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Gas Well Study, 2008    

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

47-079-____ -- No API #4

A cluster of wells without API numbers is at the southern end of the long main well access road. This is the fourth, just after 47-079-01155.

This is a newer site that when we visited still had the gray-white paper pulp much visible. The site had recently been seeded but germination on the pad was spotty, nonexistent where driven over. An entry on our blog deals with the bulldozer tracking we saw at this site.

The 50-barrel steel tank is heavily corroded in spots with quarter-sized blisters. The tank doesn't have the required secondary containment dike.

Trash was present at the site on the newly seeded pad and also as pieces of black plastic culvert tossed down the hillside. The one culvert had its inlet end smashed by machinery and no sedimentation control on the outlet end.

The access roads here as elsewhere in the area were in need of maintenance.

An API number is required by the state to be displayed at a well. This well is probably 47-079-01363 as determined by studying maps in the Office of Oil and Gas.

   

Vegetation was extremely spotty on the pad, absent where vehicles frequently drove.

   
  The cut slope above the well site doesn't show signs of much grass germination.
   
 

The inlet end of a culvert has been smashed by equipment.

 

     
  There is no sedimentation control on the outlet side of the culvert. Until vegetation is established, temporary sedimentation control is required.
   
  The tank showed severe rust blistering. The surface needs to be scraped and painted.
   
  Scrap pieces of culvert were tossed down the hillside. They should be gathered and disposed of properly.
   
 

On the well pad was this scrap plastic that looks like it is a pipe thread protector.

The poor germination on the pad is evident in this photo.

   
  A large piece of plastic left on the well pad.
     
  The tank is without required secondary containment.

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