Allegheny Defense Project

...working for the protection of the natural heritage of the Alleghenies...

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Marcellus Shale Gas Well Hunting in The Branch-Coalbed Run Watersheds

More Hellbender News

November 27, 2010

By Cathy Pedler

Our hunting for PGE Marcellus Shale Gas well sites began on August 22nd. Bill Beltiskus and I searched the roads south of Mayburg for a path that would get us close to the Collins Pine in-holding south of The Branch and Coalbed Run where our Internet search of permitted wells on the PA DEP web site told us there would be two Marcellus Shale Gas wells and a number of water wells for High Volume Slickwater Horizontal Hydraulic Fracturing.

We decided to try FR 180A (see photo above), which appeared to end in an old road or trail that would lead to the sites. We found the end of the road. The trail disappeared in what appeared to me to be one of the wildest and most beautiful areas of the forest I had seen (see image on right). The Branch valley was a wide, winding, wetland that was virtually impassable. It began to rain heavily, so we decided not to press our luck by venturing into the tall grasses and swamp. We turned back to explore some of the shallow-well roads and the deteriorating oil and gas debris that the industry still used for its operations.

On September 4th and 5th, we continued our search with an ADP Forest Watch Team. We drove as far as we could on FR 101A, until we hit the ever present green gates of the USFS that allow industry extractors to use the roads but forces the rest of us on foot. Our plan was to follow the oil and gas roads, hiking south down to the Branch valley, and then west paralleling the Branch until we reached a pipeline corridor which would guide us south again toward PGE Marcellus Shale gas wells on a Collins Pine in-holding within the ANF borders. The walk was pleasant, with occasional stops to admire beauty, or the irresponsible results of the oil and gas industry’s interaction with the landscape—we made frequent stops (see image above).

The Branch was beautiful at our crossing, and conveniently bridged with a still somewhat sturdy platform. Some of our team decided to cross the old-fashioned way (see image on right). We followed the pipeline which began to climb steeply up-hill. As we approached the top of the hill, we heard an engine noise. We decided to continue following the pipeline toward the noise instead of going straight to the Marcellus Shale gas well site. It began to rain heavily as we continued along the pipeline. The noise became deafening as we approached its source, which we discovered was a condensation unit (see image below). Signs warned us of harmful noise levels and dangerous voltage and fumes.

We retreated to the woods and headed towards the spot where we knew (from our Internet search of permitted wells on the PA DEP web site) there must be a Marcellus Shale gas well. We entered the site from a hemlock grove on the sites edge. It was atypical of other sites we had been on. The entire leveled pad had been seeded and limestoned and was groomed with landscape boulders. There was a wastewater/freshwater impoundment, a fenced Christmas tree gas wellhead, a tank battery, and a Quonset structure on the site with a satellite dish (see image below).

After walking the edges of the well site we continued down the maze of roads on the hilltop in an attempt to find several water wells that were identified in PGE's Water Management Plan. We found a couple of shallow oil and gas wells with issues during our journey, but no water wells, which made us wonder where the water for the fracking of the Marcellus well had come from or would come from when additional horizontal wells were drilled. We retreated from the hill following acidic runoff from the well pads and roads, back to the Branch, and eventually back to our cars (see image below). We had hiked about 4 miles roundtrip (more images below).