Wastewater

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Study Confirms Wisdom of Not Dumping Untreated Frack Wastewater
October 24, 2018October 24, 2018

The Elliptio complanate freshwater mussel, one of the two species used in the experiment. IMAGE: WESTCOTT PHILLIP / WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Some old news that has become new once again. Prior to 2011, a few Pennsylvania municipal sewage treatment plants accepted untreated frack wastewater, processing it through their systems and releasing it into the environment (rivers and streams). Based on scientific data available at the time, then-Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, Mike Krancer (Republican), stopped the practice (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water). Since that time there have been no PA (or any other state) sewage plants accepting frack wastewater. A new study by Penn State now confirms what we pretty much knew then–that aquatic life is affected by dumping untreated frack wastewater into streams and rivers.
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American Water Management | Earthquakes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County | Wastewater

ODNR Says Trumbull Injection Well Can Reopen with “Acceptable” Plan
October 23, 2018October 23, 2018

American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Two wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS, were “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake (see ODNR Temporarily Shuts Down Injection Wells After Low-Level Quake). AWMS appealed the closure of the wells all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court. ODNR is still trying to block one of the two wells from opening by saying AWMS *could* open the well–if they submit an acceptable (comprehensive) plan.
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Industrywide Issues | Sponsored Posts | Wastewater

New Ohio Injection Well Launches in Tuscarawas County
October 15, 2018October 15, 2018

Click for larger version

Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., long known for providing stone quarries and asphalt plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio, provides civil construction services for shale well sites. The company is also involved in water withdrawal and treatment, logistics of supplies and the creation of specialized aggregate products for the shale industry. Hawbaker recently held an open house to launch the startup of its very first shale wastewater injection well–in Newcomerstown (Tuscarawas County), Ohio. Hawbaker held a Grand Opening Open House for their injection well last week. What’s that? You don’t think injecting wastewater in the ground is a good thing? We’d like a chance to change your mind about that…
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Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

EPA Public Mtg Examines Disposing O&G Wastewater in Lakes, Rivers
October 12, 2018October 12, 2018

In May the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched a study looking into the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and (gasp) releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground. Earlier this week the EPA held a public meeting to discuss preliminary findings and to elicit more input from the industry and from Big Green on their study, which is called “Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management” (due to be released early next year). Below is an update on the meeting with a slide deck used by EPA.
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Nuverra Environmental | Wastewater

Nuverra Buys Clearwater Solutions w/Guernsey, OH Injection Wells
October 10, 2018October 10, 2018

Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. Those operations are expanding. Nuverra announced last Friday it has purchased, lock, stock and barrel, ClearWater Solutions, an Ohio injection well operator. Purchase price was $41.9 million. Looks like Nuverra has fully recovered from bankruptcy just one year ago.
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Athens County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Wastewater

Reliable Buys Athens, OH Injection Well, Plans to Drill 2nd Well
October 9, 2018October 9, 2018

Reliable One Resources, a wastewater treatment company headquartered in Texas, has just purchased an existing/functioning wastewater injection well in Athens, OH. Reliable does not say in their announcement who sold them the well. They do say they intend to drill a second well next to the first one (which is the big news for us), and that they (Reliable) is in the process of buying “multiple trucking companies” that will hauling wastewater from Marcellus/Utica drillers to their facility.
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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

Plum Injection Well Hearing Draws Solid Opposition
October 3, 2018October 3, 2018

Earlier this year the federal EPA approved a new injection well for Plum Borough in Allegheny County, PA (see Federal EPA Approves Permit for Plum, PA Wastewater Injection Well). Although federal approval is necessary, so too is state approval. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing Monday night to elicit input. Around 60 people showed up. All 17 who spoke at the hearing were against the proposed injection well.
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Hubbard Twp, OH Still Trying to Block Injection Well
September 27, 2018September 27, 2018

Two weeks ago MDN told you that liberal Democrat State Rep. Glenn Holmes (from Girard, Trumbull County, OH) is attempting to use a hammer to kill a fly (see Ohio Democrats Float Bill to Cap Injection Wells at 23 per County). Holmes is sponsoring House Bill 723 to cap the number of injection wells at 23 per county, in an attempt to block a single new injection well from getting built in Hubbard Township. Currently Trumbull County has 17 live and functioning wastewater injection wells. Five more are currently under construction. If the bill passes, it would prevent a newly-proposed well in Hubbard from getting built. Holmes has some company in his opposition. Hubbard township officials are “bitterly opposed” to the injection well and raising their own fuss to try and stop it. The preferred solution for Hubbard officials is for the state to allow local towns to write their own oil and gas zoning laws–a prescription for NIMBY disaster. No town would allow it, which is why the review and authorization of injection wells is a joint process between the federal EPA and the state. But that well-thought-out solution of federal/state review doesn’t stop the locals from kicking up a fuss…
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Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Dartmouth: How Water & Shale Combine to Produce Radioactive Waste
September 19, 2018September 19, 2018

A pair of newly published research papers from Dartmouth College may shed new light on radioactivity in shale waste water. We previously highlighted research from Dartmouth in 2015 and again in 2016 dealing with Marcellus Shale and water (see Dartmouth Study: Fracking Causes Toxic Metal Wastewater and Dartmouth Study Finds Barium Leaches Directly from Marcellus Shale). We said at the time, “…we don’t detect an agenda on the part of the researchers. This appears to us to be legitimate research that helps us better understand the chemical reactions happening a mile or more below the ground when we shoot water down there.” And so we continue to feel about these latest Dartmouth studies. Reportedly for the first time we now understand how “slick water” (water and chemicals used during fracking) can combine with shale rock, transferring some of the naturally occurring radiation from the rock to the water. That is, we better understand the science of it. Which means we can develop better ways to handle and treat water that may have low levels of radioactivity…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Tyler County | Wastewater | West Virginia

New WV Facility Opens to Handle Radioactive M-U Waste
September 12, 2018September 12, 2018

SECUR, a privately owned company headquartered in Pittsburgh that (among other things) cleans up radioactive waste from shale drilling, has just opened a new 10-acre branch facility in Tyler County, WV to do just that–to clean up NORM (naturally occurring radioactive materials) and TENORM (technically-enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material). The facility cleans up both liquids (wastewater) and solids (drill cuttings) that contain a tiny bit of radiation in them, making them suitable for safe disposal. No, there is no permanent storage at the facility–the site, located in Friendly, WV, is only used to clean up the stuff coming in. SECUR then repackages the material and sends it back out to licensed disposal facilities. And did we mention…SECUR is a woman-owned, small business? Nice. Here’s the good news of yet more jobs and an essential service have come to the WV part of the Marcellus/Utica…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Tioga County (PA) | Wastewater

PA Court Upholds $1.1M Fine on EQT re Wastewater Impoundment
September 11, 2018September 11, 2018

Yesterday Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court upheld a PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fine levied on EQT for $1.1 million related to a leaky wastewater impoundment in 2012. The case dates back to 2014 when the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) slapped EQT with a $4.53 million fine for a leaky wastewater impoundment in Tioga County, something that happened two years earlier (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). EQT never said there wasn’t a problem with leaks at the site, but they did say the way the DEP calculated the fine was unreasonable and arbitrary. EQT appealed the fine and the case all the way to the PA Supreme Court, and in April of this year, the Supremes ruled in favor of EQT, saying that the DEP’s levied fine was excessive and that the DEP misinterpreted language in the 1937 Clean Streams Law (see PA Supreme Court Axes DEP $4.5M Fine in EQT Tioga Wastewater Leak). We thought that was the end of the case. But it wasn’t. The Supremes ruled on “water to water” contamination in the case, but not on “ground to water” contamination. PA law allows for companies to be on the hook for each day a contaminant enters the water table. In May the court heard oral arguments over how to prove whether contaminants in the soil have moved into groundwater (see EQT Continues to Fight PA DEP Fine re Wastewater Impoundment). What lawyers argued was whether or not, and how, the DEP can prove contaminants in the ground, there because of EQT’s leak, can be proven to have leached into the water on any given day. DEP claimed to have a formula and calculated a revised $1.1 million fine based on assumptions about how many days the contaminants leaked out of the ground. Yesterday, Commonwealth Court agreed with DEP and upheld the fine…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Ohio Democrats Float Bill to Cap Injection Wells at 23 per County
September 10, 2018September 10, 2018

Liberal Democrat State Rep. Glenn Holmes (from Girard, Trumbull County, OH) is attempting to use a hammer to kill a fly. That is, he’s floating House Bill 723 to cap the number of injection wells at 23 per county, in an attempt to block a new injection well from getting built in Hubbard Township. Currently Trumbull County has 17 live and functioning wastewater injection wells. Five more are currently under construction. If the bill passes, it would prevent a newly-proposed well in Hubbard from getting built. Come here fly, see this hammer? Instead of debating the merits (or lack thereof) of the single well in Hubbard, how many wells are too many in Trumbull County, Holmes wants to limit injection wells everywhere in the state as his preferred solution. Right now Trumbull and Ashtabula counties are tied for the top spot with 17 active injection wells each. Nearby Portgage and Stark counties both have 16 injection wells. Meigs County, in southeast Ohio, has 14 active injection wells. Here’s the latest Democrat shenanigan aimed at stifling the Utica (and Marcellus) industry in Ohio…
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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Trucking | Wastewater

6 Charged with Bypassing Emissions Controls on Marcellus Trucks
September 7, 2018September 7, 2018

We may not always agree with certain rules and regulations, but skirting or ignoring them is not an option. Especially not in the Marcellus industry. A small group of men (six so far) in Williamsport (Lycoming County), PA are accused of conspiring to illegally alter emission systems on 30+ trucks with heavy-duty diesel engines. The trucks belong to Rockwater Northeast of Canonsburg, a subsidiary of Rockwater Energy Solutions Inc. of Houston, Texas, used to haul fresh water and wastewater to/from Marcellus Shale wells being drilled. The men “tampered with and removed emission monitoring devices on trucks to reduce repair costs and maintenance down time.” Five of the six have already plead guilty, and a sixth was recently charged in the scheme. They all face jail time and stiff fines. Folks, this is not acceptable behavior for our industry…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Duke Study Can’t Hide Fact Water Use for M-U Fracking is Small
August 16, 2018August 16, 2018

We find the latest “bash fracking” so-called study just published by Duke University to be, well, rather amusing. This is not Duke “researcher” Avner Vengosh’s first bash fracking study (see Duke Hit Piece on Shale Water Usage from Same Park-Sponsored Prof and Latest Case of Duke U Bought & Paid “Research” by Park Foundation). This newest “research” study is amusing because the findings appear to be solid and positive news for the industry, but the researchers and mainstream media are going out of their way to spin the findings into something negative. In “The intensification of the water footprint of hydraulic fracturing” (full copy below), researchers imply and infer that fracking is using too much water, and producing too much wastewater (brine and flowback). Yet here in the Marcellus/Utica region, fracking’s use of our regional (very abundant) water supplies is minimal, only growing 20% from 2011 to 2016. Although they do their best to spin it negatively, you can’t ignore the facts. Fracking isn’t a drain on freshwater supplies, using a small fraction compared to other uses, including golf courses. The amount of wastewater that must be disposed is not a burden either. Most brine (i.e. produced water) and flowback is recycled and reused, with a small amount disposed via injection wells…
Read More “Duke Study Can’t Hide Fact Water Use for M-U Fracking is Small”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Ashland County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Wastewater

OH Antis Attack Loudonville for Selling Water to Cabot for Drilling
July 19, 2018July 19, 2018

Little red dot indicates where Loudonville, OH is located

At the Loudonville Village Council meeting on Monday, a dozen anti-drilling kooks “assailed” Mayor Steve Stricklen and council members over selling water to Cabot Oil & Gas to use in drilling (not fracking) several test wells in the area. Cabot is exploring north central Ohio as a potential spot for “what’s next” after their wildly successful Marcellus drilling program in Susquehanna County, PA. In typical fashion, lies and fearmongering were used in an attempt to shame Loudonville officials over water sales to Cabot. Loudonville sits on the border of Ashland and Homles counties. The village sells water to anyone who wants to buy, for 0.65 cents per gallon (a little over half a cent per gallon). So far Cabot has purchased 650,000 gallons from the village ($4,358). One of the antis said she’s fearful Cabot will dump the used fracking wastewater “contaminated by chemicals” in nearby Charles Mill Lake. It’s an outrageous and scurrilous allegation. We’ve personally seen Cabot’s first-rate wastewater recycling center in Susquehanna County. They recycle 100% of the wastewater coming out of the ground. But antis don’t bother to check on the facts–not when any old lying allegation will do…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Buckeye Brine | Coshocton County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Wastewater

Antis Fight Plan to Convert 2 Class II Injection Wells in OH to Class I
June 11, 2018June 11, 2018

In 2013, Buckeye Brine, a relatively young Ohio-based company, added a second shale wastewater injection well in Coshocton County (see Buckeye Brine Adds Second Injection Well, Business Expands Rapidly). Buckeye later added a third injection well. After an oil or gas well is drilled and fracked, wastewater from fracking flows back out for a week or two. After that, over time (years in most cases) naturally occurring water from deep underground continues to flow. That naturally occurring water contains a lot of dissolved minerals in it, making it much “saltier” than even ocean water–hence the term brine. Buckeye Brine has operated their three Class II (as they are known) injection wells “flawlessly” for the past five years. No earthquakes. No spills. No leaks back to the surface. Nothing. Buckeye now wants to re-designate two of the three wells as Class I wells, which would allow them to accept non-shale wastewater–from industrial equipment operators, soap manufacturers, food processors, power plants, and municipal wastewater treatment plants. The new wastewater sources for a Class I well are considered “nonhazardous.” However, so-called environmental groups are opposing the change from Class II to Class I…
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