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.
This
is a new well site just east of 47-079-00232 on Spanish Oak
Road which is off Heizer Creek Road. We have been unable to
determine the API number for this well.
We
were told by a neighbor that the company finished preparing
the site and then left it as it is in fall 2008.
The
well access road is quite steep -- 30% grade. It is graveled
until just short of the top where it enters the pad. The side
ditch is quite deep with berms and two culverts. The culverts
were almost plugged with sediment and at the lower berm it
looked like water had washed over it. The culverts appear
to be too small and too few for this location and because
of the severe grade the ditch should be armored with gravel.
The
site had been seeded but the pad itself showed almost no germination
when George viewed it in February 2009. He saw short silt
fences in two locations. One was at the pad, at the end of
the ditch at the toe of the cut slope. The other silt fence
was at the bottom of the hill and road's ditch, above the
creek.
This
company's well sites have a pad of about 100 by 200 feet with
a "thumb" sticking out at one 100 foot wide end.
Trees are cut at some sites but stumps are left. We still
don't understand the purpose of this clearing. The two permit
applications we've examined by this company show a pit separate
from the pad but we believe the company constructs the pit
on the pad. This site had no pit nor a cleared area off the
pad for a pit.
This
company has locked gates on their newest site entrances
with barbed wire on the sides to keep out ATV traffic.
The
access road goes straight up the hillside (30% slope)
from Spanish Oak Road. A truck is barely visible on
Spanish Oak Road in the center of the photograph and
the dark spot below it is our ATV.
The
deep ditch is to the left.
There
were two culverts for drainage of the deep ditch, each
backed with a berm to divert water into the culvert. Both
culverts were nearly plugged. This is the upper culvert.
The
lower culvert was almost entirely plugged and water had
washed up over the berm here since it had nowhere else
to go. The black object in the upper right-hand corner
is scrap plastic culvert.
The
access road is graveled until about 50 feet from the edge
of the pad. Because there is no gravel it is deeply rutted
here.
This
photo was taken at the "thumb" end of the pad
looking toward the entrance on the other side of the pad.
Cut slope is to the right. The cut slope has two grades,
steeper (about 2:1) at the bottom and more gradual (1:1)
up the hillside.
The
steepest part of the cut slope has started to collapse
toward the pad.
This
is the "thumb" part of the pad, roughly cleared
and mulched.
Looking
down the cut slope the stacks of timber, stumps, and branches
form the perimeter as a sediment barrier. Between the
barrier and the toe of the slope is a level area. The
toe of the slope is supported by a built up bench (lower
third of photo).
The
collapsing cut slope has filled the ditch at its base.
The
ditch at the base of the cut slope takes water from
the slope diverting it from the pad. There was an extremely
short (in our opinion too short) length of silt fence
as sediment control at the drain end of the ditch.
Stacked,
cut timber is to the upper right in photo.
This
is the location of the well. When originally surveyed,
this location was on the hillside. After the cut and construction
of the pad, the well needed to be resurveyed to be in
the exact location (but lower in altitude).
To
help relocate the well position, two trees at the outer
edge of the pad clearing were tagged and marked. Bearing
and distance was recorded from each tree to the well
during the original survey.
When
the well was surveyed on our property we were told that
the clearing would be about 150 by 250 feet and that
the tagged trees were outside of the clearing. On this
site the two tagged trees were well within the cleared
area and one of the trees had been cut so just its stump
remained.
We've
seen orange plastic cord at other recently drilled sites.
At this site we realized it came from the bales of straw
used for mulch.
This
is the well site seen from the opposite ridge. The dark
band bisecting the two green areas is the steep portion
of the cut slope. The lower band of green is the fill
slope and the upper band of green is the less steep portion
of the cut slope. The cleared area is quite large (much
larger than 150 by 250 feet).
