>>NARRATION: It's a common sight among the rolling hills of West Virginia,
and increasingly...
so is this.
Gas exploration and development is on the rise of West Virginia
and the Marcellus shale formation found under much of the state is what is
getting all the attention these days. >>JAMES MARTIN: It's been known that the Marcellus
contained gas in the past and there are well that have been drilled through the Marcellus.
Some wells have even produced
from the Marcellus probably
but not to the magnitude we're having now.
>>NARRATION: James Martin is Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas,
the section of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection
charged with overseeing the tens of thousands of oil and gas wells
the dot the state.
He says what's driving all this development
is a combination of technologies:
horizontal drilling
and hydraulic fracturing.
>>JAMES MARTIN: Horizontal drilling has been
more common in other places than it has here. It's just just come into
West Virginia in the last few years with any
kind of magnitude. The conventional operations for vertical wells --
West Virginia has a long history of oil and gas development but it's been of of
vertical well nature.
we'll go back to the late eighteen hundred's, oil and gas wells
have been drilled here and
over the last several decades, some of those operations have included hydraulic fracturing
but they didn't include horizontal drilling
most likely except for the last few years. >>NARRATION: Here's a simplified look
at how the process works:
a rig drills down below the deepest layer of underground water --
the aquifer --
the sides of the wellbore are sealed with steel casing
and cement to isolate the well from the ground water.
The drilling is then continued down thousands of feet where special type of
drilling equipment curves the wellbore horizontally into the shale formation.
After that's filled with casing and perforated, a mixture of sand water and
chemicals -- fracking fluid --
is pumped in at high pressure
causing fractures in the shale formation allowing the gas a pathway to escape.
It's a different process that requires a different framework of regulation.
>>JAMES MARIN: These operations are just much different and and so we have to start looking at
that. We
spent several months working what the concerns
were.
We actually came out with a guidance document
and basically focusing on
water use. >>NARRATION: That led to new regulations on things like water
withdrawals from the streams and the disposal of waste water from the
fracking process.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection began addressing
concerns over horizontal drilling and fracking as early as two thousand eight.
In august of two thousand eleven governor away tomlin issued an executive
order establishing new rules on water use,
site design and engineering
and erosion and sediment control.
In special session that December, the legislature expanded those rules and
substantially increased permitting fees.
Seeing that the work is done correctly and in an environmentally correct manner is the
job of DEP Oil and Gas Inspectors
and that work starts before even a shovel of dirt is turned over.
>>BILL HATFIELD: During the permitting stage, we need to review the sight before it's permitted.
When the construction starts we need to come out and see that they are following
the rec plan.
>>NARRATION: The "rec" or sight reclamation plan actually starts very early in the process.
>>RICHARD CAMPBELL: We're trying to have
a gas well location actually
reclaimed --
not causing any environmental problems before the drill even gets there.
We require erosion sediment controls be in place
during the clearing of the well site
as well as during the construction of the site.
Another thing that we require on these sites
is vegetation, either temporary or permanent
during the construction process. We try not to leave any disturbed ground during
the drilling and during the reclamation process.
>>NARRATION: Because of the size of complexity of the operation,
the drilling rigs are often on the site for months at a time
with state inspections happening throughout the process.
>>BILL HATFIELD: the conventional would take maybe
five days to a week to complete - very small locations....
Now we're spending
several months on some of these sites. During the drilling process we wanna
absolutely be here for a fresh water casing
then again we definitely will be out when they get into their
curve and start into their Marcellus shale.
If they're running their surface freshwater casing
we may be here all day
sometimes all night. >>NARRATION: Once the drill rig moves off and the site is producing gas
it takes on a different look.
This site in Doddridge County was finished just four months ago.
>>RICHARD CAMPBELL: The sites are
fairly large
and because of the time it takes to construct these sites
normally the reclamation needs to be staged.
The larger sites need better water control.
We've got to address
site drainage off the the level site itself
making sure that
we've got enough water control to handle
any erosion problems.
If we see a problem
if uh Mother Nature
creates a problem with excessive rainfall,
the main thing is
if there's a problem with sediment
that we fix the controls.
We may have to rebuild some of the sediment controls
after a storm event but that's what we try to address.
We try to be proactive and and head off sediment control problems
and end up with a site
that's not causing any problems. >>BILL HATFIELD: When they're getting near
finished with the reclamation we want to be here a lot
for any touch ups
we need done
and to make sure it is up to our standards. >>NARRATION: Standards that are very
protective of the water and overall environment.
>>BILL HATFIELD: THese sites now have liners
put under this gravel.
Pads put down.
Everything out here that contains any type of fluid has a secondary impoundment
around it.
ANd if there's a spill, it's always collected in that secondary
confinement. Anything coming up out of the ground cannot touch the ground.
It has to be
pumped directly into tanks so
it can be hauled off and
disposed of properly. >>NARRATION: And because horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing is
more efficient,
requiring fewer well bores,
the larger site can have an overall smaller footprint. >>BILL HATFIELD: We may have a
five acre pad
out here
but there may be six horizontal well here which could be a equal
to thirty to fifty conventional wells
all confined to one pad
with one road going to all of
them instead of fifty roads through the farmer's field.
>>NARRATION: Ultimately it comes down to having the right regulations in place and the
resources to ensure that these sites are operating in a safe, environmentally
sensitive manner -
something James Martin says the state has accomplished.
>>JAMES MARTIN: The issue here was
was trying to work within the current framework
and apply those requirements
the these kinds of operations and that was the challenge but the new legislation,
I think, gets us in a much, much better position do that and also gives us
additional resources to do that because it
one of the
provisions in the in the legislation is a
substantial increase in the permit fees
and that's going to allow us to get some more staff
on board
which we really desperately need
to to be able to better monitor things and to better review
permits and do things timely so
we're going to be in a better position all around.