All About the Water

and the air and the roads and the noise

and….

The Potential Impacts

of Gas Drilling on
West Virginia
 
 Chesapeake antes up ‘big’ deal
9/16/2009 Scranton Times-Tribune.

600 Friendsville Group property owners of

some 37,000 acres in Wyoming County,
PA received a final offer on Tuesday,
Sept. 15, 2009, of $5,750 an acre and
royalties of 20 percent.
www.wvsoro.org
 Scale of everything greater
Larger - well pad is 3 to 6 acres (plus more for
water storage)
Deeper – 5,000 to 7,000 feet in WV
Longer - drilling and fracking time is weeks or
months with lights, dust and noise from
equipment 24/7
Hundreds of tractor trailers
Water used is 1 to 6 million gallons per frack per
well - with several wells on each well pad and
multiple fracks per well
Wastewater is millions of gallons too,
although most of it stays in the ground
Well site during active drilling to the Marcellus Shale formation in Upshur
County, West Virginia, in 2008. (An additional water storage pit is not in
the photo.)
The Jonah natural gas field, in Wyoming's upper Green River Valley
Clearing for well pad
Trucks are the first set of
problems people have to
contend with
Route 89 West of Blake Ridge closed for long period of time
without 9-1-1 being notified. April 19, 2010.
Route 89 at 14 Hill closed for long period of time without 9-1-1
being notified. May 3, 2010
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
Pa. Streams Drained Dry By Drillers
WTAE-TV November 13, 2008

Aug. 27, 2008: Pennsylvania's DEP

investigates reports that a gas drilling
company "pumped dry" Sugarcamp Run
in Independence Township, Washington
County.
Aug. 1, 2007: A driller pumps water from
Cross Creek in Hopewell Township,
Washington County, "down to the rocks
on the bed of the stream," according to
DEP.
 Quiet Dell residents concerned about
what trucks are doing along the banks
of Suds Run
The Exponent Telegram (Clarksburg) October 12, 2009
For about a year now, Cecilia Rochinich has seen
white oil and gas industry trucks parked along
the banks of Suds Run with hoses leading into
the water. The number of trucks greatly
increased during Labor Day weekend, “On
Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I counted how
many trucks were there at a time,” she said. “I’m
minimizing when I say that I saw two dozen
trucks in just those three days. I just think it’s
weird, you know, that you would take the water
out when it’s so low.”
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
Monongahela River entering PA exceeded the limit
of 500 mgl causing expensive operational and
emission problems for U.S. Steel at its Clairton
Coke Works and the Green Co power plant, and
cited damage to residential hot water heaters,
dishwashers and washing machines.
The COE ordered releases from Tygart and
Stonewall dams to dilute the Mon River during
drought conditions causing potential threats to
aquatic life, municipal water supplies and river
navigation.
PA ordered several waste treatment plants to stop
receiving drilling wastewater.
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
 Fracing Fluid Contents
Halliburton said 99 percent of its fluid was
made up of sand and water, and the
remaining chemicals complied with state
and federal regulations.
This is completely disingenuous, since they
are exempt from regulation.
Petroleum Distillates are a Major
Concern
December 12, 2008

The leading reason to prevent natural gas drilling

and hydraulic fracturing near drinking water
supplies is the use of petroleum distillates.
Petroleum distillates are likely to contain benzene.
The EPA has found benzene to be a known
human carcinogen that is toxic in water at levels
greater that five parts per billion.
 Figures from NY DEC’s draft EIS
Water to fracture a well = 1 – 8 million gallons
Friction reducer (petroleum distillates) = .08%
Petroleum distillates (PD) = 800 – 6,400 gals/well
Levels of benzene in PD = 700 – 93,000 ppm
(published levels of benzene in PD likely to be used)
So, levels of benzene for one well range from
140,000 times to 18.6 million times the EPA’s
safe level
It would take 896 million to 119 billion gallons of
water to dilute the benzene to EPA safe levels.
(DALLAS – December 7, 2010)

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has

ordered a natural gas company in Forth Worth, Texas, to
take immediate action to protect homeowners living near one
of its drilling operations who have complained about
flammable and bubbling drinking water coming out of their
tap.

EPA testing has confirmed that extremely high levels of

methane in their water pose an imminent and substantial
risk of explosion or fire.

EPA has also found other contaminants including benzene,

which can cause cancer, in their drinking water.
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
Out of site, out of mind?
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
 Cementing phase
This is the most critical phase of drilling
Inspectors should always be there
It takes 8 hours for the cement to set
If drilling begins again before the cement
sets, it can cause cracks and spaces up
and down the cementing of the casing.
Bad cement jobs are a leading cause of
groundwater contamination
 Water Issues
Consumption – where will it come from?
Wastewater disposal – where will it go?
TDS (total dissolved solids)
Fracing fluids – what are they?
Land application (Fernow)
UIC
Water treatment plants
Groundwater contamination
Drilling problems (cementing)
Pit burial
Things that can go
wrong
 THE TIMES LEADER
August 10

Report: Firms commit 1,435 infrac

tions in Pa. in 30 months

DEP lists 952 of them as “having or likely to have

an impact on the environment.”
 Methane Leaks
Methane is the largest component of
natural gas. Since it evaporates out of
drinking water, it is not considered
toxic, but in the air it can lead to
explosions. When methane is found
in water supplies, it can also signal
that deeply drilled gas wells are linked
with drinking water systems.
 Gas leak prompts evacuation in Jackson
County
Charleston Gazette November 16, 2009

WALTERS RUN, W.Va. -- A major gas leak in Jackson

County prompted an evacuation of the Walters Run area
on Monday evening.
The gas line was ruptured about 5 p.m. and was stopped
after more than an hour, but emergency crews were
testing the air quality in the area before allowing people
to go back to their homes, according to a Jackson
County 911 dispatcher.
People in the area were told to evacuate and head north on
W.Va. 21, according to the dispatcher.
The gas leak shut down a two-mile stretch of W.Va. 21 in
both directions. The dispatcher said people were
expected to be allowed to return to their homes around 8
p.m.
EXPLOSIONS
Methane was found in the water at 16
homes in the small town of Dimrock, PA
Dimock resident Norma Fiorentino's
drinking water well exploded on New
Year's morning. The blast was so strong it
tossed aside a several-thousand-pound
concrete slab.
A methane leak led to an explosion that
killed a couple and their 17-month-old
grandson.
171 Mardi Gras Drive. Plum Borough, Pennsylvania
March 5, 2008
SPILLS
 Answers few in fracking fluid spill
Clarksburg Exponent Telegram Friday, October 23, 2009

Nearly two months after a large fracing fluid

spill was discovered in a Doddridge
County stream, state environmental
inspectors still say they don’t know what
caused the contamination.
 PROBLEMS
Truck traffic
Draining of streams and rivers
TDS on land and in surface waters
Contamination of groundwater with fracking fluid
Future impacts of UIC?
Pits and liners – buried on site
Impoundment failures
Methane leaks
Explosions
Spills
 More Problems
Unknown effects of drilling in karst
Air pollution from compressor stations
Venting and Flaring
Noise
NORMS (Naturally Occuring
Radioactive Materials)
Eminent Domain for pipelines
 NORMS
• The organic matter in black shales is the material
that generates the gas.  It also has an affinity for
attracting radionuclides, mainly uranium.  In fact,
the drillers target intervals for horizontal boreholes
and hydrofracturing based on radioactivity
measured with a wireline gamma ray log. 
• The drill cuttings from the horizontal boreholes are
often from the most radioactive zones in the
formation.  There are many tons of these
generated from borings that may be thousands of
feet long that will then leach radionuclides as they
are exposed to oxygen and rain water. 
• The second NORM issue is the possible
entrainment of radionuclides in the flowback water
Eminent Domain for Pipelines
Though pipeline companies are
private, federal law gives them the
right to take property for pipelines
through eminent domain

They must go through a hearing

process, so they look for alternatives
first.
Pipelines mean compressor stations

Compressor stations mean methane

leaks

Methane is 20 times more potent than

CO2 as a greenhouse gas
Photographs by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

To the naked eye, no emissions from an oil

storage tank are visible. But viewed with a
infrared lens, escaping methane is evident.
 NO PROTECTION
WV DEP has no restrictions on water withdrawal
WV DEP has no TDS limit
WV DEP has no requirements on disposal of
fracking fluids or disclosure of their contents
Gas drilling is exempt from:
Safe Drinking Water Act
Clean Water Act
Clean Air Act
 Regulation?
There are more than 45,000 active gas wells in
West Virginia. The number of well work permits
issued varies from 900 to 3,000 each year
(which is projected to increase dramatically with
Marcellus shale drilling).
The drilling of new wells requires several visits by
an inspector, and each active well should be
inspected at least once annually.
Yet, WV has a total of only 17 inspectors (3 hired
in the last 2 years).
SO WHAT CAN WE DO?
 Local actions
Talk to your neighbors (educate them)
Write letters to the editor
Write to your state representatives
Call on them
Take a group to the County Commission
Take pictures
Gather stories
WV Legislation needed
 WV Legislation needed
1) Control of water withdrawals
2) Deep well spacing for Marcellus shale wells
3) Establishment of TDS limits
4) Disclosure and control of fracturing fluids
5) Increased permit fees
6) Synthetic liner requirement for all pits & impoundments
7) Removal of all wastewater, pit contents and pit liners to
authorized waste disposal facilities
9) Documentation of where all waste is taken
10) Emergency plans for spills and accidents including
notification of down gradient landowners
11) More…….
While natural gas is a valuable commodity,
it is not as valuable as clean water.

We cannot survive without clean water.

If the aquifiers are contaminated we will no
longer have clean water, any of us.