W.Va. DEP Adds Conditions to Monongalia County Gas Well Permits
The well sites are along Dunkard Creek.
The State Journal
27 May 2011
CHARLESTON -- Officials with the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection announced Friday that it's Office of Oil and
Gas issued well work permits for two horizontal wells that will be
drilled along Dunkard Creek, in Monongalia County.
The permits, for Northeast Natural Energy, LLC, include additional
conditions not found in typical permits, officials said.
The company will have to build conductivity monitoring stations, on the
creek, both up and downstream of the wells. A secondary, closed-loop
containment system will also be used, officials said. No on-site waste
disposal will be permitted.
“We are keenly aware of the concerns people may have about the location
of these wells in relation to Dunkard Creek,” said James Martin, Chief
of the Office of Oil and Gas. “The applications have met all of the
rules and regulations that govern the issuance of these permits. With
the added conditions that have been written into the permits, we
believe the stream and ground water are adequately protected.”
Well work permits do not allow drillers to discharge anything into
nearby streams and all permits require sediment and erosion control
measures for surface water protection and an approved casing and
cementing plan for groundwater protection, DEP officials said in a news
release.
Dunkard Creek was the site of a large fish kill in 2009.