DEP Rules for Drilling Called Baby Steps
Charleston Gazette
15 July 2009
By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The Manchin administration is proposing new rules
aimed at controlling potential water pollution problems associated with
the huge amounts of water used by large-scale drilling operations to
break apart rock and release gas from the Marcellus shale formation.
Department of Environmental Protection officials want to require
synthetic liners for the pits where these toxic fluids are stored. DEP
also wants to require pits to be designed, built and inspected
regularly by registered professional engineers.
But the DEP proposal does not address the two major concerns that have
been raised about these drilling operations: What ends up in the water
used in this hydraulic fracturing, and where do drillers dispose of
that water?
"It's a baby step," said Charleston lawyer David McMahon, who
co-founded the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization and
monitors gas drilling issues. "It doesn't address the real problems
that have been raised about these operations."
James Martin, director of the DEP Division of Oil and Gas, briefed a
legislative interim committee on the rules proposal Wednesday. The
previous evening, DEP held a public hearing on the proposal and the
public comment period on it ended.
Martin said DEP wrote the rules to try to begin to address problems
that have come up as oil and gas operations expanded and began using
horizontal drilling and larger-scale hydraulic fracturing in their
efforts to extract from the Marcellus shale.
These problems came to the forefront last year, after polluted water
from a drilling site was taken for disposal to a small community sewage
treatment plant. The plant wasn't able to handle the material, and some
of it made its way into the Monongahela River.
Hydraulic fracturing to get into the Marcellus formation requires huge
amounts of water, which drilling operators later store temporarily in
puts, but must find some way to dispose of permanently.
"These sites are considerably larger than conventional drilling pits,"
Martin told lawmakers. "There is a concern for public safety and
environmental protection. This is a need for some oversight."
In response to questions from Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, Martin
said the DEP proposal does not require drillers to reveal what
chemicals are added to water used in hydraulic fracturing or include
any language to reform disposal practices.
Martin said DEP has come up with a set of pit fluid disposal guidelines
that agency officials hope industry will follow. At some point, Martin
said, DEP may add those guidelines to permit requirements.
Several drilling lobbyists attended Wednesday's legislative meeting,
but none of them spoke about the DEP proposal.
Sen. Mike Hall, a Putnam County Republican who said his son works for a
drilling company, said he is concerned that the DEP proposal may be too
stringent on industry.
Hall did not offer any specific criticisms, but asked Martin if DEP had
industry officials come in to help write the proposed rule changes.
"How collaborative a process was it with the people who actually do
this?" Hall asked.
Martin responded, "There was no industry involvement in this particular
rule."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.