|
A series of earthquakes that rumbled from an oil and gas wastewaterwell in Ohio last year has highlighted the state's new role in theregional drilling landscape. Over the last couple of years, Ohiohas becoming a dumping ground for wastewater. Last year, drillers pumped more than 500 million gallons of toxicfluid nearly 40 percent more than in 2010 into the state'sinjections wells, where energy companies pump waste into porousrock formations deep underground for permanent storage. With morethan 170 injection wells in operation, Ohio is by far the region'sleader in this area, with New York and Pennsylvania each havingonly a handful of injection wells. Ohio's regulators approved 29new injection wells last year. Applications for 19 more arepending. But the earthquakes, and a series of more restrictive injection guidelines published in March , raise the question of whether Ohio can continue taking so muchwastewater from neighboring states without alienating eitherdrillers with higher costs or voters spooked by the quakes. "It's a very important issue and potentially a limiting factor,"said John Conrad, a spokesman for New York's Independent Oil and Gas Association , an industry group. Conrad owns an environmental consulting firmthat operates in New York and Pennsylvania, and he said wastewaterdisposal is becoming an increasingly expensive headache for theregion's drillers. With natural gas prices at historic lows, hesaid it's becoming tougher for drillers to justify drilling newwells, with waste disposal costs being one of many factors. "Rightnow, there doesn't appear to be any really low cost option." The problem is likely to get worse. Until last spring, drillers in Pennsylvania's booming MarcellusShale disposed of most of their wastewater by flushing it intorivers. But after that practice was found to be pollutingwaterways, Pennsylvania prohibited drillers from discharging untreated waste. Drillers now reuse more of their wastewater, but there are limitsto this recycling. At some point, the companies must dispose ofsome wastewater, and they've turned to Ohio's injection wells totake it. Pennsylvania hasn't released data on waste disposal since its newwastewater rules went into effect. But more than half of the wasteinjected in Ohio last year came from out of state, according toOhio officials, with Pennsylvania likely being the biggest source. More waste could be headed to Ohio from New York. By the end of theyear, New York's regulators are expected to finalize a set of rules that would finally allow high volume fracking inhorizontal wells. The draft rules, released last year , prohibit surface discharge. Conrad said that with few otheroptions for in-state disposal, drillers would need to rely onOhio's injection wells. To top it off, energy companies in Ohio are in the early stages ofwhat they hope will be the nation's next big oil boom, drilling into the little-exploredUtica Shale. They've drilled 62 wells so far, with another 200 expected by theend of the year, said Heidi Hetzel-Evans, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources , which regulates both drilling and wastewater disposal. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Sterilization Reels , Dental Cotton Rolls for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Exodontia Sponges.
Related Articles -
Sterilization Reels, Dental Cotton Rolls,
|
