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Opinion- Fracking Delayed To Ensure Clean Water In The Delaware River Basin
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By Carol Collier, Executive Director, Delaware River Basin Commission Who knew that Texas-style, gas-well drilling would come to the Delaware River Basin?
The Marcellus shale formation, the largest known shale deposit in the world, wraps from western Virginia through upper Pennsylvania and lower New York State. Its eastern edge underlies 36 percent of the Delaware River Basin above the Delaware Water Gap and also includes the head- waters of the Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers.
The natural gas trapped in Marcellus shale has value to the nation, states, and local land owners. It is estimated that there are 262 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas, 14 tcf in the basin.
Having less of a carbon footprint than oil or coal, natural gas is seen as a “bridge fuel” as we ramp up to using a higher percentage of renewable-energy sources. It benefits national security and state budgets. It also can save the family farm because gas-well lease and royalty payments can help land owners avoid having to sell their properties.
However, there will be impacts to local communities and the environment. The collective effects of up to 10,000 wells pose a potentially significant adverse effect on the waters of the basin, including the estuary.
To release the gas from the tightly packed shale that is over a mile underground, the driller forces 3 to 5 million gallons of water down a well to fracture or “frack” the shale beds. This water also has additives to facilitate the extraction process.
During the time water is in contact with shale that was laid down millions of years ago in deep oceans, it picks up salts (total dissolved solids, or TDS) and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMS). The majority of the water remains underground in the shale, but about 20 to 30 percent returns to the surface. This “flow-back” water must be treated before it is released to our surface waters, but this is not an easy task for most municipal wastewater treatment plants.
Direct water-resource concerns include: 1. the potentially large amount of water consumed in the shale-fracking process; 2. potential on-site spills and their impacts to groundwater and nearby streams; and 3. final treatment of the flow-back water.
There are also impacts to the land which can affect water resources. Each driller will have to clear a five-acre area or more for a pad that can hold six to 10 individual wells. Using a horizontal drilling technique, gas can be obtained from an area reaching approximately one square mile underground from a single pad. Each well pad also requires an access road and pipes that connect to large, interstate transmission pipelines.
Over 80 percent of the Delaware River Basin’s headwaters area is covered with forests that are critical to the protection and maintenance of water resources. One big concern is the effect of forest fragmentation on our waters.
Fragmentation occurs when land inhabited by plants and animals is broken down into smaller patches. Habitat fragmentation is a problem because it alters an area's climate degrades an ecosystem's function, disrupts animal migrations, increases access for invasive species and predators and reduces wildlife habitat.
Natural gas well drilling might seem far away to Delaware Estuary residents, but they should still care because downstream environments and water users are affected by upstream actions. The headwater regions where gas-drilling activities would be located is the most sensitive and vulnerable area of any watershed. There are issues of water availability during droughts and impacts to water quality.
It is interesting that in the city of Philadelphia’s vulnerability assessment of its Delaware River drinking water intakes, the number-one concern was changing land uses 200 miles upstream in the upper basin and the resulting loss of forests.
Both Pennsylvania and New York regulate gas-well drilling activities. Pennsylvania is strengthening its gas-well construction and wastewater regulations. New York conducted a comprehensive analysis of its environmental impact statement of gas-well drilling and plans to release a final statement about environmental impact later this year. No shale fracking is allowed in New York until this is completed.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has also asserted its review over gas-well drilling projects. We regulate water withdrawals and wastewater discharges, as we do for other activities across the basin. We are especially concerned about the impacts of potentially thousands of wells expected in the headwaters region. Over three-quarters of the non- tidal Delaware River has been added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
To support that federal designation, the DRBC has a Special Protection Waters (SPW) program to maintain the existing high water quality of the non-tidal river, which we know from extensive monitoring is better than water quality standards. Because of our SPW “Keep the Clean Water Clean” regulatory program, an Executive Director’s Determination was issued in May 2009 declaring that all gas-well drilling activities, except exploratory wells, must be reviewed by DRBC, no matter what the amount of water withdrawal or wastewater discharge.
On May 5, 2010, the DRBC Commissioners unanimously agreed that no natural gas well-pad applications for shales would be considered by the agency until specific regulations are adopted. DRBC hopes to have draft regulations available for public review by the end of this summer.
A Supplemental determination was released on June 14 stating that exploratory wells also require Commission approval and would not be reviewed until regulations are in place. There is an exemption for a limited number of wells that had approval from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as of June 14.
Natural gas well drilling has value to the nation and our region, but we must make sure that it is done smartly so we do not harm the incredible resources of the Delaware River and Estuary.
Reprinted from the Summer 2010 issue of Estuary News, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
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7/26/2010 |
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