47-039-02026
Well drilled in 1964
Producing formation(s): Oriskany
Geographic location: latitude 38.517753, longitude -81.742289
Visited first in 2008
This well shares the same road we do and we have photographs from 1997 showing how bad that road would get. Besides the problems with the road, the well has a wrong API number and poor vegetation on the pad.
A complaint was made by George to Office of Oil and Gas on September 8 about the road and lack of a dike for the tank. The tank had been allowed by the operator to overflow the previous winter and the petroleum condensate had run down the hill.
The operator built a dike around the tank, removed most of the trash at the site but still has not fixed the problem of the wrong API number (wrong county number) on the well. Scrap pipe and other industrial debris remains on the site.
During the winter of 2008 the tank was allowed to overflow crude petroleum.
Since there wasn't a dike as required, the crude petroleum ran down the hillside.
This and the previous photo were taken in early September 2008.
A week after George's complaint to the Office of Oil and Gas the operator built the required dike around the tank and seeded the area.
The tank trapdoor is still not locked.
An old, unused pipe is still by the well. This should be hauled away.
The metal pipework at the well site is long overdue for paint. This photograph shows a heavily corroded pipe at the wellhead.
Two 55 gallon steel drums have been on the site since the 1980s (and may date back to when the well was drilled in the 1960s).
Industrial waste like this shouldn't be left at a site.
The road to the well was graded in September 2008 but since the well pad is lower than the surrounding terrain and there isn't adequate drainage, it becomes a lake in the winter. This photo was taken in late December.
When the road was graded and partially graveled in September 2008, the inlet end of a culvert was almost entirely blocked.
Visited again in 2009
In 2009 we began including an environmental assessment of some wells that we visited. Assessment includes a wider examination of the site -- beyond the pad -- and, in this case, soil tests for chlorides.
Beyond the pad we found cast off pipe, a large iron or steel object and remains of another steel drum. We also found what we call the "notch" on the edge of the level pad in an overgrown area. The notch is a rectangular shaped cut in the hillside with pieces of black plastic embedded in the sides of the notch. There is an iron or steel object and a piece of lumber along with other trash in the notch which seems to remain wet most of the time. There are a large number of deer tracks here and on the pad by the wellhead at the separator.
There is also, what looks to be the remains of an open pit to the west, beyond and below the pad.
We made chlorides tests at four locations: off the pad, in a cut wall which seems otherwise to be undisturbed soil; in the notch; in what looks to be an open pit; and by the separator. We found elevated chlorides in the notch and by the separator -- 136 mg/l.
A copy of the Environmental Assessment for 47-039-02026 can be downloaded.
The separator is where brine is separated from natural gas. The brine outlet is at the bottom of the separator and goes to the tank.
The sample bottle's purple cover is barely visible in the foreground.
This area had a large number of deer tracks, unlike the rest of the well site. After the new dike for the tank was constructed in September 2008 the crew seeded and mulched the area. Seed hasn't germinated here. The soil tested at 136 mg/l chlorides.
This is a photograph of the "notch" taken in February 2009. The bank for the hillside drops off to the left in the photograph. The wellhead is about 87 feet to the right.
The notch during sampling in April 2009. The purple lid for the sample bottle indicates the location which is being recorded on a GPS. Soil here also tested at 136 mg/l chlorides. The other two locations tested had no or just trace chlorides.
This is the southern edge of the notch. Black plastic is visible to the left in the photograph. There is a round scrap piece of metal to the right of the plastic. The notch is apparently where pit waste had been buried and was now exposed.
This is a large scrap item which we believe might have been used either in drilling or working over the well. We've seen a similarly shaped item in photographs of wells being drilled.
The large scrap item is in what we think might have been a drill pit. The hillside up to the pad is to the left. To the right, not plainly visible in the photograph is an earthen bank that is several feet high.
Remains of a 55 gallon steel drum were also in the area of the supposed pit.
A soil sample taken from this area showed a trace of chlorides.
At another area, on the slope below the pad, are several cast off items, including a length of steel cable.
In this area there were several lengths of pipe with fittings.
Some of the pipe had been painted green like here and other pieces were unpainted.
Closer examination of the wellhead showed severe corrosion to the main pipe. It looks like corrosion has eroded at least half the pipe's thickness.
Visited again in 2010
In spring 2010 the operator upgraded the well road so that it was fully graveled. As part of that work the pad was graded and a new separator and meter was installed. The piping at the wellhead was changed to a slightly different configuration while at the same time corroded pipes were replaced.
The contractor for the road work graded the road, created ditches and graveled the road.
The existing culvert was kept with better ditches dug leading to it.
The road contractor used a roller to compact the clay road surface before laying down gravel. That was also compacted and then another finer layer of gravel was compacted onto that.
The road contractor graded the well pad and created drainage.
The existing dike was upgraded.
The old separator was removed and a new separator of similar style was installed.
Before this work was done the meter was in a small wood shed. That meter and shed were removed and a new metal meter box was installed.
Visited again in 2011
In December 2011 there was an overflow of the tank for 47-039-02026. Previous overflows had occured in the winter of 2007/08 and again in 2010. The earliest overflow occurred before the required secondary containment for the tank had been constructed and condensate spilled past the well site into the woods and down a steep slope toward a stream.
We have a video showing the operator's cleanup of the December 2011 spill.
We peformed an environmental assessment of this site in 2009 finding elevated chloride in soil samples from areas that were again affected by the recent tank overflow.
The operator replaced the tank and installed a larger plastic tank.
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
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Underground Injection Control Class 2 Wells
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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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Fluids Brought to the Surface during Production
Plugging a Well
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