Comments on the EQT Siting of 12 Gas Wells in Doddridge County, WV

S. Tom Bond — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 20:02:15 +0000

EQT has sited 12 wells in a flood plain in Doddridge county, which may involve 60,000 cubic yards of fill into the flood plain. There has been flooding 3 times in the past ten years in this area. An illinformed county official OK’d the site, jeopardizing the chances of families from obtaining flood insurance all over the county. The reason the whole county is involved is that the insurance in the flood plain is federal, based on a requirement the county maintain a permitting system with certain rules. You violate those rules, the county looses government support.

So the County Commission rescinded the permit, and EQT is suing. . . . . . Now the WV DEP has granted permits for the wells.

These siting engineers pick places to put wells day after day. Most articles about this siting finesse the situation. They fail to mention the huge fill involved. Stories such as the one in The State Journal lead the reader to assume the pad surface will be at the level of the flood plain. I surmise that the author of that story, Pam Kasey, was the victim of the finesse by getting misleading information, rather than the one who promulgated it.

Since the pad was designed with a fill, the engineers undoubtedly knew there was a high water problem. They also most probably knew the situation with regard to how it should have been handled, and likely the vulnerability of the County government. And they must be familiar with federal law concerning flood plains.

This may be example of a bunch of aggressive sharpies, perhaps the engineers but more likely the executives in charge, simply trying to pull a fast one. They understood the situation, but thought they might get by with it.

Once again, where was the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection when citizens need protection?

The site is at: 39.1476412048538 -80.7909470392214 which you can find on Google Maps. The stream flows West.

SkyTruth has documented this Marcellus shale gas well and location here. You can also locate the adjacent wells in this facility.

S. Tom Bond, Farmer, Citizen, Lewis County, WV

Ethane Cracker Topic Dominates WV Governor’s Energy Summit

Duane Nichols — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:33:42 +0000

Cal Dooley, President, American Chemical Council, keynote speaker

The WV Governor’s Energy Summit was held Tuesday, December 6th at the Stonewall Jackson Resort in central West Virginia. The theme this year was “Energy Powering Economic Development”. The primary topic was the possibility of an ethane cracker chemical plant being located in West Virginia.

The keynote speaker was Cal Dooley, President of the American Chemical Council. He said that currently WV is the 23rd largest chemical producing state in the US, but a $3.2 billion investment in an ethylene production complex (an ethane cracker) would generate some $4.8 billion in additional chemical industry output, bringing the State’s industry revenues to over $13 billion, making WV the 13th largest chemical producing state. This could mean 8,000 jobs in what he called the “investment phase” and then 12,000 jobs in the “operation phase”.

Secretary of Commerce Keith Burdette said that there are at least two chemical companies, including Shell Chemical, seriously considering placing an ethane cracker plant in West Virginia. Our State is prepared to make a “world class” proposal to a mainstream company willing to site an ethane cracker here; and, that this administration (Governor Tomblin) will be the “last man standing” with such a proposal. He said that the siting of such a plant here would just be the first step in a sequence of events including processing and the production of finished goods; that some subsequent steps could be more valuable than the first.

Rob Alsop, Chief of Staff for Governor Tomblin, said that bringing an ethane cracker plant to West Virginia is the Governor’s number one priority. The Governor and Legislature already have in place a special committee on the siting of such a chemical plant. He expects that one or more chemical companies will announce their plans early in the new year, but that it could be a five to six year schedule to finalize plans, design and build such a plant. In the meantime, West Virginia has had under study the establishment of ethane storage capacity to prevent all the produced ethane from going out of state. For example, storage costs might be 3 cents per gallon while pipeline transportation costs to Texas or Canada would be of the order of 15 cents per gallon.

The Chief of Staff, Mr. Alsop, said that the administration has no plans to propose an increase in the severance taxes on natural gas. He also said that the Governor’s office is preparing a revision to the amendments for SB-424, the Legislative bill to regulate Marcellus shale drilling and fracking, to be submitted to the Legislature for the upcoming Special Session on December 12th. Governor Tomblin said last week that he wants to change the application fee(s), remove the specifications on pipe casing , and remove the job tracking requirements, among other possible changes.

Four previous such Summits have been held at the Stonewall Jackson Resort, the proceedings of which are posted here for the years 2007 thru 2010.

Duane Nichols, December 6, 2011.

Frack Check WV » siting

Comments on the EQT Siting of 12 Gas Wells in Doddridge County, WV

Ethane Cracker Topic Dominates WV Governor’s Energy Summit