Trax Farms on PA Route 88 near Library, PA

From an Article by Gideon Bradshaw & Scott Beveridge, Washington PA Observer Reporter, June 4, 2019

Mickey Gniadek said he left his house in Union Township and spotted a white cloud hovering a little more than a yard above an EQT frack well pad across the street and smelled chlorine when he went to get his mail one day in 2013.

He later described the experience during a hearing concerning EQT’s application to build a similar pad in neighboring Jefferson Hills, Allegheny County, saying he started feeling an intense pressure in his chest that made breathing difficult.

“Gniadek testified that he staggered with great difficulty back to his home, and, once inside, collapsed against the wall, gasping for air,” according to a Supreme Court decision issued on Friday.

Justices found that Jefferson Hills’ borough council was allowed to evaluate Gniadek’s and several other Washington County residents’ allegations of problems at the Trax Farm site when they weighed EQT’s application to build a similar well pad known as the Bickerton site. The plans called for the pad to hold as many as 16 wells.

The 6-1 decision gives local officials who are considering companies’ land-use applications the authority to weigh testimony from private citizens of other municipalities about their experiences with similar facilities.

“Our client was thrilled and I think all Pennsylvania municipalities should be thrilled with this decision,” said attorney John Smith, who acted as Jefferson Hills’ special counsel during the litigation, “because it allows them to take in and evaluate relevant evidence prior to making their decisions.”

Jefferson Hills officials cited accounts from Gniadek – who also said his skin broke out in measles-like red spots after he saw the cloud – and others who described similar issues with air quality, traffic and intense noise as a reason for denying EQT a conditional-use permit for the Bickerton plans. EQT successfully appealed that decision in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

The Commonwealth Court upheld a decision in favor of the gas driller in a 2017 decision. The Supreme Court’s decision reverses the lower appellate court’s and remands the case back to Allegheny County.

“This is a precedent-setting ruling that has far-reaching implications for communities throughout Pennsylvania,” said Lisa Graves-Marcucci, community outreach coordinator for the Environmental Integrity Project.

“This ruling by our state Supreme Court underscores local governments’ role in protecting public health, safety and welfare as a key factor in accepting or denying an application for an oil and gas operation,” Graves-Marcucci said.

EQT spokeswoman Linda Robertson said the company was “disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld a zoning permit denial based on anecdotal evidence and involving an unrelated work site that caused temporary inconveniences for its nearby residents that EQT worked diligently at the time to address.”

Among those who testified before Jefferson Hills council was Gary Baumgartner, who testified problems with air quality at his house near the Trax wells meant that he and his wife had to leave “countless times” in the middle of the night, once staying at a hotel for two months.

His pregnant daughter and her husband moved out of the family home based on a physician’s recommendation, he said.

Baumgartner, Gniadek and others testified EQT had offered them payments of tens of thousands of dollars after they complained about problems from the Trax Farms wells.

In her 31-page opinion, Justice Debra Todd wrote that the Commonwealth Court had made a mistake when it agreed with EQT’s attorneys and dismissed the Washington County residents’ testimony as “speculative.”

Instead, she found the testimony “both relevant and probative as to the question of whether the grant of conditional use authorization to EQT for construction and operation of the Bickerton site would adversely impact the health, safety, and general welfare of the residents of Jefferson Borough.”

Todd also noted that Jefferson Hills officials had argued that the previous Commonwealth Court decision required the borough to ignore evidence about what had happened at a similar site – testimony that EQT hadn’t contradicted during the conditional-use hearing.

Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy was the sole dissenter in the Supreme Court decision. She posited her colleagues’ ruling “undermines long-established principles that a municipality may deny a conditional use only if the objectors’ evidence establishes a high degree of probability that the use will cause a substantial threat to the community.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

See Also: Act 13 ruling buoys residents near Trax Farm gas well | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 22, 2014

Residents alarmed by explosion & fire in rural area

From an Article by Scott McCloskey, Wheeling Intelligencer, July 24, 2018

Photo: Processing equipment located near a natural gas well site along Sorghum Ridge Road near Sherrard burns Monday morning after an explosion at the site.

SHERRARD — No injuries were reported when an explosion and fire occurred at a Marshall County natural gas well pad at mid-morning Monday.

Sorghum Ridge Road resident Dave Reinbeau had just finished his routine check on his livestock and fences and returned to his home when the explosion occurred within processing equipment at the well pad site.

Reinbeau said he actually saw and felt the initial blast which occurred near the middle of his Sorghum Ridge property after he had returned to his house on the nearby hillside. He said he saw a tanker truck exit the site just seconds before the explosion occurred.

“It felt like a force,” said Reinbeau, who went on to explain that he called 911 right away because he knew several workers were on the site. “I knew that those four guys were out there working. That’s all I could think about. I called 911,” Reinbeau said.

Marshall County Office of Emergency Management Director Tom Hart said while no injuries were reported with the blast at the Reinbeau well pad, one worker on the site was evaluated by EMS crews for being overheated. Hart said emergency crews responded to the blast and fire after the initial call came in shortly before 10 a.m.

“There were no injuries, no evacuations. It is under control at this point. They are just waiting for it to burn off so that they can start assessing,” Hart said shortly after responding to the site. “There were actually crews from Williams Energy on scene that were working at the site. The actual well pad is owned by Southwestern Energy.

“When the fire crews arrived on scene, they did experience heavy fire deployment. It was actually processing equipment that was on fire. It was not the well pad itself. There was an explosion prior to first responders arriving on scene, then after the fire departments did arrive, there was a secondary explosion as well,” he added.

Hart said officials decided to let the fire burn itself out. “What they are trying to do is they’re keeping some of the condensate tanks and other equipment cooled down while they let the fire burn off at this point,” Hart explained.

Volunteer fire departments hauled water from a hydrant on W.Va. 88 to the scene of the fire. Hart said the fire was out by 12:36 p.m. Emergency crews cleared the scene at 2 p.m.

Southwestern Energy spokeswoman Christina Fowler said there were no injuries reported. She said they were aware of the problem and it was resolved.

Several of the neighbors living along the ridge called or stopped to check on each other after the blasts. At least one Sherrard resident living nearly a half-mile away reported hearing and feeling the blast inside her house.

Reinbeau said he went to a neighbor’s house located a short distance away because he didn’t know if there was anything “toxic” in the air from the ongoing fire.

“I stayed over there until I found out it wasn’t harmful,” he said. Reinbeau said he checked on dozens of his farm animals following the blast and they all appeared to be fine.

Fire crews from Mount Olivet, Limestone, Sherrard, Glen Dale and Bethlehem volunteer fire departments and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office responded. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection also responded to evaluate the scene.

WVU Professor Addresses 625 Foot Set-Back Rule for Marcellus Wells

Commentary by S. Tom Bond, Retired Chemistry Professor & Resident Farmer, Lewis County, WV

Usually when you write about a meeting, the procedure is to focus on what was said.  In this case the emphasis must be on interpretation of what was said, because the background formed what was said, not the research.

The meeting was titled “Monitoring of Marcellus Drilling Operations.”  The speaker was Dr. MIchael McCawley of the WVU Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Scienc. These lectures were held at Philip Barbour High School auditorium, Philippi, WV on October 15 and again the 16th at Erickson Alumni Center at WVU.

Dr. McCawley was handed a really raw deal with this research assignment.  The Marcellus industry is having to fight a vast number of complaints of health effects, from people who live in the vicinity of drilling operations, compressors, NG liquids separation plants, and pipelines. And,  similarly down stream from the places they take their flowback.  Apparently the geologists and petroleum engineers did not anticipate the effects of use of “slick water fracturing,” which has proved a couple magnitudes of order worse than the fracturing done before the year 2000.  Partly this is a matter of new chemicals used, and partly a matter of the scale of the effort.

The industry is in trouble.  It barely makes any money for those at the top, except the bankers who loan the money and get their share “up front.”  One internet site in Pennsylvania has a “List of the Harmed” which now runs over 1200.  The Sierra Club is putting together a similar portfolio, documented cases where people have complaints subsequent to drilling in their neighborhood.  Physicians, untrained in the hazard, who once would not listen to some of the complaints, are beginning to see a pattern.  Worst of all, lawyers have perked up their ears and many court battles are on the way.

What the Marcellus industry needs is ammunition to use in court.  Unfortunately, both the business men and the legislators who wish to accommodate them don’t have a background in science and aren’t particularly motivated to listen to those who do.  Failing scientific evidence already in existence, they want a law to take the place of it, since law is cheaper to come by.  Hence, the idea that a legislated distance between the drilling pad and the home (or large livestock building) will provide safety for the rural residents. 

This is where the 625 foot “set-back” comes from.  The exact figure is a guess, a fervent hope.  Will everyone be safe if they live in a residence 625 feet or more from the well being drilled?  That is the question the legislature and the industry have put, and Dr. McCawley was expected to answer.

So how was Dr, McCawley funded?  Minimally, of course.  He and his students had funds from DEP to make short term measurements at only seven sites.  This was to detect any and all chemicals in the air, noise, light and radiation. 

It reminded me of something that happened during the 19 years I taught Sophomore Analytical Chemistry.  A Member of the College Board of Directors brought me a lump of rock from a gold mine he had bought out West.  Would I assay it for him, please?  Fortunately, I was able to convince him I didn’t have the resources, connections and experience to provide these particular answers.   Dr. McCawley wasn’t so fortunate at convincing state government they had asked a bad question.

The effect of chemicals and noise depends on the direction the wind is blowing (toward or away from the sampling site or some oblique), how fast it is blowing and factors which affect turbulence (mixing the chemical in the air), such as hills and valleys, trees, buildings, and inversions. 

Dr. McCawley discussed inversions extensively in his talk.  This is a common occurrence in Appalachia when the wind is quiet.  Temperature normally decreases as you go up in the atmosphere from ground to space.  An inversion is when temperature goes down as you go up, then there is a layer where it gets warmer, then goes down again above that.  The effect is to capture gases and particulates being emitted in the ground hugging layer and accumulate them for some time, frequently up to dangerous levels.  A famous inversion disaster occurred at Donora, Pennsylvania in 1948.

So what could Dr.McCawley come up with from the seven sites where the companies knew where he was sampling and why?  The chemical tests were for dust, a variety of hydrocarbons, ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and diesel emissions . (Incidentally Dr.  McCawley was instrumental in discovery that diesel particulate emissions are carcinogenic, cancer forming, earlier in his career.)  This is the carefully worded abstract for the meeting:

The West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011 required determination of effectiveness of a 625 foot set-back from the center of the pad of a horizontal well drilling site.  An investigation was conducted at seven drilling sites to collect data on dust, hydrocarbon compounds and on noise, light and radiation levels.  Measurements of air contaminants were taken at these sites to characterize  levels that might be found at 625 feet from the well pad center at unconventional gas drilling sites during activities at those sites.  While there were detectable levels of dust and volatile organic compounds found to be present at the set-back distance, the duration of the specific activity of interest at each of the sites did not allow comparison of collected data to limits of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and therefore  did not allow recommendations to be made for a setback distance based on the NAAQS values.  Some benzene concentrations were, however, found to be above what the CDC calls “the minimum risk level for no health effects.”  This is a concern for potential health effects that might arise due to these exposures over a long time.  Also, not all of the studied contaminates emanate from the center of the pad, so any new regulations might consider a different reference point or points (such as roadways) from which to measure the setback distance.  There does not seem to be a simple solution to specifying a single point from which to specify the set-back distance to assure exposure control.  There is no single geometry to which all drill site activities conform.  The activities follow the terrain of the site  and the needs of the process.  There is no reason to believe using the center of the pad as the reference point from which the setback is taken will assure that activity associated with  some possible sources of the studied contaminants will not occur closer than 625 feet from the actual source.  Studies have shown that meteorology (and topography) may be a more important  factor than a distance measured on a map for determining air contaminant concentration.  The levels of contaminant that were seen were not unexpected based on previous studies.  However, they were seen to fluctuate over a wide range (i. e. have a high standard deviation) so that consideration needs to be given to increased control monitoring of the process such as directed reading monitors  at sensitive locations near the well pad connected wirelessly to the operations center at the pad.

Read that last sentence again carefully.  Dr. McCawley is suggesting the only rational way to protect people – put monitors on the homes and barns, and shut down or modify operations when the danger level is reached.  My prediction: It will never happen in this world.  It wouldn’t happen if they were getting ten dollars a thousand cubic feet of gas at the wellhead.  It involves expense, a new set of specialists, and slowing the “hell-for-leather” pace down.  Never happen.

Chesapeake Ordered to Stop Operating Well Pad

“Citing an “imminent danger” to people, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection ordered Chesapeake Energy to stop operating at the Ray Baker well pad in southern Marshall County,”reports Casey Junkins of The Intelligencer. “This is the same pad the DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers are requiring Chesapeake to repair because of slipping soil and “discharging pollutants into the adjacent stream.”

The well pad has been the subject of previous citations.  It was cited in February of this year for polluting the waters of the state and cited again in October for posing an “imminent danger.”  Chesapeake spokesperson Stacey Brodak said that the company had stopped work on the wells before the WVDEP’s December 7th closure order.  Stabilization of the well pad is expected to take a year.

Illegal Flare in Nicholas County

A particularly long lived flare in Nicholas County near Richwood was cited for lack of a permit.  The flare stack and the three wells that feed to it are operated by Texas-based Bluescape Resources Company (BRB). It is reported by C.V. Moore, Register Herald reporter, that the flare had been burning illegally since August for 108 days! A citizens group called STand Up Now (STUN) alerted the DEP to the problem.

BRB protests that they had previously received verbal assurances from two WVDEP officials that the flare did not need a permit. “BRC applied for an after-the-fact air quality permit on Nov. 16, but it has not yet been issued,” Moore reported.  BRB argues that the economic viability of the project has not been established to explain why there isn’t a pipeline in place to collect the vented gas rather than flaring the gas and releasing carbon dioxide, methane, and other pollutants to the atmosphere.

BRB could potentially be liable for fines of $10,000 per day.  There are ‘negotiations’ going on with the WVDEP’s Division of Air Quality.

For the full story, Click Here.