Additional wells coming to M.I.P.

MUB public water service utility and NNE energy company settle most of their disputes

From an Article by David Beard, Morgantown Dominion Post, TheDPost.com, May12, 2015

Morgantown, WV – The Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) and Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) have largely resolved their differences over water safety concerns related to three planned horizontal gas wells at the Morgantown Industrial Park (MIP).

MUB General Manager Tim Ball said in an email Monday, “MUB and NNE have discussed the planned drilling at MIP, and have resolved all the technical details.”

Two matters remain unresolved. MUB had wanted Northeast to provide a $1 million bond payable to MUB to cover potential water supply disruptions. It also wanted Northeast to list MUB as an additional insured on its insurance coverages.

Those issues were unresolved and have been left at an “agree to disagree” status, Ball said. Northeast’s President Mike John and Vice president for regulatory affairs Brett Loflin echoed that assessment.

“We’re confident we have everything in place” to protect the water and the environment, John said.

Because the well pad is directly upstream from MUB’s Monongahela River water intake, MUB began discussions with Northeast back in October about several safety concerns, primarily well casings, berms and liners, water testing and the composition of the drilling fluid.

“Subsequent discussions,” Ball said, “have clarified that secondary containment and impervious liners will be provided to the same standard as was used in 2011. Those discussions also persuaded us that the details proposed by NNE regarding casing pipes and grouting thereof were appropriate.”

Northeast explained to MUB and to The Dominion Post that it is using current “best practices,” which are different from those employed when it drilled its first two wells in 2011.

Northeast’s two producing wells at the site are called MIP 4H and 6H. The three permitted wells are MIP 3H, 5H and SW, for “science well.”

The science well, or research well, is a project conducted in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, WVU and Ohio State University. It’s a vertical well planned to go 8,000 feet deep into the Helderberg formation — a limestone formation between the Marcellus and Utica shales.

“We feel pretty good about the project,” John said Monday of the industrial park. “There will be a lot of opportunities for folks to get a good look” at the operations.

Ball had been concerned that synthetic drilling fluid might pose more harm than water-based fluid, in the event of a spill. But email exchanges with WVU’s Tim Carr, Marshall Miller professor of energy, assured him that the synthetic fluids are biodegradable and eco-friendly.

Also, Carr told him, researchers from WVU, Ohio State, the U.S Geological Survey and the National Energy Technology Laboratory will be on site daily taking samples during early stages, and weekly or monthly later as water production decreases. That will continue for the five years of the project.

“MUB will continue to do its own monitoring,” Ball said, “but we will take advantage of the WVU data to reduce the scope of our program, so that MUB will monitor for additional parameters that are not measured by WVU.”

Permits for MIP 3H and 5H were issued April 7, and for MIP SW on March 6, DEP records show. John and Loflin said Monday that little work has been done so far other than moving some dirt.

NOTE: The schools near the well pad(s) as well as the businesses in the Morgantown Industrial Park are still at substantive risk from air pollution excursions from these extra high pressure drilling and fracking operations.  Leaks, fires or explosions are not uncommon with such operations. Duane Nichols, Mon-Valley Clean Air Coalition.

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

The Morgantown Utility Board (MUB) has negotiated with the Northeast Natural Energy LLC (NNE) to update the two permits for Marcellus horizontal gas wells in or near the Morgantown Industrial Park.  These updates have been accepted by the WV Office of Oil and Gas, and they have been incorporated into the two permits, as of May 19^th.  A brief description of some of these conditions is provided below.  To read the full text of these updates, please refer to the MUB web-site, www.mub.org

Spill Containment – Drilling operations:  (1) NNE will utilize a closed loop system during fluid drilling operations for maximum control of drilling fluid / mud.  …….(3) The permanent earthen berm around the well pad will provide a third level of containment. …. (5) The volume of the lined waste pit will exceed the entire combined maximum volume of drilling fluids and tailings/mud present on site at any time.

Spill Containment – Fracking operations:  (1) The well pad liner will be expanded to conver the entire area encompassed by the earthen berm at the perimeter of the well pad, including the sumps located at each corner. …..    (2)  …..  (3)The perimeter of the well pad will be protected by a 2.5 ft. berm completely surrounding the 300 ft. X 600 ft. well pad.

Spill Prevention – Fracking operations: (1) NNE will utilize a closed loop system for maximum control of fracking fluid. (2) A second automatically activated Blow Out Preventer (BOP) will be provided to maximize control of fracking fluids.  ….. (3) …. .

Well Integrity:  Some eight (8) conditions were agreed to, including “(2) NNE will encase (with cement/grout) the full length of production casing.”  Most of the others in this category have to do with testing casing to withstand pressure(s), in one case up to 10,000 psi prior to the fracking process.

Waste Disposal:  Two conditions.  NNE will dispose of all drilling residues and fracking fluids off site; and, mainifest procedures to document such will be utilized.

Miscellaneous:  (1) Drill cuttings / fluid will NOT be mixed with fracking fluids.  (2) Drilling fluids will be water based.

The above negotiations were described in the local newspaper on May 18^th.  Many residents of Monongalia County have raised other issues and problems with the two permits in question.  The Morgantown City Council will be addressing some of these in a “Meeting of the Whole” on Tuesday, May 31^st at 7 pm in City Council Chambers, a facility with limited seating capacity for the public.

The rally date/time has been changed.   It has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday, May 18, from 10AM to 12 noon at the Courthouse Square on High Street in Morgantown. The purpose of the rally is to allow citizens to voice their concerns about the Marcellus shale gas well that is permitted at the Morgantown Industrial Park, 3000 feet away from the Morgantown Utility Board Public water intake in the Monongalia River.