Public Health Conference on the Health Effects of Shale Gas Extraction – November 19, 2010

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The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health cordially invites you to the following exclusive conference:

HEALTH EFFECTS OF SHALE GAS EXTRACTION: WHAT IS KNOWN AND WHAT CAN WE PREDICT?

This free conference will explore the science and methodological approaches behind understanding environmental health impacts associated with increasing development of natural gas extraction from shale deposits found under wide geographical areas of the United States.

University Club, Pittsburgh, PA 15260
November 19, 2010
8 AM – 6 PM
Download event flyer (PDF).

This conference is limited to 240 participants. Registration is required.
Click here [link removed] to learn more and register.

A Look Back at the Clearfield Blowout – Public Health Preparedness Considerations

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Clearfield Blowout, June 2010
Photo credit: PA DEP

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – CHEC Communications Specialist and DrPH Student, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health

It came at a conspicuous time; on June 3, 2010 a Marcellus gas well blew out in Clearfield County, PA – less than two months after the BP Oil Spill in the Gulf (and before that spill was capped).

Luckily, the Clearfield blowout did not kill or injure workers or spill five million gallons into the ocean, but it does raise significant public health preparedness and environmental health questions.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) released a report stating that untrained EOG Resources personnel and improper control of the well were the cause of the blowout that released wastewater and methane gas into the atmosphere for 16 hours. EOG also failed to notify the DEP about the incident until several hours after it began.

The Clearfield well site in question is located in the center of PA off of I-80 (see map below).
[image removed]
Figure 1. The red square indicates multiple violations that occurred in one geographic location, the Clearfield blowout. Click on “i” to learn more about each square (record). (The map used to be private and visible on the DataTool only to members of CHEC, but it can now be seen by anyone.)

Many concerns and questions are associated with a blowout of this type:

  1. Not including the danger to workers from the initial blowout, what if the gas being released had ignited?
  2. What if the site had not been in the State Game Lands and been in a more populated or possibly urban area like Lawrenceville, a neighborhood in the city of Pittsburgh?
  3. What if an explosion had occurred that caused the wastewater and gas to be released for much longer?
  4. How can emergency responders be better prepared to handle issues of this magnitude?
  5. How can communication channels be improved to reduce the amount of time between incident and proper response?

On the part of emergency responders, some progress is being made. CHEC continues to receive reports that more and more local first responders, including volunteer firefighters, are being trained in PA and WV to deal with potential accidents and blowouts on well sites. Additionally, the PA DEP has hired a team of responders throughout the state who are no more than five hours away from any drill pad.

Read the DEP’s full report on the Clearfield gas well blowout. [link removed]

Water Contamination Studies

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – CHEC Communications Specialist and BCHS Doctoral Student, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health

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Water Contamination Potential

When the ‘new’ methods for gas extraction first appeared on the horizon in Pennsylvania, many citizens expressed concern that their water could become contaminated by the hydraulic fracturing process used to obtain natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. At the same time, the natural gas industry’s PR group, the Marcellus Shale coalition, claimed that “hydrofracking has [a] safe record and spurs [the] economy.” Preliminary research conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and the U.S. EPA in Pavillion, Wyoming suggest that a portion of citizens’ concerns might be warranted. (To learn more, read the PDFs numbered 2, 3, and 4 at the end of this post.)

Some researchers believe that gas extraction cannot be done without negatively impacting water quality due to the likelihood of well casings leaking over time (Dusseault, 2000). See excerpt below:

The consequences of cement shrinkage are non-trivial: in North America, there are literally tens of thousands of abandoned, inactive, or active oil and gas wells, including gas storage wells, that currently leak gas to surface. Much of this enters the atmosphere directly, contributing slightly to greenhouse effects. Some of the gas enters shallow aquifers, where traces of sulfurous compounds can render the water nonpotable, or where the methane itself can generate unpleasant effects such as gas locking of household wells, or gas entering household systems to come out when taps are turned on. Methane from leaking wells is widely known in aquifers in Peace River and Lloydminster areas (Alberta), where there are anecdotes of the gas in kitchen tap water being ignited. Because of the nature of the mechanism, the problem is unlikely to attenuate, and the concentration of the gases in the shallow aquifers will increase with time. (Dusseault, 2000)

Updating PA’s 1989 Cement Regulations

In an attempt to reduce the risk that the increased drilling in PA would negatively impact groundwater and drinking water supplies, the PA Environmental Quality Board published its proposed rulemaking measures to update existing state requirements for many of the processes involved in natural gas drilling, including: casing and cementing the well, monitoring and inspections, and plugging of oil and gas wells. (A significant portion of the existing regulations in PA that dictate water supply replacement and how gas wells are constructed were created in 1989.)

Whether natural gas drilling – when done properly – can contaminate well water or the acquifer from which well water is obtained is a significant research question. Public health would suggest that this is an imperative issue considering the number of violations sited against companies drilling in Pennsylvania by the PA DEP. (See map below that shows Marcellus Shale wells drilled since 2007 and violations as of September 22, 2010. To view an individual record, click the “i” in the toolbar below the map and then click on the record about which you would like to obtain more information.)

[image removed]

The potential impacts that the natural gas industry could have on water quality and public health are some of the major reasons that the U.S. EPA is conducting a $1.9 million study on hydraulic fracturing, including a life-cycle analysis of the process. In order to better understand the relationship between drilling products and water resources, the EPA recently sent a letter to select hydraulic fracturing service providers that requests they release the constituents of their fracturing fluid, as well as specific information about other industry processes.

References and Additional Publications

  1. Dusseault MB. 2000. Why Oilwells Leak: Cement Behavior and Long-Term Consequences. Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
  2. ATSDR Health Consultation, Pavillion, WY – Evaluation of Contaminants in Private Residential Well Water
  3. EPA, Pavillion, WY – Expanded Site Evaluation – Analytical Results Report
  4. EPA, Pavillion, WY – Conceptual Site Model

Do the natural gas industry’s surface water withdrawals pose a health risk?

By Kyle Ferrar, MPH – EOH Doctoral Student, University of Pittsburgh GSPH

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Wastewater discharges are regulated through national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits, and are based on the concept “the solution to pollution is dilution.” However, what happens when the diluting capacity of a river diminishes? If the natural gas industry will be producing 20 million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater in 2011, but only retrieves 20% to 70% of the water used to drill and hydrofracture a well, over 28.5 to 100 MGD must be withdrawn from water resources1.
Water withdrawals for the natural gas industry are permitted through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) with the approval of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). As water is withdrawn, the volumes of stream flow decrease. Water withdrawals must be conducted responsibly, so that the volumes of stream flow are not impacted. Decreasing flow decreases the assimilative capacity of waterways to dilute pollution, such as TDS. In the late summer and fall, lack of precipitation causes drought conditions, and accounts for the lowest flow periods each year. But in 2008 through 2010, flow in parts of the Monongahela River have been less than half than what they are typically, at this time of the year, according to the Army Corps of Engineers2.

[image removed]
Figure 1. Permitted surface water withdrawals in Pennsylvania are shown on the map, active as of April 2, 2010.

Figure 1 shows the permitted water withdrawals in Pennsylvania for commercial, industrial, and agricultural use, as well as the permitted water withdrawals for the oil and natural gas industry. There is a multitude of groups that rely on water withdrawals for their livelihood, including the oil and gas industry, labeled as red stars. The capacity of river flow to dilute pollutants to safe levels also depends on river flow, and has precise limits. The current assimilative capacity for pollution and TDS in the Monongahela River is showing signs of saturation, and is characteristically oversaturated during the dry season. Monongahela River communities are already urged to rely on bottled water rather than their own municipal tap water, for certain periods of the year. Therefore, at the current rate of natural gas industry water withdrawals, there is no longer any room left for further economic development of water resources in other sectors of industry within the Monongahela River basin, if public health is to be conserved.

The current water management practices of the natural gas industry during the regional dry season are likely to have contributed to higher TDS concentration in the Monongahela River. New regulations for treatment and discharge of wastewater are designed so that the wastewater does not result in a severe impact, but the issue of mediating sustainable withdrawals has not been addressed. The majority of the pollution in the Monongahela River is still suspected to be caused by issues of legacy pollution, such as extensive acid mine drainage within the watershed3. On the other hand, the water withdrawals in the Monongahela River watershed are potentially causing a cumulative impact on flow volume in the river that magnifies all forms of pollution by increasing the pollutant concentrations. Much more research needs to be conducted on this issue, to ensure safe and sustainable permitting practices for water withdrawals.

References

  1. Penn State University, College of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Research and Cooperative Extension. 2010. Shaping proposed changes to Pennsylvania’s total dissolved solids standard, a guide to the proposal and the commenting process.
  2. Puko, Tim. Silty Salty Monongahela River at risk from pollutants. Tuesday August 24, 2010. Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
  3. Anderson, Robert M. Beer, Kevin M. Buckwalter, Theodore F. Clark, Mary E. McAuley Steven D. Sams, James I. Williams, Donald R. 2000. Water Quality in the Allegheny and Monongahela River Basins. USGS circular 1202.

Marcellus Shale Production Data – The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

By Matt Kelso – CHEC Data Manager

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As of September 7th, 55 of 73 drilling companies that operate in the Marcellus Shale field in Pennsylvania have reported their production data, which has been compiled into a single Excel spreadsheet by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP). Click here to see the list. This dataset is quite raw, and far from complete. Even so, a review of the preliminary data is a worthwhile exercise, as it gives us some insight into the industry that we were unaware of before.

Production Overview

Before getting into the specifics of production, a few overall numbers for the state would be appropriate. Altogether, there were 5,678 rows of data, representing 3,954 distinct wells. Only 3,076 of the rows have production data.

Production refers not only to oil and gas, but to waste products, as well. The spreadsheet tracks production data in the following categories: Basic Sediment, Brine, Condensate, Drill Cuttings, Drilling, Frac Fluid, Gas, and Oil. It is not known whether the final release of the data, which is scheduled for November 2010, will have a greater or fewer number of categories. The data comes unsorted and without explanation, so the units of measure for all categories are not entirely certain at this time.

Basic Sediment

The first category, Basic Sediment, is a solitary occurrence, and the volume of production is listed as 1,179. Whether this reported amount is miscategorized, irrelevant, or just exceedingly rare is not known at this time. The exact nature of what Basic Sediments refers to is not clear at this time, either.

Brine

Eight hundred-one (801) of the reported Marcellus wells produced brine, with volumes ranging from 2 to 24,165. For the moment, there is no choice but to assume that all of this is reported in the same unit, which will be assumed to be gallons. To give an idea of distribution, some arbitrary comparisons have been made here as well: 149 of the 800 wells have brine production of 100 or less, and 12 of them have production of 10,000 or more. The total brine production reported statewide was 1,196,001.19.

Condensate

Condensate is presumed to be waste water from the process of removing gas that comes to the surface embedded in water, which must then be extracted in condensate tanks. Of all of the wells in the state, 124 reported on Condensate, but the vast majority of those came back with a volume of zero. There are eight wells that reported non-zero volumes, and those range from 18.08 to 113,096.34 for a total of 187,855.85 units.

Drill Cuttings

Drill Cuttings is the term used to describe the rocks and sediments that are removed in order to make the original well. There are ten items in this category, which range in value from 250 units to 8,527, for a statewide total of 15,594.07 units. The measure of unit is again unknown.

Drilling

The distinction between Drilling and Drill Cuttings is not clear at this time. Four hundred ninety-seven (497) wells reported production in this category, yielding between 0 and 27,200 units of product for a statewide total of 898117.53. As a point of comparison, 291 of the 497 wells produced 1,000 units or less, while 15 wells produced 10,000 units or more. Uncertainties about the unit of measure that were expressed in the Drill Cuttings section apply here, as well.

Frac Fluid

The following category is Frac Fluid, which should refer to the chemical additives that make up one percent or less of the solution that is injected into the wells to release pockets of gas which are trapped in the shale deposits. According to this data, however, statewide production in this category exceeds the production of Brine, which is the term usually used to describe the salty waste water that comes up from the wells that would include the Frac Fluid as a small component. We must, therefore, question whether there might be some discrepancies in the way in which different companies report their data, or whether the results are due to a simple unit of measure issue. At any rate, there are 383 wells reporting Frac Fluid production statewide for a total of 1,621,721.19 units, with individual values ranging from 0 to 32,778. Of those 383 wells, 157 produced 1,000 units or less, while 54 produced 10,000 units or more, and gallons seems like the most likely unit of measure.

Gas and Oil Production

Production by Reporting Operator

There are 872 wells with production information for gas, of which 240 wells are reporting zero gas production. Of the remaining 632 wells, production values range from 29 to 2,841,152 units for a statewide total of 179,779,048. According to http://geology.com/usgs/marcellus-shale/, production at the wellhead level is commonly recorded in terms of thousands of cubic feet (MCF), which would put the reported production of the Marcellus Shale wells in the state at about 180 billion cubic feet (BCF) for the year. Of the 632 wells with non-zero values, 271 produced 100 million cubic feet (MMCF) or less, while 360 produced more than that amount.

There is also oil production associated with the Marcellus Shale drilling operations, and values in this category have been recorded for 385 wells in the state. Only 155 of these wells have a production value other than zero, however. Values range from 10.76 to 20,741.66 units, which are presumed to be barrels, for a statewide total of 402,253.38 barrels.

In addition to these categories, there are also 2,600 records that are included in the report but don’t have production data for any of the categories. These are distinct from items in the categories listed above with a listed production volume of zero.

A Significant Undertaking and Further Discussion

Credit should be given to the PA DEP for undertaking the project of mandating and publishing production reporting of the Marcellus Shale gas extraction industry in the state. Further credit should be given since this data was provided well ahead of the planned release date of November 1, 2010. And they should be praised for publicly listing companies that were not in compliance with the regulations that demand the production reporting in the first place (click here to see the list of 33 compliant and 40 non-compliant companies).

But when you take the time to look at the data, the thing that stands out more than anything is that it is a disorganized mess. It is clearly incomplete; all forms of production are tossed into the same column, and no units of measure are provided for anything. Compare that with the records kept by Arkansas or Texas.

9/27/10 Updates…

A non-profit stakeholder group called STRONGER, State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations, Inc., recently assessed the quality of the Pennsylvania’s hydraulic fracturing oversight program and presented the results in a report. In this report, STRONGER praised the strength of the PA DEP’s waste identification tracking and reporting process – In other states, production data are being tracked more extensively, but waste data are limited at best. Along those same lines, legislation is being proposed that will require more extensive reporting obligations on the part of well operators.

Mon River Declared ‘Impaired’

By Tim Puko
Reposted from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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The Monongahela River is at a crossroads. 

Not just at the Point, where the dark, silty Mon — lifeblood to heavy industry — merges with the clearer Allegheny. The Mon might be one of the country’s most endangered rivers, according to scientists studying the river.

Since 2008, the river has filled each summer with levels of contaminants higher than in at least 10 years. What role the region’s gas boom might play in the pollution is unknown. State environmental officials are employing stronger regulations and may ask for federal intervention to save the river from new threats and a legacy of mine pollution…

… This spring, the DEP began the process to have the river designated as “impaired,” which would allow the federal government to set standards for river polluting. The Environmental Protection Agency would commission a study to determine limits for industrial dumping of total dissolved solids in the river.


To give you an idea of some of the water management issues facing the Mon and western PA, below is a snapshot created by Kyle Ferrar of CHEC. Natural gas drilling and hydrofracturing wastewaters are being discharged into surface water locations at the points marked with red stars. Surface water withdrawals classified as agricultural, commercial, industrial, and mineral are identified on surface waters with the diamonds.

[image removed]

Also, read this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about a recent public health presentation conducted by Dan Volz, Chuck Christen, and Samantha Malone of CHEC that discusses the contaminants estimated to be entering the Mon from facilities receiving natural gas drilling waste fluids.

For those who live in the four-state river basin where DRBC controls drilling development [image removed] … the Delaware River Basin Commission issued a moratorium on further Marcellus drilling while they prepare regulations. The DRBC is one of the first regulatory agencies to impose such a restriction.

Event Notices for Public Participation in Marcellus Discussions

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Delaware River Basin Commission Hearing
Wednesday, September 15
Business meeting begins: 1:30 pm
Public Comment Period starts at 2:30pm and will be over by 6:00pm.

Join Protecting Our Waters at the Delaware River Basin Commission’s public hearing! The DRBC is being pressured to release rules for unconventional gas drilling in the Delaware River watershed – before any study of the cumulative impacts on our environment or public health has even been started! Join us in calling on the Commission to stand up to the gas industry and make sure a cumulative impacts study takes place before any rules are issued; and before any more permits for water withdrawals or test wells are given; and before any permits for waste discharges or drilling are issued.

For information on carpooling from Philadelphia or for other questions, please contact Amy Wilson of Protecting Our Waters at amy@energyjustice.net or 570-581-4421.

To testify during the public dialogue portion of this meeting, you must sign up in advance by emailing Ms. Paula Schmitt of the Commission staff, at paula.schmitt@drbc.state.nj.us or by phoning Ms. Schmitt at 609-883-9500 ext. 224.

The exact location for the September 15th DRBC meeting is West Trenton Volunteer Fire Company, located at 40 West Upper Ferry Road, West Trenton, New Jersey.


Philadelphia City Council Hearing
Tuesday, September 28th 10:00 AM*
* Gather at 9:30 AM
City Hall, Philadelphia, PA

 

Description: City Council is opening the door to residents of Philadelphia and surrounding counties for its first public hearing on unconventional gas drilling (fracking) in our watershed. The city should stand up and demand protection for the drinking water of millions of residents. This is our chance to speak out on behalf of public health, to protect our communities and the rivers and streams on which we depend – to prevent contamination before it begins. The Marcellus Shale Coalition and other industry representatives will be there, making their voices heard. Make sure City Council and the press hear your voice too. Let’s fill the room! Protecting Our Waters is the organization working on this: more information at https://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com.

Enter on the north-east corner of City Hall and please arrive at 9:30. To confirm your attendance and for more information, contact Cecily of Protecting Our Waters at pirate.aaartt@gmail.com.

What will happen to our farms?

Natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County taken by Garth Lenz.
View other RAVE photos in the online gallery.

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH

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As Dr. Volz and I presented as part of Geneva College’s Colloquia Series today – right in the heart of PA’s Marcellus Shale play – I found myself brainstorming on what issues FracTracker’s DataTool can be used to help address, and what future research questions might result from its use. The next few blog posts of mine will follow that theme.

So the first question I would like to propose is what will happen to our region’s farms and their products if an industry can offer $5,000 an acre and 18% royalties (an approximation based on recent verbal reports from owners of mineral rights) to farmers, many of whom are feeling the squeeze financially?


This is a close up map of southwestern PA to take a closer look at how land is being used in Washington County, PA and comparing that with where gas wells are being drilled. The coral area of land, where more than 50% of it is cultivated as you can see, has several wells located within it.

Since many farmers are experiencing financial hardships, it is understandable that the monetary assistance that can at times be provided by leasing out their mineral rights would be a very beneficial (and attractive) option for the farmers. But what does this new temptation mean for the quality of our nation’s agriculture down the road? How will public health be affected, e.g. will access to local and fresh foods improve or decline? Will certain land owners be less motivated to farm? Will they use their signing bonuses and royalty checks to purchase new and better farming equipment, which hypothetically would improve the quality and quantity of the agricultural system? Or even, will more events like this one occur, when cattle had to be quarantined because they came in contact with waste water that leaked from an impoundment?

I would like to personally add… The consideration should be made that this is quite a rural / socio-economic environmental justice issue. On a related note, in this link you can read about an economic study published through the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development. Below is the summary of the project’s purpose and goals.

The purpose of this project was to assess the current social and economic conditions relating to gas well development in the Marcellus Shale formation in Pennsylvania, with the goal of obtaining baseline data for future longitudinal assessment of subsequent community changes that occur in Appalachian counties. The study includes:

  1. A Survey of Residents living in the Marcellus Region. A mail survey of a sample of households within selected Appalachian counties in the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania was carried out to ascertain current views of residents concerning gas industry development in their areas and to obtain information about their perceptions of their communities.
  2. Interviews with Key Informants. Interviews of approximately 60 stakeholders from public, private, nonprofit, and institutions were conducted in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Arkansas to ascertain their perceptions of current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts associated with large scale natural gas development.

This is an invitation to hear your opinions about any or all of the topics discussed above.

EPA Finds Wyoming Drinking Water Wells Contaminated Near Gas Drilling Sites

Image courtesy of Scientific American

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Reposted Article – Reuters

U.S. government officials urged residents of a Wyoming farming community near natural gas drilling sites not to use private well water for drinking or cooking because of chemical contamination.

“Sample results indicate that the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds in groundwater represents a drinking water concern,” the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement about tests of 19 water wells around the town of Pavillion.

Read More

What Do We Need to Know? Public Health Presentations at GSPH

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On Friday, August 27th, CHEC conducted a symposium at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) on the potential public health concerns associated with gas extraction activities, especially those occurring in the Marcellus Shale region.

The panel discussion addressed the following topics: Potential human exposure pathways to water and air contaminants, Behavioral and community health concerns, Public health preparedness related to gas industry operations, and Fractracker.org, a Web platform that gives researchers the ability to directly engage citizens in the collection of data to effectively demonstrate the impacts of Marcellus Shale gas extraction.

Panelists:

  1. Charles Christen, DrPH, MEd – Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC) director of operations – Presentation
  2. Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH – CHEC communications specialist and BCHS doctoral student- Presentation
  3. Conrad Dan Volz, DrPH, MPH – Assistant professor, GSPH Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, and CHEC director – Presentation

Related News: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Related Presentation: By Dr. Volz on the potential air impacts from Marcellus Shale activities to the Allegheny County Health Department – Presentation