American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012 - 40

EPA's Pavillion Frac Report Overblown
A U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency draft report that purported to link
groundwater contamination in Pavillion,
Wy., to hydraulic fracturing was, in the
end, much ado about nothing, oil and
gas industry organizations assess.
Industry groups and friendly policymakers were quick to criticize a Dec. 8
announcement by EPA that groundwater
found in the aquifer beneath Pavillion,
located 230 miles northeast of Salt Lake
City, "contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing."
Petroleum Association of Wyoming
President Bruce Hinchey calls EPA's announcement reckless and irresponsible,
saying, "Unsubstantiated statements coming from the EPA stretch the data and
cause unwarranted alarm and concern."
U.S. Senator James Inhofe, R-Ok.,
ranking member of the Senate Committee
on Environment and Public Works, calls
the report "part of President Obama's
war on fossil fuels."
"As recently as Nov. 9, EPA Regional
Administrator James Martin said the results
of the latest round of testing in Pavillion
were not significantly different from the
first two rounds of testing, which showed
no link between hydraulic fracturing and
contamination," Inhofe points out.
The Casper, Wy., Star-Tribune reports
that in a press conference with Wyoming
Governor Matt Mead, Interior Secretary
Ken Salazar acknowledges "the jury is
still out" on the validity of the EPA
report, adding that hydraulic fracturing
"can and is being done safely" across the
country.
Governor Mead himself calls the report
scientifically questionable, saying, "Those
familiar with the scientific method recognize that it would not be appropriate
to make a judgment without verifying all
of the testing that has been done."
Nevertheless, the report caused quite
a stir. Energy In Depth calculates it generated nearly 1,000 news stories in 12
countries within 24 hours of its release,
while environmental groups championed
it as proving the dangers of hydraulic
fracturing.
"With this finding . . . we can confirm
what residents of the gas fields have been
saying all along: The chemicals used in
(hydraulic fracturing) can indeed migrate
into groundwater," a published report
quotes Jessica Ennis, a policy associate
with Earthjustice.
"This lays an oil and gas industry myth
to rest once and for all," Ennis adds.
40 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

In another published report, Amy Mall
with the Natural Resources Defense Council contends, "This draft report makes
obvious that there are many factors at
play, any one of which can go wrong.
Stronger rules are needed to ensure well
construction standards are stronger and
to reduce threats to drinking water."
EPA Testing
EPA's announcement explains that it
initiated testing after Pavillion residents
complained in 2008 about "smells, tastes
and adverse changes in water quality of
their domestic wells."
Published reports say Encana Corp.
fractured several tight gas wells in the
area between 2004 and 2007.
EPA says it tested 39 individual wells
and two municipal water wells in March
2009, and 21 domestic wells and two
municipal wells in January 2010. It also
drilled two monitoring wells in 2010,
EPA adds.
The agency says, "Samples taken from
the deep monitoring wells in the aquifer
indicate detection of synthetic chemicals
(such as) glycols and alcohols consistent
with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids, benzene concentrations well
above Safe Drinking Water Act standards,
and high methane levels."
Samples taken from Pavillion drinking
water wells, EPA continues, found
"methane, other petroleum hydrocarbons
and other chemical compounds . . . consistent with migration from areas of gas
production."
However, the EPA report notes that
the chemicals found in drinking water
wells "are generally below established
health and safety standards."
Further, the agency points out, "The
draft findings . . . are specific to Pavillion,
where the fracturing is taking place in
and below the drinking water aquifer and
in close proximity to drinking water
wells-production conditions different
from those in many other areas of the
country."
Question Findings
Industry groups were quick to raise a
number of questions about EPA's findings.
PAW points out that EPA's monitoring
wells were drilled into gas-bearing zones
(approximately 900 and 700 feet), "so
the fact that methane, benzene and other
hydrocarbons were detected at high levels
is not surprising."
Encana released a statement saying,
"The Pavillion area natural groundwater

has a long history of poor quality. (EPA)
drinking water sample results are consistent
with studies published by the U.S. Geological Survey and others over the past
50 years. Natural gas always has been
known to exist at shallow depths in the
Pavillion natural gas field."
PAW also notes that EPA found only
one organic compound, tris (2-butoxyethyl)
phosphate, in drinking water wells. "This
chemical is a common fire retardant used
in association with plastics and plastic
components used in drinking water wells,"
PAW explains.
However, PAW says tris phosphate
has been confused with 2-BE-a material
sometimes associated with oil- and gaswell completions. 2-BE was found in
one of eight samples taken from EPA's
deep monitoring wells. But, PAW emphasizes, "Two other EPA laboratories
that measured for the same compound
did not detect it in duplicate samples. Inconsistency in detection combined with
the fact that this compound is present in
nearly all household and laboratory cleaning agents makes it just as likely it is
from sample contamination as (from) hydraulic fracturing."
Energy In Depth observes that one of
EPA's main justifications for implicating
hydraulic fracturing was high pH readings
the agency says it found in its monitoring
wells. However, EID points out that EPA
used dense soda ash to drill its monitoring
wells. "Dense soda ash has a recorded pH
(11.5) very similar to the level found in
the deep wells, creating the possibility
that the high pH recorded by EPA could
have been caused by the very chemicals it
used to drill its own wells," EID reveals.
Further, EID says EPA noted elevated
levels of potassium and chloride in its
monitoring wells. But, EID continues,
"Nowhere in its report does EPA suggest
that potassium-chloride-a different chemical entirely that is sometimes associated
with fracturing solutions-was detected."
EID adds that previous USGS studies
of groundwater quality in the Pavillion
area have found variable, and sometimes
high, concentrations of potassium and
chloride.
Finally, EID mentions that the potassium levels in EPA's first monitoring well
declined by more than 50 percent from
October 2010 to April 2011, while the
potassium level in the other monitoring
well increased. "Only natural variations
in groundwater flow and/or composition
could have accounted for this disparity,"
EID concludes.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2012

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