Ohio Imposes Tougher Rules on Gas-Drilling Waste
Report links injection wells to recent area earthquakes
Charleston Gazette
9 March 2012
By The Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A dozen earthquakes in Northeastern Ohio were
almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater
into the earth, state regulators said Friday as they announced a
series of tough new rules for drillers.
Among the new regulations: Well operators must submit more
comprehensive geological data when requesting a drill site, and
the chemical makeup of all drilling wastewater must be tracked
electronically.
Both could mean extra costs for gas drillers looking for new wells
and ways to get rid of wastewater -- much of which is trucked into
Ohio from Pennsylvania, the region's top gas-producing state.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced the new
brine-injection regulations because of the report's findings on
the well in Youngstown, which it said were based on "a number of
coincidental circumstances."
For one, investigators said, the well began operations just three
months ahead of the first quake.
They also noted that the seismic activity, which began in March
2011 and ended at the end of the year, was clustered around the
well bore, and reported that a fault has since been identified in
the rock layer where water was being injected.
"Our evidence strongly suggests that the injection fluid
lubricated a previously unmapped fault and contributed to seismic
activity," said Natural Resources spokesman Carlo LoParo. "It was
an unfortunate situation, and the operator drilled the well to
specifications and operated within all permitted levels."
The report said: "Geologists believe it is very difficult for all
conditions to be met to induce seismic events. In fact, all the
evidence indicates that properly located . . . injection wells
will not cause earthquakes."
The Youngstown well's operator, D&L Energy Inc., noted as much
Friday in a statement reacting to the state report and the new
regulations. D&L pointed out that the state did not actually
test the well during its investigation, relying instead of
geologic and seismic data.
D&L said there is "no reason to rush and accept bad or
incomplete science" until the company's own studies, commissioned
from two consultants, can be reviewed. The company also noted that
the well no longer takes wastewater because of a self-imposed
moratorium that Gov. John Kasich extended to 5 miles around it.
Northeastern Ohio and large parts of adjacent states sit atop the
Utica and Marcellus shale geological formations, which contain
vast reserves of natural gas that energy companies are rushing to
drill using a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
That process involves freeing the gas by injecting huge amounts of
chemical-laced water into the earth at high pressure. The water
that comes back up must be disposed of.
Read
where West Virginia stands here.
Northeastern Ohio and large parts of adjacent states sit atop the
Utica and Marcellus shale geological formations, which contain
vast reserves of natural gas that energy companies are rushing to
drill using a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
That process involves freeing the gas by injecting huge amounts of
chemical-laced water into the earth at high pressure. The water
that comes back up must be disposed of.
Municipal water treatment plants aren't designed to remove some of
the contaminants found in the wastewater, including radioactive
elements. Deep injection is considered one of the safest methods
for disposal, although earthquakes -- most very small but some,
like in Youngstown, large enough to be felt -- have been linked to
such methods.
Pennsylvania and other drilling states could see nearly immediate
impacts from the Ohio rules.
Pennsylvania has limited the deep injection of wastewater because
its geology precludes it. Six of its deep-injection wells accept
fracking fluid. Ohio has 177 such wells.
Drillers in Pennsylvania sent almost 1.5 million barrels of waste
to injection wells in Ohio during the second half of 2011, said
Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection.
However, with Ohio now planning to require electronic monitoring
of wastewater, and that technology not widely available yet,
Pennsylvania and other states seeking to send wastewater to Ohio
might need a Plan B in the interim.
Among the new regulations in Ohio:
-- Future injection into Precambrian Era rock will be banned, and
existing wells penetrating the formation will be plugged.
-- State-of-the-art pressure and volume monitoring will be
required, including automatic shut-off systems.
-- Electronic tracking systems will be required that identify the
makeup of all drilling wastewater fluids entering the state.
The state's report validates concerns among environmentalists that
Ohio is moving too fast, said Jed Thorp, manager of the Ohio
chapter of the Sierra Club.
"This proves that we need to have data and research and
regulations in place before these activities begin. The problem
here is that they let everybody go over there and start punching
holes in the ground before there was data and adequate research,"
he said. "So now we're in a position of having to create
regulations after the fact. That's really a backward way to do
it."
The Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council and other members
of a coalition watching the boon in oil and gas drilling activity
planned to send a letter to the state Friday asking for a public
forum on the report, Thorp said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Ohio regulatory
authority over its deep-well injection program in 1983, deeming
that its state regulations met or exceeded federal standards. The
new regulations would be added to those existing rules.
Municipal water treatment plants aren't designed to remove some of
the contaminants found in the wastewater, including radioactive
elements. Deep injection is considered one of the safest methods
for disposal, although earthquakes -- most very small but some,
like in Youngstown, large enough to be felt -- have been linked to
such methods.
Pennsylvania and other drilling states could see nearly immediate
impacts from the Ohio rules.
Pennsylvania has limited the deep injection of wastewater because
its geology precludes it. Six of its deep-injection wells accept
fracking fluid. Ohio has 177 such wells.
Drillers in Pennsylvania sent almost 1.5 million barrels of waste
to injection wells in Ohio during the second half of 2011, said
Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection.
However, with Ohio now planning to require electronic monitoring
of wastewater, and that technology not widely available yet,
Pennsylvania and other states seeking to send wastewater to Ohio
might need a Plan B in the interim.
Among the new regulations in Ohio:
-- Future injection into Precambrian Era rock will be banned, and
existing wells penetrating the formation will be plugged.
-- State-of-the-art pressure and volume monitoring will be
required, including automatic shut-off systems.
-- Electronic tracking systems will be required that identify the
makeup of all drilling wastewater fluids entering the state.
The state's report validates concerns among environmentalists that
Ohio is moving too fast, said Jed Thorp, manager of the Ohio
chapter of the Sierra Club.
"This proves that we need to have data and research and
regulations in place before these activities begin. The problem
here is that they let everybody go over there and start punching
holes in the ground before there was data and adequate research,"
he said. "So now we're in a position of having to create
regulations after the fact. That's really a backward way to do
it."
The Sierra Club, the Ohio Environmental Council and other members
of a coalition watching the boon in oil and gas drilling activity
planned to send a letter to the state Friday asking for a public
forum on the report, Thorp said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Ohio regulatory
authority over its deep-well injection program in 1983, deeming
that its state regulations met or exceeded federal standards. The
new regulations would be added to those existing rules.