the problem is not related to drilling activity, he added.
The purpose of the legal agreements is to grant the company permission “to access the property and provide needed equipment or services” in cases where a lot of activity will be required in or near a home.
“Confidentiality clauses are common in these and many other types of agreements,” he said.
Vargson, who now sleeps with three windows open, is frustrated that the DEP has not enforced its finding linking gas drilling to her water problems, which she is not afraid to discuss.
Last week, she held a match to the sputtering water running from her kitchen faucet and a flame ran up the stream to the spout.
“All of that is aerating in here,” she said, “pocketing in the house, waiting to blow me up.”
About 20 miles across Bradford County, near Spring Lake, two Chesapeake-provided water buffaloes sit in the yard behind the over 100-year-old farmhouse owned by Jacqueline Place.
On April 1, nearly two weeks after the water to Place’s home turned cloudy then dark brown and her sister’s cows refused to drink it, a DEP inspector and Chesapeake contractors came to test the water. Chesapeake disconnected the well, filled the water buffaloes and plumbed them into the home – a project that took hours.
At around 10 p.m., the last Chesapeake contractor handed Place a document and told her he would not flip the switch on the system he had just installed unless she signed it. According to her sister, Roslyn Bohlander, the contractor told Place the document was “nothing” important and, when pressed, told her it was a non-disclosure agreement.
Place would not acknowledge the document or release it to Times-Shamrock newspapers.
“It was such a crisis point,” Bohlander said. In the previous days, Place and her son had not used the water to shower, cook or clean dishes or clothes. They took sponge baths, Bohlander said, and the cows, “they were just drinking enough to live.”
DEP and private tests have since shown elevated levels of methane and metals in the water.
“They did all they had done to make it not be a bad situation,” she said, “but then they said you can’t have this water.”
Grove said Chesapeake does not believe its operations have affected the water supply and “have not caused any reduction of quality of the water in the well.
“Repeated analyses have not detected any constituents related to natural gas drilling and production,” he said.
The company continues to provide replacement water to the Places and Bohlanders, like the Vargsons “as a courtesy,” he said, “while we work with the DEP and residents to bring closure to these matters.”
Chesapeake has told the family on three occasions, each with between 24 and 48 hours notice, that it planned to take away the buffaloes and stop the water deliveries. DEP officials have told the family they cannot stop Chesapeake from taking the water because they did not order the company to provide the water in the first place, Place said.
Bohlander said the price of a buffalo and frequent water deliveries for the cows and the home is “unaffordable.”
“We no longer have a plan B,” she said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition plans public meetings
http://citizensvoice.com/news/gas-drilling-awareness-coalition-plans-public-meetings-1.1063901
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition plans public meetings
Published: November 15, 2010
The Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition is holding two upcoming meetings, both of which are open to the public.
The first will be at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Exeter Township municipal building on Route 92 in Harding. Activist and business owner Janine Dymond and professional geologist and business owner John Samuel Mellow will speak.
The other meeting will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 on the second floor of the Exeter Borough municipal building, 1101 Wyoming Ave. Dr. Thomas Jiunta, co-founder of the Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, will speak at this meeting.
Space is limited, so reservations are requested: call 570-266-5116 or e-mail gdacoaliton@gmail.com.
Financing approved to build water pipeline to Dimock
http://citizensvoice.com/news/financing-approved-to-build-water-pipeline-to-dimock-1.1061757
Financing approved to build water pipeline to Dimock
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: November 10, 2010
HARRISBURG – A state infrastructure authority approved public financing Tuesday for a hotly debated water line to serve residents of Dimock Township without safe water supplies due to methane gas contamination.
The 9-2 vote by the PennVEST board provides a state grant of $11.6 million and loan of $172,000 to help Pennsylvania American Water Co. build a 12.5-mile pipeline from Lake Montrose to a neighborhood in Susquehanna County, where the state Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. are at odds over whether the company’s natural gas drilling is responsible for the contamination.
The PennVEST action is a likely precursor to legal action by both Rendell administration officials who plan to sue Cabot to recover the costs of the pipeline and Cabot attorneys who said they would join any local lawsuits to block the pipeline. With Gov. Ed Rendell’s tenure nearing an end, the issue could face Gov.-elect Tom Corbett after he takes office Jan. 18.
PennVEST board chair Joseph Manko sought to keep the board’s debate and public comments focused on whether a pipeline will offer a permanent solution to the water woes facing 14 residences in Dimock with contaminated wells. They now rely on transported water or water treatment systems and worry about methane leaks because of contamination problems with their wells.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
Penn State Extension forms Marcellus Educational Consortium
http://live.psu.edu/story/49662#nw69
Penn State Extension forms Marcellus Educational Consortium
Thursday, November 4, 2010
University Park, Pa. — With more than 1,800 natural-gas wells drilled in six years, the Marcellus Shale is generating new economic opportunities for many Pennsylvania residents, businesses and communities. Numerous environmental, educational and social issues also are associated with the development of this energy resource.
In support of its efforts to disseminate research-based information on natural-gas-related issues to Pennsylvanians, Penn State Cooperative Extension has joined with several key business firms to form the Penn State Marcellus Educational Consortium. The group’s goals are to provide expertise on Marcellus topics and to facilitate discussions among community members, business leaders and others.
Leading national and regional financial-services firms Credit Suisse, PNC Bank and Fulton Financial Corp. (parent company of Fulton Bank N.A., FNB Bank, Lafayette Ambassador Bank and Swineford National Bank) are founding members of the consortium. Several other related companies are in discussions to become members of this educational partnership.
Since 2001, Penn State Cooperative Extension has conducted educational programming across the state in connection with Marcellus gas exploration. More than 60,000 people have attended workshops on various related topics, and countless more have received information from Penn State publications, online seminars, television programs and websites.
Thomas Murphy, extension educator and co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, said that providing people with well-researched information on the benefits and challenges of the Marcellus play is critical to smart, sustainable growth and development in the region. He noted that the consortium will help identify educational needs and guide the development of innovative new programming.
“The numerous effects of natural-gas development are diverse and include the very visible economic impacts,” said Murphy. “Extension conducts unbiased, science-based programs to educate people on issues ranging from water quality to tax strategies for lease and royalty income.”
Craig Weidemann, vice president for Penn State Outreach, said the educational consortium is an example of the types of partnerships Outreach facilitates to benefit Pennsylvania.
“Bringing the resources of the University together with expertise of external partners to address the needs of our commonwealth is why Outreach exists,” said Weidemann. “This educational consortium is a perfect example of a collaboration that is developed for the good of Pennsylvania citizens, communities and businesses.”
More information about how Penn State is addressing issues related to the Marcellus Shale is available at Penn State Extension’s natural-gas website and from the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.
New state regulations to deal with gas drilling in Marcellus Shale
New state regulations to deal with gas drilling in Marcellus Shale
Friday, November 5, 2010
University Park, Pa. — As the natural-gas drilling boom into the deep Marcellus Shale formation has unfolded, state regulators have become increasingly aware of pollution risks to ground and surface water, and they have scrambled to develop regulations to protect valuable natural resources.
Two experts with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will offer details about the current regulatory environment in a free, one-hour, Web-based seminar at 1 p.m. on Nov. 18.
Presented by Penn State Cooperative Extension, the webinar will feature Dana Aunkst, director of DEP’s bureau of water standards and facilities regulation, and Eugene Pine, professional geologist manager with the agency. Online participants will have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions during the session.
“In 2010, the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board amended the Pennsylvania Code to include new treatment requirements for total dissolved solids,” Aunkst said. “This final form rulemaking ensures the continued protection of the commonwealth’s water resources from new and expanded sources of total dissolved solids.”
Most importantly, Aunkst noted, the final rulemaking guarantees that state waters will not exceed a threshold of 500 milligrams per liter. “In doing so, the final rulemaking assures the continued use and protection of drinking water intakes on streams throughout the commonwealth,” he said. “That provides the required protection of aquatic life and maintains continued economic viability of the current water users.”
The final rulemaking adopts a combination of recommended approaches for addressing these larger loads of total dissolved solids, Aunkst pointed out. This combination of approaches includes an industrial-sector-based regulation along with a watershed-based analysis.
“The sector-based piece focuses on the natural-gas industry, mandating the treatment of gas-well wastewater,” he said. “This approach is based on available, proven treatment technologies for this industry and takes cost into consideration. In addition, this treatment must be performed at a centralized wastewater treatment facility to the standards in the proposed rulemaking.
“These requirements will assure that any threat of water pollution from this rapidly growing industry is prevented in accordance with the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law.”
Aunkst’s presentation will provide background on the need for the new regulation, a history of the development of the regulation and an update on the implementation of the new requirements.
In addition, Pine’s presentation will explain how his department is making changes to the regulations and will detail the proposed and final rulemaking process, including timeframes, public-comment periods and so forth.
“I will generally explain where we are in this process and then highlight the more significant revisions to the existing regulations,” he said. “The regulatory revisions emphasize, and are intended to strengthen, proper well-drilling, construction and operational practices.”
A properly cased and cemented oil or gas well is critical to protecting groundwater, public health, safety and the environment, explained Pine. Many of the regulations governing well construction were promulgated in 1989 and remain largely unchanged.
“New well-drilling and completion practices used to develop Marcellus Shale wells, as well as recent impacts to drinking water supplies and the environment by both ‘traditional’ and Marcellus Shale wells, prompted the department to re-evaluate existing requirements,” he said.
With the continued development of the oil and gas industry, the potential exists for natural gas to migrate from the wellbore by either improperly constructed wells or older, deteriorated wells, Pine noted.
“This migration could adversely affect underground sources of drinking water and pose a threat to public safety and the environment,” he said. “Accordingly, DEP has revised its well-drilling and operation regulations.”
The webinar, “Pa. DEP Regulatory Update,” is part of an ongoing series of workshops and events addressing issues related to the state’s Marcellus Shale gas boom. Information about how to register for the webinar is available at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas/webinars.
Additional one-hour webinars will be held at 1 p.m. on the following dates:
— Dec. 16: “Plumbing the Depths in Pa.: A Primer on Marcellus Shale Geology and Technology.”
— Jan. 20, 2011: “Marcellus Shale Legislation: What Was Accomplished in the 2009-10 Session and What Issues Remain to be Addressed.”
— Feb. 16, 2011: “Dealing with Gas Tax Issues: What You Need to Know.”
— March 17, 2011: “Natural Gas Well Development and Emergency Response and Management.”
Previous webinars, publications and other information on topics such as water use and quality, zoning, gas-leasing considerations for landowners and implications for local communities also are available online at http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas.
For more information, contact John Turack, extension educator in Westmoreland County, at 724-837-1402 or by e-mail at jdt15@psu.edu.
DEP Makes Oil and Gas Operations More Transparent with New Online Resources
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=15010&typeid=1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
11/1/2010
DEP Makes Oil and Gas Operations More Transparent with New Online Resources
Information on Well Production, Waste Products, and Violations Now Online
HARRISBURG — For the first time, Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry production and compliance information is available online as part of the commonwealth’s ongoing effort to make the industry’s operations more transparent.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger said the oil and gas public reporting website, which debuted today, allows access to production statistics for oil and gas wells in the state, including historical data. A new, separate webpage also lets users view violation data, by operator, as well as the department’s enforcement measures.
“The public reporting website will create much needed transparency that allows for citizens and policymakers to be aware of the increasing amount of natural gas being generated in Pennsylvania,” said Hanger. “This is an industrial activity that is taking place widely throughout the state. It’s important that families know what is happening in their backyards and whether or not the company drilling there has a good track record of safe and environmentally sound operations.”
The public reporting website, www.marcellusreporting.state.pa.us/ogrereports/, enables users to search all oil and natural gas production data by operator, county or a specific well number. Information on industry-generated waste can be viewed by operator, county or processing facility.
Act 15 of 2010 required Marcellus operators to report to DEP their well production totals from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 by Aug. 15. Subsequent reports on Marcellus production are due every six months. All other oil and gas production besides Marcellus wells must be reported annually.
“It is absolutely essential for the oil and gas industry to be excellent in their operations to protect public health and our environment,” Hanger said. “This information will allow the public to see which operators are leading the way in a safe and environmentally conscious manner and which ones need to address their operating procedures.”
The violation, inspection, and enforcement information is available for 2008 through 2010 to date, including resolved violations for the three-year span. Information for 2010 is available year-to-date or monthly. To view the violation reports, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us and click on the button that says “Gas Well Violations.”
For more information about oil and gas operations in Pennsylvania, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us and click on “Oil and Gas.”
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
CONTACT:
Jamie Legenos, Department of Environmental Protection
717-787-1323