Forest Service Report

Gas Well Study
February 7, 2011

The U.S. Forest Service has just released a technical report titled Effects of development of a natural gas well and associated pipeline on the natural and scientific resources of the Fernow Experimental Forest. It can be downloaded from this page or you can download it directly.

The report deals with the expected and unexpected effects resulting from a natural gas well drilled in the Fernow Experimental Forest in Tucker County, West Virginia in 2008. The site is on karst, a problematic location for a well, and is located close to a cave where endangered Indiana Bats overwinter and in an area with other endangered species.

This well is a vertical well into formations below the Marcellus and shows some of the limitations of West Virginia’s regulatory program. We have serious issues with erosion and sediment control at sites. The state requires the use of a 1993 Erosion and Sediment Control Field Manual which is sorely in need of revision. We’ve found that operators after almost 20 years still don’t understand the requirements of the manual. The report documents sediment control overwhelmed on the site, including sediment going into a sinkhole (sinkholes and caverns are features in karst limestone formations).

While drilling out a fracture plug the operator lost control of the well and flowback sprayed onto the pad and into the surrounding woods, killing vegetation. The state has a history of spills, blowouts and other events not being reported to the regulatory agency and that appears to have happened this time also. PEER obtained some documents related to the well by FOIA request and a scientist stated that the area the spray hit had a burned appearance.

This state allows the land application of liquid drill waste and fracture flowback using a permit created in the 1980s (it’s currently being revised, at long last). In this case the liquid waste killed vegetation and trees and that is documented by Forest Service scientists. The state also allows solid waste to be buried on site. At this well, the waste is leaching to the surface through the action of several seeps where it was buried. As far as I know (the report doesn’t explicitly state this) the state has had no response to either the death of vegetation nor the leaching of waste.

We have a section on our website dealing with the Fernow land application debacle. We’ll be updating it and including material from this report. We’ve been able to reproduce, on a small scale, some of the effects seen on vegetation at Fernow using chloride solutions. We have not been able to reproduce the high soil concentration of chloride found by scientists after the application was done in 2008, nor have we been able to reproduce the effects on a broad spectrum of species. It’s entirely possible that other factors were involved in the death of even large trees, but the land application permit requires analysis of only a few constituents, such as iron, aluminum, chloride, etc. No heavy metals, and there is no load factor for chloride.

Articles are appearing in various venues on the web based on this Forest Service report. A good one is on the ProPublica site.

Cats in Baskets

Journals
November 14, 2010

Mama Cat and Peach Blossom have been settling into our household with lots of help from the kittens and Kitty Boy. Bobo enjoys his much enlarged family, but it’s Kitty Boy’s duty to keep everything smooth going. Just like he did with the kittens months ago.

This was taken on July 4th. Molly had put out baskets for the kittens and needed to add another for Kitty Boy. The third basket is off to the left where it can’t be seen in this photo.

The baskets were the center of play and rest for the kittens (and Kitty Boy) and they’re still used for play now.

Peach Blossom has been using the largest basket to sleep in at night. Both Peach Blossom and her mom are a lot less shy now.

Here’s Peach Blossom in her basket and her mom sitting close by. Mama Cat doesn’t run now when one of us has to walk by. Everyone eats breakfast and dinner in the kitchen and everyone loves their treats.

Mama Cat sometimes sleeps in the large basket at night when Peach Blossom is up in the loft with us or on the rug in front of the woodstove.

Mama Cat and Peach Blossom

Journals
September 19, 2010

When the three kittens were born, the Mama Cat was infrequently seen in the yard. We ended up with two and except for a brief sighting of the third in June we weren’t sure at all how the third was doing — until August. We’d been feeding the Mama at the edge of the yard and she made a point of going to the food from different directions, moving along the perimeter of the yard. If she thought we were near (25 feet was too close) she took off, no matter how hungry she was.

In August we began to have sightings of the third kitten, which Molly named Peach Blossom, and the Mama together. They were living under the house. We moved the food bowl closer to the house where they could reach it easier but Mama was doing all the eating, Peach Blossom wasn’t weaned yet. (We’re glad Grey and Blondie take so long!)

In late August we tried to trap the Mama and failed utterly. We want to take her to the vet, and the kitten too, to have them neutered. We made more attempts but she stayed clear of the trap, no matter what enticing food was inside. No luck on Peach Blossom either.

Once we were sure that Peach Blossom was weaned or nearly weaned, we let the big guys out and they made quick friends with Mama Cat and Peach Blossom. Mama Cat adores Kitty Boy and it’s fun watching Peach Blossom play with Kitty Boy’s tail. The Mama and kitten have slightly relaxed their vigilance and have been eating on the porch now. The Mama is less likely to run away if she sees us in a window or through the panes in the door.

We still hope to catch them one of these days — hopefully before Mama becomes pregnant again!

Here are photos of Peach Blossom on the back porch visiting with Grey (who is still kept inside for now until he has all his shots).

And Mama Cat and Peach Blossom eating on the front porch. Peach Blossom gets so he waits, looking in the door, when it’s dinner time.

More soon!