Comments on Hydraulic Fracturing to the Louisiana Senate Environmental Quality Committee

Subra Company provides technical assistance to individuals and community groups dealing with a host of environmental issues and situations. I have worked with individuals and community organizations on oil field drilling and production operations and the impacts of the operations and generated waste on human health and the environment since the 1970s. I have also served on a number of advisory committees at the local, state and national level dealing with oil and gas drilling and production waste. These advisory committees reviewed the impacts to human health and the environment caused by the waste, developed proposed remedial activities, developed proposed legislation, guidelines and policies, and evaluated specific methods of assessing environmental damage.

Today in response to the call by the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality, I would like to take this opportunity to focus on the negative impacts to human health and the environment caused by drilling, hydraulic fracturing and productions of natural gas in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and provide recommendations to address some of these issues and concerns.

Natural gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing and production activities in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana, the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas are resulting in substantial negative environmental and human health impacts. The hydraulic fracturing process requires a large volume of water to make up the fracturing fluids and the addition of a host of chemicals. Surface and groundwater resources are being stressed and depleted in some areas as these resources are consumed by the hydraulic fracturing fluid makeup process. The chemical laden hydraulic fracturing fluids spilled during the fracturing operations, as well as during storage, transport and disposal, have contaminated soils, sediments, surface water resources, groundwater resources, and caused property damage.

Protection of Quantities of Surface Water and Groundwater Resources

Hydraulic fracturing in the Haynesville Shale requires large quantities of water. Vertical wells require in excess of one million gallons per fracturing event. Horizontal wells require more the three million gallons of water for each fracturing event. The water resources needed for fracturing come from surface water resources and/or groundwater resources. The use of surface water resources frequently impact the hydrology of the surface water bodies. Depending on the number of wells being fractured in a particular area, the withdrawal of large quantities of groundwater used in the fracturing process can drawn down the aquifer and result in water wells in the area going dry. If surface water sources are used for fracturing, substantial impacts can occur on the surface water resources downstream of the withdrawal locations and damage the aquatic life in the surface water bodies. It is essential when a facility applies for a permit to drill a well in the Haynesville Shale that the regulations require the permit applicant to include identification of the source of hydraulic fracturing water and quantity of water to be used. The regulations must also require that the agencies within the state that have jurisdictions over surface water hydrology/resources and groundwater resources review the permit application information and concur or object to the use of the water resource based on proposed removal of the anticipated quantities of water. Concurrence by the appropriate agencies should insure that the removal of the water will not negatively impact the water resource.

Risk to Surface Water and Ground Water Resources

Hydraulic Fracturing generates a large quantity of flowback water during and following the Hydraulic Fracturing process. The flowback water contains and is contaminated with fracturing chemicals and fluids that were incorporated into the water prior to the fracturing process. These chemical components include surfactants, friction reducing chemicals, biocides, scale inhibitors, polymers, cross linkers, pH control agents, gel breakers, clay control agents and propping agents. The chemicals contained in the flowback water are toxic and are possible and probable human cancer causing agents. The specific chemical compounds that are contained in the additives used in the Hydraulic Fracturing fluids are not publicly available. Material Safety Data Sheets are available for most of the substances used in the fracturing process. However most of the substances listed in the MSDS are described as propriety or trade secret and are not identified as specific chemicals. There is a desperate need for the specific chemicals in each fracturing material to be identified for use by emergency responders, evaluation of chemical components in chemical spills, identification of specific chemicals causing damage to humans and animals, identification of chemicals in spills into surface water and groundwater resources, and identification of chemicals in drinking water resources. Louisiana should adopt regulations requiring full disclosure of chemicals contained in drilling and fracturing fluids in order to protect and respond to releases of the chemicals into water resources and the environment.

Management and Disposal of Flowback Water

The methods of managing the large quantity of flowback water currently consist of injecting the flowback water into Class II injection wells for disposal and discharge into municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants for ultimate discharge into surface water resources. In Louisiana a large quantity of flowback water and produced water generated from the Haynesville Shale drilling and production activities are being disposed of in injection wells in Texas. When a facility applies for a permit to drill a well in the Haynesville Shale, the state regulations should require that the permit application include identification of the methods of managing the wastewater and flowback waters from the fracturing process and the location of the disposal or treatment facility to be utilized.

The Louisiana and Texas regulatory agencies should evaluate the adequacy of the locations and capacity of treatment and disposal options available for handling wastewater and flowback water from the Haynesville Shale drilling and production activities. In state as well as out of state facilities and capacities should be evaluated.

The mismanagement of flowback water and produced water can result in negative impacts to surface water and groundwater resources due to spills and leaks on the drilling site, during off site transportation and at the disposal or treatment facility. Inappropriate treatment regulatory requirements or regulatory discharge limitations not covering all of the chemical constituents in the wastewater can result in impairment of surface water resources down stream of the treatment facility discharge point. Frequently the wastewater treatment facilities accepting flowback waters do not have sufficient monitoring requirements and effluent limitation in their permits to insure that the chemical components in the flowback waters are required to be treated and removed prior to discharge of the wastewater streams. The concentration of chemicals in the flowback water are more concentrated that the normal wastewater stream being treated by the wastewater treatment facilities and the resulting effluent from the plants have a very detrimental impact on the receiving waters.

Storage of flowback water and drilling wastewater on the drilling site in pits can greatly increase the risk of contamination of groundwater, soils and surface water resources. If unlined or improperly lined pits are used on site to store waste, the waste can leach into the soil and groundwater resources under the drill site. In improperly lined pits or pits that have had the integrity of the liner compromised, the waste in the pit can contaminate soil and ground water resources. During closure of the on site pits, if the waste in the pits is not removed and disposed of off site prior to pit closure, the waste can contaminate soil, groundwater and surface water resources. Louisiana should encourage a preference for the use of tanks for storage of waste on the drill site rather than pits and the use of closed-loop systems to reduce or eliminate the quantity of drilling muds and fluids dumped into pits on site. Use of the closed-loop system also reduces the quantity of drilling waste needed to be disposed of after the drilling operations have been completed.

One method to address a number of these issues before drilling occurs is to require a Waste Management Plan to be submitted and approved along with the permit to drill A Waste Management Plan should require information such as where and how the flowback water, drilling fluids, produced waters and drill cuttings will be managed and disposed of, what specific chemicals will be used in the Hydraulic Fracturing fluids, what methods of storage of waste and produced fluids will be used for storage on site (examples pits, tanks, frac tanks, etc.), what methods will be used to prevent leaks and spills on site, what methods will be used to clean up and remediate the site prior to converting the site to a production facility, and what type of storage will be used for production waste.

Hydraulic Fracturing

The hydraulic fracturing process disrupts the quality of life for those living in the area of the well and surrounding areas, causes property damage and frequently impacts human health and the health of domestic animals. The operation creates noise, vibrations, toxic air emissions, truck traffic, and dust. The horizontal extent of the well bores frequently extend more than a mile from the well site and disrupt the quality of life of those living on top of the horizontal bore.

In order to further protect groundwater resources, Louisiana should adopt regulations that require the reporting of the horizontal and vertical extent of fracturing to insure that the fracturing activity did not extend fractures outside of the targeted formation. In addition, a requirement for the reporting   of the volume of Hydraulic Fracturing fluids remaining in the fractured formation after hydraulic fracturing along with the complete disclosure of chemicals in the fracturing fluids will enable the State to track potential chemicals that may migrate and be detected outside of the fracturing formation.

In order to prevent migration of fracturing fluids out of the designated fracturing formation, a regulatory mechanism should be instituted to identify and evaluate the locations of orphan and abandoned well sites in the area of the proposed wells and in the areas to be fractured. Horizontal fracturing of shale wells can extend out from the well site for long distances and have the potential to intercept orphaned and abandoned well bores. The importance of such measures is to protect ground water resources.

The regulatory process should include requirements that insure that the well piping is able to withstand the pressures to be exerted by the fracturing process and the well construction and completion standards are adequate to protect ground and surface water resources.

Habitat Destruction

The location of well pads and tank batteries are often sited with little or no consideration for the surface uses of the land. Well pads are constructed adjacent to homes, churches, parks, wetlands, and unique environmental areas. Once the habitat on the surface is destroyed by the well pad or tank battery, it is nearly impossible to restore the area to pre existing conditions.

Buffer Zones and Set Back Requirements

In order to protect surface water resources as well as reduce human health impacts, buffer zones and set back requirements should be established by the state regulatory agencies for the location of well sites, storage tank batteries, compressors, and injection well sites, from water bodies, wetlands, unique environmental areas, aquifer recharge zones as well as homes, buildings, schools, churches, and parks.

Air Emissions

Air emissions from drilling, production and operations associated with Haynesville Shale activities frequently result in impacts to human health and the environment. Drilling, hydraulic fracturing, natural gas production, compressor stations, glycol dehydration unite, condensate storage tanks, transmission and flow pipelines result in toxic air emissions that result in damage to human health. The toxic chemicals released into the air consist of carcinogenic and neurotoxic chemicals. Natural gas condensate is produced with natural gas. The condensates contain extremely toxic volatile organic compounds such as benzene (a known human cancer causing agent), xylene, toluene, ethylbenzene and other probable and possible cancer causing agents. These toxic chemicals are releases into the air from the gas separation process and tank storage of condensates. Produced water and flowback water stored in tanks release methane, toxic volatile organic chemicals and sulfur based compounds into the air. Compressors and diesel fueled motors release combustion products into the air. These products combine with the volatile organic chemicals in the presence of heat and sunlight to form ozone. Elevated ozone levels result in increased respiratory impacts for community member in the area.

Regulations and Enforcement

The citizens of the state of Louisiana are in need of strong, regulatory programs to safe guard human health, quality of life and the environment from the detrimental impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing and shale gas drilling and production activities. In Louisiana the Office of Conservation has 185 enforcement staff overseeing 39,726 wells for an average of 214 wells per enforcement agent. Historically regulatory programs lacked adequate requirements to protect the environment and human health. Community members have suffered too long as a result of inadequate regulations and the lack of enforcement of existing regulations. The regulatory agencies frequently state they do not have adequate resources to enforce the existing regulations.

With the hugh focus on drilling and production of shale gas in the Haynesville Shale, the regulatory agencies in the State of Louisiana need to be provided with adequate resources and staff to review, evaluate, and issue appropriate permits for shale gas wells. The agencies also need sufficient resources and staff to observe field activities during drilling and fracturing processes, perform compliance monitoring, respond to citizens complaints and enforce the regulations in order to protect water resources and human health. For too long community members and the environment have suffered due to the lack of regulations and the lack of enforcement of existing regulations.

Now is the time to enact strong regulations and ensure enforcement of those regulations for shale gas drilling and production and hydraulic fracturing in order to insure that these activities do not destroy and contaminate air quality, surface and groundwater resources, human health and the environment.

Drill-Right Texas, Best Oil & Gas Development Practices for Texas

EARTHWORKS’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project was created in 1999 to work with communities to prevent and reduce the impacts caused by energy development. For the past year EARTHWORKS’ OGAP has worked with rural and urban residents to form Texas OGAP. Texas OGAP and EARTHWORKS’ released Drill-Right Texas which encourages responsible development that protects private property owners, water, the environment, and public lands while enabling energy production. A copy of the Drill-Right Texas document is attached.

STRONGER Hydraulic Fracturing Guidelines

STRONGER (State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations) performs reviews of state programs dealing with the management of oil and gas exploration and production wastes through the use of Guidelines developed by a multistakeholder process. In response to the need for state programs to have specific and sufficient regulations covering the hydraulic fracturing issues, the STRONGER board convened a Hydraulic Fracturing Work Group to develop guidelines for state regulation of Hydraulic Fracturing. The workgroup consist of representatives of industry, state regulators, and environmental organizations.

I serve on the STRONGER board and I and an attorney with EARTHWORKS’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project serve on the Hydraulic Fracturing Work Group. The Hydraulic Fracturing Guidelines, developed by the work group, on which states will be reviewed are provided as an attachment. While the Hydraulic Fracturing Guidelines do not contain all of the items and issues put forth by all of the stakeholders involved, it is a consensus document covering the issues that need to be addressed by
states as they regulate hydraulic fracturing.