Posts Tagged ‘Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association’

Industry may pay to upgrade plants that handle waste water from process.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

The state is contending with a multibillion-dollar water-treatment problem, and the growing gas-drilling industry might be part of the solution.

A roughly $7.2 billion deficit exists for repairing or upgrading waste-water treatment facilities in the state, according to a task force created by Gov. Ed Rendell to solve water-infrastructure issues. Gas companies might help defray that cost as more wells are drilled because the companies will need treatment facilities for waste water.

The process to drill gas and oil wells, called hydraulic fracturing or simply “fracing,” involves shooting sand and water down a well to fracture the rock containing the oil or gas.

The contaminated water is separated out and can be stored and reused, but must eventually be treated. The state Department of Environmental Protection categorizes it as industrial waste, agency spokesman Mark Carmon said.

In western Pennsylvania, where many shallow wells exist, privately operated treatment facilities handle such waste, but none has so far in the northeast area, said Stephen Rhoads, president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association.

Exploring the Marcellus Shale, which runs from upstate New York into Virginia, including the northern edge of Luzerne County, generally requires far more water than shallow wells because the wells can be 8,000 feet deep

Companies working in this region have reused the water in multiple wells and then shipped it to the facilities out west, Rhoads said, but “obviously, moving it across the state with the fuel prices the way they are, is not economically” viable. The water can also be injected deep into the ground, but no one has sought such a permit in this region, Carmon said.

That leaves sending the water to public facilities, but since many of them are already near or at capacity, the industry is considering paying to upgrade plants. About 30 of the largest regional treatment facilities have been notified by DEP that they might be approached with the idea and that they’d first need to modify their liquid discharge permits and receive approval from the agency, Carmon said.

The idea hasn’t escaped the gas companies.

“We’ve talked about that in various areas throughout the state,” said Rodney Waller, of Range Resources Corp. “We’re investigating that, but … there’s nothing on the horizon.”

Upcoming events

• 10:30 a.m. today the state Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Susquehanna and Delaware river basin commissions, and county conservation districts are meeting in Harrisburg with industry members to discuss environmental regulations.

• 7 p.m. June 23 the Penn State Cooperative Extension is holding a gas-lease workshop for landowners at the Lake-Lehman High School.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

Law will restrict gas wells to specific areas

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

There’s no natural-gas drilling in Dallas, but that’s not stopping the borough from deciding where it will allow drilling.

As part of the revision of its zoning ordinance, Dallas is adding provisions that would restrict sitting gas wells to areas zoned industrial, highway or business. It would also designate distance setbacks from residences, waterways, streets and wetlands.

The proactive stance is putting Dallas at the forefront of what could become a major issue as drilling in the Marcellus Shale increases.

“You’re talking about a very fundamental conflict between the municipal regulation of land use and the ability of landowner to access land rights,” said Stephen Rhoads, the president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association. “You could think of this in terms of taking.”

“Taking” is illegally blocking someone’s access to the point of essentially denying their rights. Eventually, it will find its way to court, Rhoads said, though he wouldn’t speculate on who would win.

At its meeting on Thursday, the borough’s planning commission recommended the borough council vote on the revisions.

“The main point is that we were already going through a revision … so we thought it would be proactive to include something that reflects what’s going on in the Back Mountain these days,” Borough Manager Tracey Carr said.

The ordinance would also require drillers to identify roads they plan to use, pay for an engineer to document the roads’ conditions and be responsible for maintenance and repair.

With a flurry of lease signings lately, gas drilling has become a hot topic in the county. Drillers are flocking to the area to tap the Marcellus Shale, a layer of gas-laden rock about a mile underground that stretches from New York to Virginia. Its huge size – and economic potential – has been known for years, but technology only recently caught up to access it.

Despite industry innovations such as horizontal drilling that allow wells to access gas pockets up to a mile away, Rhoads said having versatility in well sites makes “a difference because it depends how much surface area is put off limits. You can’t just put a well site on the edge of town and drill from one well site and get every possible molecule of gas.”

Carr said the provisions aren’t meant to keep drilling out of any areas, “just where would be most appropriate if it was to take place.”

Rhoads said such actions can harm landowners. “The geology will dictate where the well (should be) located – not zoning – and if there’s a conflict between zoning and geology, the geology loses,” he said. “You’re effectively telling me that my oil and gas property is worthless if you zone my surface property in such a way that I can’t gain access to it.”

On the scale of issues facing the industry – including access to water for gas extraction, disposal options for waste and a proposed state severance tax – Rhoads called zoning “a major issue.”

But for Carr and the borough she manages, it’s just being efficient and responsible. “This is actually a very small part of what we’re doing,” she said, noting that the borough’s consultant on the revision suggested adding the drilling provisions.

The proposed ordinance must go through a public hearing and likely won’t be addressed by the council until November or December, she said. There have been no complaints so far, she said, “but we haven’t had the public hearing yet, either.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

Needs assessment says most workers would be general laborers with basic skills.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

As the natural-gas drilling industry ramps up in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, it could employ perhaps 13,000 workers by 2012, the vast majority of them general laborers with basic skill sets, according to a needs assessment released last week by the Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center.

“There’s going to be a significant amount of folks needed across many occupations, but the bulk of the activity when it’s in the drilling phase – up to 75 percent – is going to require some entry level of the industry, but not necessarily a degree, which is a good opportunity for most folks who are displaced … by the economy,” said Jeff Lorson, an industrial technology specialist at Penn College in Williamsport.

The report focuses on the 13 counties in the Northern Tier and Central regions of the state Workforce Investment Board, but Lorson noted that the report assessed only direct employment by the industry, so jobs created in other industries to serve or support the drilling industry would raise the number.

The 13 counties do not include Luzerne, but do include all those on its western and northern borders: Wyoming, Sullivan and Columbia.

The report made “low,” “likely” and “high” estimates for positions in three phases: pre-drilling, drilling and production.

The vast majority would be needed in the pre-drilling and drilling phases, in which jobs are short-term and require regular relocation but limited skills. The assessment found that each well drilled would require “more than 410 individuals working within nearly 150 different occupations,” the total hours worked by them equaling about 11.53 full-time workers. The number of workers is linked to the number of wells drilled, however, so it would be reduced whenever the industry contracts.

A much smaller number of jobs would be required for production, but those jobs would be long-term and require more-specific skills. It would take about six wells to create one of these jobs, the assessment reports, but the jobs compile, so new jobs are being created over the years whenever wells are drilled.

Using a multiplier created by the Pennsylvania Economy League, the report suggests that nearly 20,000 non-industry jobs would be created by industry activities in the Northern Tier and Central regions.

Penn College is using the report’s results to refine its educational offerings through the shale training center. It will begin a “roustabout” program, Lorson said, that will provide general industry knowledge, occupational safety training and environmental awareness.

“They have a real feeling in the industry to start at the bottom and work their way up,” he said.

The report’s results jibe with the industry’s own assessment in 2006, according to Stephen Rhoads, the president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association. “They’re finding out what we’ve already known,” he said, adding that the industry is talking about setting up a statewide education program in high schools, vocational schools and higher-education institutions to prepare basic workers but also provide the education needed for advancement.

He pointed to a program in place at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in which rig workers take night classes to earn an associate’s degree needed for jobs to assist geologists and engineers.

“Many of the jobs in the industry that are in highest demand are people who man the drilling rigs and well servicing crews and people” who manage well sites, he said. “They don’t require advanced degrees. You need a good worth ethic, a high school diploma, and in many cases you have to be able to qualify for a driver’s license.”

TO LEARN MORE

To find the report, go to: www.pct.edu/msetc and look for the “Needs Assessment” link about halfway down the page.

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

College in Williamsport preparing workers

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

WILLIAMSPORT – Like many of his classmates, Mike Harris already has a job in electricity-generation lined up for when he graduates this spring.

The only problem is it will require the Dalton native to relocate to Illinois.

Soon enough, though, future students in these same welding classes at Pennsylvania College of Technology could be in a curriculum that funnels them into local jobs with natural gas drillers working in the Marcellus Shale region.

The Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center at the college is in its early infancy, only envisioned late last year and opened earlier this year, but plans are for it to expand quickly.

A collaboration with the Penn State Cooperative Extension, the center will identify the industry’s work force needs and respond with education tracks that train people for those jobs, said Jeffrey Lorson, an industrial technology specialist at the college who’s running the training center.

“With the escalation and the things with the Marcellus, there was clearly a need in the work force,” he said. “We knew we had a tremendous fit to support the industry.”

The jobs are certainly here, Harris said, and there aren’t enough local workers. “They can’t find anybody,” he said about drillers.

Lorson’s family has a motel in Bainbridge, N.Y., near Binghamton, and the place is constantly packed. “There’s guys coming from all over the place” to work for the drilling companies, he said.

He felt Penn College graduates would be “competitive” for jobs in the industry, which could feed off the college for workers in fields from welding to heavy machinery operation.

“The center has the potential to provide very meaningful training options for local residents,” said Stephen Rhoads, the president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association. Certain skills, such as building and maintaining infrastructure and inspecting gauges and other moveable parts, “are all skills that could very easily find a home up in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” he said.

“If the industry grows as we expect it to, there will be long-term career opportunities.”

While he plans to enjoy traveling while starting his career, Harris said he’s looking ahead to hometown job security.

“I feel very confident, and I’d love to stay in Northeastern Pennsylvania, but right now as things are starting to take off, I think it’s easier for me to leave and get some experience,” he said.

The center could also help students outline career paths, an idea Harris has already considered. He’s planning to become certified in visual inspections.

“It keeps me out in the field, but it’s managerial,” he said. “You’re in the middle, which is pretty much where I wouldn’t mind being.”

See more photos of the Pennsylvania College of Technology Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center at www.timesleader.com.

Copyright: Times Leader

But experts say that doesn’t mean drillers won’t eventually explore here.

None of the 73 permits the state Department of Environmental Protection issued Wednesday for natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale was in Luzerne County.

That doesn’t necessarily mean drillers aren’t interested in looking for gas here, experts say. But a combination of factors may slow activity compared to other parts of the state.

“I’m sure it’s still in the mix,” said Stephen Rhoads, president of the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association. “The work in trying to explore and analyze for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in the region … is only beginning in the northeast” region of Pennsylvania.

Energy companies and geologists have estimated for decades that billions of dollars worth of natural gas is locked in a layer of rock called Marcellus Shale that runs about a mile underground from upstate New York down to Virginia, including through the northern tier of Pennsylvania. Only recently have technological advances and higher energy prices made extracting the gas financially feasible.

Western Pennsylvania has much more drilling infrastructure, such as wastewater treatment facilities, than this region, Rhoads said, which explains why the majority of the permits issued on Wednesday were for western counties.

He also attributed the companies’ deliberate pace to budgetary constraints, a lack of drilling rigs and an incomplete grasp of the geology.

“It takes a lot of time and money to understand what lies more than a mile underground,” he said. “These companies are investing a lot … to make sure they get it right.”

While some properties have been leased in the northwestern section of Luzerne County, Mark Carmon, regional DEP spokesman, said there are no drilling permits in the county. He was unaware of any awaiting approval, either, but cautioned that doesn’t mean county landowners have missed the windfall.

All the assurances don’t make the waiting any more palatable for landowners.

“It’s pretty frustrating,” said Jack Zucosky, whose Luzerne County Landowners group is looking to get its more than 6,000 acres leased. “We’ve been close a few times with a few companies, but nothing definite yet.”

He’s confident Luzerne County property will get leased, but not until next year at the earliest.

“I really think what’s going on here is natural gas (prices) dropped a lot, and these companies are having cash flow problems,” he said. “It’s a waiting game right now.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader