Putnam B-85

Visited in 2009

This is a new well site just east of 47-079-00232 on Spanish Oak Road which is off Heizer Creek Road. The well was permitted as 47-079-01485 but was never drilled.

We were told by a neighbor that the operator finished preparing the site and then left it as it is in fall 2008.

The well access road is quite steep -- 30% grade. It is graveled until just short of the top where it enters the pad. The side ditch is quite deep with berms and two culverts. The culverts were almost plugged with sediment and at the lower berm it looked like water had washed over it. The culverts appear to be too small and too few for this location and because of the severe grade the ditch should be armored with gravel.

The site had been seeded but the pad itself showed almost no germination when George viewed it in February 2009. He saw short silt fences in two locations. One was at the pad, at the end of the ditch at the toe of the cut slope. The other silt fence was at the bottom of the hill and road's ditch, above the creek.

This operator's well sites have a pad of about 100 by 200 feet with a "thumb" sticking out at one 100 foot wide end. Trees are cut at some sites but stumps are left. We still don't understand the purpose of this clearing. The two permit applications we've examined by this operator show a pit separate from the pad but we believe the operator constructs the pit on the pad. This site had no pit nor a cleared area off the pad for a pit.

This operator has locked gates on their newest site entrances with barbed wire on the sides to keep out ATV traffic.

The access road goes straight up the hillside (30% slope) from Spanish Oak Road. A truck is barely visible on Spanish Oak Road in the center of the photograph and the dark spot below it is our ATV.

The deep ditch is to the left.

There were two culverts for drainage of the deep ditch, each backed with a berm to divert water into the culvert. Both culverts were nearly plugged. This is the upper culvert.

The lower culvert was almost entirely plugged and water had washed up over the berm here since it had nowhere else to go. The black object in the upper right-hand corner is scrap plastic culvert.

The access road is graveled until about 50 feet from the edge of the pad. Because there is no gravel it is deeply rutted here.

This photo was taken at the "thumb" end of the pad looking toward the entrance on the other side of the pad. Cut slope is to the right. The cut slope has two grades, steeper (about 2:1) at the bottom and more gradual (1:1) up the hillside.

The steepest part of the cut slope has started to collapse toward the pad.

This is the "thumb" part of the pad, roughly cleared and mulched.

Looking down the fill slope the stacks of timber, stumps, and branches form the perimeter as a sediment barrier. Between the barrier and the toe of the slope is a level area. The toe of the slope is supported by a built up bench (lower third of photo).

The collapsing cut slope has filled the ditch at its base.

The ditch at the base of the cut slope takes water from the slope diverting it from the pad. There was an extremely short (in our opinion too short) length of silt fence as sediment control at the drain end of the ditch.

Stacked, cut timber is to the upper right in photo.

This is the location of the well. When originally surveyed, this location was on the hillside. After the cut and construction of the pad, the well needed to be resurveyed to be in the exact location (but lower in altitude).

To help relocate the well position, two trees at the outer edge of the pad clearing were tagged and marked. Bearing and distance was recorded from each tree to the well during the original survey.

When the well was surveyed on our property we were told that the clearing would be about 150 by 250 feet and that the tagged trees were outside of the clearing. On this site the two tagged trees were well within the cleared area and one of the trees had been cut so just its stump remained.

We've seen orange plastic cord at other recently drilled sites. At this site we realized it came from the bales of straw used for mulch.

This is the well site seen from the opposite ridge. The dark band bisecting the two green areas is the steep portion of the cut slope. The lower band of green is the fill slope and the upper band of green is the less steep portion of the cut slope. The cleared area is quite large (much larger than 150 by 250 feet).

 

Gas Well Site Visits

Examining Well Sites
How We Examined Well Sites
Environmental Assessment

Table with Links to Wells Visited

47-039-05714 Environmental Assessment
47-079-01492 Environmental Assessment
47-039-02026 Environmental Assessment

2013 Gas Well Workshop

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Gas Well Study is the examination of natural gas wells in West Virginia.

Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells
These wells are used either for the disposal of oil and gas liquid waste or for the enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas.

Gas Well Study Site Visits
Annual reports, environmental assessments, and individual well information.

YouTube Videos
Select videos from the Gas Well Study YouTube channel.

What Happened at Fernow
An investigation into what caused the vegetation death in the land application area after landspraying hydraulic fracture flowback waste.

The Spill at Buckeye Creek
An investigation into a spill from a Marcellus well site into Buckeye Creek in Doddridge county.

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The Details

Plunger Lift Technology on Gas Wells
Fluids Brought to the Surface during Production
Plugging a Well
How To Read a Lab Report
Information the Completion Report Provides
Casing and Cementing