JKLM Reese Hollow 118 2HU Gas Well
Release
Potter County Natural Gas Resource
Center
Coudersport, PA
December 17, 2015
Introduction
DEP Representatives
Marcus Kohl – Regional Director, Northcentral Regional Office
Daniel Spadoni – Community Relations Coordinator, NCRO
Jennifer Means – Program Manager, Eastern Oil and Gas District
Dave Engle – Environmental Group Manager, Eastern O & G District
Mike Panettieri – Oil and Gas Inspector Supervisor, Eastern O & G District
Bill Kosmer – Professional Geologist, Eastern O & G District
John Hamilton – Program Manager, Safe Drinking Water Program, NCRO
Randy Farmerie – Professional Geologist Manager, Environmental Cleanup
Program, NCRO
Site Location:
Timeline of Events
• September 14 - JKLM began drilling the surface hole of
the Reese Hollow 118 2HU Gas Well
• Friday September 18, 2015 first report of “soapy
water” in home well received and water sample
collected by JKLM
• Additional reports of impacts to home wells over the
following week
• Monday September 21 –additional home wells
sampled by DEP and Penn E&R (JKLM’s environmental
consultant)
• September 22 – Public water supply wells sampled
Timeline of Events, Cont.
• September 22 – Notice of Legal Presumption to
JKLM for 2 private water supplies
– 58 Pa.C.S. §3218(c)(2): Unconventional operator
is presumed responsible for pollution of a water
supply:
• If the water supply is within 2500’ of vertical
well bore, and
• If the pollution occurs within 12 months of
certain activities (drilling, stimulation, etc.)
Timeline of Events, Cont.
• September 23 – JKLM meeting with public
water suppliers and Potter Co EMA
– Use of public water supplies in area stopped as a
precaution
• September 26 –report that pond along Route 6
had been impacted
Timeline of Events, Cont.
• September 30 – NOV issued to JKLM for release
– Violations of Oil and Gas regulations:
• Failure to prevent pollution of fresh groundwater;
• Drilling through fresh groundwater with a substance
other than air, freshwater or freshwater based drilling
fluids; and
– Violations of the PA Clean Streams Law:
• Unpermitted discharge of a polluting substance:
Violations of Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law
Timeline of Events, Cont.
• October – November – Investigation continues
with additional monitoring of water supplies
• October 27 – Presumptive Determination letters
sent to 2 water supply owners
• Late October-early November - 4 Monitoring
wells installed on the well pad and sampled
• November 18 – Plugging of the Reese Hollow
118 2HU gas well completed
Timeline of Events, Cont.
• November 19 – JKLM initiated post-plug
sampling of water supplies and monitoring
wells
• December 14 - Determination letters sent to 4
additional property owners regarding impacts
to water supplies
Investigation
• What was released
• Sampling of existing locations
– Home wells
– Public water supply wells
– Surface water
• Monitoring wells
Products used on well pad
• Surfactant
– Isopropanol based soap/foam booster
• Rock Oil
– Used to assist drilling, multiple different products
may have been used
Not authorized products for top hole use
Sampling
• DEP sampled for:
– MBAS – indicator of soap
– Isopropanol
– 65 Volatile organic compounds and 68 semivolatile
organic compounds
• precise makeup of rock oil not initially known, to be
conservative tested for wide range of organic contaminants
• this is a longer list of constituents than the drinking water list
– 23 Metals and General Chemistry parameters – brine
constituents
– Methane, ethane and propane
Environmental Sampling
• Over 100 groundwater wells and
springs sampled
• 9 stream and pond sampling
locations
• Over 500 water samples collected to
date between JKLM and DEP
Private Water Supplies
• Initial results found chemicals related to release in home wells
– Isopropanol
– Acetone – associated with surfactant and its
degradation
– BTEX (petroleum related)
– MBAS
– increased turbidity
• Alternative water supplies provided to impacted residents
• No groundwater sampling results from home wells currently
exceed the primary drinking water standards for constituents
related to the release
• Some of the impacted wells still have slightly elevated turbidity
• The impacted wells will continue to be monitored for any
recurrence of the contamination
Private Water Supply Complaints
• 14 complaints received by DEP
– 6 positive impact determinations at this time
– One non-impact determination
– Seven currently still being evaluated, no
determination made at this time
Public Water Supplies
• Pumps turned off as a precautionary measure
to not spread plume
• No evidence of impact to Public Water
Supplies as a result of release
• Prior to making a determination on restarting
the Public Water Supply wells, a 72-hour well
purge will be conducted, followed by split
sampling
Surface Water
• Sampling
– 8 sample points established along streams and
sampled weekly
– 9 springs and 1 pond sampled
• Results
– 1 spring and pond showed an initial impact
– No current impacts observed
Monitoring Wells
• 4 monitoring wells installed on the well pad in late October
and early November
• Constructed to mimic home well construction
• Packer tests performed to look at specific intervals within
wells
• Geophysical well logging completed of monitoring wells and
gas well
• Sampled before and after abandonment of gas well
• Transducer also put in monitoring wells and nearby home
wells to look for changes in groundwater elevation during gas
well abandonment
Monitoring Well Results
• Geophysics indicated wells intercepted fracture
zones
• Results of sampling
– 2 rounds completed
• Low levels of MBAS, petroleum constituents (BTEX),
tert-butyl alcohol and phthalates(plasticizer) found in
samples.
• Additional monitoring well locations being
evaluated
Gas Well Plugging and Abandonment
• October 21st
– Notice of Intent to Plug a Well form submitted to DEP
• November 17th
– Cleaned out well bore from 0 to 684’ (attainable bottom at 684’)
– Set bottom cement plug from 634’ – 684’
• November 18th
– Wait on bottom plug cement to set
– Placed gravel from 374’ – 634’
• November 19th
–
–
–
–
Placed gravel from 259’ – 374’
Placed sand filter from 190’ – 259’
Set top cement plug from 0 – 190’
Weld plate/monument on top of casing
• Plugging Certificate due December 19th
Ongoing activities
• Samples from 15 groundwater locations and 8
surface water locations collected on a weekly
basis, includes public water supply wells and
impacted home wells
• Hydrogeologic evaluation and sampling of
monitoring wells on-going
• Department enforcement action still being
developed
Planned Future Activities
• Permanently restore/replace impacted water
supplies
• Resume operation of public water supply wells
at request of water system operators after
satisfactory testing results received
• A report will be submitted summarizing all
activities once investigation is complete
Contact
Dan Spadoni
Community Relations Coordinator
Department of Environmental Protection
Northcentral Regional Office
208 West Third Street Suite 101
Williamsport, PA 17701
570.327.3659
dspadoni@pa.gov