Date Set for Marcellus Hearings
The House Members of the Select Committee on Marcellus Shale announced the dates and locations for three public hearings: Wheeling on July 21, Morgantown on July 25, and Clarksburg on July 27. Check our calendar early next week for times and exact locations. Please attend with suggestions on legislation.
Small Victory for Surface Owners
A judge in Doddridge county granted a surface owner the go-ahead to appeal a gas well permit in court– a first. Currently by state law, surface owners are limited to a comment period during the permitting process and suing after their land is used and the drilling is done. The ruling will likely be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Read the article in the Charleston Daily Mail…
Putting a Well Pad in Oglebay Park… Maybe Not Such a Good Idea
A contract signed by Wheeling Park Commissioners in late 2009 allows Chesapeake Energy to place wells on Oglebay Park property. The original plan called for the stables to be closed to allow for a drilling pad. Now the commission has realized that this would cause a “significant disturbance,” and is engaged in a dialog with the drilling company to instead have the gas accessed through a horizontal well at an off-site location.
Read more in the Wheeling Intelligencer…
Revisiting the Fernow: Will DEP Reconsider Land Application?
Berry Energy drilled and hydrofracked a natural gas well in the Fernow Experimental Forest in 2008, and the rest is history: a quarter acre of the forest was killed after being legally doused with waste water, resulting in the DEP banning the practice for Marcellus wells. David Berry, president of the company, revisited the incident this week saying it was a learning experience for the company, the forest service, and regulators. Would he do it again? Sure! Berry says the problem was not having enough real estate (2 acres or more), and the DEP is now reviewing the general permit that covers land application.
Berry Energy also drilled through three caves underlying the forest. This, Berry says, should not be repeated. ”We learned that the risk of drilling through limestone and communicating with any cave system is just too great,” he said. Though the 2008 job didn’t affect any springs, “we’re not going to take that chance again.”
Berry Energy holds the mineral rights to 7,000 acres under the forest and a nearby wilderness area and has identified two formations that could support 4-6 wells.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I don’t think that the gas well in the Fernow was a Marcellus well; it was a conventional well but they still use fracking on conventional wells. So that is why they were allowed to dispose of the fracking water on land, since it was a conventional well.
Thank you, Ellen!