Toxic Brew of Chemicals Abound in Wake of Superstorm Sandy
November 1, 2012
Abandoned wells
June 2, 2012
Yesterday on the NPR station WSKG broadcast of Living on Earth ( http://www.loe.org/) there was a segment on locating abandoned oil/gas wells in PA – very interesting and relevant.
Some excerpts:
DOE Looks for Orphan Wells
CURWOOD: It’s Living on Earth, I’m Steve Curwood. For more than 150 years prospectors in the United States have drilled countless holes in the ground in search of oil and gas. Most of the resulting wells were sealed once they became unprofitable. But improperly sealed ones can lead to explosions and other hazards.
With the gas rush now underway in the Marcellus Shale in the Eastern U.S., the federal Department of Energy has made the search for so-called “orphan wells” a high priority.
….The helicopter has special equipment mounted on long, white poles on either side. At the end of each pole is a white cylinder pointed at the ground. Inside, these canisters are essentially advanced metal detectors. They can pick up cars, natural metals like gold, or the metal casings found in abandoned oil and gas wells.
….An abandoned well, if it’s not properly plugged, it provides a conduit for gases to come to the surface. These gases could be, of course, methane, natural gas, or something like radon.
….The first natural gas well in Pennsylvania was drilled in 1859. But the industry wasn’t regulated until 1956. That left almost a century’s worth of wells drilled, with little or no records of where they were located. It’s estimated there are more than 100,000 of these so-called “orphan wells” sitting in Pennsylvania.
.…One problem with looking for wells, Carter says, is a lot of the metal casings used to detect these wells are gone.
(The program does not explain how these wells are located, as the sensing system is based on magnetism detecting the steel casing.)
…..Our story on orphaned wells comes to us from the radio show The Allegheny Front.
From the DEC’s revised DSGEIS
Preliminary Revised Draft SGEIS 2011, Page 7-59
To ensure that abandoned wells do not provide a conduit for contamination of fresh water
aquifers, the Department proposes to require that the operator consult the Division’s oil and gas
database as well as property owners and tenants in the proposed spacing unit to determine
whether any abandoned wells are present. If (1) the operator has property access rights, (2) the
well is accessible and (3) it is reasonable to believe based on available records and history of
drilling in the area that the well’s total depth may be as deep or deeper than the target formation
for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, then the Department would require the operator to enter
and evaluate the well, and properly plug it prior to high-volume hydraulic fracturing if the
evaluation shows the well is open to the target formation or is otherwise an immediate threat to
the environment. If any abandoned well is under the operator’s control as owner or lessee of the
pertinent mineral rights, then the operator is required to comply with the Department’s existing
regulations regarding shut-in or temporary abandonment if good cause exists to leave the well
unplugged. This would require a demonstration that the well is in satisfactory condition to not
pose a threat to the environment, including during nearby high-volume hydraulic fracturing, and
a demonstrated intent to complete and/or produce the well within the time frames provided by
existing regulations.
A criticism of the of this section is that this “proposal” could easily miss wells which have long since been abandoned, especially those from which the casing was removed for scrap steel. From the DEC’s website:
Long Abandoned Wells Predate Strict Rules
DEC has a strict environmental regulatory program for oil and gas wells drilled in New York. New York has had an active oil and gas industry since the 1880’s and DEC estimates that more than 75,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in the state. Most of these wells existed prior to the establishment of New York’s regulatory program in 1963 that ensures the proper plugging of wells. DEC has identified about 4,800 unplugged, abandoned oil and gas wells in New York for which no known owner can be located. It estimates that at least as many more unplugged and abandoned wells exist that are yet to be discovered. Many of the older wells were abandoned by their owners when low production and/or low prices made it unprofitable for them to continue production.
I expect that this airborne scanning technology will be cited by the DEC to deflect some of the criticism about undocumented wells.
Jim Weiss
1. They didn’t talk about cost to find/time to find
2. They didn’t talk about cost to plug
3. They didn’t talk about alternative technologies to find (there is ALWAYS som other way(s)
4. They didn’t talk about old abandoned water wells – another contamination vector
5. Sigh, S
University At Buffalo’s Shale Resources And Society Institute’s ‘Environmental Impacts During Shale Gas Drilling’ Report
May 17, 2012
University At Buffalo’s Shale Resources And Society Institute’s ‘Environmental Impacts During Shale Gas Drilling’ Report. Scott Anderson, Environmental Defense Fund. May 16, 2012.
UB Shale Institute in the News Over the Weekend | Artvoice Daily.
- Announcing the New Shale Institute at UB
- Behold, the UB Shale Resources and Society Institute
- UB Shale Institute Taps Industry Shills for First Report
- SUNY Institute Funder Fracked by SEC Probe
- SUNY Spokesperson Tells Journalist What to Write
- SUNY at Buffalo Provost Named SUNY at Binghamton President
- Industry Website Terms SUNY Fracked Gas Deal an “Ironic Twist”
- SUNY Inks $22M Deal to Buy Hydrofracked Gas
- SUNY Spent $500,000 on Report
- USA Today Almost FOILed by SUNY
- Gas Drilling Job-Training Programs Pop up in NY
- 3 Haiku
———————–
Capitol Pressroom
Chancellor Nancy Zimpher joins me in the studio to discuss a variety of issues including her pick to run SUNY’s troubled Research Foundation which has been without a President since John O’Connor resigned under a cloud of scandal last year. Zimpher has tapped the National Science Foundation’s Timothy Killeen to run almost 1 billion dollar academic research arm of SUNY.
June 1st, 2012 | Posted by WCNY Staff | No Comments
Chancellor Nancy Zimpher joins me in the studio to discuss a variety of issues including her pick to run SUNY’s troubled Research Foundation which has been without a President since John O’Connor resigned under a cloud of scandal last year. Zimpher has tapped the National Science Foundation’s Timothy Killeen to run almost 1 billion dollar academic research arm of SUNY.
After Father’s Day, the House is expected to turn its attention to jobs and out-of-pocket expenses affected by domestic energy production. Former NYS Acting DEC Commissioner Peter Iwanowicz, currently the Assistant Vice President for the American Lung Association fills us in on some of the legislation that may affect the Empire State.
And a new report conducted by the Survey Research Institute at Cornell University summarizes attitudes toward natural gas drilling in New York State, as assessed by the 2010, 2011
and 2012 Empire State Polls. We will get details from the Director of the Survey Research Institute at Cornell, Yasamin Miller and Dr. Susan Christopherson, Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cornell. If you want to take a look at the results yourself, visit http://sri.cornell.edu/sri/files/esp/2012/Report%202%20-%202012%20-%20Natural%20Gas%20Drilling.pdf
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS DURING MARCELLUS SHALE GAS DRILLING: CAUSES, IMPACTS, AND REMEDIES REPORT 2012 – 1
May 15, 2012
UBSRSI-Environmental Impact.pdf (application/pdf Object).
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
DURING MARCELLUS SHALE GAS DRILLING:
CAUSES, IMPACTS, AND REMEDIES
REPORT 2012 – 1
TIMOTHY CONSIDINE
CENTER FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
SCHOOL OF ENERGY RESOURCES | THE UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
ROBERT WATSON
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
NICHOLAS CONSIDINE
CENTER FOR ENERGY ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY
JOHN MARTIN
SHALE RESOURCES AND SOCIETY INSTITUTE
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BUFFALO
* The authors gratefully acknowledge comments from Scott Anderson of the Environmental Defense Fund, Andrew Hunter of Cornell
University, Robert Jacobi of the State University of New York at Buffalo, Brigham McCown of United Transportation Advisors, LLC,
and George Rusk of Ecology and Environment, Inc. with the usual disclaimer that the authors accept full responsibility for any remaining errors and omissions. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the University at Buffalo. University at Buffalo does not make any warranty, expressed or implied, or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe upon privately owned rights. Trademarks and copyrights mentioned with this report are the ownership of their respective companies.
Critiques and News Coverage:
- Statement of Scott Anderson, EDF Peer Reviewer: University At Buffalo’s Shale Resources And Society Institute’s ‘Environmental Impacts During Shale Gas Drilling’ Report. Scott Anderson, Environmental Defense Fund. May 16, 2012.
Some sources are reporting that the site is locked; this URL works just fine.
http://www.srsi.buffalo.edu/
GDACC 
