Marcellus Shale Is a Black

Marcellus Shale is a black fine-grained laminated formation of sediments. It extends deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia into Pennsylvania and southern New York (Paterson 2011). In some locations, it is exposed at the ground surface. But in some locations, it is as deep as 7,000 feet below the ground surface along the Pennsylvania border in the Delaware River Valley. Drilling is focused in some locations of the shale, which are deeper than 2,000 feet. Geologists have been aware of the natural gas resources found in this shale for some time now. But exploring and extracting these resources have been quite difficult and expensive because of the depth of the shale. Recent developments in technology, however, have called new attention to the shale. Higher costs of fuel in the world market and the potential decrease in the cost of extraction by new technology motivated the tapping of this neglect resource. The proximity of the shale to high-demand markets in New York, New Jersey and New England further encouraged the venture. In 2008, the Marcellus Shale Coalition was created to undertake the project. As it progressed, however, concerns about possible environmental and community impacts have been aired. Among these is the contamination of water by the operations in locations spanned by the shale and, recently, others distant from it. In this paper, I argue that operations at the Marcellus Shale have become a source of contamination of groundwater aquifers.

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Literature Review

No Reports of Contamination in New York

Geologists estimate that the entire Marcellus Shale formation has a yield capacity of 168-516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (Paterson). The present yearly consumption of New York is 1.1 trillion cubic feet of the resource. How much can be extracted from the shale has remained unknown. Most of the wells of the shale are hydraulically fractured. Hydraulic fracturing consists of pumping a fluid and a propping material like sand, down a well under high pressure. This process creates fractures in the gas-bearing rock. The propping material must keep the fractures open in order to allow great amounts of gas to flow into the well. More than 1 million gallons of water are needed to extract the desired amount of gas at present (Paterson 2011).

Drilling operations are under careful control. The Department of Environmental Conservation of New York oversees these (Paterson 2011). Its Mineral Resources staff conducts strict permitting process in order to protect the environment and the landowner's interests. It insures compliance in the applicant before drilling is allowed. It screens the location to detect environmental risks. It inspects actual drilling operations. And it imposes strict restoration rules when drilling operations are finished. The Department requires a full environmental assessment if a proposed oil or gas well is within 2,000 feet of a municipal well. It requires a supplemental environmental impact statement if the location is within 1,000 feet. The requirement covers all groundwater. No groundwater contamination has been reported in the State on account of stringent enforcement of these regulations. These regulations cover all groundwater, including private wells, oil and gas wells. Due to the strict enforcement of regulatory process, no groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling projects has been reported in New York (Paterson 2011).

Radioactive Wastewater Found in New York

Quite differently from the preceding, Lustgarten (2009) writes that New York state officials found radioactive wastewater from the Marcellus Shale gas drilling. The State Department of Environmental Conservation analyzed 13 samples of wastewater drawn to the surface from thousands of feet. It found that the samples contained levels of radium-226, a derivative of uranium, at 267 times beyond the safety limit allowed for human consumption. This is roughly 25-30 times above background concentrations (Resnikoff 2010). Radioactive chemicals are known to cause different cancers. When more tests confirm this finding, the energy industry must come out to explain and face stiff penalties and fines. These radioactive wastes may also reach other parts of the country (Lustgarten 2009). The drilling and dewatering processed used on the shale increase the concentration of radium in the drilling fluid (Reskinoff et al.). Rock cuttings, which soak up to 20% of this fluid, drain into the country landfill. A host of serious health problems will be an eventual consequence of landfill contaminated with radon and radiologically contaminated leachate and future reuse of the site. These will exceed and breach currently allowable radium concentration levels set by the NYSDEC (Reskinoff et al. 2010, Lustgarten 2009).

New Effluent Standards for Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is another major location on the path of Marcellus Shale. In response to the intensifying issue of contamination, State environmental officials proposed amendments to the State Code provision wastewater treatment (Staaf). These amendments provide for new effluent standards, which will insure that the State's rivers, streams and drinking water remain clean and safe throughout the Commonwealth. The amendments suggest standards on total dissolved solids or TDS, new and existing discharges, additional contaminants, waster water monitoring, wastewater reuse, and costs for implementing these suggested standards (Staaf 2010). TDS or total dissolved solids are the by-product of hydraulic fracturing, the process used in the shale (Sapien). TDS are a mixture of salt and other minerals drawn from the deep underground. They can make drilling wastewater five times saltier than sea water. Too much can clog machines and alter the color, taste and smell of drinking water. TDS may not be considered harmful to humans at this point but they can damage freshwater (Sapien 2009).

The State Department of Environmental Protection admitted that many of the State's rivers and streams have limited capability handle additional TDS at present (Saaf). Other reports found additional contaminants in the Marcellus wastewater not mentioned in the DEP proposal. These contaminants included potentially toxic and carcinogenic bromides and their by-products arsenic, benzene and radium (Saaf 2010). Similar contamination occurred at Dunkard Creek. Gas drilling companies eject wastewater into Pennsylvania's municipal sewage plants. From there, it goes to the rivers and streams. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned that the plants are not adequately equipped to eliminate TDS and other chemicals from wastewater. TDS can also damage the plants' sewage treatment, including sewage of human waste (Sapien 2009).

The Hydraulic Fracturing Process

The large amount of flow-back water generated by this process brings out contaminated chemicals and fluids not present before the process (LEAN). These chemicals include surfactants, friction reducing chemicals, biocides, scale inhibitors and propping agents. Current methods inject flow-back water into Class II injection wells, which dispose of and discharge it into municipal and industrial treatment plants and surface water resources. Mismanagement can adversely affect surface water and groundwater resources. Spills and leaks can occur anywhere from the drilling site, at the transporting site to the disposal facility. Inappropriate treatment or failure to meet any requirement will also have negative consequences (LEAN 2011).

Some of these negative consequences of the drilling in the State have been reported (Sapien). Workers at a steel mill and a power plant observed salty sediment corroding their plant machinery. Residents also noticed their dishwasher malfunctioning and spots on their plants. Upon investigation, the State DEP found that the Monongahela, a source of drinking water for 350,000 residents, was contaminated with chemicals from the Marcellus wastewater. DEP also found that 10,000 species of fish were killed by the contamination. Methane leaks reduced the quality of drinking water in at least seven counties. Acting on the problem, the DEP reduced the amount of drilling wastewater flowing into the river and opened dams upstream to dilute the contamination. But soon, contamination levels rose again (Sapien 2009).

A review of more than 30,000 pages of requested government and private records on wastewater plants in Pennsylvania and West Virginia gave a similar picture (Urbina). These were derived from field surveys by state and federal regulators, year-end reports by drilling companies and state-commissioned tests of public treatment plants. The commissioned tests were intended to measure radium or "gross-alpha" radiation from drilling wastewater. A major finding was that not only did Pennsylvania produce far more wastewater than previously reported. Most of this wastewater was sent to treatment plants, which did not have the resources to remove toxic materials. Another major finding was that 12 sewage treatment plants in three States received and released the wastewater into rivers, lakes and streams after only partly treating it. And one more major finding was that at least 116 of the 179 wells, which produced highly contaminated wastewater, had radiation levels as high as 100 times beyond the federally-set limit for drinking water. In addition, the review revealed that at least 15 wells, which produced wastewater, contained radioactive elements 1,000 times beyond acceptable limits (Urbina 2011).

Motivations vs. Contamination Threat

Why all the hype over Marcellus Shale? Records say that the first oil drilling in Pennsylvania in 1859 could handle ensuing problems rather quickly (Sapien). But the phenomenally huge drilling yield of Marcellus Shale was something not at all easy to resist. Analysts estimated that it could produce enough gas to fill the nation's need for more than 20-year. Energy prices went up again in 2008. Drillers created 29,000 jobs for the people. And State and local governments offered $240 million worth of taxes (Sapien 2009). And modern technology was there to realize the dream.

When asked about the initiative's threat to human health, the DEP at first assured all sectors that TDS were not generally considered a major risk. In 2008 alone, at least 4,000 new oil and gas wells were drilled. The frenzy sidestepped the greater and graver responsibility of disposal of huge wastewater. The new oil and gas wells produce approximately 9 million gallons of wastewater a day in Pennsylvania alone. This volume was expected to increase to at least 19 million this year. This volume is greater than that what all of the State's waterways combined can safely absorb, DEP itself says. But in the wake of continued complaints and apprehensions, it advised consumers to switch to bottled water to drink and for cooking. Some alarmed sewage operators have stopped using wastewater whatsoever (Sapien 2009).

Solutions

Pennsylvania State environmental officials proposed amendments to the State Code include a daily maximum TDS effluent standard and concentration threshold to protect waterways (Staaf). These standards should be strictly imposed. At present, these are exceeded. Transparency and the complete monitoring and tracking of wastewater fluids in all stages of use should be also be strictly enforced. The implementation cost of these amendments at $.025 per gallon should be covered by the industry. Taxpayers should be spared of the additional burden (Saaf 2010).