The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced yesterday that it will undertake a study concerning naturally occurring levels of radioactivity in oil and gas drilling by-products. The study, which is expected to take 12 to 14 months, will sample flowback water, rock cuttings, treatment solids and sediments at well pads and wastewater-treatment and waste-disposal facilities. It will also examine pipes and well casings, storage tanks, treatment systems and trucks. DEP Secretary Michael Krancer called the study the “most comprehensive of its kind anywhere.” He also said that it will demonstrate “that states are best suited to responsibly oversee the natural gas exploration and production activities taking place in [their] respective borders.” The DEP retained Perma-Fix Environmental Services to assist in conducting the study, and the DEP announced that it will consult with “independent members of academia to peer review the project’s detailed study plan.” The Scranton Times-Tribune has more.
Natural gas production and consumption rose nationwide according to new statistics published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Natural Gas Annual and the West Virginia State Journal. Of particular note, natural gas production in West Virginia rose approximately 50 percent in 2011 over previous years, with Shale production representing 58 percent of WV’s production. Statewide the number of WV producing natural gas wells rose to 56,800 in 2011, a 4, 300 well increase from 2010’s production levels. No new estimates were given for the natural gas reserves believed to be underlying the Mountain State.
Confident in the future of the Utica Shale play, Kansas based Lario Oil & Gas Company has acquired an interest in 25,000 acres situated in the oil-rich northern portion of the Utica/Point Pleasant Formation in eastern Ohio with an un-named industry partner. The announcement comes on the heels of Lario’s recent drilling success in North Dakota and Colorado. In a statement released via its website, Lario detailed that it intends to drill a scientific well in the second quarter of 2013, with horizontal wells to drilled later.
On November 6, 2012, residents of the city of Mansfield, Ohio voted to approve an environmental bill of rights that will require any company planning to construct an injection well for the disposal of brine from oil and gas production operations to obtain prior approval from the Mansfield city council. The city council decided to put the environmental bill of rights before voters in July 2012 but the bill did not garner much attention until a few weeks before the election when the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, American Petroleum Institute, and Mansfielders for Jobs issued political materials opposing the bill. The bill was approved with 62.9 percent of voters in favor of the bill.
Opponents of the environmental bill of rights have expressed concern that the regulatory scope of the bill may extend beyond injection wells. Section 1.02(H)(2) states that “No permit, license, privilege or charter issued by any State or government agency . . . which would violate the prohibitions of this Charter provision or deprive any City resident(s), of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by this Charter, the Ohio Constitution, the United States Constitution, or other laws, shall be deemed valid within the City of Mansfield, without the written legislative consent of the City of Mansfield.” However, the bill of rights may not be enforceable and could face a court challenge since the local legislation would be preempted by state law under Ohio Rev. Code 1509.03.
On November 2, 2012, Ohio EPA reported that the air quality near a drilling site in Muskingum County, Ohio is within federal standards. Ohio EPA collected four months of data from a monitor that measured concentrations of particulate matter, various hydrocarbons, and methane. The agency explained that the only exceedance, which occurred on June 8, 2012, may have been caused by the construction of a nearby road on that particular date. Ohio EPA plans to continue monitoring air quality at well sites for at least two years.
Acknowledging the agency’s limited authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the principal environmental statutes such as the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now considering its authority under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to ensure that hydraulic fracturing is adequately regulated. Small quantities of antimicrobial chemicals are used in hydraulic fracturing operations to prevent algal and microbial growth that could impede the flow of oil or natural gas during the extraction process. Biocides commonly used in hydraulic fracturing fluid including, acrolein, dazomet, and glutaraldehyde are pesticides and therefore regulated under FIFRA. While EPA is only in the initial stages of weighing the risks associated with the use of antimicrobial chemicals in hydraulic fracturing, industry has raised several FIFRA compliance-related issues including, industry obligations under FIFRA, registration status of certain biocides, and enforcement liability.
Gulfport Energy Corporation reported positive production results for its Shugert 1-1H well in Ohio’s Utica shale. Located in Belmont County, Ohio, Shugert 1-1H tested at a peak rate of 20.0 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, 144 barrels of condensate per day, and 2,002 barrels of natural gas liquids per day. Gulfport plans to begin flowing the Shugert 1-1H well into a sales pipeline by early December.
In July 2011, PIOGA filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania seeking to hold the United States Forest Service in contempt of court for allegedly failing to adhere to the Court’s December 2009 preliminary injunction order in the Minard Run, et al. v. United States Forest Service, et al. litigation. That order prevented the Forest Service from requiring mineral owners to prepare a NEPA document before the development of oil and gas rights in the Allegheny Forest. It also required the parties to revert to a drilling proposal process that they had used from 1980 until the litigation began in 2009.
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