NEW CASTLE —
A Texas-based seismic testing company is making a blueprint of underground rock to better prepare companies for shale drilling.
Discovery Acquisition Services of Muldoon, Texas, has been in Lawrence County for a few months mapping out underground rock formations over 380 square miles on more than 30,000 tracts of land.
Most of it is on private property, but some is also along local and state right-of-ways.
“The lion’s share of that work is in Lawrence County,” explained Josh Baird, ADS project manager, and it extends into parts of Mercer and Butler counties and Mahoning County in Ohio.
“We’re doing seismic testing, which is mapping the subsurface of the rock showing length, width and depth. We map the rock layers from 3,000 feet to about 16,000 feet underground,” and inside of it are the Marcellus and Utica shales.
His company’s tests tell drilling companies the different depths of rock underground, so that when they drill vertically they can turn the drill bit horizontally and can see the rock formations that go up and down in different elevations, Baird explained.
Then when gas company workers drill down, they know how to angle the drill bits to stay inside the rock formation to produce the most oil and gas in that well, he continued, adding, “It also makes it so much safer to have the mapping. It’s a much safer drilling process.”
The seismic testing involves drilling a hole and exploding a charge underground, which generates shock waves that are measured by a monitoring instrument, and in turn, gives information about the rock structure underground.
Baird said his company has gotten permission from landowners to go onto their properties by asking them to sign one-page documents. Seismic testing is done only on properties where landowners give their permission, he said.
But at least two landowners in New Beaver Borough and in Little Beaver Township beg to differ.
New Beaver farmer Jim Yost and Little Beaver landowner Jordan Henderson have not signed agreements and say they have had to tell ADS workers to leave their properties.
Henderson said he has concerns about shock waves.
“They don’t control the levels of depth in the ground where shock waves go. In rural areas, most people have water wells. The question is, will a lot of these charges damage the layer of the water table from where we get our water?”
Henderson pointed out that the agreements DAS is asking people to sign asks them to indemnify them from any problems.
“If your well is damaged, it is your responsibility to prove it was their fault,” Henderson said. “If you hold them harmless, then you have no recourse to get your well remedied.”
He said the company is only offering to pay about $5 per acre for its work. Yet the landowner actually owns the ground underneath them and any data would belong to the landowner, he contends.
While some landowners are signing, others are resisting because there are inherent risks, Henderson said.
As a result, DAS is approaching the municipal officials, asking to do their testing along the edges of the roads, he explained.
Yost claims he’s been fighting a continued battle with the DAS workers, claiming they trespass on his fields, and he did not sign a permission paper, either.
“I got the state police to chase them off my property,” he said, adding that on Saturday, he was following one of the ADS trucks off the site and his truck accidentally hit it.
The state police charged Yost with criminal mischief for that incident, alleging that he had a verbal dispute with DAS workers over property right-of-ways and intentionally drove his truck into the DAS truck.
“Almost daily I’ve had to chase them off my fields,” Yost said, adding that the collision for which he was cited was an accident.
“We weren’t on his property,” Baird countered, adding that rather, DAS was on adjacent property where it has permission to test.
The company has tried to get Yost to sign a permission form, but “he was not interested and we were fine with that,” Baird added.
(Email:dwachter @ncnewsonline.com.)
Marcellus Shale
Shale Boom, Part 2: Seismic testing going on in county
- Marcellus Shale
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Meeting set on Marcellus drilling
The League of Women Voters of Lawrence County will sponsor a panel discussion on Marcellus drilling on Tuesday. The discussion on drilling and property values will begin at 6:30 p.m. at New Wilmington Methodist Church, 125 S. Mercer St.
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SRU to host shale summit
Slippery Rock University will host a summit Tuesday to educate local businesses about the Marcellus and Utica shale industry. The session, called Shale Summit II, will be a joint venture of the university, the Grove City Area and Butler County chambers of commerce and WISR/WBUT radio.
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Education Options, Part 2: Current shale boom casts new light on county’s economic future
Second of two parts: Welcome to the Industrial Revolution of 2013. The Marcellus Shale phenomenon has arrived with the promise of jobs and prosperity for an area in dire need of just such a miracle.
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Seismic testing to be discussed
Seismic testing for Marcellus Shale will be discussed Tuesday in New Wilmington. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at United Methodist Church, located at the corner of South Mercer Street and Neshannock Avenue.
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Shale Update: Gas from 2012 wells entering pipeline
Wells drilled a year ago in Lawrence County are producing natural gas that is entering a pipeline for consumers. Natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation under Lawrence County is now being pumped from two wells on the Harry Patterson property in the New Beaver Borough area into a major pipeline and is being sold, said Joe Minnitte, case manager for Shell Exploration and Production Co.
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Township requests shale money for bridges
North Beaver Township could be the first municipality to spend county Marcellus shale funds earmarked for bridge repairs. The supervisors have requested $63,000 from Lawrence County’s Act 13 transportation funds, which — by law — are to be used for rehabilitation or replacement of county and municipal bridges.
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Commission approves shale pact for Pulaski game lands
The Pennsylvania Game Commission will allow Hilcorp Energy Co. to extract oil and gas from Pulaski Township state game lands. The eight-member board today unanimously approved a restricted surface use oil and gas cooperative agreement for two separate tracts, including 586 acres of state game land 150.
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Estate planning workshop to address shale issues
A free workshop on estate planning for shale gas leases is planned this month in Lawrence County. Estate Planning for Marcellus Shale Lease Holders, will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Shenango Township Volunteer Fire Hall, 2424 E. Washington St. It is being hosted by state Rep. Jaret Gibbons.
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Extension to review seismic tests, pipelines
A program on seismic testing, pipeline agreements and leasing will be offered three times next week. Penn State Extension and the Beaver-Lawrence Farm Bureau will present the program Tuesday in New Castle. It will be presented two more times on Thursday in Beaver County.
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Shell donation boosts Jameson project
Shell Appalachia’s search for natural gas will help fuel completion of Jameson Heath System’s emergency/surgical wing. Jameson is scheduled to take possession of its $20.3 million expansion Feb. 14.
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Meeting set on Marcellus drilling
