Last month, the EPA released preliminary results of their investigation of water contamination in Pavilion, Wyoming. The EPA’s results were released as a draft report and they determined that, yes, oil and gas development, including hydraulic fracturing, is the culprit.
This is could put an end to the Big Gas Mafia’s claim that fracking has never, ever contaminated any water, cross my black heart.
And so the oil and gas industry, and its friends in the Wyoming state government, are pulling out all the stops to block and delegitimize the EPA study before it becomes final.
If you want to read about the attempts to hijink the study and what the Pavilion residents have to say, click over to EARTHblog.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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The reasons artificially induced vertical fractures in horizontal wells to fresh water aquifers, does not happen during prudent operations:
1. Water IS the most important natural resource to everyone & will be protected.
2. Proper isolation of the fresh water aquifer can & should be checked, confirmed & confirmed again to be competent to withstand the pressures expected before ANY injection operations begin…This is the weakest link AND if contamination is found, this reason should be the 1st “suspect”.
3. In-situ stress barriers.
4. Elastic moduli changes.
5. Hydrostatic pressure.
6. Friction losses.
7. Observational Control (Pressures monitored, micro-seismic logs are run). The engineer stops the “job” if pressures indicate a change in the fracture propagation pattern.
8. Directional shear force preference of laminated shale.
9. Local employees, have a vested interest in keeping their water fresh & protect their operating reputation.
10. The operating company cannot recapture its initial investment without producing sufficient hydrocarbons to sell to pay for the expense of drilling & completion of the well. This requires PROPERLY DESIGNED & IMPLEMENTED fracture treating the hydrocarbon producing interval of these subpar reservoir “rocks” in an attempt to get what hydrocarbons are possible to recover.
This list is a “living document” and is being created by several people in an attempt to explain the actual science to hydraulic fracture treatment design, implementation & purpose.
Nick, your argument falls down in your first paragraph. After 12 years working in industry and a decade living in the Gas Patch, “prudent operations” are a myth.
Prudence is alive & well in MOST of the oil patch. Drilling wells close to peoples homes is a bit shaky. If for no other reason, the noise & aroma during the process. We are not “town drillers” and the shot of the location backing up to the convenience store would not be where we would agree to “set up shop”.
Nick, have you been to PA recently? This might change your opinion a little about prudence being “alive and well” among this industry. I don’t really know much about how your company handles things there, but here the method employed across the board by the many drillers operating in PA is “Fire!, Ready, Aim”, and any resulting water well contamination is promptly covered up and denied by both the industry and the O&G sponsored PA Government (rather than remediated). Does the industry follow all state regulation? Of course they do. But here, they also get to write those regulations and do everything they can to reduce their costs – at the expense of safety. Our state gov stays out of their way, and they won’t allow any independent monitors overseeing their activities. Oh, and with respect to your item #9, the only locally hired employees are truck drivers. All of the rig workers are brought in from out of state, many on 2 week rotations, and have really not demonstrated much of a concern for our communities.
You are absolutely correct when you state how critical water is, but your assumption that this industry will do whatever it has to, to protect this life-sustaining resource, has already been proven to be totally inaccurate here. So far, just about everywhere H wells have been drilled and fracked in PA, contamination to private water wells has occurred (and where baseline testing has ruled out the possibility of prior contamination). But since the drillers and the DEP will only perform minimal water testing, and will use only these results in their decisions rather than more extensive results that may be available from the landowners independent tests, only an increase in methane is admitted and liability is always pointed away from the industry regardless of any other evidence to the contrary. You may have heard of our little town of Dimock, where affected residents are fighting back and have managed to gain some national attention, but at the expense of being labeled liars, fanatics, and even insurgents by O&G sponsored media “psy-ops” groups, and said to be in opposition to gaining “America’s independence from foreign oil”. They had actually signed gas leases, suffered resulting damage, and all they really wanted was water. It has been 3.5 years since their water was contaminated and unfit to even shower in, let alone drink, but the drilling company (Cabot) in collusion with our state authorities continue to say their water is fine. As of today the EPA has finally stepped in, and while PA continuously tries hard to keep them out of what they say is a”state affair”, they have determined that the wells in Dimock are in fact loaded with highly toxic substances, while the driller and our DEP have only “detected methane”. Among what the EPA found in their well water is: arsenic; barium; bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, a plasticizer commonly called DEHP; glycol compounds, which are used in antifreeze; manganese; phenol, a disinfectant; and sodium. Health effects related to these chemicals include cancer, gastrointestinal disturbances, skin burns, high blood pressure and kidney, lung, liver, heart and nervous system damage, yet our DEP says it’s ok to drink and has let Cabot off the hook as they requested.
While only some of these compounds may be naturally occurring, all are used in the drilling/fracking process.
It’s not rocket science to make the connection.
The really sad part of this is that while the EPA has stepped in to deliver fresh water to these families, and is continuing their investigation, the responsible company as well as our own state authorities will not. They just continue to deny that there is any problem.
I live in another area of this new PA gas land. One where well pads are only just in the beginning stages and drilling has not yet begun. My biggest concern at this point is that our O&G sponsored PA Governor might just be successful in his quest to “keep the feds out of state affairs”, continue to simply “drill baby drill” while requiring no accountability or liability on behalf of the industry, while the residents across rural PA who just happen to be unlucky enough to live atop the Marcellus Shale, will just be considered “collateral damage”.
Now, you want to tell us again how prudent this industry is? The only prudence I have seen here is with respect to money – cutting costs wherever possible. Their mission is simply to get in, get the gas, and get out. Whatever devastation they leave in their wake has already been sanctioned by our legislature as a “necessary sacrifice”.
Sorry all. I was just trying to present some of the science to the discussion. I’m sure the EPA will save us or @ least the 2 houses that are getting government water.
Nick, you start off on the wrong foot with this:
1. Water IS the most important natural resource to everyone & will be protected.
Water is not being nor has it been protected. When industry continually denies the harm they have caused it only creates more ill will.
While your theories are interesting and your technology admirable, we are the ones living with the consequences of it all.
If you agree that water is important then you should know humans won’t be perfect. They want to do a lot, a whole lot, of drilling. So why take the risk?
The RRC in Tx does not require anykind of cement bond logs to be made and filed for public viewing on surface casing for producing oil or gas wells!! So, not even the operator knows for sure how good the cement job is on the surface casing for producing wells in Tx! All the operator cares about is that enough “money” comes up the hole so as to make a profit after expenses–that’s ALL they care about!
By Texas law, anyone drilling for oil and gas or reentering an existing oil and gas well must have a plan for the well design that is approved by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). Part of the plan must include use of surface casing and cement to protect fresh water (generally a salinity of less than 1000 mg/l) and useable water (generally a salinity of less than 3000 mg/l). Surface casing also helps protect the well from caving in and blowing out.
The well operator must have a letter from the RRC Groundwater Protection Unit (formerly Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Surface Casing Team), which is then provided to the RRC, which outlines where fresh and usable-quality water is located. The RRC uses the recommendations in the Surface Casing Letter for designing well requirements.
Yeah? Who monitors that to make sure it all happens the way it’s supposed to and that operators aren’t cutting corners? We have proof that they historically cut corners.
Nick, remember this: we are the ones who have to live with the aftermath from the drilling, fracking and production processes. It’s NOT pretty.
From Ohio:
http://www.vindy.com/news/2012/jan/18/agency-families-at-risk-from-polluted-wa/
Now, there may be technical reasons why vertical fractures are less likely to be causing water contamination. But, real world experience shows it’s happening now. Vertical cracks, or poor casing cement, whatever it is, it’s going on.
But, there were scientists in the late 1930’s that cited a string of technical reasons why atomic fission could not happen. Until it became obvious it could, from doing experiments. Oops.
So many oopsies.
BC_SA 2010-03 Communication During Fracture Stimulation…: A Safety Advisory with one of my favorite honest quotes:
“Fracture propagation via large scale hydraulic fracturing operations has proven difficult to predict. Existing
planes of weakness in target formations may result in fracture lengths that exceed initial design expectations.”
A Case History of Tracking Water Movement Through Fracture Systems
in the Barnett Shale (PDF) (19 pp, 1MB)
Contributed by Patrick Handren, Denbury Resources
available at:
http://www.epa.gov/hfstudy/wellconstructworkshop.html
I’m sure you read in that reference you listed that the average fracture height was 400′ or less, right?
I agree completely with your favorite honest quote. That is why the frac job is constantly monitored and stopped when indications are that conditions have changed. Also the reason MANY companies run micro-seismic tools in offset wells to monitor and record the fracture events location & intensity to determine what happens to the reservoir rock and surrounding layers of rock during the treatment. MOST companies are studying the results of their frac jobs in an attempt to determine what’s best practice in specific situations. As we all know, and most understand, reality can not be predicted in a vacuum of no actual information.
Nick, ‘ole buddy–your info is pretty-much correct. However, like I said, no requirements to make a cement bond log on surface casing!!!!! So, how good is the cement–and even if it is perfect at time of installation, what happens when it deteriorates and the casing corrodes or collapses. Oh, BTW, there’s no mention of casing connections/couplings requirements in the RRC requirements!!
When setting surface casing, cement is circulated down the tubing and up the outside of the casing to surface. Sufficient cement is to be pumped to completely circulate the hole, fill up the void space & receive cement “returns” at the surface. A bond log only measures the vibration of the pipe with the thinking that IF the pipe doesn’t vibrate, it is cemented. A better way to try to obtain an effective seal is to circulate it to surface. It is always possible that the cement doesn’t completely seal the space between the outside casing & the formation which is why there is at least one other string of steel casing & then, a string of steel tubing run before production or injection can occur. This setup gives the operator the ability to monitor the annulus integrity. In injection wells periodic testing is required to keep the injection permit in place. In producers since you are pulling fluid out of the well, the pressure will be lower @ the surface & fluid will flow into the wellbore instead of into a leak. There are always exceptions, nothing is perfect, and being a prudent operator is the ONLY way to catch those exceptions and repair them.
Cement does not bond with the downhole strata. There will be pockets where the dirt and shale have gaps. Tiny pathways for gas, impurities from the formation and frack fluid to migrate…
The design is to keep frac fluid away from uphole formations by separating it with at least 2 strings of pipe & cement.
While frack fluid is certainly a concern, it is not the only concern. The gas, impurities from the formation and frack fluid that does not flow back can migrate up the outside of the casing.
Well, Nick! All that is required by the RRC is for the operator to pump the theoretical quantity of cement and cement from the bottom to the surface(for surface casing). BUT—there is no requirement to first measure the diameter of the “theoretical” hole diameter. If the theoretical amount goes out into water aquifers or out to fill oversize holes, it doesn’t come to the surface–operator commonly just dumps some cement at the surface and an inspectors looks at it and says, “it came to the surface”–all’s well!! Ha. Then the water acquifers are allowed to mingle and commingle over time, good water with bad water and open hole when the surface casing/connections corrodes and deteroriates over time.
NOW–on producing wells, there’s NO requirement at the RRC for any other casing string other than the surface casing. to be installed.
The RRC only requires tubing to be installed on flowing oil producing wells. Tubingless completions abound in Tx.
So there are many, many leak paths for high pressure gasses, including fracking fluids to migrate up old producing oil/gas wells in Tx.
Don’t get me on my soap box.