Addressing concerns about environmental and health and safety issues associated with the injection well recently erected on Southgate Parkway - and the earthquakes in Youngstown many believe were caused by an injection well -- Thomas E. Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, and Tom Tomastik, geologist for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, spoke to a full house of community and business leaders at the seventh monthly meeting of the Guernsey Energy Coalition at the Southgate Hotel in Cambridge on Jan. 5.
Tomastik's PowerPoint presentation highlighted the safety features in the construction of an injection and drilling rig.
"We have 177 injection wells in Ohio and have never had an issue with water contamination," said Tomastik. "The operation of the injection wells in Youngstown has been suspended. An investigation is under way to determine the cause of the earthquake. This is an anomaly ... a rare event."
Stewart presented an overview of Ohio's history in the oil and gas industry, which fostered the stringent laws and policies that govern crude-oil and natural-gas exploration, development and production in Ohio. He said injection wells are different from drilled wells. Class II injection wells are drilled vertically to approximately 9,000 feet below the surface and are used specifically for disposal of brine and wastewater from the hydraulic-fracturing process.
Drilled wells employ hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to break open the shale thousands of feet below the surface to retrieve the gas and oil.
"According to the Ohio Revised Code it is the law in Ohio that all wastewater must be disposed of in an injection well," Stewart said. "Ohio has been drilling for oil for more than 150 years. Throughout the years, the drilling process has improved and laws were enacted to protect the people and the environment. In 1952, hydraulic fracturing came to Ohio. It not only provides easier access to the oil and gas, is more efficient and saves consumers money, it also leaves a smaller footprint on the environment.
"The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has exclusive authority over the oil and gas industry in Ohio. Oil and gas programs were incorporated into the ODNR in 1965. In 1974, the federal Safe Drinking Water Act was passed, then amended in 1986 and again in 1996, requiring many actions to protect drinking water and its sources. Ohio has some of the strictest laws in the country regarding drilling wells and injection wells. Most recently Senate Bill 165, which was signed into law in October of 2010, tightened up regulations even further."
"People have to understand how regulations work," said Stewart. "Ohio has been drilling for oil for more than 150 years. And, of course, there is a risk. There is a risk in any business. You have to understand and manage the risk."
"The discovery of the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays is because of technology, and this area has a lot to look forward to," Stewart told the gathering. "Based on empirical data, it is estimated that 5.5 billion barrels of oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas deposits represent only 5 percent of hydrocarbon deposits in the Utica Shale Play. I can drill to 7,000 or 8,000 feet (or more), turn at a 90-degree angle and go out a mile to a reservoir of oil and gas. The process is very precise, which is a real game changer. The process has revitalized natural gas exploration."
The meetings are sponsored by the Cambridge Area Chamber of Commerce and initiated by Chamber President Jo Sexton.
"We hold these monthly meetings to keep business and community leaders informed about the oil and gas developments in Guernsey County, and we are fortunate to have speakers who are directly involved in all aspects of the industry," said Sexton.
Daily Jeffersonian is a sister newspaper to The News Leader
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