The New York State Senate Democratic Conference Forum on Risks Imposed by Hydraulic Fracturing and Related Processes

Testimony by Ronald E. Bishop, Ph.D., CHO July 18, 2012 Senator Avella, members of the Senate Democratic Conference, and guests: Thank you for this opportunity to speak about the production of oil and gas from unconventional reservoirs. For the record, my name is Ron Bishop; I live near Cooperstown in the Town of Middlefield, Otsego County. I have a B.A in Chemistry from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from The West Virginia University School of Medicine. Following graduation, I conducted full-time research in chemical carcinogenesis for the National Cancer Institute at Fort Detrick, MD, and biosafety studies for a contract research organization in Rockville, MD. I subsequently moved into full-time teaching, and I currently teach in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at SUNY Oneonta. I am a nationally certified Chemical Hygiene Officer (a hazardous materials and safety specialist). Further, I am a construction professional, having worked my way through school (and other vicissitudes of life) as a commercial/industrial electrician. This dual background in academia and heavy construction has provided me with a unique perspective on the petroleum industry in New York State and elsewhere. I have presented to state officials previously on issues with shale gas development, and the over-arching theme is this: Exploration, production and transport of oil and gas from unconventional reservoirs have caused unsolved problems everywhere they have been attempted, from Croatia, Poland, Norway, Sweden and Canada, to more than 30 states across the U.S. The problems most familiar to us are probably those occurring in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, but they are by no means isolated [1]. More recently, I presented my research on abandoned oil and gas wells in New York State to state officials. The major discovery on that front is that this is not an old legacy problem. In the 1970s, when records were first kept, our DEC managed to enforce compliance with plugging laws for only 24% of petroleum wells which had ceased production. Through the 1980s and 90s, that compliance rate dropped by half to 12% on average. Then, through the 2000s, it dropped by half again, to just 6% [2]. The ability of our regulators to enforce compliance in this important aspect of the petroleum industry is at a historic low point; state regulations are systematically ignored as more than 90% of newly depleted wells remain unplugged, with no repercussions to industry operators. But today I am offering evidence that DEC Division of Mineral Resources / Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation (BOGR) staff have failed to fully investigate and acknowledge damage to homeowners water wells by gas industry operations in New York. I will focus 1

on two cases which are notable because they are unusually well-documented and they raise concerns about the ability and/or integrity of our Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation. I call them the Eddy and Ferrugia cases. Eddy Case: David Eddy and his family moved into their home near Andover in the Town of Independence, Allegany County, in 2003. Other than a basic water quality test on their well, the best evidence that their water was good was that they had no problems with it until February 2009. At that time, they noticed a sudden change: it was cloudy, and both smelled and tasted like oil or gasoline. They knew that four gas wells were being developed by U.S. Energy Development Corp. in an arc around their property, so they called the DEC as well as the county health department. The records show that DEC Region 9 staff called on U.S. Energy to respond, and the company sent representatives to sample the familys water. They also contracted with Culligan, Inc. to test the familys water. In addition, the Allegany County Department of Health (Environmental Division headed by Thomas Hull) sampled the water well. U.S. Energy reported that their water sample was normal, with no problems noted [3]. The Allegany County DOH sample showed no bacterial contamination [4]. However, the tests by Culligan found traces of oil and gas-range organics in the well water [4]. U.S. Energy representatives while claiming that company activities had nothing to do with the familys water troubles offered a Culligan water treatment system, to be installed and maintained by the company as long as the Eddys water continued to show contamination. Company officials also offered a monetary settlement if the Eddys would sign a non-disclosure agreement [5]. The family accepted the water treatment system and said no to the cash. I called Brian JAndrew, to discuss the case, but he declined to offer any insight as to how oil or gas could have entered that water well. However, he had discussed it with Dan Fitzsimmons and Dick Downey of the Central New York Landowners Coalition, and according to them, it was suspected that an abandoned oil well between the arc of new gas wells and the Eddys drinking water aquifer may have contributed to the situation. On August 15, 2011, I requested a copy of the final disposition report [6]. The report, dated September 8, 2011, was written by Chris Miller (who, you may recall, was reprimanded this year by the OIG for maintaining a management role in his familys oil and gas business while he held a supervisory role in the Bureau of Oil and Gas Regulation). It made no mention of a possible abandoned well, but concluded that: With the large amount of drilling activity in the vicinity at the time, it appears very likely that at least some of the water problems were caused by the drilling. However, also because of the high amount of drilling activity it is impossible to say with certainty which drilling activity or activities were responsible. [7]. This incident was not mentioned in Chapter 2 of the revised draft SGEIS for the Oil, Gas and Solution Mining Regulatory program, where the DECs outstanding track record was noted. 2

Ferrugia Case: David Ferrugia and his family built their home on a 22-acre parcel in the Town of Kiantone, Chautauqua County (south of Jamestown) in 2001 Their water well records from that development as well as from pre-drilling tests done by Nornew in 2007 indicated good water quality. However, the family noticed changes in the water quality in late 2007, which they brought to the attention of Brian JAndrew of our DECs BOGR and Bill Boria, Water Quality Specialist for the Chautauqua County Department of Health (CCDOH). Mr. JAndrew told Mrs. Ferrugia that the familys problems were probably due to septic system contamination of their water. However, after detailed analysis of the site layout (including 3 nearby gas wells) and water test results which indicated elevations of total dissolved solids, barium, chloride and methane, Mr. Boria contacted Chris Miller of Region 9 BOGR with his opinion that natural gas-related activities had most likely impacted this water well [8]. Jack Dahl, Director of BOGR, disagreed with Mr. Borias analysis. He responded that months had elapsed after the gas well was drilled before the family noted any water problems, that BOGR staff had inspected the gas well and found no problems, andthe presence of bacterial colonies (which he mistakenly referred to as coliform) in tests done in 2005 indicated that the familys septic system was, in fact, to blame. Further, his general understanding of the hydrogeology of the area countered Mr. Borias assessment of which direction was up-gradient from the water well. Therefore, gas drilling activities (from the one well which he noted) could not have impacted the familys water [9]. Having been copied on their correspondence, Paul Heisig of the U.S. Geological Survey wrote Mr. Boria and Mr. Dahl to express his opinion that insufficient data had been gathered to implicate or exclude gas drilling as an impactor of the Ferrugias water well. However, the data that did exist tended to favor Mr. Borias interpretation [10]. Dr. Michael Wilson, Professor of Geology at SUNY Fredonia, wrote to all the above parties to express his opinion that this well contamination incident needed to be investigated fully by an independent commission, and offered his services to facilitate that if funding could be made available [11]. His comments implied that the county health department lacked the means and the DEC lacked independence from the gas industry. Bill Boria concluded the correspondence cycle with his letter to Jack Dahl. In it, he described in detail the hydrogeology of the Ferrugias neighborhood, the design and construction of their septic system and well, and pointed out the fact that the microbes which contributed to making their water unsafe were not coliform bacteria. He found no satisfactory alternative than gas drilling activities to explain the contamination of the familys water [12]. This case was also not mentioned in Chapter 2 of the rdSGEIS. In my own meta-analysis of these two cases, I am troubled by some of the details. First, our DEC officials appear to harbor bias in these investigations, with a pre-determined outlook that gas development activities do not impact ground water. Somehow, they manage to ignore evidence that counters this perspective, even when it is brought forward 3

by experienced professionals. For example, they appear to not be influenced by the facts that: (a) top-hole drilling without the use of biocides (typical in New York and elsewhere) runs the risk of biological contamination by sulfate-reducing archaea [1], (b) gas well casings can begin to leak months or years after they have been installed [2], and these leaks cannot be detected by visual inspection, and [3] the involvement of improperly abandoned wells, of which there are many, can contribute to water contamination incidents. They even manage to brush aside incidents in which pre-gas-drilling baseline water quality tests help to implicate the gas industry for causing harm. It is difficult to conclude that these DEC officials work for homeowners / taxpayers in this state. Finally, I should mention that these two cases represent the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Other Chautauqua County cases are in progress [13], with others in Erie, Steuben, Chenango and Madison Counties likely to follow. Id like to recommend that the New York Senate begin to investigate attempts by our DEC / DMN / BOGR to appear better than they really are by sweeping collateral damage from gas developments under the rug. Thank you for your attention to my evidence and concerns. Ron Bishop 188 County Highway 52 Cooperstown, NY 13326-4917 Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry SUNY College at Oneonta 108 Ravine Parkway Oneonta, NY 13820 References: 1. Ronald E. Bishop (2011), Chemical and Biological Risk Assessment for Natural Gas Extraction in New York; http://www.sustainableotsego.org 2. Ronald E. Bishop (2012), History of Oil and Gas Well Abandonment in New York, New Solutions Journal, In Press. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Letter from U.S. Energy, attached. Letter from Allegany County DOH, attached. Interview of David Eddy by Walter Hang, hosted at ToxicsTargeting.com. FOIL request from DEC Records Access Officer. Letter from Christopher Miller to Jack C. Dahl regarding the Eddy case. 4

8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Letter from William T. Boria to Chris Miller, June 1, 2009. Letter from Jack Dahl to William Boria, July 6, 2009. Letter from Paul Heisig to Mr. Dahl and Mr. Boria, August 17, 2009. Letter from Michael Wilson, September 30, 2009. Letter from William Boria to Jack Dahl, November 19, 2009. Letter from Bryan Mentley, CCDOH to Christopher Miller.