Fish Commission to Lease Waterways for Gas Drilling
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
10 July 2011
By Richard Gazarik
The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission said it plans to lease
portions of its 43,000 acres of waterways for natural gas exploration
to generate money to rebuild more than a dozen dams that are in danger
of collapse.
Donegal Lake, a popular trout-fishing area in Donegal Township, will be
the first commission property in Southwestern Pennsylvania to be
drilled for Marcellus shale natural gas, according to commission
spokesman Eric Levis.
The commission estimates it will need $78 million to repair the 16
dams, which are classified as high risk because they cannot hold 50
percent of the maximum precipitation that a region could receive.
Six of the dams are in Butler, Washington, Westmoreland, Fayette and
Somerset counties. The commission estimates it will cost $26 million to
repair them.
Levis said 14,000 acres — or about one-third — of the commission's
waterways are potential drilling sites. It has leased property in
Clinton County for drilling and is seeking proposals for a Lycoming
County site.
The agency needs a revenue source because the commission receives no
state funds, Levis said. It is supported by license fees and some
federal money. The agency's $17 million annual budget has remained
stagnant for the past three fiscal years, according to the state Budget
Office. As a result, the commission said it faces a $36 million
shortfall for the dam repairs.
Levis said the commission will sell water to the energy companies for
use in drilling operations.
He would not reveal how much revenue the commission expects to earn or
how much gas might lay beneath Donegal Lake. The state considers the
information proprietary because it is subject to negotiations with
drilling companies, he said.
"We're not releasing those numbers," Levis said. "We're involved in
multiple negotiations, and we want the best deal."
Though the commission hasn't formally approved plans by Williams
Production Appalachia to begin drilling at the 90-acre Donegal Lake
site, the Tulsa-based energy company has a lease with the commission
and is building a drilling pad on private property near the lake.
Commission directors must vote to allow drilling before any work can
begin, Levis said. That could happen this fall, he said.
Williams plans to drill to 9,000 feet beneath the lake to extract gas.
A permit application with the state Department of Environmental
Protection indicates Williams plans to drill three to 10 wells.
Drilling could start next year, Swan said.
To move the gas to market, a 16.5-mile pipeline will be built between
Indian Creek in Fayette County and Cook Township in Westmoreland. The
pipeline will connect to a Texas Eastern line in the village of Mill
Run, Fayette, and will transport gas extracted from Donegal Lake and
other wells along the route.
Kelly Swan, a spokesman for Williams, said the Securities and Exchange
Commission has barred company officials from publicly discussing the
size of the Donegal Lake gas deposits because the company is in the
process of offering a public stock sale.
"We believe it's there. That's why we applied for a drilling permit,"
Swan said. "We can't get into specifics until you discover specific
amounts as you begin to drill."
Williams already has a number of drilling sites in Derry, Cook, Donegal
and Unity townships in Westmoreland County, according to real estate
records.
Environmental concerns
Environmental and conservation groups are concerned about the
potential impact of drilling and the pipeline on watersheds.
"The wells will be off a scenic highway (Route 711) and near a lake and
trout stream," said Beverly Braverman, director of the Mountain
Watershed Association in Indian Head, Fayette County. The nonprofit
organization works to clean up streams in the Indian Creek Watershed
that have been contaminated by discharge from abandoned coal mines.
The Indian Creek Watershed includes about 21 streams in Fayette and
Westmoreland. The creek originates in Forbes State Forest and flows
west along the Pennsylvania Turnpike and into Mill Run, then drains
into the Youghiogheny River at Connellsville.
According to the permit filed with the DEP, the pipeline will involve
71 crossings into wetlands and 41 stream crossings.
Swan said crews will drill under streams to minimize damage in
"sensitive areas." Company inspectors will be stationed along the
pipeline daily to ensure that construction adheres to state DEP
requirements, he said.
Williams will implement a stream enhancement project that will include
planting 114 trees and 105 shrubs to compensate for any environmental
damage, he said.
Conservation groups have no legal avenue to block drilling because
property owners don't own the mineral rights, said Veronica Coptis, a
community organizer for Braverman's group.
"There's really no way to stop this from happening," Coptis said. "The
Mountain Watershed is unhappy with the pipeline because it is going
through a watershed area."
Gas lines excavation can disrupt the flow of streams and the life
cycles of animals that inhabit watersheds, environmentalists contend.
Gas wells can impact water quality and the amount of water in streams.
Construction of access roads can disrupt animal and plant life.
Drilling has raised concerns about bromides and other chemicals used in
the fracking process. Bromide is a salt that reacts with chlorine,
which is used to treat drinking water. It creates Trihalomethanes,
which can be harmful to humans if consumed in large quantities.
Dave Sewak of Somerset County, who works for Trout Unlimited, an
environmental group that advocates for the protection of fishing
streams and watersheds, said drilling near fishing areas is under way
in Bradford, Washington and Greene counties.
"A lot of development is occurring around mountain streams," Sewak said.
Driven by geology
The watershed issue is not unique to Westmoreland and Fayette
counties.
There are 17 watersheds in Washington County and gas wells have been
drilled near all of them, said Jennifer Halchak, a watershed specialist
for the Washington County Conservation District. The largest is the
Chartiers Creek Watershed, which flows into Allegheny County in the
Upper St. Clair and South Fayette areas.
Drilling is under way near streams in Amwell, Morris, Hopewell, Mt.
Pleasant and Independence, she said.
While the Fish & Boat Commission said it has not commissioned a
study on the potential impact on its fishing areas, Sewak said improper
drilling site construction could cause erosion and sediment damage. The
pads where the drills are based, storage areas, roads and compression
stations also can erode the soil, he said.
Drilling pads range in size from 3 to 5 acres, according to the Penn
State Cooperative Extension Service.
"Continued erosion will suffocate stoneflies, mayfliesand caddis (fly)
eggs," Sewak added. The insects at times are the main food source for
trout.
Attorney Ed Bilik of Greensburg, who operates Western Pennsylvania Gas
Leasing Consultants LLC, negotiated deals to place the pipeline with
several property owners along Route 711. He said it could be in
operation by the fall of 2013.
"The whole business is driven by geology, geology, geology," Bilik said.
He said the pipeline is the key to development in the area for both the
natural gas industry and local businesses.
"Drilling takes place wherever they can get gas to market," Bilik said.
"The pipeline will be a big boom for leasing.
Then the question is once the exploratory wells are drug, how well will
they do. What will follow will be a lot of drilling.
"If people want to get good value for their gas rights, they have to
make way for the pipeline. This is big money," he said. "Everybody and
their brother is trying to take advantage of landowners."
Richard Gazarik can be reached at rgazarik@tribweb.com or 724-830-6292.