YouTube Videos

An Underground Injection Control Class 2 Well in Putnam County, WV
This video provides a narrative description of a Class 2 UIC well facility in the Amherst Plymouth Wildlife Management Area. The facility has many features designed to prevent ground and surface water contamination. More information is available. (2013)

Three YouTube Films -- The Stream, the Pits, and the Open Gate at a West Virginia UIC Class 2 Well
These three videos were shot by Beth Little of the West Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. They demonstrate issues with the commercial Underground Injection Control (UIC) class 2 well in Fayette county at Lochgelly operated by Danny Webb Construction. More information is available. (Made public on YouTube in May 2013.)

Two Problem Wells
 In this video we look at two problem wells in Putnam county, West Virginia. One of the wells is older, 47-079-00702, and has a special vent from the casing head because of a casing/cementing problem. The other well, 47-079-01314, was drilled in 2005 and is a vertical Marcellus well. The API number on the wellhead is incorrect and there are indications that pit waste was buried shallowly - there's exposed pit liner and a soil test found chloride at 536 ppm. The well access road that serves these and a number of other wells shows lack of proper maintenance. More information is available. (Made public on YouTube on 11 February 2013.)

Cleanup
This short video documents an operator's cleanup of a condensate storage tank's overflow and spill at a natural gas well in Kanawha county, West Virginia. The cleanup was cosmetic only. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 20 January 2012.)

You Get Used To It
Unreported incidents involving spills and blowouts at natural gas wells occur throughout West Virginia. Sometimes it's an unreported spill onto land or into a stream. Sometimes it's waste or flowback accidentally or deliberately sprayed into the woods. This is happening because of a lack of political will in West Virginia to create a meaningful regulatory process. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 21 October 2011.)

They Don't Do It That Way Any More: Fracturing with Explosives
Until fairly recently in the oil and gas fields across the United States explosives were the only way to fracture a well. Even after hydraulic fracturing was first used in Kansas in 1947 explosives continued to be used. In the 1960s atom bombs were used to fracture two wells, one in Colorado and the other in New Mexico.

This video has a dramatization of using explosives to fracture a gas well in the 1890s and an interview about using a large truck load of dynamite to fracture a well in Kanawha county, West Virginia in the 1970s. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 8 September 2011.)

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 website (www.wcag-wv.org) documents 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. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 8 September 2011).

Bottled Water
In some parts of the state there's a Marcellus drilling boom and in this video we interview two people whose domestic drinking water supplies were contaminated. Bonnie Hall lives in Wetzel county, in the northern part of the state, a little over a mile from the well that's contaminated her deep water well. Paul Phillips lives with his mother in Kanawha county, in the southwestern part of the state, near the vertical Marcellus well on their property that's contaminated their water well. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 29 July 2011.)

Gas Well Study Cooking Class: Making Fracking Gel
In this video we make slickwater fracking fluid using guar gum, kerosene and water and talk about the gel fluid, solvents used (like diesel, methanol or kerosene), and land application of fracture waste in West Virginia. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 22 July 2011.)

Natural Gas: Blunders and Numbers
Since 2008 we've examined 30 producing natural gas well sites in Kanawha and Putnam counties in West Virginia just outside Charleston. We've been surprised by the numbers of problems we've come across. Industry's lack of compliance with even the simplest regulation is troubling, especially when coupled with contaminated drinking water supplies and adverse events during fracturing wells. This video provides an overview of what we've seen. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 8 July 2011.)

Bad Well Bad Well Bad Well
By West Virginia law all condensate storage tanks at natural gas wells must have secondary containment yet well sites don't meet statutory requirements. Federal law has similar requirements for wells in specific types of locations near surface water. We look at three bad wells near the Pocatalico River just outside Cross Lanes, West Virginia that have lacking or inadequate containment. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 17 June 2011.)

Natural Gas: Trashing the Surface Owner
Abandoned portolets, discarded pipe, tossed valves and fittings. We've seen all kinds of things at well sites.

This video discusses split estate, surface and mineral ownership, and the problem of trash at well sites. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 27 May 2011.)

Three Natural Gas Wells
On April 14, 2011 George visited three natural gas wells in Kanawha and Putnam counties in West Virginia. All three ended up having signs that buried pit waste was exposed -- pit liner was visible at each site.

This edited video includes on site narration describing the site, site components, and problems that could adversely affect the environment. More information is available. (Put on YouTube on 6 May 2011.)

 

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