Drilling Needs More Inspectors

Environmental concerns also conference topic

Wheeling Intelligencer
8 October 2010
By Casey Junkins

MORGANTOWN - Martin Niverth does not want West Virginia to make the same mistakes in regulating Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling that he believes his home state of Pennsylvania made.

Potential groundwater contamination and dry streams - not to mention explosions and gas leaks, such as those recently occurring in Marshall County - are among the issues those attending the Thursday West Virginia Water Conference in Morgantown want the state Department of Environmental Protection to address.

DEP Secretary Randy Huffman is currently looking at ways to improve the way the state Office of Oil and Gas regulates the constantly expanding number of wells. Huffman plans to present his ideas to Gov. Joe Manchin in November.

However, Dave McMahon, founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization, said following his Thursday speech at the conference that the problems may go beyond the scope of the department's authority.

"The laws on the books are inadequate, and there is inadequate funding to enforce the laws," he said, noting the oil and gas office currently has only about 17 inspectors to regulate thousands of wells.

"Many of these wells are not being inspected," McMahon said. "The industry is ahead of us in knowledge of this activity, and we are just trying to catch up."

During an interview with The Intelligencer this summer, Huffman confirmed having only the 17 inspectors for the entire state was a problem, noting, "I know what is going on. Having it under control is another issue."

Niverth and Morgantown resident Barry Pallay are members of the Upper Monongahela River Association, a group that mailed a letter to Manchin last week seeking help in overseeing the drilling.

The letter, which members of the Monongahela association sent to Manchin, asks that the environmental protection department work to provide more oversight on matters such as sedimentation, water withdrawal, chemical impacts and thermal effects.

Another key provision of the letter asks that water use for drilling and hydraulic fracturing receive more scrutiny, noting, "rivers and streams frequently experience very low flows because of reduced rainfall. At these critically low flows, water withdrawals for Marcellus Shale gas well activities threaten aquatic life in many streams."

During the conference, Niverth provided a list of several mistakes he believes Pennsylvania has made regarding drilling that he hopes the Mountain State can avoid. He said the Keystone State has permitted drillers to operate:
Some residents in Marshall and Wetzel counties have reported that certain drillers have sometimes sucked streams dry to take the water to their activity sites.

"There are not enough water resources to provide for drinking, industrial use, recreational use, and new Marcellus activity, unless we work together with the companies, government, community organizations and the water suppliers. All interested parties need to work together to address this problem," Pallay said.

During the conference, U.S. Department of Energy representative Robert Vagnetti also noted that taking so much water from small streams in rural areas could cause significant problems in those regions.

Through the course of the conference, one audience member questioned Vagnetti about the possible "radioactivity of 'frack' water," regarding the solution used to break the shale that is commonly referred to as "fracking." Vagnetti said, however, he was unaware of any testing to determine if the fracturing water is radioactive.

Fracturing takes place after drillers bore horizontal shafts deep into the earth. Millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are then forced down the hole at high pressure, which smashes the shale to release trillions of cubic feet of natural gas trapped in the formation.

Currently, U.S. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., is sponsoring the FRAC Act to allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to oversee hydraulic fracturing, a process currently exempt from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, enforced by the EPA.

However, University of Pittsburgh environmental engineering professor Radisav Vidic said there is no evidence that fracking alone creates any environmental hazards, as long as all other safety measures are followed.

Michael Hohn, director of the West Virginia Geological Survey, said the shale is found in "areas where citizens are not used to seeing large trucks on the roads."

West Virginia Division of Highways officials have tried to work out plans with companies such as Chesapeake Energy to address some of the road problems, while cities like Wheeling and Cameron look to weigh and fine trucks they believe are overweight.