102
to routinely collect baseline water quality data from all domestic water wells within
a kilometer or so of a well pad prior to drilling.
One other benefit of the baseline water testing is that it largely did away with the
non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Signing one of these was a standard requirement
for industry to pay off a claim of environmental damage from fracking. Because of
the NDAs, it was impossible for researchers to learn any details about what had happened, reconstruct the probable causes of incidents, and understand the impacts to
the environment. It was like trying to investigate an airplane crash with no radar
data, no air traffic controller tapes, no cockpit voice recorder, no witnesses, and no
survivors. NDAs are probably better known for their use in sexual harassment settlements to keep victims from talking. These instances also have been criticized
because while an NDA may protect a company’s reputation, it also leaves new
employees unaware that there had ever been a problem.
Another well-known case attributed to stray gas is a water well vault that ruptured in Dimock, Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day 2009. No one actually observed
the incident taking place; the homeowner discovered it when she returned home
later in the day. Almost immediately, the media sensation surrounding the event
resulted in the foregone conclusion that Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the area had
somehow caused a methane explosion inside the well vault. Dimock has reached
almost mythological status among protestors as an example of wanton environmental destruction by greedy O&G production companies.
State investigators found evidence that supported groundwater impacts associated with wellbore integrity problems at Dimock. This was primarily true for many
wells that were drilled early in the play’s history and constructed with minimal barrier elements, including open-hole completions. Although the NDAs kept most of
the information under wraps, the operator initially supplied bottled water and then
installed new water systems for everyone in the neighborhood without explicitly
accepting blame. Intermediate casing strings have been run in newer wells to isolate
gas-bearing shallower rocks from overlying aquifers. Whatever happened at Dimock
was complicated and not well understood. When events like this are picked up by
the media, however, the nuances and details are often glossed over or ignored.
Methane explosions are a deflagration; these burn much more slowly than the
supersonic detonations and shock waves associated with dynamite or military-grade
explosives like C-4. Deflagrations will often lift a building straight up off its foundations until the pressure escapes, and then drop it back into place. This happened
when stray gas from a badly-cemented conventional well in Geauga County, Ohio
seeped into the basement of a nearby home in 2007 (Bair and Tomastik 2012). The
foundation was damaged, but the house remained intact.
Some researchers have concluded that the observed damage at Dimock is not
consistent with a natural gas explosion (Engelder and Zevenbergen 2018). The lid
of the vault was concrete slab that had been split into three pieces and overturned,
but it was unmarked by soot or any other sign of a flame. In addition, no credible
ignition source was found inside the vault. Calculations showed that the pressure
needed to lift the concrete slab was roughly 0.3 bar (4.35 psi), but the pressure
required to break it into three pieces and overturn these was considerably higher.
6 Fracking and Water
to routinely collect baseline water quality data from all domestic water wells within
a kilometer or so of a well pad prior to drilling.
One other benefit of the baseline water testing is that it largely did away with the
non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Signing one of these was a standard requirement
for industry to pay off a claim of environmental damage from fracking. Because of
the NDAs, it was impossible for researchers to learn any details about what had happened, reconstruct the probable causes of incidents, and understand the impacts to
the environment. It was like trying to investigate an airplane crash with no radar
data, no air traffic controller tapes, no cockpit voice recorder, no witnesses, and no
survivors. NDAs are probably better known for their use in sexual harassment settlements to keep victims from talking. These instances also have been criticized
because while an NDA may protect a company’s reputation, it also leaves new
employees unaware that there had ever been a problem.
Another well-known case attributed to stray gas is a water well vault that ruptured in Dimock, Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day 2009. No one actually observed
the incident taking place; the homeowner discovered it when she returned home
later in the day. Almost immediately, the media sensation surrounding the event
resulted in the foregone conclusion that Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the area had
somehow caused a methane explosion inside the well vault. Dimock has reached
almost mythological status among protestors as an example of wanton environmental destruction by greedy O&G production companies.
State investigators found evidence that supported groundwater impacts associated with wellbore integrity problems at Dimock. This was primarily true for many
wells that were drilled early in the play’s history and constructed with minimal barrier elements, including open-hole completions. Although the NDAs kept most of
the information under wraps, the operator initially supplied bottled water and then
installed new water systems for everyone in the neighborhood without explicitly
accepting blame. Intermediate casing strings have been run in newer wells to isolate
gas-bearing shallower rocks from overlying aquifers. Whatever happened at Dimock
was complicated and not well understood. When events like this are picked up by
the media, however, the nuances and details are often glossed over or ignored.
Methane explosions are a deflagration; these burn much more slowly than the
supersonic detonations and shock waves associated with dynamite or military-grade
explosives like C-4. Deflagrations will often lift a building straight up off its foundations until the pressure escapes, and then drop it back into place. This happened
when stray gas from a badly-cemented conventional well in Geauga County, Ohio
seeped into the basement of a nearby home in 2007 (Bair and Tomastik 2012). The
foundation was damaged, but the house remained intact.
Some researchers have concluded that the observed damage at Dimock is not
consistent with a natural gas explosion (Engelder and Zevenbergen 2018). The lid
of the vault was concrete slab that had been split into three pieces and overturned,
but it was unmarked by soot or any other sign of a flame. In addition, no credible
ignition source was found inside the vault. Calculations showed that the pressure
needed to lift the concrete slab was roughly 0.3 bar (4.35 psi), but the pressure
required to break it into three pieces and overturn these was considerably higher.
6 Fracking and Water