This article originally provided by The Charleston Gazette

Octoboer 6, 2010

Air quality also a concern in Marcellus gas boom

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Environmental concerns about the proliferation of Marcellus Shale gas drilling in West Virginia have largely focused on water, but a lobbyist said Wednesday air quality issues must also be addressed -- and most likely by the federal government.

Dozens of vehicles and heavy equipment belching gases that contribute to smog are on well sites for a month a more, essentially becoming stationary sources of pollution that should be monitored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Don Garvin of the West Virginia Environmental Council.

"When you get an array of 50 trucks on a job, from my standpoint, that's a stationary source. It may be temporary, but it's putting out a huge amount of pollution,'' Garvin told a crowd of several hundred gathered for the West Virginia Water Conference.

"They're there for an intense period of three or four days at a time, then maybe every week or every other week for a while,'' he said later. "It's a big deal.''

Gas companies are flocking to northern West Virginia as they tap the rich reserves that also underlie Pennsylvania, New York and parts of Ohio. To break the gas free 5,000 to 9,000 feet down, companies use horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies that use a lot of water and produce a lot of wastewater.

Corky DeMarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, said trucks have never been considered stationary sources. However, both EPA and the state Department of Environmental Protection are looking at the issue now, he said, "and I don't know what the final outcome will be.''

The industry already reports emissions from stationary sources such as compressor stations to EPA.

Garvin said the state lacks the authority to do much about vehicles, "so it will be up to EPA to clarify or address the issue.''

The water conference features a panel discussion Thursday on both the economic opportunities and the water quality threats presented by Marcellus drilling.

The DEP has appointed a nine-member working group to help it determine how to better regulate a boom the agency has acknowledged it was unprepared for. Secretary Randy Huffman ordered his staff to undertake a comprehensive review of oil and gas regulations so he can offer rules, regulations and legislation to the Legislature in January.

Last month, Huffman appointed Garvin, public-interest lawyer Dave McMahon, six gas company representatives and a coal industry lawyer to the working group.

Garvin said the group met last week and was given 10 topics to research. Another 20 topics were already decided, Garvin said, but the DEP would not say what it planned to do with them.

Huffman told The Associated Press he's not withholding anything or keeping secrets. He said all the issues are essentially brainstorming topics.

"I can pretty much assure you that not all 30 of those issues will make the final legislation,'' he said.

"At the end of the day, I'm looking for a platform from which we can regulate horizontal drilling activity,'' he said. "I'm not looking for a Christmas tree here. We're just looking for a basic platform.''

The three key issues to address are "cradle to grave'' water management, problems with sedimentation and erosion from the massive construction sites, and funding for the additional staff Huffman says he needs.

Lawmakers tried last year to regulate some water issues, but a bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House of Delegates died in the Senate on the session's final night, said Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion.

It would have required companies to report where they withdraw water, how much they inject and take back out, and where they plan to dispose of it afterward. It also would have required companies to inform the state when they plan to withdraw from streams so aquatic life would be protected.

"Seemed reasonable to me,'' Manchin said.

While DeMarco's organization supported the bill, the Independent Oil & Gas Association "did everything they could to kill that bill,'' Manchin said, "and ultimately it got killed.''

He's hoping for more success next year. He urged the industry to follow the lead of companies like Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp., which he said was among the first to pledge it would operate responsibly in West Virginia.

"The people who are willing to do right should want the other people to have to follow the same rules,'' Manchin said. "Why should they be able to have a competitive advantage by being able to cheat?''