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Wells Operated by Various Companies    

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

Three Sites with Surface Contamination

In April 2011 we visited three sites that appear to have surface contamination from improperly buried pit waste.

47-079-01200

    

None of the metalwork at this site is painted. Note the oil leak at the wellhead.

   

 

The API number for this well had fallen from the wellhead and was lying on the ground.

   

 

The surface owner had tilled garden areas on each side of the access road on the pad. On the southern side there was a large area covered with pieces of pit liner. Some of the large pieces of pit liner were still firmly embedded.

   

 

The 100 barrel condensate storage tank sat within a water-filled secondary containment. There is no rainwater drain.

   

 

The access road from the gravel road is heavily rutted.

47-079-01288

    

A large area bare of vegetation is visible in the photo in the center left. Two large pieces of pit liner are barely visible just beyond the bare area.

More large pieces of pit liner were found between the bare area and fill slope.

   

 

These are those two large pieces of pit liner, firmly embedded in the soil.

   

 

The bare area had small bits of orange plastic fencing used by the operator around the pit.

   

 

The access road was severely rutted. Two waterbars were damaged and ineffectual.

47-039-05714

    

This site was remediated in the spring of 2010 after a complaint was made by us in 2009. Most of the site was bare of vegetation when we visited in the spring of 2011.

   

 

Pieces of pit liner were still visible in the area supposedly remediated. The straw mulch from the remediation is still visible.

   

 

These two photos from 2009 show the large pieces of pit liner visible then.

   

 

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

   

The Gas Well
The Old Well | Gas Well Study | Reclamation
Drilling Waste Management | What Happened at Fernow | The Spill at Buckeye Creek