Gas Firm Plans to Drill Again in National Forest
Morgantown Dominion Post
14 July 2011
By The Associated Press
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.-- The president of a Clarksburg gas company that
inadvertently killed a tiny patch of the Monongahela National Forest by
legally dousing it with drilling wastewater said he will eventually
drill again in the nearly million-acre forest, but he'll do things much
differently.
David Berry said the "very unfortunate" death of ground vegetation and
trees on a quarter-acre in part of the forest set aside for long-term
research was a learning experience for Berry Energy, the U.S. Forest
Service and West Virginia regulators.
Never before, Berry said, had his company been restricted to spraying
its treated hydraulic fracturing fluid to just a quarter-acre of land.
"If I was more aware of what would happen, I would have fought them
tooth and nail," he said of the 2008 incident.
"But we've never been restricted before. ... We've never had this kind
of experience."
Berry's well in the Fernow Experimental Forest was the subject of a
Forest Service report. He said he supports the author's suggestion that
the state Department of Environmental Protection change the decades-old
rule allowing land application of fracking fluid from conventional gas
wells.
Currently, the state allows the land disposal of fracking fluid as long
as it has been treated to meet certain limits for sodium, chloride and
other materials. But federal researcher Mary Beth Adams said the state
should consider more than just the concentration of the solution. She
argues it should also consider a minimum area of land on which to apply
the fluid. That kind of "dose-based" formula could prevent the kind of
deadly overdose the Fernow experienced.
Berry's company has drilled more than 300 wells and land-applied the
wastewater since the practice was first permitted in the mid-1980s. He
said he has always used much larger areas than the Fernow required in
its well-intentioned attempt to protect the rest of the forest. It
limited disposal to just a quarter-acre.
"The key is having enough real estate," Berry said. "We're probably
looking at at least two acres."
The DEP has banned land application of fracking fluids from the deeper,
unconventional Marcellus Shale wells that are now proliferating across
the state, and that ban is included in new emergency rules signed by
Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor.
Whether the DEP will change the rules for conventional drillers is
unclear. Spokesman Tom Aluise said Wednesday the DEP is currently
reviewing the general permit that covers land application.
"We would consider changing our land disposal standards if our review
dictates a change is necessary," he said.
Adams' report documenting Berry's activities in 2008, printed in the
current issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality, outlines the
consequences of spraying 75,000 gallons of fracking fluid on a
quarter-acre.
Within a few days, all ground vegetation was dead. Within 10, leaves on
the hardwoods began to brown. Within two years, more than half of the
150 trees were dead, and sodium and chloride concentrations in the soil
were 50 times higher than normal.
Berry Energy also drilled through three caves in the porous limestone
Karst formations that underlie the forest, the report said. Known for
sinkholes, caves and streams that sink underground, the Karst
formations are fragile environments for rare and threatened creatures,
from salamanders to the endangered Indiana bat.
Berry, whose company holds the mineral rights to 7,000 acres under the
forest and a nearby wilderness area, said the need to bypass the Karst
was another lesson of Fernow.
"We learned that the risk of drilling through limestone and
communicating with any cave system is just too great," he said. Though
the 2008 job didn't affect any springs, "we're not going to take that
chance again."
Berry Energy has identified two formations that it believes could
support four to six wells. When those areas will be developed, however,
depends on several factors, including gas prices.
When he drills again, Berry said he will push back against any attempt
to dramatically restrict the size of the land disposal site. The
company typically considers not only the size of the site before
spraying, he said, but also temperature, moisture and other conditions
that can influence the stress on vegetation.
Berry also said his company posted a $30,000 bond before it started
work in Fernow and has since fully repaired the roads it damaged.