Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Drilling and Water Quality Issues

New: NYS DEC Draft SGEIS posted 9/30/09. Download full document (large) or online chapters

General Information on Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Drilling

Diagram of hydrofracturing drilling process from ProPublica news site

Water Resources and Natural Gas Production from the Marcellus Shale (USGS, 2009)

New York State Dept. of Environment Conservation - Marcellus Shale pages

Potential Water Contaminantion related to Natural Gas Drilling

Drinking water wells generally draw from the first few hundred feet below the surface. The Marcellus Shale is about five thousand feet below ground in the Southern Tier of New York, but drilling must pass through the shallower aquifers to reach the deep shale. Shallow groundwater and surface water supplies are also at risk of contamination from surface spills of chemicals and from general road and construction activity. Wells and groundwater and surface supplies can be impacted by physical disturbance and/or chemical contamination.

Most of the problems associated with natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania have been traced to improperly constructed or damaged well casing. Steel and concrete well casing structures are essential to protect drinking water supplies by isolating aquifers from the natural gas well. Casing defects and/or damage has led to contamination of drinking water supplies with methane gas and total dissolved solids (TDS) or total suspended solids (TSS).

Surface spills of chemicals have also occurred in Pennsylvania. A September 2009 report by ProPublica summarizes an incident in Dimock, PA, for which the PA DEP has issued violation notices.

Gas Well Drilling and Your Private Water Supply (updated Jan 2009) This is an excellent resource from Brian Swistock of Penn State's water extension program, and includes recommendations about water testing related to Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling. Some of the legal information is specific to Pennsylvania; we will adapt this publication for New York soon when more legal information is available for New York.

BCERF forum on environmental cancer on 9/22/09 in Ithaca will have a session on Marcellus Shale drilling

Methane (CH₄, the primary component of natural gas)

Information about Dimock, PA contamination of wells with methane, PA DEP investigation.

Total Suspended Solids (TSS, Turbidity)

Physical disturbance of the ground during drilling can introduce sediments into a drinking water well. Wells much be open at the bottom in order for water to flow into them. This type of contamination may diminish over time. It can happen with construction of nearby drinking water wells, or any activity that disturbs the aquifer, including initial drilling and casing of a natural gas well.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

Total dissolved solids measures the concentration of materials dissolved in a volume of water. Natural brine (saltwater) formations encountered in drilling and salts used in hydrofracturing fluids cause drilling wastewater to be very salty, i.e., very high in TDS.

High TDS is already a concern for wastewater treatment plants and rivers in some areas, e.g., DEP Detects Elevated Levels of Total Dissolved Solids in Monongahela River (PA DEP, August 2009)

Components of drilling mud and hydrofracturing fluids

Information, MSDS sheets, etc.

Pending State and Federal Rules and Legislation

In New York State, the Department of Environmental Conservation has the major regulatory control over natural gas drilling activities. Natural gas drilling permits are issued according to the terms of the Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS) issued in 1992; applications that differ from the basic GEIS framework must undergo additinoal review. For horizontal drilling with large volume hydrofracturing in the Marcellus Shale, additional regulations are necessary, and a Supplemental GEIS (SGEIS) is under review and expected to be released in September 2009, with a public comment period immediately following.

New York State Dept. of Environment Conservation - Marcellus Shale pages

New York State DEC's Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB) - you can subscribe to a weekly reminder email. They are posted each Wednesday on the DEC ENB site.

Information on several gas-driling related U.S. House bills authored or co-authored by Maurice Hinchey (NY-22)

Photographs and Diagrams about Natural Gas Drilling

Tioga County Landowners Group

Marcellus Shale Gas Well Drilling Operations In Troy, Pennsylvania

Trenton Black River Well Drilling Site In Tioga County (note, different geological formation being drilled but some of the stages of drilling and land use impacts are the same)