Penn State Web-Site on Fracking’s Full Features

Duane Nichols — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 12:48:26 +0000

New website explores impacts of Marcellus gas development

From an Article by Matt Carroll, Penn State News, June 7, 2016

University Park, PA — A new website is giving people in rural Pennsylvania — and beyond — high-tech tools to learn about Marcellus Shale gas development in their backyards.

The website, Marcellus by Design, introduces some of the complex issues surrounding the industry’s development, and through interactive games and other resources, shows that communities can play a role in the process.

Penn State researchers will take the new technology to rural communities across the state this summer as part of “Marcellus Matters: Engaging Adults in Science and Energy,” a larger project that seeks to boost scientific literacy among adults.

“Our whole project is geared toward giving community members the knowledge they need to understand they can have impacts within their communities as far as development issues,” said Terry Noll, project coordinator and a researcher in Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute.

Noll and her team have crisscrossed the state hosting discussions, lessons and field trips since the project started in 2012 with a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Now, with the website, they can reach more people than ever.

“We wanted to create a digital record,” said Timothy Murtha, a Penn State landscape architecture professor and a member of the Marcellus Matters project. “There are communities in Pennsylvania we haven’t had a chance to work with, or other places in the U.S., that can look at the planning that took place and some of the creative ideas our students had.”

The website, developed by Murtha and Brian Orland, a former Penn State professor now at the University of Georgia, is based partly on the work of Penn State landscape architecture students.

Their work seeks to show communities the environmental, economic, sociological and aesthetic factors that go into planning for energy development, and how to weigh these issues and make informed decisions about their land.

“We engaged in a series of design studies in landscape architecture and asked students to engage communities about things they found to be important in their landscape in the context of change,” Murtha said. “The students developed broad master planning ideas like how to reconcile wonders like the Pennsylvania Wilds and the energy industry’s need for natural gas extraction.”

Based on these conversations, the students created detailed story maps that examine how Marcellus development affected specific communities. The stories examine how development affects everything from tourism to water quality.

Also included on the website are interactive games, a history of energy industries in Pennsylvania, and interviews with diverse stakeholders in natural gas development, like well workers, environmental advocates and county planners.

“For us, it was how to get as much information from as many stakeholders as possible and bring it together and illustrate it to the community,” Murtha said. “Landscape planning is more than where to put a wellhead. There are lots of factors.”

Noll said people who attend her workshops are often surprised by how many variables there are when making landscape decisions about gas development. The website, with its interactive games and other resources, are a good start to putting the puzzle together, she said.

“I don’t think people understand that communities can state their desires,” Noll said. “They can work with gas companies to find what’s hopefully beneficial to both parties. We want them to understand that they can provide input during the process.”

WV Legislative Audit of Office of Oil & Gas Focuses on Three Issues

Duane Nichols — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 01:43:13 +0000

: WV State Capitol Building

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Agency Review: WV-DEP, Office of Oil and Gas

The Legislative Auditor has conducted a performance evaluation of the Office of Oil and Gas (OOG) as part of the Agency Review of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) authorized pursuant to West Virginia Code §4-10-8. The report contains the following issues:

Issue 1: The Office of Oil and Gas Is Not Enforcing Statutory Requirements as They Concern Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells Which Is Causing the Number of Abandoned Wells to Increase.

 Currently there are approximately 13,000 abandoned oil and gas wells in West Virginia; 36.1 percent are listed as having no known operator, 44.4 percent are currently registered to known operators that do not have an abandoned well initiative compliance agreement, and 19.2 percent are registered to known operators that are in the 10-year Abandoned Well Initiative program. The remaining 0.3 percent, 34 wells, are in the Bona Fide Future Use Program.

 The OOG is not requiring operators to plug abandoned wells or prove that there is bona fide use for such wells as stated in Code. Data provided by OOG indicates that the number of abandoned wells is increasing, and some wells remain abandoned for 10 or more years.

 Due to the large number of abandoned wells and the difficult-to-get locations, inspections are typically not conducted. Unless an operator applies for a wellwork permit that would require an inspection, or a citizen files a complaint, the well site will go uninspected for potential hazards to the public and the environment.

 The Legislative Auditor conducted a random sample of the OOG’s ERIS database. The analysis revealed that a large number of wells had missing or inconsistent information.

Issue 2: The Office of Oil and Gas Should Develop Performance Measures in Order to Better Gauge Agency Performance.

 The mission statement developed by OOG is fully supported by statute. West Virginia Code assigns the OOG with mandates to regulate oil and gas operations.

 The OOG lists a relevant performance measure in the 2011 Executive Budget Operating Detail; however, other performance measures should be included to better gauge agency performance.

Issue 3: The Office of Oil and Gas’ Website is User-Friendly and Transparent But Could Benefit From Some More Improvements.

 The OOG website, although it is basically user-friendly and transparent, it could improve in both these areas; scoring 9 out of 18 points for user-friendliness and 15 out of 32 points for transparency, resulting in a total score of 24 out of 50 possible points, or 48 percent.

Recommendations

1. The Legislative Auditor recommends that the OOG program the ERIS database to alert it any time a well is out of production for a period longer than 12 months since this is a key determination of abandoned well status set by Code.

2. The Legislative Auditor recommends that when a well is out of production for a period longer than 12 months, the OOG should enforce Code and require the operator to either:

• plug the well,

• place it back into production,

• place it into Bona Fide Future Use, or

• place it into a long-term compliance initiative agreement.

3. The Legislative Auditor recommends that the OOG update its database system an data entry procedures to avoid and eliminate errors such as missing and inconsistent information.

4. The Legislative Auditor recommends that the OOG incorporate performance goals and measures to address its compliance with Code for wells that are out of production longer than 12 consecutive months and place them in the Executive Budget Operating Detail and OOG website.

5. The Legislative Auditor recommends that the Office of Oil and Gas further develop performance measures in order to better gauge agency performance.

6. The OOG should consider providing public access to its performance goals via its website and include the current and historical performance measures, budget information, and other user-friendly and transparency website elements identified by the Legislative Auditor.

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Penn State Web-Site on Fracking’s Full Features

WV Legislative Audit of Office of Oil & Gas Focuses on Three Issues