A discussion of fracking

DAVID HULSE
Posted 12/20/17

NARROWSBURG, NY — Hydrogeologist David Yoxtheimer P.G. on December 7 made a presentation on unconventional natural gas development, hydraulic fracturing—fracking—impacts in the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

A discussion of fracking

Posted

NARROWSBURG, NY — Hydrogeologist David Yoxtheimer P.G. on December 7 made a presentation on unconventional natural gas development, hydraulic fracturing—fracking—impacts in the Susquehanna River Valley and what “probably won’t happen here in the Delaware Valley,” he said.

Yoxtheimer is is a Penn State Extension associate with Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR), which he said is largely funded by traditional on-campus sources, although he admitted that there is also a lot of oil-gas industry-funded work ongoing at PSU.

His comment about what “won’t happen here” relates to the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) November 30 release of long-awaited draft regulations, which would effectively ban fracking and discourage the importation of fracking wastewater or exportation of water for fracking purposes. Four January public hearings on the new rules will take place in Waymart (January 23, 2018) and Philadelphia (January 25, 2018). Advance registration is required to attend.

Yoxtheimer’s data-heavy presentation for the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) covered general Marcellus region history 2008-17, and technology. The region now produces 25% of new U.S. natural gas. Some 16,000 wells have been drilled in the Appalachians, some 10,600 in Pennsylvania. He said the shale-oil region could provide up to half of all domestic oil and the current 25 billion cubic feet of natural gas could double.

He said the industry’s water and air-pollution issues have largely been solved by improved drilling techniques and handling of recovered fracking fluids on drilling pads. “[The industry doesn’t] want that and they’ve upped their game,” Yoxtheimer said.

That said, Yoxtheimer reported issues remain. Spills of fluids still happen. “It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does it’s kind of a mess,” he said. Methane migration to ground water from pressurized wells also happens, but it is “not common.” In a Department of Environmental Protection survey, only 39 of 9,577 wells drilled in 2015 had these problems, he said.

He said that up to 80% of the wells in Tioga County produce methane gas, but he claimed that well publicized residential water supply problems there were not related to those wells.

Additionally, only about 8,000 of 200,000 gas wells are mapped. Blowouts have occurred where drillers have bored into old wells, causing a surface geyser release of fracking fluids.

The volume of water used in drilling is especially pertinent to the Upper Delaware valley. According to a 2010, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study, “Concerns about the ecological impacts to aquatic resources resulting from huge water withdrawals have been raised throughout the Marcellus Shale region. This is particularly an issue under drought conditions, low seasonal flow, locations with already stressed water supplies, or locations with waters that have sensitive aquatic communities that depend on clean, cool waters… Water withdrawal for hydraulic fracturing is a major water resources concern in the Delaware River Basin.”

Yoxtheimer said each well requires 500,000 gallons of water for each 1,000 feet of drilling. In 2014, each well drilled consumed seven million gallons, of which only 10% or less is recovered. The remainder stays 10,000 feet below the surface at temperatures he estimated at 200 degrees. Yoxtheimer said that underground residue is not a problem, as the shale is “very dry and absorbs it.”

Several times during his presentation Yoxtheimer stressed that “This is not an industry without risk.”

In other business at the UDC’s monthly meeting, executive director Laurie Ramie reported that a 25-pound box of annual audit reports was mailed to the National Park Service (NPS) on the December 1 deadline for an NPS review of the source of the UDC’s “unrestricted fund.”

Their nominating committee named executive officer candidates for 2018, for vacancies to be filled by a ballot vote in January. The candidates include Aaron Robinson of Shohola, PA, as chairman; David Dean of Deerpark, NY as vice-chairman; and Al Henry of Berlin (PA) as secretary-treasurer.

NARROWSBURG, NY — Hydrogeologist David Yoxtheimer P.G. on December 7 made a presentation on unconventional natural gas development, hydraulic fracturing—fracking—impacts in the Susquehanna River Valley and what “probably won’t happen here in the Delaware Valley,” he said.

Yoxtheimer is is a Penn State Extension associate with Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR), which he said is largely funded by traditional on-campus sources, although he admitted that there is also a lot of oil-gas industry-funded work ongoing at PSU.

His comment about what “won’t happen here” relates to the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) November 30 release of long-awaited draft regulations, which would effectively ban fracking and discourage the importation of fracking wastewater or exportation of water for fracking purposes. Four January public hearings on the new rules will take place in Waymart (January 23, 2018) and Philadelphia (January 25, 2018). Advance registration is required to attend.

Yoxtheimer’s data-heavy presentation for the Upper Delaware Council (UDC) covered general Marcellus region history 2008-17, and technology. The region now produces 25% of new U.S. natural gas. Some 16,000 wells have been drilled in the Appalachians, some 10,600 in Pennsylvania. He said the shale-oil region could provide up to half of all domestic oil and the current 25 billion cubic feet of natural gas could double.

He said the industry’s water and air-pollution issues have largely been solved by improved drilling techniques and handling of recovered fracking fluids on drilling pads. “[The industry doesn’t] want that and they’ve upped their game,” Yoxtheimer said.

That said, Yoxtheimer reported issues remain. Spills of fluids still happen. “It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does it’s kind of a mess,” he said. Methane migration to ground water from pressurized wells also happens, but it is “not common.” In a Department of Environmental Protection survey, only 39 of 9,577 wells drilled in 2015 had these problems, he said.

He said that up to 80% of the wells in Tioga County produce methane gas, but he claimed that well publicized residential water supply problems there were not related to those wells.

Additionally, only about 8,000 of 200,000 gas wells are mapped. Blowouts have occurred where drillers have bored into old wells, causing a surface geyser release of fracking fluids.

The volume of water used in drilling is especially pertinent to the Upper Delaware valley. According to a 2010, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study, “Concerns about the ecological impacts to aquatic resources resulting from huge water withdrawals have been raised throughout the Marcellus Shale region. This is particularly an issue under drought conditions, low seasonal flow, locations with already stressed water supplies, or locations with waters that have sensitive aquatic communities that depend on clean, cool waters… Water withdrawal for hydraulic fracturing is a major water resources concern in the Delaware River Basin.”

Yoxtheimer said each well requires 500,000 gallons of water for each 1,000 feet of drilling. In 2014, each well drilled consumed seven million gallons, of which only 10% or less is recovered. The remainder stays 10,000 feet below the surface at temperatures he estimated at 200 degrees. Yoxtheimer said that underground residue is not a problem, as the shale is “very dry and absorbs it.”

Several times during his presentation Yoxtheimer stressed that “This is not an industry without risk.”

In other business at the UDC’s monthly meeting, executive director Laurie Ramie reported that a 25-pound box of annual audit reports was mailed to the National Park Service (NPS) on the December 1 deadline for an NPS review of the source of the UDC’s “unrestricted fund.”

Their nominating committee named executive officer candidates for 2018, for vacancies to be filled by a ballot vote in January. The candidates include Aaron Robinson of Shohola, PA, as chairman; David Dean of Deerpark, NY as vice-chairman; and Al Henry of Berlin (PA) as secretary-treasurer.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here