This is a report on our examination of a number of gas wells in Putnam and Kanawha counties all operated by the same company.

The Home Page for the 2011 Study

Four Wells in the Kanawha State Forest

Three Wells with Surface Contamination

Three Well with Inadequate Secondary Containment

A Vertical Marcellus Well

Condensate Tank Overflow

The Home Page for the 2010 Study

The Home Page for the 2009 Study

Putnam County
Poca River Road
583
731
1492
595
615
743
775
746
739

Spanish Oak Road
232
Putnam B-85

Long Road
298

Kanawha County
Dry Branch
5999
1266

Harmon's Creek
2026
5714

Environmental Assessment
Putnam County
1492 & 731

Kanawha County
2026
5714

The Home Page for the 2008 Study

Putnam County
Long Road Group
1288
1215
1178
1299
702
No API #1
No API #2
No API #3
1155
No API #4
No API #5

River Road Group
735
601
570

King Cemetery Group
1200
274
404

Kanawha County
2026
5714

Gas Well Study, 2011

We focused on well visits and an examination of West Virginia's waste management program. Besides our 2011 report, we produced a study of regulatory compliance in our Thirty Wells report and a preliminary study of synergistic influence of fracture gel on chloride's harmful effects to vegetation.

Read the report.

We grouped wells as clusters in the 2011 report:

Four wells in the Kanawha State Forest, a West Virginia state park.


Three wells with signs of surface contamination by buried pit waste.


Three wells which were part of a 2009 complaint to the state's Office of Oil and Gas because of inadequate secondary containment for condensate storage tanks. Nothing has been done to correct the problem.


A single vertical Marcellus well site in Kanawha county has a wide range of problems: evidence of deliberate spraying of flowback onto the pad and woods beyond; surface contamination from flowback or improperly buried pit waste; a host of reclamation issues; a condensate storage tank floating in its containment; and an improperly cased and cemented well that is polluting groundwater used for drinking water supplies.


A December 2011 condensate tank overflow where condensate seeped through the dirt containment dike and into the woods.

Overwhelmingly what we have found since 2008 is a state agency that is unable or unwilling to regulate an industry that ignores state and federal regulations in its activities.

Go to Four Wells in the Kanawha State Forest
Four Wells in the Kanawha State Forest | Surface Contamination
Inadequate Secondary Containment | A Vertical Marcellus Well
Condensate Tank Overflow