Marcellus Debate HIghlights American Scientific Ignorance

We've been hearing about it for years -- that when it comes to understanding math and science related concepts, other countries are worlds ahead of the United States. For anyone who has doubted the validity of that comment, I give you the ongoing debate on the Marcellus Shale.

Everyone knows by now that the Marcellus is a deep geologic formation rich in natural gas. Geologists and general science people among us say it contains enough natural gas to significantly decrease our dependence on foreign fuel sources. Natural gas, if used in place of other fossil fuels at power generation facilities, could cut green house gas emissions as much as 50 percent at some plants. It could also go a long way in limiting GHG emissions related to transportation.

Like every energy source out there, natural gas has its issues. Extracting it is complicated -- it takes a great deal of geological planning, as well as a major construction process to tap into it. In fact, it takes about six months to a year of many people's time to get from the planning stage to the actual day of drilling. Major construction does mean truck traffic, dust, noise, and inconvenience -- a lot like summertime road construction jobs. It also means those out there doing the work need to be vigilant and conscious of their impact.

Healthy debate, questions and concern should be expected. Yet strangely, many, including some who we would deem "well educated," continue to raise scientific myth and inaccuracy, either to scare their neighbors about something that really isn't all that scary, or because they really don't understand simple earth science.

Just this week, I was "talking" with one of my favorite Twitterers about the fact that natural gas (methane) itself is not considered toxic to humans. So for instance, in the much-discussed town of Dimock, PA, where failed casing lead to natural gas in some of the towns water wells, drinking it prior to its being vented, might have tasted bad, and caused slight stomach discomfort, but no lasting effects. This non-toxicity is documented, but my friend doesn't believe me. Instead, she came at me with an argument that burning natural gas causes radon build up in homes and will kill people. I've lived in radon country my whole life -- this is the first I've ever heard this. (The CDC does note it on its Web site, but the impact must be so small that its rarely if ever discussed.)

At this point, I've heard so many stories that take advantage of people's science illiteracy that it would be funny if it weren't so sad. They usually revolve, until someone finds something new they think they can argue technically. Like the "fact" that New York City, which has EPA exemption from the level of water filtering most other cities must adhere to, is pristine. Even if they carry it from the Catskills in buckets to Manhattan, its going to get some kind of contamination.

As you probably guessed, most of this pseudo-science is related to clean water. Here are thoughts on some of the biggies:

A study of earth science in places like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York will tell you that natural gas regularly escapes from shallow geological formations to the Earth's surface. Private water wells, which do not require the elaborate casings gas wells do (because they are not regulated by anyone) are often the path of least resistance to the surface. In fact, you don't really need to study it at all. Some who've grown up in those areas will tell you they've been lighting their flowing faucets afire forever. Great teenager party trick.

The real danger of natural gas coming to the surface is that it can be explosive in small quarters. Common sense -- and any water well driller worth his or her salt -- will tell well owners that private water wells must be vented to the outside -- most specifically, so that gas from underground can escape to the atmosphere. I've heard that some people have been known to vent their water wells into their houses in the winter to avoid the lines freezing. Bad idea. You also shouldn't cover wells with a cute plastic rock, a little wooden house, or in the Dimock case, an 8 ft concrete slab, as I've heard it described. Gas well drilling or no gas well drilling, covering a water well vent is asking for trouble. Simple science -- pressure builds, strengthens, moves obstruction on its escape from the ground. Otherwise known as an "explosion."

When it comes to the Marcellus, anyone who's read the misinformation circulating on fracing, and most of it is misinformation, wants to know, "is this process safe?" The answer lies in the very process itself, and the science used to develop it.

Fracing in the Marcellus occurs somewhere between 5,000 and 8,000ft below the surface. (for perspective, if you stand at the South rim of the Grand Canyon, the floor is at 5,000). Shale is relatively non-porous, which for the sake of this discussion means gas doesn't readily flow from it, but is actually locked inside of it. Using powerful equipment, fracing forces a mixture of water, sand and additives through the well to "fracture" the rock, and allow the gas to flow from the rock, into the well and through pipelines to end users. The additives, used in small, diluted amounts, help the sandy water travel through the well (surfactants) and kill mold and bacterial growth in the well (biocide).

In reverse, a similar amount of energy is used to "flowback" the well, or suck out the water so it can produce at optimal performance. Producers get about 50% of what they force in back out. Why? Here's how one geologist explained it to me. Think of a wet sponge lying in your driveway after you wash your car. You wring water from it, again and again. No more is coming out, but the sponge is still wet. To wring the rest of the water from the sponge takes incrementally more and more pressure or energy. At some point, much of the water is out, but the amount of energy you would need to expend to get the sponge completely dry far outweighs the benefit of getting the water out.

Think of the Shale as the sponge. Some water may be trapped inside, but it would take a major energy force for that water to leave the formation and travel anywhere, let alone 5,000 to 8,000 ft to the drinking water aquifer, which resides around 1,000 ft. As a result, although many have alleged it, fracing/fracing chemicals have never been shown to be the cause of any drinking water contamination event. Its almost impossible from the formation itself.

Yet the idea that frac fluid will kill entire towns and cities via drinking water persists. People have survived nuclear fallout, and a little soap and bug killer is going to kill us all? Seems a little far fetched, doesn't it? And unscientific.

If you have an interest in the Marcellus, and hear stories about "studies" and "research," like filmmakers who take their own water samples and take them to labs rather than having a professional do the work, do your own homework. Back check me if you'd like. I don't mind if you disagree.

But some people do. Last time I challenged someone on the "science" behind a water claim, he threatened to poison my well with antifreeze.

Postcards from a REAL Gasland

There's been so much discussion about Josh Fox's so-called documentary "Gasland" this week, mostly due to the fact that he managed to sell HBO a bill of goods on its authenticity. (Did anyone else notice that in his video the flames he lit in sinks seemed to travel from the basin to the faucet instead of from the faucet down.....?)

Anyway, I was thinking about Fox and his fairy tale while watching Shrek Forever After in a nice cool theatre with my kids the other day when I realized, with Shrek being the ultimate anti-fairy tale and all , maybe I could craft something of an alternative tale for the Gasland believing crowd.

Every one's heard the basics on the Marcellus -- great opportunity for energy independence, great jobs, etc, etc. All true. But lets talk about natural gas in the world we live in -- not only Marcellus wells, but all natural gas in Pennsylvania.

Fox calls Northeast PA "Gasland" in his film. But in truth, the Marcellus is the first real experience people in that area of the state have had with natural gas and drilling. Its no wonder they don't get it for the most part. Not over here in the Western part of PA. In fact, let's focus on one particular area -- that surrounding Armstrong and Indiana Counties. Talk about gasland.

For years, before the Marcellus ever became a feasible drilling reality, rural families in this area have relied on more conventional and more shallow wells to care for their families and hold on to their lands. I dare you to drive even one mile out in the area and not spot at least 10 wells. And yet, they are not even close to the blight on the landscape most would have you believe. You might miss them, even if you're looking.

You don't hear screams and rants about drinking water -- even though fracing has been used here -- at depths much closer to the water table than used in Marcellus wells -- for years.

People here know the value of their royalties and the economic benefit of an active gas industry in their relatively depressed communities is a true blessing. You should see them -- lining up to work with the well services companies that line the highway between Kittanning/Ford City and Indiana. Good paying jobs with Halliburton, Appalachian and Universal as they expand to serve drillers are more than people here could have hoped for. All of those companies by the way engage in completions, a process that includes hydraulic fracturing. People who want high paying jobs know it, and they aren't worried.

Just last week, in Ford City, which is relatively residential for these parts, a major driller "completed" some Marcellus wells. Hear anything about that on the news? Nope. Happened quietly and without incident. People here aren't scared by the Josh Foxes of the world -- they've been through this before, and hope they'll get a chance at the Marcellus royalties themselves.

People here, as you can see in these accompanying photos, live among gas wells and operations, just as they did before even these more conventional wells were put in. They FARM right around them. Their animals GRAZE right up to them. Few if any problems, little if any water contamination. That's the test of time people in other places keep asking for. People get it in Armstrong and Indiana Counties.

In fact, the Armstrong/Indiana County area is know for some interesting things anti-drilling people probably would marvel at. Bird watching among them, for everyone who has been scared into thinking gas drilling causes birds to abandon their habitats. Come see them perch on well tending equipment. Birds you can't see anywhere else.

Don't forget bear, deer, and small game hunting. People flock here for wildlife. Then there are the summer campers -- the banks of the Allegheny in this area, where well drilling (particularly shallow well drilling) is so prominent, teem with summer sun bathers, boaters and partiers. No one here is worried about TDS. We have conservation lakes, beautiful woods, amazing water falls. Talk about getting back to nature. People here have to drive miles to restaurants, malls and shopping - because its just not here. Others drive here to visit the all natural Amish. And yet the wells continue to come.

Marcellus wells have been drilled here, too. Check out the picture here that shows well tending equipment. The foreground, which looks like a lovely farm field in spring bloom was indeed a large fresh water frac pit just months ago.

Gasland isn't the place that bears the short term "scars" of trucks, rigs and disturbed earth. Its a place where farmers hold onto paradise and practice their craft while collecting royalty checks that allow them to exist. Think of that next time you stop at a farmers market. In some cases, gas wells allow those fresh goods to be available to you locally. Think about the hunters and birders who come here for recreation. Or the throngs who boat in the water here, skiing, swimming, tubing -- have you ever visited a river camp? Do you own one? You might want to thank some gas drillers for the fun you've had. Enjoy Amish furniture and country drives to places like Smicksburg? You again might want to thank some gas drillers. (see top pic of Amish man putting up his hay next to a well.)

Come visit, Josh. You may not have gotten what you thought you should have gotten from the gas drillers, but many others have, and have been collecting for many years. Oh. I forgot. The drillers took care of you after all, via your HBO fairy tale payout.

(all photos taken by author)

PA Looks for Probems at Union Sites, But Doesn't Find Any

After incidents in West Virginia and Clearfield, Pennsylvania, the talk in the Marcellus Shale in recent days has been, once again, all about the need for new and better regulations.

Amid the din, few probably heard that PA DEP Secretary John Hanger, after deploying his staff to investigate all six PA locations where Union Drilling (the driller at the West Virginia Chief Oil & Gas site in question) is operating, admitted that no violations could be found. None -- on six active sites.

That seems to lend some serious credibility to the strong possibility that the West Virginia accident was a very rare situation. Yet that information was buried in stories about the need for heavier regulation.

But here's a thought. Maybe its not more regulation we need, but better execution of the regulations in place.

What's happening at PA DEP right now is interesting. As you might remember, during last year's budget debacle, DEP lost a lot of jobs, in every area -- except in oil and gas. Jobs were preserved there and new ones were added to deal with the so called Marcellus boom.

Sounds pretty good right? Sure - unless you've been inside this agency (or another in the state system) and know how things work. The job cuts came shortly after DEP hired, and presumably trained, new recruits for the traditional oil and gas field offices in Northwestern and Southwestern PA, and began adding field inspectors (not permit reviewers mind you) to the new Williamsport oil and gas office.

Unfortunately, when jobs get cut in any DEP office, there is an interesting staffing dance that occurs to satisfy terms of union contracts. Basically, people with seniority can in essence "claim" the jobs of newer folks, like the recently hired in the paragraph above this one. So, once the budget issue started to settle and DEP started losing jobs, people from programs like water, air, etc, began claiming the jobs of the new oil and gas team, as well as those that were opened to staff up the Marcellus DEP team.

DEP programs are notorious for their ability to intermingle. So, while the oil and gas offices may have been getting DEP veterans in place of rookies with the layoffs and restaffing, they were still getting people who knew very little about the oil and gas program. So, after hiring and training rookies, they got virtually an entire new team to work with. And inside sources say that, because pressure was so high to get these "rookievets" out in the field inspecting, training consisted of something like handing each a copy of the oil and gas reg book and telling them to have at it.

So, before Mr. Hanger starts telling industry it needs to be better regulated to placate a minority of ever so vocal activists, he may want to make sure his inspectors are singing from the same song sheet. Anecdotal evidence says they are not -- and that some have completely misinterpreted or confused many of the existing oil and gas regs based on "experience" in other programs.

That's just hearsay from the field perhaps -- but then again, so are continually disproven claims that frac chemicals have contaminated drinking water. If those kinds of accusations deserve to be fully investigated by everyone under the sun every time someone thinks their water tastes funny, then so should any suspicion that DEP is inconsistent in its execution of regs -- either in favor of industry or in favor of activists (more likely under a secretary who came from a leading activist organization).

In the meantime, if those reporting on the Marcellus are truly interested in giving the entire picture to interested readers and viewers, they need to stop hiding information that vindicates industry players like Union in stories about the politics of drilling and fossil fuels. Instead of scaring people with stories that liken the West Virginia accident to the Gulf oil disaster, start showing a bigger picture of what an incident like this looks like in the larger picture of energy production.

In the meantime, kudos to Union for showing that the industry does indeed know how to do its job and do it right.