Oct 4
2009

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“Downstream Strategies, the company I used to analyze the water forwarded the WVDEP report to me and they said that all of their questions were not answered from the WVDEP which they requested under the FOIA.  The just sent a second FOIA request to get the info they originally asked.  Sen. Rockefeller’s office out of Fairmont called me last Thursday (I sent a letter and pictures to him in D.C.) and said they wanted to make sure the Governor had responded to me (he did) and that I had  received the answers I had been seeking.   After I found out they had to do a 2nd FOIA request I called them back and left a message, suggesting a phone call from them to James Martin would be helpful.
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“The creek cleaning consisted of the drilling company spraying the rocks and gunk downstream into cachment areas and then being vacuumed up.  My concern was the high orange marks in the sandy soil going up the banks and being imbedded into the soil.  I don’t know if they addressed that or not, they may not have even seen that.  Also they had pulled the used filters out of the creek and had left them on the soil for some time also.  Those were recently picked up though.    I am coming back from Colorado and will be there Wednesday for a week and will spend some time going up and down the creek looking closely.  I guess the lack of rain and low water has hindered the process.  My new beef is that if a drilling company, the ones who produce this toxic waste, will be cleaning up their own mess, they really need to know what they are doing and have a plan in place.  According the report from officer Scranage, per the DEP report I just read, he found that a new crew was on the job the second day and was going about it backwards. If the water is low and there is a lack of rain to help move the water down into cachment areas, they need to be doing something else, rather than waiting for rain.  For the first  2 weeks the creek languished with oil covering the water and smelling acrid. I believe they improperly ‘limed the area’ on our property.  When I questioned the inspectors and also asked James Martin about all the lime put down along the stream banks, changing the ph of the water, he only said ‘there won’t be any more liming’.
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“Thanks again for the support.”
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Louanne Fatora

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Fraccidents, Gas Drilling Accidents, Mean Energy  


Sep 27
2009

Copied with permission from http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/

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Buckeye Creek

In late August the pit holding fracture flowback “water” for natural gas well 47-017-05815 was breached near Sherwood in Doddridge County (the north central part of the state). The pit was constructed within feet of Buckeye Creek (the state has no requirement for a minimum distance between ground or surface water for pits — see our Pits post) so the “water,” at least 2500 gallons, went into the creek.

The red gelled liquid has had a negative effect on wildlife. People were told “it was ‘just oil’ and hadn’t killed any fish and okay to be in” — kids swim and play in the Creek. Already, before the spill, a decline in fish and mussels had been noted by residents and some of the fish had raised nodules on the skin.

Here are some photos:

Buckeye Creek was a good place to fish for bass and muskie. The contamination is plainly visible from fracture flowback chemicals and formation material (the color may be due to high iron) from a Marcellus well.

Gels are created by chemicals which can include diesel fuel or ethylene glycol, neither of which is good to swim in.

A similar fracture gel release in Pennsylvania caused a fish kill.
A high chloride concentration is a feature of fracture flowback but we don’t think chloride killed this muskrat near its den.

High chloride will kill fish and other aquatic organisms.
Two ducks were unable to fly.

Louanne (who furnished these photos and information) has a letter she wrote to Governor Manchin available online. The last I’ve heard, the gunk has been skimmed from the Creek but is lying in piles beside the Creek.

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Please visit Sootypaws at http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Fraccidents, Gas Drilling Accidents, Mean Energy  


Sep 11
2009

WTOV9.com reports:

1 Killed, 4 Wounded In Gas Well Accident

Video: http://www.wtov9.com/news/20837210/detail.html

“One person was killed and four others injured after a gas leak at a well in Guernsey County.

“Officials said the men were working on a gas rig, preparing to cap the well, when they were overtaken by a poisonous hydrogen-sulfide gas mixture.

“The accident happened near Londonderry at the intersection of Skull Fork Road and Ginger Road. A spokesperson for Antrim Volunteer Fire Department said one man went down and the others tried to rescue him.

“Three victims were transported to Cambridge Hospital for treatment. One person was transported by medical helicopter to another Ohio hospital.

“Officials said one of the victims is in critical condition.

“The gas the men encountered is commonly referred to as “poison gas” or “sour gas” and is common in natural gas drilling.

“The men were wearing the proper meters to check for gas, officials said.

“‘It happens all over. It’s something they’re trained to deal with but, sometimes it happens so fast that their protective clothing doesn’t warn them quick enough and they’re unable to deal with it,’ said Antrim Volunteer Fire Department Chief Don Warnock.

“The men are employed for Chipco Oil and Gas Well Services. Company representatives were at the site Thursday but had no comment.”

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See this training video about hydrogen sulfide:

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See also:  http://www.wtov9.com/news/20856751/detail.html : “Officials Release Name of Worker Killed By Gas Leak”

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Trackback  •  Posted in Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Gas Drilling Accidents  


Sep 6
2009

This isn’t “misinformation. ”
It’s not “misrepresenting the facts”
about “responsible gas exploration.”
It’s just what’s already actually happening in and to Wetzel County, WestVirginia.

The following post is copied with permission from

http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/15049.html

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Wetzel County

We’ve seen and heard a presentation by Ray Renaud of the Wetzel County Action Group about what’s happening in north Wetzel County in northern West Virginia (just below the panhandle) where there’s a tremendous amount of drilling activity taking place. Right now the wells being drilled are for Marcellus shale but other companies are getting ready to move in including CNX which is an operator specializing in coalbed methane.

This is a very rural area with only a few roads and those are narrow, about 10 feet wide. Because of all the drilling there is a lot of traffic as equipment and materials are hauled to and from sites. Twenty-four hours a day, as many as 47 trucks an hour.

The well sites are huge with pads covering acres and pits just about as large. Multiple horizontal wells are being drilled and fractured on each pad before the operator moves to a new site. Fracturing requires large amounts of water and sand.

The scale of everything and its effect on the community and environment is hard to imagine. A copy of the presentation as a PowerPoint document is available online but it is a large download, almost 50 MB.  http://www.sendspace.com/file/hlpich

Ray said we could use some of the photos from the presentation.

sootypaws-wetzel-1-slide10 The roads are narrow and wind up and down steep hills. Most of the equipment is much heavier than the roads were designed and built
for — cars and light trucks. This is a holding structure for sand used in
fracturing a well. There will be a large number of these tanks on the pad.

sootypaws-wetzel-2-slide25		 .

Because of all the traffic there’s a lot of accidents. This truck has rolled over, its cab partially crushed on the guard rail.

We wrote a post a while back about
injuries and accidents in the oil and gas industry. About 25% of deaths are caused by road accidents.

sootypaws-wetzel-3-slide66		 .

Traffic jams can last for hours and hours. These trucks are parked in front of the volunteer fire department, blocking fire trucks if there were to be an emergency.

sootypaws-wetzel-4-slide50		 The scale of everything is either huge, large or enormous. In the foreground on the right is a three-story barn. In the middle ground is a large volume pit holding fracture fluid.

Operators “dewater” rivers and streams for all the water used in drilling and fracturing, turning good water into waste.

sootypaws-wetzel-5-slide51		 .

This is a photo taken at night showing just a portion of a pad during drilling a horizontal well. Drilling goes on day and night. Once two wells are drilled on this pad the equipment will be moved to another pad to drill two more wells. Eventually there will be 6 wells on this pad.

sootypaws-wetzel-6-slide43		 .

The EPA waived sedimentation control requirements for the oil and gas industry. This means that oil and gas sites don’t need to use silt fencing or other control to protect streams, rivers and lakes. The rivers in Wetzel County are now running thick slurry instead of clear water.

Our own gas well study has focused on problems at well sites and older ones at that. What’s happening in Wetzel County, West Virginia, and in parts of Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas and a host of other places is the future writ large as the oil and gas industry converts rural America into an industrial wasteland.

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Visit original post at:

http://sootypaws.livejournal.com/15049.html

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Trackback  •  Posted in Bad Neighbors, Community Effects, Cost Externalization, Mean Energy, On the Bleeding Edge  


May 23
2009

http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=59425

Five Natural Gas Workers Hospitalized After Exposure to Acid

NEW MARTINSVILLE, WV –  According to WTRF-TV, as of May 20,  five men were under observation in Wetzel County Hospital after being exposed to what Chesapeake Energy called “battery acid.”

The station reported “Chesapeake Energy says there was no fire at the well site, just ‘an incident in which they were exposed to a material in the drilling process.’”

From the story:

“Wetzel County Hospital was set up with lights, sirens and a decontamination unit in the parking lot.

“At 10:15 a.m., the hospital was given a heads-up that they had five patients coming in, who had been exposed to commercial battery acid from a methane well drilling accident.

“‘They were pumping the material into the well site and apparently it splashed back onto the individuals and it also vaporized, creating the problem that we had here today,’ said Chief Larry Couch with the New Martinsville Fire Department.

“‘We were able to set up a decontamination unit, bring in additional medical staff, and actually we had five doctors on hand at the time when the patients arrived,’ said George Couch, Wetzel County Hospital CEO. “I think it was chemical exposure. I couldn’t assess any serious chemical burns. Appeared to be some respiratory distress.”

“New Martinsville Police Chief Tim Cecil had to hold back curious onlookers….

. . . . .

“According to Hospital CEO George Couch, all five employees are admitted for observation and are all in fair condition.

“Chesapeake Energy says the well site has been secured and is no danger to the public.

“Several agencies are reportedly investigating.”

Here’s what one commenter had to say about the story:
“I’ve been a professional chemist for twenty-eight years, with a degree from West Virginia University, and this would be the first instance I’ve encountered where “commercial battery acid” (AKA sulfuric acid) could produce the kinds of vapors cited in this story.

“I believe that Chesapeake Energy should have referred to the material by its proper name: hydrochloric acid, which is very commonly used in the well development process.

“Why did they choose to lie about this?”

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Trackback  •  Posted in Gas Drilling Accidents, General, Natural Gas Industry Lies