47-039-05714

Visited first in 2008

This well is on Harmon's Creek Road, across from a house. An email to us, after the photos, from the property owner (the couple lives in Florida) describes the well's drilling.

This site is next to Harmon's creek road and the access drive to the well is graveled. The site itself is poorly vegetated on the pad. Pipework needs to be painted and at one spot, an elbow joint in the tank inlet pipe, we couldn't tell if the stain on the gravel was from rust or indicated a fluid leak.

The 50-barrel steel tank doesn't have the required secondary containment dike.

A view of the pad and poor vegetative cover. When a waterline was being put through this area, equipment was stored on the pad.

It's hard to tell if what we're seeing is rust or signs of a leak. This is a joint for the inlet pipe to the tank.

The pipes for the gas well could use a coat of paint.

Tank without required secondary containment.

Across the state road from the well is a home.

From an email by the property owner:

When they drilled "our" well, and I use that term so very loosely, in fact lets just call it "ol' #11" (short for Raymond City #11 or 039-05714), I did as much reading as time allowed before actually trying to negotiate with the Cabot Oil men. I really ended up trying to listen more than talk preparing to stab at any chinks they exposed in their quite considerable legal armor. They told me their process, step by step, and I made a list of conditions I wanted them to work under. First, I did NOT like their proposed drilling site. When they admitted gas drilling did not have to be site specific I made them the offer of a better location for them (right next to the road) and ultimately (out of my driveway and the heart of my property) for me. Second, they clear cut about three acres to work in. They offered to pay for the lumber removed so I didn't have to bring that up. Third, they dig a swimming pool sized drill pit for their tailings and waste mud. The pit is then lined with a plastic sheet liner (presumably to protect the environment from these toxic waste products you're currently blogging about). At the end of the drilling this is usually just pumped out on the surrounding landscape and the liner buried in the pit before "Site Reclamation" begins. Huh? So I demanded the waste be trucked away along with the liner, as all of this was occurring just uphill of my spring.

Unfortunately as a part-time resident I was unable to oversee the operation personally. When we returned the well was in and the muddy liner was in a heap on the ground next to it. There was no sign of mud residue sprayed on the surrounding woods so I figured things went as requested and the liner was yet to be hauled away. The neighbors said a tank truck did indeed suck up the liquid as agreed ( I was a little disheartened when they told me just trucked it over the hill to the next drill site and pumped it out on that property). However the machinery we woke up to the next day was workers burying the liner full of mud in the pit and then covered it over before I realized what happened. I topped the hill to see a nicely leveled site never dreaming they buried that liner. We thought the machinery was loading the liner on a truck for removal. The neighbors informed us a couple of days later that they watched it get buried. Nobody returned my calls to Cabot about that. I asked them to test the water in my spring before drilling and was assured that was standard procedure. When asked about that and later testing I was told they don't have to provide me with test results and testing after the fact was certainly my prerogative but at my expense. You know testing for some of these chemicals is cost prohibitive for us regular folks, if you even know which to test for.

It would seem you've looked up every chemical that might be related to their drilling at your place but good luck getting them to commit to testing before and after at their expense. Be careful how much you learn about this stuff. It only upsets me when I know what they should have done but didn't. We've come to the conclusion we'll never be able to filter our spring water for household use, now I'm leery about using it for irrigation in our veggie garden. So make them work with you, but be there to hold them to their promises!

Visited again in 2009

We examined this site in November 2008 and found that the condensate storage tank did not have the required secondary containment dike. We also noted areas on the pad that were sparsely vegetated. At that time the pad was being used to park equipment and materials being used on a local waterline project and the pad didn't receive full study.

We returned to the site in July 2009 with one of the surface owners and immediately noticed large pieces of thick black plastic sticking up from the ground. We took two soil samples in a bare area and returned to the site to begin a full assessment.

We found a perimeter of exposed black plastic that was roughly 15 by 100 feet. At the western end of the perimeter there's a large area bare of vegetation. We took soil samples through the perimeter and outside at each end. Within the perimeter of exposed plastic soil tests all showed elevated chloride. At the same location as sample S5 we took a soil sample for laboratory analysis. A blog post gives The Numbers.

Using the state's, EPA's and other soil screening levels, we found arsenic's concentration showed that contamination could adversely affect groundwater and local residents' health. We also found that concentrations of arsenic and lead could have a negative ecological effect.

The full Environmental Assessment presents the laboratory results and analysis of soil screening levels.

Red circles show the approximate edges of the perimeter of black plastic. This photo was taken looking east and the large bare area in the foreground had the highest chloride concentrations in the soil. This was also where we took the laboratory sample.

Each soil sample on the traverse line through the perimeter of black plastic had a number. S5 is also the location of the laboratory sample. This photo was taken looking west.

The house in the background is 185 feet from the wellhead. Their vegetable garden is even closer.

The thick black plastic enclosed an area bare of or with sparse vegetation. The black plastic is pit liner. We've found it at other sites -- 47-039-02026 and 47-039-05999.

Deer tracks are visible in the foreground.

In the center of the perimeter of black plastic this piece of steel cable emerged from the soil. We believe it may have been used to pin the folded over edges of pit liner before the pit was covered up. We saw a similar piece of steel sticking up from the pit's surface at 47-079-01492.

There were few signs of deer activity in the bare area when we took samples in July 2009. When we returned to the site in October 2009 the area was covered with tracks. The green shotgun shell marks the location for where we took the sample for laboratory testing.

To take the sample for laboratory testing we dug down 4 inches below the surface into what we believe is pit waste (the dark gray material began about an inch or so below the surface). We took two samples for the laboratory, one at 4 to 5 inches below the surface and the other (not used) at 5 to 6 inches below the surface.

When the well was to be drilled the surface owners and others expressed a concern about how the waste would be disposed of. It was everyones' understanding that it was to be hauled off the site.

It's possible, in spite of this, that the operator carried out a typical land application of liquid waste on the hillside above this water cistern. The solid pit waste was buried on site.

We tested this spring's water in 2012 and the results are in our 2012 report.

On the hillside below the well site we found two empty gallon plastic jugs that had been discarded. One originally held bar oil for chainsaws. This jug originally held a Shell oil for diesel engines.

When we returned to the well site in October 2009 we saw that the operator had constructed the proper secondary containment for the 50-barrel condensate storage tank.

 

Visited again in 2011

This site was remediated in the spring of 2010 after a complaint was made by us in 2009. Most of the site was bare of vegetation when we visited in the spring of 2011.

Pieces of pit liner were still visible in the area supposedly remediated. The straw mulch from the remediation is still visible. Small pieces of black plastic pit liner were still visible.

These two photos from 2009 show the large pieces of pit liner visible then.

 

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