You are here
Marcellus Shale Press Coverage
Secondary tabs
Abandoned Wells Debate
There are more than 5,000 unplugged and abandoned wells across New York State.
And, they pose a threat to homes, drinking water sources and wetlands. That's according to Toxics Targeting, Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan and two anti-fracking groups. They highlighted their concerns Friday morning. Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting, who got the information from the Department of Environmental Conservation, says the gas and oil wells can leak and cause contamination. He's calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to withdraw the state's revised SGEIS, which are the preliminary fracking guidelines, so the unplugged well issue can be properly addressed in the report.
Walter Hang says, "DEC's assertion that they've never had contamination problems, that these issues really aren't an issue, that the existing regulations are fine, that's entirely contradicted by this data."
It could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars to plug the wells. If fracking is allowed, the DEC plans to require gas drillers to plug existing wells within a mile of drilling operations. However, Hang says that's not a solution and says there are wells outside of the Marcellus Shale that are leaking. You can see the list of unplugged or abandoned wells at toxicstargeting.com.
A spokesperson for the DEC says the agency "takes all complaints of water contamination seriously and works with the state Health Department to ensure New York residents have a safe source of drinking water. By and large complaints received by DEC regarding potentially leaking wells have proven to be from wells drilled before environmental regulations were put in place or were from naturally occurring sources of contamination. In addition, under the requirements of the draft SGEIS there are multiple protections and measures required to safeguard the integrity of New York's drinking water supplies."
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 PDF-version | 41.83 KB |
Abandoned gas wells dot Southern Tier, activist says
Steuben County is home to 619 unplugged and abandoned gas, oil and other wells that are a threat to public health and safety, according to the head of an Ithaca-based environmental database firm.
Another 41 of these wells are in Chemung County, 46 in Tompkins County, 11 in Broome County and seven in Tioga County, said Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting Inc.
There are among 5,046 unplugged and abandoned wells across 38 counties in New York whose locations can be identified through an interactive map posted by Toxics Targeting on its website.
The map also identifies groundwater aquifers, surface water bodies and wetlands, and provides aerial photos and street grids.
“These wells are known to be a serious problem because many of them have leaked over the course of time and have caused really extensive hazards,” Hang said. “They should have been investigated and remediated years ago.”
However, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said Hang is basing his report on bad information. Approximately 925 wells shown on his maps as unplugged or abandoned are neither, said DEC spokeswoman Emily DeSantis in an e-mail to this newspaper.
CORRECTED: The detailed online map is based on information culled from a database from the DEC’s Division of Mineral Resources obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Hang said.
The wells threaten homes, drinking water sources, water bodies and wetlands and can kill vegetation in the Southern Tier, the Finger Lakes and central and western New York, Hang said.
“They’re next to schools. They’re next to critical water supply sources. They’re all over aquifers,” he said. “The bottom line is people have never been told about these abandoned wells, and they are hither and yon.”
Citing the Division of Mineral Resources’ annual report for 2008, Hang said the wells can leak oil, gas and/or brine underground and could be undetected for years. Wells have been discovered in the woods, alongside roads, in residential yards, playgrounds, parking lots, inside buildings and under water, he said.
For example, according to one DEC report, a well in Rome in 1998 had discharged brine at a rate of five gallons per minute into a wetland next to a brook and killed more than an acre of vegetation.
“Brine can cause widespread environmental contamination hazards,” Hang said, pointing out that it typically has high levels of dissolved solids that include a variety of toxic metals — such as mercury, lead and barium — as well as petroleum hydrocarbons and radionuclides.
“This problem has been acknowledged by DEC decades ago. They just never dealt with plugging these wells because they basically don’t have enough money to do that,” Hang said.
The DEC said it takes take all complaints of water contamination seriously.
“By and large, complaints received by DEC regarding potentially leaking wells have proven to be from wells drilled before environmental regulations were put in place or were from naturally occurring sources of contamination,” DeSantis wrote in an e-mail. “In addition, under the requirements of the draft (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement), there are multiple protections and measures required to safeguard the integrity of New York’s drinking water supplies.”
Hang says the DEC does not have enough money to fix the problems.
“Plugging these wells can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000 per well, and as of 2009, they only had, I think, $209,000 in the dedicated fund,” he said. “This poses an incredible liability problem, for municipalities in particular.”
This situation raises questions about whether the DEC is equipped to regulate hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, Hang said.
“New York should not allow any shale gas extraction using fracking until all of these existing problems have been fully resolved,” he said.
The DEC has said its review of fracking is based on a history of successfully regulating conventional drilling, Hang said.
“Beginning in 2008, they’ve been telling the public, ‘Oh, we’ve never had major problems. We have such wonderful regulatory programs that the problems that have been identified in other states haven’t happened here.’ That’s a total lie,” Hang said.
Local Environmental Firm Wants S-GEIS Withdrawn
BINGHAMTON -- Quick reaction to a study concluding that Pennsylvania hasn't adequately monitored or enforced regulations involving natural gas wells. The study, by Washington-based Earthworks reports that more than 66,000 wells were left uninspected last year. Many companies who committed violations haven't been fined. Environmentalist Walter Hang says the findings in Pennsylvania reflect concerns he's uncovered with New York's Department of Environmental Conservation.
Hang, President of Toxics Targeting, Inc. doesn't believe the DEC's repeated assurances that the agency's regulations are adequate. Downtown today, he presented his findings of areas he says are clearly impacted negatively by natural gas drilling.
"The truth of the matter is, they've self documented an enormous array of problems that are not addressed by the revised draft S-GEIS," said Hang.
He says his findings are the result of his review of 25 years of reports and calls the results shocking including documentation of crude oil present in drinking water and deliberate oil dumping into ponds and lagoons.
He says these findings contradict the DEC's public statement: "As a result of New York's rigorous regulatory process, the types of problems reported to have occurred in states without such strong environmental laws and rigorous regulations haven't happened here."
"By uncovering this information, that appears to be a total fabrication," said Mayor of Binghamton, Matt Ryan.
"This is a breach of public trust," said Hang. I think what we're basically seeing is a conspiracy of silence that none of this information has been brought to the public's attention."
Hang says this conspiracy calls for a change in the way the DEC operates.
"I do not think we can trust the DEC," said Hang. "I think we need to clean house. I think we have to start all over again with a new Generic Environmental Impact Statement."
Both Hang and Ryan say that in addition to withdrawing the S-GEIS, New York is not well enough equipped to allow drilling.
"There is not a single waste water treatment plant any where in New York to handle this material," Hang said.
"We cannot play this game, we're not ready, we have to go back to the drawing board," said Ryan. "Governor Cuomo, do what you said you were going to do, protect the health and safety of everybody in this state."
Hang's next step is an appeal to the governor.
"We're going to be pushing very very hard to persuade Governor Cuomo to withdraw the revised draft S-GEIS and send it back to the drawing board," he said.
Hang says the letter asking Governor Cuomo to withdraw the S-GEIS already has over 22,000 signatures.
Pro-fracking groups in the Southern Tier have long argued that New York's regulations would be much tighter than Pennsylvania's reducing the likelihood that fracking in the area would not be properly monitored.
In Binghamton, Jeremy Donovan, Fox 40 HD News.