What Happened at Fernow
Fernow Experimental Forest
Fernow Experimental Forest, located in Tucker county, West Virginia, is part of the National Forest system. Caves at Fernow are used by the endangered Indiana bat for hibernation and for that reason alone there probably shouldn't have been a gas well drilled there. Like us, the federal government at this location owns the surface only, but unlike us the federal government has more options when dealing with natural gas drilling.
What makes what happened at Fernow special is that there were government scientists there when bad things happened.
We've collected a group of links about the Forest, about the Berry well and pipeline, and about what happened during drilling.
The Fernow Experimental Forest website and research over the last 50 years.
The Forest Service's decision to allow Berry Energy to drill the B800 well at Fernow, along with map 1 and map 2. A similar decision was made to allow Berry Energy to construct a pipeline, along with a map.
There are good reasons to believe that the decision to allow Berry Energy to drill was a bad one. PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) on their website provides an article with links to background information. Ken Ward, Jr., writing for the Gazette, has used information from PEER and has expanded on that information on the Gazette's Sustained Outrage blog. The March 11, 2008 article in the Gazette ("Forest Service ignored concerns about drilling") is available online (we hope -- if anyone has problems, let us know). Ken Ward's posts are "Ignoring science at the Forest Service" and "Gas drilling damage I" (which has a photo of the effects of landspraying on vegetation). Two other posts deal with broader gas drilling issues: "Gas drilling damage II" and "Gas drilling damage III."
Basically, Berry Energy, after drilling and fracturing the B800 well and treating the waste according to the state's program, landsprayed liquid pit waste. The liquids adversely affected vegetation, killing some outright. Landspraying was moved to a second area, eventually, and vegetation was affected there also, but not so seriously. An earlier event, during fracturing, occurred when Berry lost control of the well and the resulting spray killed trees and undergrowth.
The amount of liquid sprayed on the first landspraying area of about half an acre was about 80,000 gallons. According to the company's Discharge Monitoring Report filed with the state, in total 100,000 gallons of liquid waste was sprayed onto two acres.
The next chapter presents information from Berry Energy's Discharge Monitoring Report.
Go to the The Discharge Monitoring Report.
What Happened at Fernow
Landspraying
Fernow Experimental Forest
Discharge Monitoring Report
Chloride Load
SAR
Liming the Pit
A Short History of Fracturing
Fracturing Chemicals
What Happened at Fernow
Recommendations & Sources
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