[PA] DEP Guidelines to Challenge Natural Gas Extractors
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
29 October 2010
By Joe Napsha
Natural gas exploration and production companies will have a difficult
time meeting new standards for limiting pollutants in wastewater dumped
in the state's waterways, experts said yesterday.
"That's a real daunting challenge," John W. Ubinger Jr., senior vice
president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, said at an event
focusing on the risks and opportunities of developing the state's
Marcellus shale natural gas reserves.
About 70 companies are involved in the exploration and production of
natural gas in the state's Marcellus shale reserves. Almost 1,100 wells
have been drilled since January, and 2,350 permits have been issued in
the first nine months of this year, according to the state Department
of Environmental Protection.
In January, the [PA] DEP is set to implement standards that will not
permit the discharging of any wastewater that contains more than 500
milligrams per liter of total dissolved solids -- such as salts and
other minerals -- into the state's watershed. Water used by natural gas
drillers to fracture Marcellus shale formations to release the gas has
much higher levels of the dissolved salts as well as other minerals and
chemicals used in the process.
The state formulated the limits in the aftermath of high levels of
pollutants found in the Monongahela River in October 2008. That
affected the drinking water of towns that relied on the river and
prompted the state to stop sewage treatment plants along the river from
accepting such wastewater.
No longer can the industries dump the salt-laden wastewater into rivers
with the expectation that so much river water would dilute the salts to
a safe level.
"I am not sure that we (the natural gas industry) can reach that
standard. It all but excludes any kind of stream discharge," said Louis
D'Amico, executive director of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas
Association, a trade association in Marshall.
The cost of implementing technology to treat wastewater will be
difficult for companies to bear, said D'Amico, who was not at the
event, which was held in the Omni William Penn hotel, Downtown.
The new rules might force drilling companies to truck wastewater to
Ohio where there are "quite a few disposal wells" to inject the
polluted water deep underground, he said.
There are not as many injection wells in Pennsylvania, and D'Amico said
the state's geology is suitable for deep wells as in other states.
In Pennsylvania, many gas exploration and production companies are
recycling wastewater, he noted.
Among those are Range Resources Corp., a Fort Worth company that is a
major player in the state's Marcellus shale reserves. It is recycling
all of the millions of gallons of wastewater used to hydraulically
fracture shale formations to produce gas, said Ray N. Walker Jr.,
senior vice president of Marcellus shale operations for Range
Resources, which has offices in Cecil Township.
When the state announced plans last year to implement the new
wastewater standards, Range Resources began looking at options for
disposing of water that flows back to the surface. It considered
treatment as an option, but recycling is more economically feasible and
better for the environment, Walker said.
Range Resources is not opposed to the new standards, he said. In fact,
it is in favor of the stricter environmental regulations, as long as
they are consistent, stable and applied fairly to all industries, he
added.
For the gas-producing companies to meet the regulations, there has to
be "a culture of compliance," said Ubinger, co-author of a 2010
Environmental Council report on developing the Marcellus shale. Some
companies are unwilling to meet the standards or unable to do that, he
said, while others consider going beyond the standards.
Those natural gas companies that don't comply with the environmental
rules will have to be fined or, in the worse case, prevented from
operating in the state, Walker said.
Range Resources has an agreement with the National Energy Technology
Laboratory in Morgantown, W.Va., to conduct an analysis of the
environmental impact of the drilling operations, Ubinger said.
Joe Napsha can be reached at jnapsha@tribweb.com or 724-836-5252.