ALBANY – The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a report regarding the two recent natural gas rig fires in Chenango and Madison counties and the precautionary measures that will be implemented.
The primary cause of the fire in the Town of Smyrna on January 1st was a valve failure on the well head assembly that allowed gas from the target formation to leak and accumulate beneath the rig floor. While the ignition source has not been verified, the NYSDEC is attributing it to ejected rock cuttings causing a spark, a broken fluorescent light, cigarettes, an extension cord or welding equipment.
The DEC is still in the information gathering stages about the fire March 19 at the gas well in the Town of Lebanon. The fire differs from the Smyrna fire, however, in that the well was not yet drilled into the target formation. The drill pipe was being pulled from the well in preparation of setting the casing when gas flow was unexpectedly encountered at a shallower depth. The ignition source was not identified.
According to an attorney representing the wells’ operators, Norse Energy, Inc., no gas had been discovered in the Lockport formation in any other well drilled in the area.
Following both incidents, DEC representatives met with Norse executives and required the deployment of new fluid and drilling systems to better control wells. The state environmental agency anticipates developing additional requirements and/or permit conditions as necessary to address any shortcomings discovered through its investigation. This would include permit conditions “which require the highest levels of equipment, control measures, supervision and monitoring,” the report states.
According to Brad Gill, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York, natural gas fires are extremely rare.
“Oil and natural gas companies have been drilling for natural gas in New York for over a hundred years and have an exceptional track record on safety and environmental compliance. While we do – as industry representatives – have an interest in seeing drilling for natural gas continue in New York, we also live here and therefore want to see it done in a safe and environmentally responsible manor. New York has some of the most rigorous regulatory requirements in the county, which have quite literally shaped our industry here. We intend to comply fully with all of these requirements,” he said.
In addition, the DEC report confirmed that the agency had received a permit application to drill in a well in the Chenango River floodplain. The Town of Lebanon Planning Board ruledthat the site in question was in an agricultural district near a stream and advised against drilling.
No drilling permit has been issued, DEC spokesman Yancey Roy said. His staff sent a letter to Lebanon Supervisor James Goldstein on March 10 informing him of the permit application.
“We requested that he contact us with any concerns. The town did contact us with concerns. As a result, we will facilitate contact with all the parties so that if the town has any permitting or other requirements of general applicability associated with work/construction in a floodplain, (then) the operator can work to address these issues through the town's program and the designated floodplain administrator,” said Roy.
Supervisor Goldstein wrote in an e-mail to The Evening Sun that two rig fires in less than three months calls for “full disclosure” and “an informed public.”
“(We need) to make sure that the most appropriate public safety and environmental measures are being implemented so that this incident does not recur. ... We have miles of gas pipeline and over 50 gas wells located in our township and should a fire reach underground or we have a more serious accident or spill, public safety, water and land quality and property values could be imperiled,” he said.
The Madison County official added that the Town of Brookfield is still “reeling” from a drilling-related accident there two years ago that contaminated a number of wells.