YouTube Video

Drilling Causing Problems in Wetzel County, West Virginia

There's been a surge in the number of wells drilled in Wetzel county in northwest West Virginia. These are primarily horizontal Marcellus wells. The Wetzel County Action Group has documented some of the problems the area's residents have encountered, including damaged roadways, air pollution, and water pollution.

This is the full interview Bonnie Hall gave for us during the West Virginians for a Moratorium on Marcellus (www.wv4mom.org) rally at the capitol in July 2011. A part of this interview was also used for our Bottled Water video

The problems Bonnie is describing have been repeated across the state: pollution of groundwater attributable to drilling, inability of the state to find operators in violation, inadequate solutions offered by operators, and the cluster of effects drilling has on communities (decreased commercial activity, impaired health of citizens, and poisoned groundwater).

New regulations proposed by the state's Department of Environmental Protection do not deal in any way with these issues nor their causes.

Bonnie says in the interview that the natural gas well is 6,000 feet from her home. In West Virginia, residences more than 1,000 feet in distance are assumed to not be affected by drilling, even though horizontal legs of wells can be a mile long underground.

One of the substances Bonnie says in her interview that was found in her water, acrylonitrile (not the acrylonitrate she misstates), is used sometimes in drilling and fracturing wells. It is also used as a fumigant.

Bonnie knew she had problems when her horses refused to drink the water from the tank in their barn.

 

YouTube Videos

An Underground Injection Control Class 2 Well in Putnam County, WV
Three videos about issues at a UIC Class 2 well in Fayette county
Two Problem Wells
Cleanup
You Get Used To It
They Don't Do It That Way Any More: Fracturing with Explosives
Drilling Causing Problems in Wetzel County, West Virginia
Bottled Water
Gas Well Study Cooking Class: Making Fracking Gel
Natural Gas: Blunders and Numbers
Bad Well Bad Well Bad Well
Natural Gas: Trashing the Surface Owner
Three Natural Gas Wells


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.


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