Witnesses
Panel 1
Cynthia Dougherty 
Director, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, Office of Water, Environmental Protection Agency
David Russ 
Regional Executive, Northeast Area, United States Geological Survey

Panel 2
Lori Wrotenbery
Oil and Gas Conservation Division, Oklahoma Corporation Commission
Tom Beauduy 
Deputy Executive Director and Counsel, Susquehanna River Basin Commission
Cal Cooper 
Worldwide Manager, Environmental Technologies, Greenhouse Gas, and Hydraulic Fracturing, Apache Corporation
Katy Dunlap 
Eastern Water Program Director, Trout Unlimited

 

Subcommittee Members Present
Jeanne Shaheen, Chairwoman (D-NH)
Mike Lee, Ranking Member (R-UT)
Bob Corker (R-TN)

 

On October 20, 2011, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power held a hearing to discuss the effects of shale gas production on water resources in the Eastern United States, specifically within the Marcellus Shale play. Chairwoman Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) mentioned in her opening statement the serious concerns of hydraulic fracturing (hydraulic fracturing), notably the freshwater requirements for drilling and potential methane and wastewater contamination of ground and surface waters. Shaheen said that the committee needs to look at not only the risks of hydraulic fracturing but also “the holistic view of its production, including any outlying issues.” Ranking Member Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the hearing’s central topic of shale gas regulation. Lee said that states are the correct body to regulate shale gas production, “they are doing it now and doing it well,” and they should continue to do so.

 

Cynthia Dougherty of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in her testimony that EPA supports shale gas production when it is done in an environmentally friendly manner, and that shale gas “can be and must be extracted responsibly.” She notified the committee that EPA plans to conduct a five-pronged study on water use impacts in shale gas production. The final draft of this study will be released “soon,” and the final reports will be released in two phases in 2012 and 2014. Dougherty mentioned that EPA is in the process of developing a guidance document for states to use in managing their water resources, as well as a set of national pretreatment standards for shale gas wastewater. David Russ of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) told the committee that the Marcellus Shale holds 84 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas resources. In his testimony, Russ confirmed that the USGS is collaborating with EPA on the report that will evaluate the effect of shale gas production on drinking water resources. According to Russ, the USGS is conducting studies on uranium content in produced waters and baseline water monitoring, as well as working on an extensive groundwater resource mapping project for the Marcellus area.

 

Chairwoman Shaheen asked Russ about the main differences between shale gas production in the East and the West. Russ explained that theEast is primarily concerned with the Marcellus shale resource, which has a much higher salinity than any other shale gas resource in the U.S. Where salinity is higher, Dougherty added, there is a higher potential to mobilize radium into the wastewater. Dougherty also said that while wastewater permits have technology-based and water-based standards, there are no enforced water-based requirements in place as of yet. Direct discharge of wastewater is not allowed, so drillers send their wastewaters to sewage treatment plants. Due to the composition of wastewaters, however, they need to be pretreated before being sent to the treatment plants. According to Dougherty, there are no effective pretreatment plans currently, thus technology-based standards need improving. Shaheen then asked Dougherty to lay out the aspects of shale gas production that have federal jurisdiction and those that have state jurisdiction. Dougherty replied that the states have authority over oil and gas production and permitting. EPA is only involved if there are any leaks from fluid storage facilities, if diesel fuel is used in the hydraulic fracturing fluids, or if fluid reinjection is involved. However, in 2005 Congress deemed hydraulic fracturing exempt from regulations set in place by the Safe Water Drinking Act. Regulation of wastewater reinjection therefore falls under state jurisdiction within the Underground Injection Control Program. Regulation of non-injected wastewater, on the other hand, falls under the Clean Water Act. Dougherty noted that recycling produced waters is becoming a popular option, as well as using produced brine as a de-icing solution. Shaheen asked Dougherty if well casings and cementation are being adequately regulated on the state level. Dougherty replied that they are.

 

Lee asked Russ what the USGS has found during their well testing and what types of markers they look for in the water. Russ said that the USGS looks at salinity and other anomalous chemicals, but they have not detected any evidence of contamination in the wells. Lee then asked if the state departments of environmental quality are “inadequate.” Russ replied that they are not inadequate, but they did request EPA to do a study to produce a technology-based standard for them. Lee asked how often diesel is used in the injection fluids. Dougherty said that diesel is becoming less popular and is “not used a lot.”

 

Lori Wrotenbery of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission said that states are updating the transparency in their regulations of shale gas production. In her testimony, Wrotenbery referred the committee to the reports done by the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER), a stakeholder work group originally created to develop guidelines for states. She mentioned FracFocus, another state-wide effort to improve transparency of hydraulic fracturing fluid chemical compositions that posts all available information on their web site for public view. Wrotenbery said that over five thousand wells are currently posting their fluid information on FracFocus.

 

Tom Beauduy of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) noted in his testimony that SRBC is a federal interstate compact commission that has developed a “special set of rules” for the Marcellus shale play. The SRBC regulates every withdrawal in Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna Basin, within which the Marcellus shale is located, and the shale gas industry has always complied with the regulations. Beauduy added that the SRBC incentivizes water sharing between companies and has promoted the use of acid mine drainage, a common occurrence in the basin, as an alternative to freshwater for injections. He noted that the Marcellus shale play is extremely dry compared to other shale gas areas, thus the amount of flowback water is only about five to ten percent of the water injected. All of that flowback water is recycled at treatment plants, according to Beauduy. Additionally, SRBC maintains 50 water quality station monitors and their information is available online.

 

Cal Cooper of Apache Corporation spoke about protection from chemical contamination, water competition challenges, and comparisons of water usage with other energy sources., he noted that all chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids can be replaced with bio-degradable compounds. Regarding water usage issues, he said that “location is everything” and water withdrawal must be managed on a local basis. In the Marcellus area between four and eight million gallons of water are used “per frac job,” a value that is, according to Cooper, equivalent to only 1.6 seconds of the Mississippi River’s discharge., he told the committee that natural gas production uses less water per million British thermal units (BTUs) than “any other common fuel.” Specifically, he noted that shale gas production uses half the water used for coal steam power plants, less than a third of nuclear steam turbine requirements, and “an even smaller fraction of water” required by solar condensing plants.

 

Katy Dunlap said in her testimony that Trout Unlimited supports the production of shale gas that “is done right.” She went on to list the negative impacts that shale gas production has had on the river ecosystems in the Marcellus area, including sedimentation and erosion control problems that affect cold-water habitats and drinking water resources. Dunlap referred to an instance when a fluid storage tank blew out and polluted surface water sources with brine and toxics. She said that Trout Unlimited “applauds” EPA on their study of water resources in shale gas production. Shaheen asked Beauduy to speak about Dunlap’s concerns. Beauduy agreed that industrial areas need extremely tight controls and that the erosion concern “is a legitimate one.” He said that there have been a few well blowout impacts, which he called “poster-child examples,” but he argued that the issue of land disturbance is the greatest concern.

 

Shaheen asked how many wells do not post their information on the FracFocus website. Wrotenbery did not know the answer but said she would follow up. Cooper added that half of the wells in Texas are on the web site. Shaheen asked Dunlap if Beauduy’s information about wastewater recycling was correct to her knowledge. Dunlap said that she has been told that only fifteen percent of the wastewater is actually being reused. Beauduy replied that some companies recycle all of their wastewater, but the transport and treatment are often too expensive for others to do the same. He said that SRBC is trying to incentivize wastewater recycling. Shaheen asked Cooper if states should require full disclose reporting of hydraulic fracturing information. Cooper replied that they should, and Texas has already done so. The panel agreed that more states are moving in the direction of full disclosure requirements. Shaheen asked the panel to comment on state regulation of well casing and cementation. Wrotenbery said that it is a “core part of state oil and gas regulations,” and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is in the process of reviewing the regulations’ effectiveness on casings. Beauduy said that “stray gas is the dominant issue,” and regulators in the state of Pennsylvania has found that leak problems are only found in old drill casings. He added that “integrity testing is on the way.” Shaheen concluded her round of questions by noting the New York Times article from the morning that discussed concerns for property owners in shale play areas. Dunlap elaborated that individuals looking to purchase a home will not be able to acquire mortgages from the bank if the mineral rights have already been sold.

 

Lee asked Wrotenbery how FracFocus is funded and if states require the use of the web site. She replied that the Department of Energy provided the grant to start up the website, and since then state participants and industries have made contributions. She said that states do not require information to be posted on FracFocus, but Oklahoma is considering it.

 

Full witness testimonies and a hearing webcast can be found on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources web site.