This is a report on our examination of a number of gas wells in Putnam and Kanawha counties. The wells in this section were viewed in 2008 and 2009 and are operated by several different companies.

The Home Page for the Study

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

47-079-01492 and 47-079-00731

We visited this site in April 2009 after there had been heavy rains but the ground had had some time to dry a little.

We began our environmental assessment for these wells by examining the site more closely -- not just looking at the wells. We also went off the pad to the east where we found an abandoned piece of production equipment and a monument for a plugged well (47-079-00595).

We found an area with a large number of deer tracks just to the north of 47-079-00731, where the surface water from the site runs off the pad, down a hillside to the river. South of the deer tracked area, at the large pile of cut logs and timber at the toe of the fill slope for 47-079-01492, we heard a loud bubbling sound from the ground, smelled condensate (a sharp, acrid oily odor), and saw signs of oil on the water (sheen). We believe there is either a pipeline leak at this point or, equally likely, there has been a blow out during the drilling or completion of 47-079-01492.

This and other problems we noted at these wells were included in a complaint made to the state in mid-April.

		On earlier visits we had noted sedimentation control problems (i.e., lack of effective sedimentation control). New bales of straw were added in February 2009 but were inappropriately installed as before. This bale is installed sideways in a ditch, allowing sediment to flow around it.
		Deep trenches had been dug between our November and January visits and were still open. The trenches were for pipework for both 47-079-00731 and 47-079-01492 to connect them to the tank and pipeline. Plastic pipe is being used.
		There is a fair amount of trash strewn about the site. This example is near the edge of the closed pit. Plastic (pit liner?), drink bottles and other trash are easily visible in this photo.
		This is a photograph of the spot with a large number of deer tracks. The site is open and there is lots of water available elsewhere. Our assumption is that there is high chlorides here, possibly from the seep or blow out just south of here.
		The seep or blowout is in this pile of timber. There were pieces of pipeline markers at the west and east end of the spot where we heard and smelled the condensate and gas leaking through the soil. This is the eastern piece of pipeline marker. We went further east and saw no pipeline markers and it is possible that these pieces of markers came from elsewhere on the site.
		There was an oil sheen to the water on the site where we could smell and hear the seeping gas and condensate. North of this area is where water drains from the site down a hillside into the Pocatalico River.
		North of the wellhead for 47-079-01492 is the closed drill pit. The state doesn't have explicit requirements for how a pit is to be closed. We believe 3 feet of soil should be used as cover and the surface contoured so there is no ponding of water. We have a section on pits in the Drilling Waste Management section of this site.
		The extremely large tank holds 200 barrels, over 8,000 gallons of condensate (crude oil and brine). The tank has an adequate secondary containment using a moat-type dike. The dike, though, has had a trench through it for months now.
		The tank rests on a soil pillar which is why this is a moat-type dike. There is no rainwater drain.
		The trapdoor for the tank is either missing or badly corroded. There is a piece of blue tarp held down by a stone on the lid.
		The cast off piece of production equipment east of 47-079-00731 was tipped over and had a tree fallen across it. It had obviously been here for some time.
		The equipment is about 8 feet long, made of steel with a tank or body and large pipes coming out the top. It's barely visible here amidst all the vegetation that's grown around it.

We returned to the site again in June and tested soil and water for chlorides. We found that contaminated water was leaving the pit, draining down the fill slope and eventually entering the Pocatalico River. An Environmental Assessment showing these test results is available.