Forks Hill Rd SUSQUEHANNA LACKAWANNA. Woodlands

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1 2011 WORKSHOP Day 2 field sites BRADFORD Carizo Tour Salt Spring SP Forks Hill Rd SUSQUEHANNA Marcellus Trip It is difficult to create an effective field trip for both gas patch and non-gas patch attendees. We have tried to find sites that focus on road issues, and on Dirt and Gravel Road Projects in particular. We will stop at several sites, with drivethroughs of other sites on the way. Lunch Hunter Rd Phillips Rd LACKAWANNA We have also tried to objectify the ongoing Marcellus gas boom. This means we want to provide you with facts and show you sites to encourage discussion about road-related issues, without putting a positive or negative spin on what is happening. Love it or hate it, the Marcellus boom appears to be here to stay. WYOMING LUZERNE Woodlands We hope that this trip serves as a good information-sharing venue for all those involved. Please don t hesitate to ask questions of Center staff or other attendees. Reminder: while some General Marcellus discussion is expected, we will try to focus most of the discussions on road-related and Program-related issues. Bus Travel Time: Today s field trip is a little farther than we had hoped to take you. When we were planning this workshop months ago, several Marcellus wells, one with a D&G demo project, were active in northern Luzerne County. Unfortunately for our planned trip, these wells did not produce as expected, so the companies have withdrawn from the area. This means that today s field trip will take you an hour north into the active drilling areas of Susquehanna County. In addition, the recent flooding of the Susquehanna River from Irene has made a detour or two necessary. We apologize for the long ride, but hope the sights and interactions along the way will make the trip worthwhile. The publishers of this publication gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry. For additional information or assistance, contact: Center for Dirt & Gravel Roads Studies, Penn State University, 207 Research Unit D, University Park, PA (Toll-Free Phone: , Fax: , dirtandgravel@psu.edu). Additional copies available on our website at: 1 all rights reserved 2011

2 Marcellus Activity Summary Marcellus Wells Drilled: 2008: : : 1, : 1,242 (through August) Total: 3,591 (through August) it is estimated that as many as 35,000 to 50,000 wells can be drilled into the Marcellus Shale formation by arcellus-shale-report.pdf Wells Drilled January through August 2011 Field trip Woodlands -U.S. Energy Information Administration Woodlands Maps and stats from DEP Marcellus Website: 2

3 Marcellus Activity Summary BUREAU OF OIL AND GAS MANAGEMENT WEEKLY WORKLOAD REPORT WEEK of 09/06/2011 to 09/09/2011 WELL PERMIT APPLICATIONS 1 Year to Date Received Issued Other 4 Non Marcellus 1,709 1, Marcellus 2,275 2, Total YTD 3,984 3, For Week 09/06 to 09/09 Non Marcellus Marcellus Total for Week Marcellus Shale Permit Applications 2005 to Present Received In Process Issued Denied Withdrawn Returned Entered in Error Present 8, , WELL PERMIT APPLICATIONS IN PROCESS Total In Process < 60 Days 60 to 195 Days > 195 Days Non Marcellus Marcellus Total Note: There are 120 Applications (NWRO-78/SWRO-42) that were received at the Regional Offices that have not been accepted for review and are not included in the weekly statistics. INSPECTIONS 2 Year to Date Inspections Wells Inspected Violations Enforcements Non Marcellus 8,620 5,838 1, Marcellus 6,227 2, Total YTD 14,847 8,286 2, For Week 09/06 to 09/09 Non Marcellus Marcellus Total for Week WELLS DRILLED Year to Date Week 09/06 to 09/ Present Non Marcellus ,688 Marcellus 1, ,893 Total 1, ,581 1 Source: efacts; permit may have been applied for during prior year and issued in current reporting period. 2 Inspections count each individual inspection. Inspected wells count how many individual wells were inspected. Some wells may be inspected more than once during the time period. 3 Source:"Rig Activity Spud Report 4 Other: Applications withdrawn, denied, returned, or entered in error. Note: The Marcellus Shale numbers may fluctuate as we continue to refine the Marcellus Shale Wells data in the efacts Database. 3

4 Forks Hill Road Forks hill road is a completed Dirt and Gravel Road Program Project (2003) that was subjected to heavy hauling when a gas pad was developed approximately ½ mile up the road in BEFORE One of the major problems associated with this site is the lack of suitable outlets near the bottom of the hill. The original 2003 project created a drainage swale to provide an outlet for ditches away from the stream without flooding the ballfield below. Project Timeline: 2003: The District collaborated with Franklin Township, NRCS, the Center for Dirt and Gravel Roads, the Cemetery Association, and the ballfield owner to make this site happen. Project details can be found on the Demo Write-up on the next two pages : The project held up nicely with minimal maintenance over the years. 2010: Late in 2010, a new Marcellus pad was put in about ½ mile up the hill. One well on this new Marcellus pad was drilled (has not been fracked yet). The required heavy hauling left the surface of the road almost impassable to passenger cars through Spring : The gas company fixed the road damage after hauling was finished in late Spring. Lessons Learned: Longevity: The long-term drainage improvements made in 2003 functioned well over the past seven years. The DSA surface placed in 2003 was virtually maintenance free until heavy hauling began in Gas Impact: After hauling damaged the road surface, the gas company fixed the surface of the road. Because Dirt and Gravel drainage techniques were already present on the road, they continued to function properly once the surface was reestablished. The story is not over yet: The single pad located above this site has had one well drilled to date (and not even fracked ). It is, however, permitted for six wells. Only time will tell what hauling for these other five wells, or any potential additional pads, will do to the road. On the next two pages is the original demo write-up for the site from

5 Forks Hill Road - Original demo write-up from 2003 is below. Page 1/2 5

6 Forks Hill Road - Original demo write-up from 2003 is below. Page 2/2 6

7 Salt Springs and Buckley Roads The Susquehanna County Conservation District completed two projects on the Salt Springs/Buckley road loop. Salt Spring: Completed 2002 $15,000 for crosspipes and road fill Buckley Road: Completed 2002 $20,000 for crosspipes, road fill, and geo-textile Both of these low traffic roads were completed in 2002 and have received virtually no maintenance in the nearly decade since, despite several major storm events. There has been no gas activity on these roads yet. Forks Hill Salt Spring Buckley 7

8 Hunter Road This site was not funded by the Dirt and Gravel Road Program. This site shows a growing problem we have been seeing with some road remediations by gas companies: fix and reinforce the road surface, while neglecting road drainage issues. 500 ft 500 ft gas pad gas pad stream pipe stream pipe This small section of Hunter Road crosses a small feeder stream to White Creek just below a private lake outlet. Unfortunately, much of the drainage from the four way intersection is directed straight down the various roads to the stream crossing (red arrows above indicate uninterrupted drainage paths). When the three roads are totaled up, it adds up to about a mile of road drainage that converges at the stream crossing. Project Notes: The well pad up the hill was put in late The base of hunter road was cement-stabilized in June of The fill was added over the stream crossing at that time as well. This was never a Dirt and Gravel Road Program project. Discussion Points: Gas company s focus on surface over drainage. Availability for many drainage outlets, especially to southeast. ~one mile worth of road drainage concentrated at crossing. Long-term maintenance of concrete road base Don t want to dig new pipes in concrete road base. Re-emphasizes importance of addressing drainage first in pre-haul upgrades. Effect of adding so much fill over crossing. Potential for overflow pipes in road fill. Drainage from gas pad making an already bad situation worse. 8

9 Hunter Road Because of time limitations, we cannot walk the entire MILE of various roads that drain to the stream crossing. Therefore the pictures below are provided and linked to the map. gas 1 pad 500 ft 4 2 stream pipe 3 1: Nearly half of this gaspad drains towards the gate and into the road drainage system. 2: 2 The inlet of the stream pipe is shown. The approximate elevation of the old road (before filling) is shown in white. 1: Drainage from the completed gas pad can be seen flowing around the gate and into the State Road Ditch, which flows into the picture below. 3: This ditch, already badly eroded, still has another 700 feet to flow before reaching the intersection. 4: Looking up the State Road towards the gaspad. 9

10 NOTES: