Mead to meet with Pavillion residents to talk water supply

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead will meet with Pavillion area residents from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Monday to discuss strategies for a long-term drinking water supply. Residents in about two dozen homes currently rely on water filtration and commercial delivery service for drinking water due to health concerns related to groundwater in the area.

Currently, the state of Wyoming and EnCana Oil & Gas USA — the main operator of the Pavillion natural gas field — are paying for the water delivery service.

The meeting will be held at Central Wyoming College Intertribal Education and Community Center (room 116) in Riverton. “I am committed to the health and safety of the residents. We can explore a long term water strategy now while we wait for answers to other problems,” Mead wrote in a letter to Pavillion area resident John Fenton.

In 2009, many residents in the central Wyoming farming community were told by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to not drink or cook with water from their domestic wells due to the presence of hydrocarbons and high levels of sodium, and to use ventilation while showering due to methane concentrations in the water.

Residents in the area have long suspected that natural gas drilling and production activity in the area may have tainted groundwater supplies, including the shallow aquifer that residents tap for domestic and agricultural supplies. Pavillion is now at the center of a national debate over the potential risks associated with hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — the method of pumping a mixture of water, sand and some chemicals under pressure to break open fissures in petroleum-bearing rock and shale formations to enhance the production of oil and natural gas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is conducting an investigation of groundwater pollution in the Pavillion area, and the agency recently issued a draft report stating that oil and gas activity — including hydraulic fracturing — may contribute to the groundwater pollution.

“The findings (EPA’s) were immediately attacked by the state, industry and industry-friendly politicians,” Fenton said in a teleconference with the press on Tuesday. “All this while the people still sit here suffering the impacts and pretty much forgotten in all the political jousting that’s going on.”

The Wyoming Water Development Commission has studied potential water supply strategies, and in October issued a report (click here to download a PDF of the executive summary) recommending that rural residents form a water service district and possibly pay to extend a water pipeline from the town of Pavillion. Other options include individual water treatment systems, individual cisterns, or a central water well and distribution system. Estimated costs range from $175 per month for each individual home, to $1,225 per month.

“A whole house treatment system is upwards of $20,000, but they don’t remove a lot of the constituents we’re dealing with and it requires a huge amount of maintenance,” said Fenton.

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

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Congressional research group issues report on EPA’s Pavillion investigation

This week, members of Congress received a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report of the Pavillion groundwater contamination investigation.

EPA’s draft report, issued on December 8, stoked America’s ongoing debate over the oil and gas industry’s use of hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — by concluding that compounds found in the aquifer near Pavillion, Wyo., are likely associated with industry activity, including fracking.

This graphic explains the hydraulic fracking process. (Al Granberg/ProPublica — click to enlarge)

The CRS, a public policy research agency that reports directly to congressional committees and staff, found no obvious concerns with the legality and quality of EPA’s draft report. CRS provided a summary of EPA’s findings, along with a summary of formal comments submitted to EPA so far. Essentially, CRS reported to Congress what EPA’s draft report did and did not say.

“Detecting and distinguishing between potentially shallow and potentially deep sources of groundwater contamination lies at the heart of the primary findings in the EPA Draft Report,” CRS stated in its January 25 report to Congress. “Whether the (EPA) report clearly links groundwater contamination to drilling or hydraulic fracturing activities at depth has been the source of relatively heated commentary by proponents and opponents of the use of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas development.”

The CRS goes on to explain, “EPA did not appear to conclude that there was a definitive link to a release from the (oil and natural gas) production wells, nor to the constituents found in the domestic wells in the shallower portion of the aquifer. Absent such a link, EPA also did not conclude in its Draft Report that the constituents found in the aquifer were caused by a specific release that may pose a threat to human health or the environment at the Pavillion site.”

The public comment period on the draft report was extended through March 12. The draft report will undergo an “external review” by an independent panel of scientific experts, and nominations of experts to the panel are being accepted until February 17.

Fracking is the method of pumping a mixture of water, sand and a small amount of chemicals into petroleum-laden formations under high pressure to force open cracks in the shale and allow oil and natural gas to flow through production wells.

Wyoming stakeholders participating in the Pavillion groundwater contamination investigation had received a preliminary copy of EPA’s draft report before it was released on December 8. Immediately following the release, both EnCana Oil & Gas USA (the company that owns and operates the Pavillion gas field) and Wyoming state officials slammed the EPA and the report, questioning the agency’s methods and analysis.

John Fenton, a Pavillion area rancher among several who suspect oil and gas activity there may contribute to water contamination, told WyoFile on Thursday, “People around here are really disappointed about how the state has attacked this (EPA draft report).”

“I think there’s been a lot of misinformation about the whole process out here,” Fenton continued. “It’s disheartening because we tried and tried to get the state of Wyoming to do something about it.”

State and industry officials contend that the EPA is withholding important information related to the investigation that could help stakeholders judge the quality of EPA’s draft report, and say that much more monitoring, sampling and analysis is needed to draw conclusions about the source and extent of groundwater contamination in Pavillion.

Regarding the heated exchange between stakeholders over the EPA draft report, the CRS concluded, “… it is likely that proponents and opponents of hydraulic fracturing will continue to disagree over the EPA Draft Report’s main conclusions linking hydraulic fracturing chemicals, and perhaps the hydraulic fracturing process specifically, with groundwater contamination in the Pavillion area.”

The Energy and Environment Subcommittee will hold a hearing on Wednesday regarding EPA’s research of fracking, including the Pavillion groundwater contamination investigation. Witnesses scheduled to testify before the committee include Tom Doll, Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission supervisor; Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs for the Western Energy Alliance; Bernard Goldstein, professor and dean emeritus at University of Pittsburg’s Graduate School of Public Health; and Paul Anastas, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

No Pavillion area residents were invited to testify during the hearing, so several residents say they will take part in a teleconference at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to express their support of the EPA’s investigation. Speakers will include John Fenton, impacted landowner, chairman of the Pavillion Area Concern Citizens, board member of the Powder River Basin Resource Council; Louis Meeks, impacted resident, member of Powder River Basin Resource Council; Jeff Locker, impacted resident, member of Pavillion Area Concern Citizens; Wilma Subra, chemist and technical advisor, and president of Subra Co.

 — Click here to download a PDF of the CRS report.

— Visit the EPA’s Pavillion investigation website to download a PDF of the Draft Report, and view project updates.

Related stories:

— EnCana wants fracking expert on EPA’s review panel

— EnCana to EPA: Stop public comment on Pavillion fracking report

— EPA Pavillion report stokes fire over fracking

— Find the source in Pavillion

— EPA finds compound used in fracking in Wyoming aquifer

— One man’s mystery leads to backlash against fracking

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

Graphic originally used in the ProPublica article “What Is Hydraulic Fracturing?”

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Report: Wyoming lacks ‘culture of safety’

To address Wyoming’s long-standing distinction as among the deadliest states in the nation for workers, state and industry officials must work cooperatively to create a “culture of safety,” according to the Wyoming Occupational Epidemiologist Timothy Ryan.

“Over the last year I have analyzed 17 years of occupational fatality data (1992-2008), read through fatality case reports, and have spoken with hundreds of employees working for various sized companies in the major industries in Wyoming. The Nature of the Problem in Wyoming: The common theme throughout is the lack of a ‘culture of safety’ in Wyoming,” Ryan wrote in a December 19 “interoffice memorandum” to Gov. Matt Mead.

Click here for the full 9-page report, which was released to the public for the first time late Tuesday morning.

A total of 369 workers died on the job in Wyoming from 2001 through 2010, creating a per 100,000 workers annual fatality rate that ranked Wyoming either the worst or second-worst in the nation for a decade — with the exception of 2009 when Wyoming ranked fourth deadliest. Several legislative measures have been proposed in recent years to persuade safer practices, such as tougher seatbelt laws, holding operators accountable for their own proven negligence and raising fines for safety violations that lead to the death of a worker.

None of the bills passed.

Ryan, who submitted his resignation along with his recommendations report last month, didn’t list any of those legislative measures as part of a strategy to make Wyoming’s workplaces less deadly.

Bill Adams of Jackson Electric Inc. operates a trackhoe at a construction site in Casper. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

Instead, he recommends the state and industry continue to cooperate in a recent effort to identify and implement best industry practices, particularly in Wyoming’s oil and natural gas fields. He said the state should also promote the use of free “courtesy inspections,” which have long been a service provided by the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The purpose of a courtesy inspection is to identify hazards and get professional advice on how to come into compliance with safety standards. A company that requests a courtesy inspection from Wyoming OSHA is essentially promised that no citations will be issued as a result of the inspection. Yet, fewer than 2 percent of Wyoming’s workplaces request a courtesy inspection, according to Ryan’s report.

Even at that rate, Wyoming OSHA officials have said they are so short-staffed that it can still take months for OSHA to respond to a request for a courtesy inspection.

Ryan’s recommendations also include the continuation of his effort to create a central database for information related to workplace fatalities, which should be easily accessed for analysis. The focus of all these efforts should be on Wyoming’s “high risk” industries, which Ryan lists as “oil and gas, transportation and construction,” he wrote.

Gov. Mead issued a prepared statement Tuesday afternoon, promising that the state would continue its focus on understanding and improving workplace safety.

“I believe that we must find ways to get workers in Wyoming home safely at the end of the day,” Mead said. “These recommendations are a first step on the path to making every workplace safer. They do not provide a solution but show that some systemic changes need to be made. They also indicate we still have work to do to further evaluate and make progress in workplace safety.”

Mead reiterated his intention to hire another state occupational epidemiologist to replace Ryan, and move the position to the Department of Workforce Services.

“I am committed to this effort and want the position to continue with the objective of reducing workplace fatalities and injuries,” Mead said.

FROM THE REPORT:

Nature of the Problem

— There is a breakdown in communication between the upper management, supervisors, and employees regarding safety.

— “Often the safety training that we receive is not enforced on the worksite.”

— Employees are told to “get the job done” and safety protocol and rules are not enforced, resulting in injuries and fatalities.

— On any one job-site, there can be a wide range in the safety standards.

Recommendations:

— Organize and develop continuity of ongoing efforts.

— Develop data monitoring system for the collection and timely analysis of occupational data.

— Promote OSHA courtesy inspections.

— Support efforts by industry to develop, monitor and enforce safety standards and practices.

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

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Gov. Matt Mead announced today that he will shuffle vacant positions within state government, and possibly make new hires, to beef up resources at Wyoming Occupational Health and Administration (OSHA) as part of the state’s larger effort to curb on-the-job fatalities and injuries.

“Over the last few years there has been a growing emphasis among Wyoming workers, Wyoming companies and state government to keep employees safe,” Governor Mead said in a prepared statement on Tuesday afternoon. “My office and the Department of Workforce Services want to augment those efforts and that is what we are proposing today.”

Related Story: State warms to call for bigger OSHA role in stemming workplace fatalities

Mead said he will create three new positions in the Wyoming OSHA program by moving vacant positions from other divisions of the Department of Workforce Services to Wyoming OSHA.

“This movement of vacant positions can be done without legislation,” Mead said.

Additionally, Mead said he is working with state lawmakers to draft a bill that would provide five more OSHA consultants, “funded out of the Industrial Accident Fund.” Existing state statutes allow for expenditures related to workplace safety programs from the Industrial Accident Fund.

“New OSHA employees, whether three or eight, will be housed in Wyoming OSHA within the Department of Workforce Services. If the number is eight, Governor Mead and Director Evans are proposing seven employees for safety consultations and one additional compliance inspector,” according to a press release from the governor’s office today.

“The news coming out of the Governor’s office today is exciting. WOGISA is very supportive of the Governor’s statement and efforts to help make Wyoming safer for it workers. WOGISA (Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Alliance) is  pleased to hear of the movement to get another (epidemiologist)in place in a timely manner,” WOGISA organizer Bonnie Foster said in a prepared statement to WyoFile.

Foster said all stakeholders in Wyoming need to work together to bring about a culture of safety, “and WOGISA has been working this direction and is glad to be one of the leading forces, along with the Governor, OSHA and Workfoce Services.”

John Robitaille, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, told WyoFile, “We hope the additional personnel is hired at Wyoming OSHA to ensure additional opportunities for safety consultations are increased dramatically and agree that additional inspectors will help us reach our goals.  We offer our assistance to the Governor, if needed, to help him help us improve our workforce safety.”

“These additional people can respond to requests from companies and employees who want a safety consultation,” Governor Mead said. “There are 23,000 employers in Wyoming and only six people to do safety consultations or inspections. This proposal is an important step in supporting companies who want to improve safety procedures and a needed step to keep workers safe.”

For several years now, state and industry officials have resisted calls for legislation that backers claim would help save workers’ lives, such as a tougher seatbelt law, more OSHA inspections, stiffer penalties for safety violations, and affirmation of Wyoming’s “duty of care” law, which holds oil and gas operators liable for their own proven negligence in the death or injury of a contract worker on their job sites.

Last week, state officials met with representatives of the Wyoming AFL-CIO and the Spence Association for Employee Rights (SAFER) to discuss approaches toward stepping up Wyoming OSHA’s presence in the construction, oil and natural gas industries — which represent the state’s deadliest occupational sectors, according to state and federal data.

Click here to read the press announcement from Gov. Mead’s office.

UPDATE: Gov Mead to add to OSHA: Gov. Matt Mead announced today that he will shuffle vacant positions within state government, and possibly make new hires, to beef up resources at Wyoming Occupational Health and Administration (OSHA) as part of the state’s larger effort to curb on-the-job fatalities and injuries. Click here to read the update, and click here to read the press announcement from Gov. Mead’s office.

After a decade of resisting more workplace inspections and stepped up enforcement of existing safety regulations, some state officials are now considering a bigger role for the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in addressing the state’s ongoing high workplace fatality rate.

Last week, state officials met with representatives of the Wyoming AFL-CIO and the Spence Association for Employee Rights (SAFER) to discuss approaches toward stepping up Wyoming OSHA’s presence in the construction, oil and natural gas industries — which represent the state’s deadliest occupational sectors, according to state and federal data.

Oil drill employees — like this duo working on a rig in Montana — are among those most susceptible to workplace-related injuries or fatalities. Wyoming has long struggled with one of the worst workplace fatality rates in the nation. (Courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management — click to enlarge)

“One thing we talked about was increasing the number of spot checks that we do,” said Joan Evans, director of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, which oversees Wyoming OSHA.

Such action was the obvious response for safety officials in North Dakota when oil and gas drilling, a major contributor to workplace fatalities, increased dramatically in that state in recent years. Not to step up surprise inspections in the face of increased injuries and deaths “would be a crime,” according to a top official in the North Dakota OSHA office, which is run by the federal government.

Some key changes in Wyoming’s inspection and enforcement effort could be undertaken by the executive branch without legislative action, according to state officials. Interviews with those involved in the discussions on workplace safety with Gov. Matt Mead’s administration indicate change may well be on the way. But the governor remains noncommittal about the potential new state effort.

Responding to a question by WyoFile at the Wyoming Press Association convention earlier this month, Mead said stepped up OSHA enforcement “could be part of the strategy.” He added, “I want to be careful before heading down that path.”

The renewed discussions come after a state report (posted at the end of this article) in December confirmed what many already understood is a grim reality in Wyoming’s workplaces. Wyoming lacks a “culture of safety” that has resulted in an average of one workplace fatality every 10 days for the past 10 years, according to the report. Investigations indicated that in more than 85 percent of the deaths, safety procedures were not followed. Over a 10-year period, Wyoming consistently ranked worst or close to the worst in the nation for workplace fatalities, peaking in 2007 when Wyoming’s rate was four times the national average.

For several years now, state and industry officials have resisted calls for legislation that backers claim would help save workers’ lives, such as a tougher seatbelt law, more OSHA inspections, stiffer penalties for safety violations, and affirmation of Wyoming’s “duty of care” law, which holds oil and gas operators liable for their own proven negligence in the death or injury of a contract worker on their job sites.

The recent discussion of a bigger role for Wyoming OSHA represents a potential shift from Mead’s staunch declaration this past fall to resist enforcement actions as part of an overall strategy to address workplace fatalities.

In an October 2011 letter to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance, Mead wrote, “There are many ways to approach the problem: laws can be passed, rules can be written, fines can be levied. I remain unconvinced that these are the best ways to enhance a culture of leadership and safety. I say this because we don’t yet fully understand the problem. … I believe we should focus on the prevention and awareness side before we get heavy handed.”

A cement crew pours a foundation for a new home in Casper. State leaders say they may consider stepping up on-site safety inspections in a broad effort to stem workplace injuries and fatalities in Wyoming. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

Many stakeholders close to the issue anticipated that the state’s occupational fatality report would provide clear direction and serve as a springboard for distinct actions to improve Wyoming’s track record. But the sudden resignation of the state’s leading man in the workplace safety effort, occupational epidemiologist Timothy Ryan, was seen by some as a setback.

After 16 months on the job, Ryan submitted his first formal analysis of Wyoming’s workplace fatality problem to the governor in December, then quit the next day. He later explained to the New York Times that he believed Wyoming’s political leaders didn’t support him in producing the report.

“It got to the point where I wanted to see the action that’s connected to these findings, and I decided it wasn’t happening at a pace I was comfortable with,” Ryan told New York Times reporter Dan Frosch.

The governor and state lawmakers generally side with industry’s preferred strategy of cooperation and “best practices” over enforcement. But worker advocates say there’s always been enough evidence to at least step up OSHA’s role. Ryan’s 9-page report simply added to the evidence, and now more people seem to be warming up to the idea.

“I’m very optimistic, I think that we might get something accomplished,” said Kim Floyd, executive secretary of the Wyoming State AFL-CIO.

But’s it remains unclear whether state leaders will warm up to Wyoming AFL-CIO and SAFER’s other recommendations. They include making company injury records public, broadening Wyoming OSHA’s powers to shut down operations, increase OSHA penalties, and impose serious consequences for those who “discourage the reporting of injuries to protect safety awards, bonuses, and other performance incentives, or to avoid lost time accidents which can potentially lead to increased Workers’ Compensation premiums,” according to a letter from Wyoming AFL-CIO and SAFER to Gov. Mead.

The short amount of time between the release of Ryan’s report in December and the upcoming legislative budget session in February may make it difficult for Floyd and his colleagues to convince lawmakers to take action on such recommendations. But Floyd said if legislative action is needed — whether it’s for more OSHA inspections or more bold measures — worker advocates won’t hesitate trying.

“If there’s any way to get a bill introduced, I think we’re going to try it. I mean, we can’t wait another year,” said Floyd.

Meanwhile, Mead says the state will hire another occupational epidemiologist to replace Ryan and lead the effort to decrease workplace fatalities and injuries. He said the position will move from the governor’s office to the Department of Workforce Services.

“I believe placing this position in the Department of Workforce Services will facilitate data access and allow the State and employers to identify, implement and monitor concrete recommendations and make workers safe,” Mead said in a prepared statement.

In addition to more un-announced workplace inspections, the state is also considering how it can speed up OSHA’s response time to perform courtesy, or volunteer, inspections of workplaces, according to Evans. Part of that effort would have to include convincing more Wyoming employers to request courtesy inspections (which essentially guarantee no citations will be issued identified hazards as long as they are corrected) because only 2 percent of Wyoming’s employers take advantage of the existing program, according to Wyoming OSHA.

OSHA’s Role

Of particular focus in stemming workplace fatalities is the oil and gas industry and related construction. From 2001 to 2008, the oil and gas industry accounted for 20 percent of all occupational fatalities in the state. Ryan reported that 96 percent of those fatalities “occurred when safety procedures were not followed.”

Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate improved from worst-in-the nation — 17 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2007 — to fourth-worst in 2009, passing the “worst” distinction to Montana, Louisiana and North Dakota where many drilling rigs migrated during the same period.

According to Ryan, more than half of the 16,000-plus jobs lost in Wyoming during that time were in natural resource development and construction, the occupations with the most risks for injury and death — not only in Wyoming, but across much of the nation.

Matt Reed, owner of Envision Electric Inc., works on a new home in Casper. Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate has improved in recent years, from having the worst in the nation in 2007 to fourth-worst in 2009. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

In the summer of 2011, Ryan told WyoFile, “My concern is that people are going to look at this and say ‘problem solved.’ Well, no. When the economy picks back up in construction and mining, and oil and gas picks up, so goes the fatality rate.”

When drilling rigs flooded into North Dakota exploiting the Bakken shale oil play, and the of number workplace fatalities there began to rise, North Dakota OSHA officials wasted little time in stepping up enforcement, according to Erik Brooks, assistant director of OSHA’s Bismark Area Office.

In the fall of 2011, the agency pulled in federal OSHA inspectors from the surrounding region to conduct a two-week “flood” of inspections in the Bakken play, performing 108 onsite inspections, according to Brooks. During the entire previous year, the agency had conducted a total 230 inspections.

“When you’re talking about bringing in 20,000 employees into North Dakota, we have to act according,” Brooks told WyoFile. “If people weren’t getting hurt, then there wouldn’t be such a need for the (OSHA) presence. But when you have half of your fatalities in one industry you have to take action. It would be a crime not to take action.”

Unlike Wyoming, which is among just a handful of states that runs its own OSHA agency, North Dakota is among the majority of states that operate under federal OSHA and its regional offices. Brooks said before the Bakken oil play took off, there were just four OSHA compliance officers assigned to cover both North Dakota and South Dakota. However, as part of the federal OSHA Region 8 office, those states can pull in resources as needed. In addition, three more compliance officers have been hired to help meet the increase in work activity in the two states.

“This increased volume of activity in both construction and oil and gas makes it necessary for us to increase our activity,” said Brooks.

Brooks said he believes that OSHA enforcement and good safety training are the most critical strategies to making the oil and gas industry safer, because much of the risk related to drilling has been “engineered out.” In other words, the industry has come a long way in integrating safety into the design of equipment and process. What’s left is good training and management — particularly at a time when the industry is retiring experienced workers and hiring first-generation roughnecks.

“Lots of young people come up here (to North Dakota). The money is very attractive, and they just don’t have that same skill set. It is a skill and a talent to do this correctly,” said Brooks.

Wyoming OSHA program manager J.D. Danni said his agency has also pooled its resources, on occasion, to focus on a particular industry or geographic area when compliance and accident trends are identified.

“When Jonah started booming in 2006 and 2007, we had all our inspectors go out there for a week or two,” said Danni. “But to tap into federal resources, we don’t do that.”

Since the 1980s, Wyoming has consistently had eight inspector positions, but those slots are often left vacant. Danni explains that Wyoming is home to one of the few OSHA agencies that has rules specific to the oil and gas industry. Once Wyoming OSHA compliance officers gain that expertise, they’re often lured away by the oil and gas industry.

“We did not have a full staff last year. We had a couple of vacancies. Now, we have two new employees that we need to train,” said Danni. “We’ve gone down to where we have three people have left. … A couple of years ago we were down to four inspectors (because of job changes).”

RELATED STORIES:

Worker advocates slam state for timid response to workplace fatalities, January 6, 2012

Report: Wyoming lacks ‘culture of safety’ January 3, 2012

Official studying Wyoming’s workplace fatality problem resigns, December 20, 2011

Mead declares carrot over stick in workplace fatalities, October 14, 2011

Oil and gas leaders seek to stem deaths on the job, July 14, 2011

Deadly Workplaces; Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate still ranks among worst in the nation, July 12, 2011

Even toothless safety alliance is improvement, June 16, 2011

If you enjoyed this article and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.

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Reprinted with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. Not for republication by Wyoming media.

When U.S. EPA issued a report last month on groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyo., many saw it as proof that hydraulic fracturing had contaminated drinking water.

It wasn’t.

Fracturing contaminated groundwater, EPA said. Not drinking water.

The distinction is important. People in the small central Wyoming town don’t drink from the aquifer, 800 feet down. They drink from water wells, which are generally much shallower.

Finding fracturing chemicals in any groundwater does puncture a big industry talking point — that fracturing has been used safely for 60 years and has never, ever contaminated groundwater. But fracturing done in Pavillion was much closer to the surface — and groundwater — than the mile-deep “fracking” in shale formations like Pennsylvania’s Marcellus.

The groundwater versus drinking water distinction has been lost in the finger-pointing between environmentalists and industry. So have some other key facts. Among them:

• Oil and gas production activities — drilling, not “fracking” — did contaminate wells as shallow as 15 feet with high concentrations of benzene, xylenes and other nasty stuff, according to EPA’s study. But those concentrations still have not been found in drinking water.
• “Material Safety Data Sheets” that the local driller, EnCana Corp., provided were not sufficient to determine what chemicals were in the fracturing fluid used, according to EnCana.
• None of the wells, save two, were sealed with concrete all the way below the drinking water zone. Some of those wells were drilled as recently as 2007.

The report is a draft, and its findings are going to be subjected to peer review. EnCana has disputed most of EPA’s findings and disparaged the agency’s methods. Wyoming’s state oil and gas supervisor, Tom Doll, even suggested that EPA could have contaminated the deep aquifer itself when it drilled deep monitoring wells.

But EPA is standing behind the report. Administrator Lisa Jackson last week sent a letter affirming her support but also explaining some nuances of the study.

EPA’s findings will be tested in the political arena. The House Science Committee is planning a Feb. 1 hearing on the Pavillion report. Republican committee leaders chose a title — “Fractured Science” — that leaves little doubt the report will be attacked.

But if EPA’s findings are accurate, they point to some very basic problems in Pavillion. Oil and gas operators dumped their waste into unlined pits, which was legal at the time. They also did not seal their wells off from drinking water by encasing them in concrete all the way through the drinking water zone, a basic drilling practice laid out in the American Petroleum Institute’s standards.

“At least in retrospect, it appears they didn’t have the wells sealed enough to make sure that fluid couldn’t move up the wellbore,” said Dave Yoxtheimer, a hydrogeologist at Penn State University’s Marcellus Initiative for Outreach and Research.

EnCana spokesman Doug Hock said that the wells in question are located far from drinking water wells and there is no indication they have leaked. He also said, “The contamination associated with these pits is isolated and there is no evidence of impacts to drinking water.”

Material Safety Data Sheets, or MSDS, have been the industry’s preferred method of public disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals. Oil and gas companies have long argued that the sheets amount to full disclosure. Texas’ new public disclosure law requires disclosure only of chemicals from MSDS sheets. But the sheets, which are posted at work sites as instructions for what to do in the event of accidental contact with chemicals, are designed for worker safety rather than long-term water quality monitoring. In this case, an established operator is saying that its own MSDS sheets are not reliable.

As part of the study, EPA got the MSDS from EnCana and compared them to the chemicals it found in the Wind River Aquifer below Pavillion.

“Tert-butyl alcohol, was detected … a known breakdown product of … tert-butyl hydroperoxide (a gel breaker used in hydraulic fracturing),” EPA says on page 35 of its report.

But EnCana says EPA should not use MSDS to link fracturing to contamination in the aquifer.

“Peroxide breaker was never used in the field yet we did record it in the MSDSs because it is possibly used in hydraulic fracturing,” EnCana officials state in written materials prepared for a technical briefing for reporters. “Yet they chose to make that claim despite knowing that peroxide breaker was not used.”

EnCana says EPA never requested more detailed information about what chemicals were used in which specific areas.

“However,” Hock said, “we are planning to provide this information as part of our rebuttal to the draft report.”
Groundwater contamination

EPA concluded that contamination from “constituents associated with hydraulic fracturing” are in the “drinking water aquifer,” around 800 feet down.

But those materials are different than contaminants EPA found in much shallower drinking water wells. And the agency says the contaminants in drinking water are “generally” below health and safety thresholds.

“We have absolutely no indication right now that drinking water is at risk,” Jackson said last year in a televised interview on Pavillion.

Still, after EPA found “petroleum compounds” in 17 of 19 drinking water wells in 2010, the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry recommended that some well owners use alternate sources of water for drinking and cooking. The agencies made no conclusion about where those compounds came from.

The EPA report notes that contaminants deeper in the aquifer could flow upward toward drinking water wells. Some stock ponds in the area flow, indicating that water moves up from below. They could also come up through old, forgotten oil and gas wells.

But they haven’t, or at least there is no indication of that in EPA’s study.

To reach most drinking water wells in Pavillion, the contaminants would need to rise upward several hundred feet. But to reach drinking water in shale formations, any contaminants would have to rise upward a mile or more.

In shales like the Marcellus or the Barnett in Texas, gas is trapped in hard rock a mile or so below the surface. Drillers inject millions of gallons of chemical-laced water at extremely high pressure to “fracture” the shale and allow the gas to flow out.

Because it is deeper, it requires more industrial activity at the surface. Drillers use exponentially more water than in the conventional production found in Pavillion, and the water is under exponentially higher pressure.

“I don’t think it’s something that can be extrapolated across formations all over the country,” Penn State’s Yoxtheimer said.

In dismissing the report, industry figures and Wyoming officials have said EPA itself might have contaminated the water in the aquifer when it drilled deep monitoring wells.

But Yoxtheimer said EPA documented a very careful approach to drilling the wells, monitoring everything that went into the wells. He does see a weakness in that the municipal water used to drill the monitoring wells was not tested and suggests its source could be tested, “to fill that gap.”

Some have noted that a portion of EPA’s samples were not tested within the proper time frame. Yoxtheimer said that might invalidate them in a court case, and EPA itself probably would not accept samples that had expired. But he said that given what they were testing for, the time lag probably did not affect the outcome and, if anything, would have shown less contamination because over time such chemicals diminish.

“Technically, the samples weren’t valid,” Yoxtheimer said. “But it probably didn’t affect the quality.”

More troubling to Yoxtheimer is how little data there is overall about fracturing chemicals. EPA said financial constraints prevented drilling more than two deep monitoring wells into the Wind River Aquifer.

“That’s a very limited data set,” he said. “It’s not a data set you can draw large conclusions from.”

EnCana wants fracking expert on EPA’s Pavillion review panel

This week EnCana Oil & Gas USA continued to criticize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s implication of hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — in the Pavillion groundwater pollution investigation and for how EPA has carried out the investigation, most recently questioning the pending independent peer review process for EPA’s Pavillion “draft report.”

EnCana spokesman Doug Hock told WyoFile today that the company is unsure which classification EPA will apply to the draft report, but EnCana is asking that EPA conduct a “Highly Influential Scientific Assessment” peer review, which the company considers to be the most thorough.

EnCana is also concerned that the independent peer review panel of experts may be lacking, and should include experts in the disciplines of “petroleum engineering; Wind River geology and hydrology; geophysics; hydraulic fracturing; geochemistry (including isotopic chemistry); analytical chemistry; microbiology; cement bonding and logging; sample collection quality assurance and quality control; monitoring well design, construction and sampling; and, water well design construction and maintenance.”

“We remain very concerned by the short list of primary disciplines that the EPA identified in its Peer Review Plan,” EnCana Oil & Gas USA president Jeff E. Wojahn wrote in a January 10 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

On Friday, EnCana asked EPA to suspend  the draft report public comment period that began December 14 and is scheduled to close January 27. Hock explained that EnCana filed a Freedom of Information Act with EPA in December asking for a large volume of data that EnCana officials believe EPA has not made public.

“Our concern is they (EPA) haven’t responded to the Freedom of Information Act request, and the clock is ticking,” Hock told WyoFile today, referring to the current public comment period.

EnCana, along with Wyoming’s governor and the state’s top regulatory officials, have sharply criticized EPA and its draft report of the Pavillion groundwater investigation ever since it was released on December 8. In a press release accompanying the report, EPA stated, “The draft report indicates that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing.”

EnCana and state officials have said the EPA’s sampling events were too few to draw any conclusions, and noted that some “blank” control samples turned up contaminated. They also complained that the two water monitoring wells drilled at the direction of EPA were sunk awfully close to the actual petroleum production zone, potentially fouling the integrity of the sampling.

Check back later for a full report.

Related stories:

— EnCana to EPA: Stop public comment on Pavillion fracking report

 — EPA Pavillion report stokes fire over fracking

— Find the source in Pavillion

— EPA finds compound used in fracking in Wyoming aquifer

— One man’s mystery leads to backlash against fracking

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

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EnCana to EPA: Stop public comment on Pavillion fracking report

EnCana Oil & Gas USA continues its criticism of an Environmental Protection Agency report implicating hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — as a likely contributor to polluted drinking water in Pavillion, Wyo.

On Friday, EnCana sent a letter to Paul Anastas, assistant administrator at EPA’s Office of Research & Development, complaining that the agency is moving too quickly. The Calgary-based company wants Anastas to suspend the “draft report” public comment period that began December 14 and is scheduled to close January 27.

The Federal Register notice that initiated the public comment period wasn’t clear on the topics and questions under consideration, according to EnCana. In addition, the company claims that EPA is withholding data used to back up its analysis and conclusions in the draft report, and says that that information is critical to the public comment process.

EnCana spokesman Doug Hock said the company has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain sampling and analysis data it believes is being withheld by EPA.

Jeffrey Locker stands next to a natural gas well behind his home near Pavillion. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

“Encana does not believe the data currently available establish a connection between hydraulic fracturing and chronic, water palatability concerns in Pavillion Field. There are serious issues with the EPA’s well construction methods, sampling techniques and data analysis,” EnCana’s vice president of North Rockies Business Unit, John Schopp, wrote in the January 6 letter.

EPA’s “draft report” of the Pavillion groundwater investigation was made public December 8, intensifying the debate over the safety of fracking — the practice of pumping water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to bust open deep oil- and gas-bearing rock in the production of petrol fuels. It could be the first documented case of drinking water polluted by fracking, a development likely to fuel opposition to the practice and increase the potential for more regulatory oversight of fracking.

But EnCana is facing sharp criticism itself. A spokesman for the Wyoming Outdoor Council said EnCana’s claim that EPA is withholding information is off-base.

“That complaint takes a lot of gall considering that Encana has absolutely refused to release the chemicals they’ve used in hydraulic fracturing in the Pavillion field for the last eight years. If Encana would have provided that data it would have made this investigation a whole lot easier,” Wyoming Outdoor Council spokesman Steve Jones said in a prepared statement on Monday.

EPA’s 121-page draft report of the Pavillion groundwater investigation can be found at this web site.

Jones also took offense to EnCana’s characterization of polluted drinking water as a matter of “palatability.” He noted that EPA’s ongoing testing has found drinking water wells contain cancer-causing benzene, methane, diesel- and gasoline compounds — compounds commonly associated with chemicals used in fracking.

Based on the pollutants found in the water, several Pavillion area residents were advised by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in the fall of 2010 to not drink or cook with their well water, and to use ventilation while showering because of the water’s methane content.

“I think it’s an insult to the people of Pavillion, as well as a gross inaccuracy, to describe their concerns about their drinking water in terms of ‘palatability.’ As if it were an aesthetic question,” Jones said. “Their water has been poisoned and is dangerous to drink. It doesn’t just taste bad. It’s ruined. If they drank it it would make them sick. It’s time Encana acknowledged that.”

EnCana has been paying for commercial drinking water services to several Pavillion area residents as a temporary alternative.

EnCana bought the Pavillion natural gas field in 2004 and conducted drilling and hydraulic fracturing activities, which residents suspect fouled several drinking water wells in the rural farming community. Residents convinced EPA’s Region 8 office to investigate after years of unsatisfactory efforts by EnCana and the state of Wyoming to look into the matter.

EPA officials have said they are not commenting on the Pavillion case while the public comment period is underway.

Related stories:

 — EPA Pavillion report stokes fire over fracking

— Find the source in Pavillion

— EPA finds compound used in fracking in Wyoming aquifer

— One man’s mystery leads to backlash against fracking

Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

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If you enjoyed this article and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.

Two worker advocacy groups say that, for 10 years, Wyoming and industry leaders have failed to take the carnage of workplace fatalities seriously, and they’re urging the state to use its “legal power and moral authority” to force immediate changes on the ground.

“It’s high time that state government and the Legislature quit playing games with the lives of workers in Wyoming,” Wyoming State AFL-CIO executive secretary Kim Floyd said in a prepared statement on Friday.

“Eight years of being worse or second-worst in death-on-the-job is proof that there’s a problem in Wyoming that needs to be remedied,” Floyd added. “They need to step up to the plate.”

Wyoming AFL-CIO and the Spence Association For Employee Rights (SAFER) issued the joint press release in reaction to a recent report by Wyoming’s occupational epidemiologist Timothy Ryan. After 16 months on the job, Ryan submitted a 9-page “interoffice memorandum” to Gov. Matt Mead on December 19 detailing his analysis of Wyoming’s workplace fatality data. Ryan then resigned to take a job with a safety consultant in Cheyenne.

Ryan has declined to comment since his resignation.

According to the report, one Wyoming worker was killed on the job every 10 days for the past 10 years. On a per-worker basis, no other state in the nation killed more workers for a nine-year period. In 2007, the Cowboy State’s workplace fatality rate was 17.1 per 100,000 workers — more than four times the national average.

In this 2009 photo, Ensign driller Bruce Day operates an "iron derrick hand" and other automated equipment designed to make drilling safer. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

The reason for this persistent tragedy? “Safety occurs as an afterthought,” Ryan wrote in the report.

Ryan was hired by the state in 2010 to fill-in the many missing gaps in workplace fatality data, to determine root causes, and recommend a strategy to emulate Alaska’s successful effort in addressing its workplace fatality problem. After analyzing 17 years of occupational fatality data and speaking with “hundreds” of employees in the state, Ryan said the underlying cause of Wyoming’s apparent lack of a “culture of safety” boiled down to four points:

— There is a breakdown in communication between the upper management, supervisors, and employees regarding safety.

— “Often the safety training that we receive is not enforced on the worksite.”

— Employees are told to “get the job done” and safety protocol and rules are not enforced, resulting in injuries and fatalities.

— On any one job-site, there can be a wide range in the safety standards.

And Ryan’s recommendations:

— Organize and develop continuity of ongoing efforts.

— Develop data monitoring system for the collection and timely analysis of occupational data.

— Promote OSHA courtesy inspections.

— Support efforts by industry to develop, monitor and enforce safety standards and practices.

Based on Wyoming’s past performance, families could expect to see nearly three dozen workers killed this year. Yet neither Gov. Mead or the Legislature have announced plans for any immediate action. And that has drawn the ire of worker advocates.

“Another year has passed but Dr. Ryan’s report offers only more of the same palliatives, calling for continuing data collection and monitoring, along with more encouragement of industry efforts to reform itself – efforts that industry itself admits have failed,” Wyoming AFL-CIO and SAFER wrote in the joint press release.

One of Ryan’s recommendations is to encourage more companies to take advantage of free “courtesy inspections” provided by the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration — a program that essentially promises employers they will not be issued citations for violations. Only 2 percent of Wyoming’s employers take part in the program each year, yet even at that rate Wyoming OSHA is so under-staffed that it takes several months to respond to a request for a courtesy inspection.

J.D. Danni of Wyoming OSHA told WyoFile that his agency cannot currently meet Ryan’s recommendation to provide courtesy inspections in a more timely manner. However, Wyoming Department of Workforce Services director Joan Evans added that if Gov. Mead determines that more courtesy inspections are a priority, the state would re-arrange resources to accomplish the goal.

Still, there are eight OSHA inspectors in Wyoming, giving the agency an inspection rate capability of just one onsite inspection every 60 years.

Worker advocates say a weak OSHA presence is just one example of Wyoming’s persistent failure to ensure safe workplaces.

“That Wyoming lacks a strong culture of safety should be obvious to anybody familiar with our State’s abhorrent workplace safety record,” Mark Aronowitz, lead attorney for the Spence Association For Employee Rights, said in a prepared statement.

“What we urgently need is a renewed commitment to safety with on-the-ground changes, from the highest levels of our state government down to individual work sites,” Aronowitz added.

Wyoming AFL-CIO and the Spence Association For Employee Rights said they will also send letters to lawmakers and to Gov. Mead urging them to implement four recommendations:

— Empower OSHA, enabling it to hire more inspectors to not only increase courtesy inspections, but to conduct both scheduled and surprise inspections and subsequently fine and penalize companies violating safety laws. Mandatory inspections should be required following any accident requiring hospitalization;

— Direct OSHA to determine why Wyoming mines, where the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) regulates safety, have significantly better safety records than other hazardous industries;

— Increase penalties and fines for employers and employees who discourage reporting of injuries to avoid increases in Workers Compensation premiums, to protect safety bonuses, or for any other reason;

— Make company injury records public. MSHA does this. General contractors, worksite owners, and workers, especially those working in ultra and extra hazardous industries, deserve to know whether their sub-contractors, independent contractors, and employers have instilled or rejected a culture of safety.

As for the persistency of the problem, Aronowitz told WyoFile in a phone interview, “Either there’s been a lack of imagination or lack of a sense of urgency at almost all levels of the public and private sector. We’ve spent years with interim studies, a workplace task force, WOGISA (a volunteer industry safety group), seatbelt legislation, and I don’t know if a single meaningful thing has happened in Wyoming workplaces.”

More than a year ago, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance (WOGISA) formed in recognition of high workplace fatality rates and has worked to promote “best practices.” Earlier this year, the group formally allied with Wyoming OSHA to help in the effort.

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile — click to enlarge)

But state lawmakers and the Dave Freudenthal administration (2002-2010), and now Gov. Matt Mead, have remained reluctant to take significant action beyond these cooperative efforts between regulators and employers. In October, Gov. Mead wrote a letter to WOGISA leaders promising that stepped up enforcement and stiffer penalties are not on the table.

“There are many ways to approach the problem: laws can be passed, rules can be written, fines can be levied. I remain unconvinced that these are the best ways to enhance a culture of leadership and safety. I say this because we don’t yet fully understand the problem,” Mead wrote. “I believe we should focus on the prevention and awareness side before we get heavy handed.”

This week, Mead issued this response to Ryan’s report; “These recommendations are a first step on the path to making every workplace safer. They do not provide a solution but show that some systemic changes need to be made.”

WOGISA communications director Bonnie Foster told WyoFile that she’s not sure whether the industry’s voluntary efforts so far will prevent any workplace fatalities in the coming year. But, she said, the group will push for more buy-in from employees, and not just company safety managers. She also said that of the 600 WOGISA members, only a handful are big oil and gas operators. She said the group needs more participation from big companies like ExxonMobile, BP and Shell.

“We’re missing a lot of the operators and some of the small mom-and-pops,” said Foster. “We need to get more operators and we need to get more employees to stand up and say ‘stop it.’”

RELATED STORIES:

Report: Wyoming lacks ‘culture of safety’ January 3, 2012

Official studying Wyoming’s workplace fatality problem resigns, December 20, 2011

Mead declares carrot over stick in workplace fatalities, October 14, 2011

Oil and gas leaders seek to stem deaths on the job, July 14, 2011

Deadly Workplaces; Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate still ranks among worst in the nation, July 12, 2011

Even toothless safety alliance is improvement, June 16, 2011

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

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State Occupational Epidemiologist Timothy Ryan, the man hired a little more than a year ago to analyze Wyoming’s long-standing workplace fatality problem, has resigned to take a job “in the private sector,” according Renny MacKay, spokesman for Gov. Matt Mead.

Ryan declined to comment on his resignation, and Mead was unavailable for comment. MacKay indicated that the state would seek a replacement for Ryan and that the position would be moved from the governor’s office to the Department of Workforce Services.

Ryan submitted his resignation just before the Christmas holiday, about the same time he submitted to the governor his first formal set of recommendations for reducing the rate at which Wyoming workers are killed on the job. For the past 10 years Wyoming’s workplace fatality rate has been either the worst or among the worst in the nation. Workplace fatalities peaked in 2007 at 17 per 100,000 workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Dustin Bleizeffer

Ryan had said he’d deliver his recommendations to the governor by the end of October, and indicated that they would not include any proposed legislation, such as tougher seatbelt laws or stiffer penalties for violations leading to a workplace death.

MacKay said the governor’s office will release Ryan’s recommendations to the public on Tuesday (Jan. 3), the same day Gov. Mead will have a chance to review them for the first time.

“We don’t have any comments yet, from the governor on it,” MacKay told WyoFile this week, adding that Mead is unavailable until Tuesday.

Ryan was hired in late 2010 at the recommendation of a statewide task force after it found there were major gaps in data related workplace fatalities. His position was funded for two years, and was based in the governor’s office.

Part of Ryan’s charge, based on the task force’s recommendations, was to compile a database of workplace fatality information for the primary purpose of analysis. He gathered data from dozens of entities that don’t commonly share information related to workplace fatalities, such as sheriffs’ offices and the Wyoming Department of Transportation. He also wrangled with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for its resistance to provide state-specific data.

This rig was drilling a horizontal oil well near the Black Thunder mine in southern Campbell County in the summer of 2011. (Dustin Bleizeffer/WyoFile - click to enlarge)

Ryan worked closely with the Wyoming Oil and Gas Industry Safety Alliance (WOGISA), which formally partnered with the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this year to implement “best practices.” While the common goal among the groups is to share best practices and reduce workplace fatalities and injuries, they have also shared the same goal of not placing any extra liability on employers, even for their own proven negligence.

WOGISA organizer Bonnie Foster told WyoFile this week that Ryan has been a tremendous resource for the group and its efforts.

“I was surprised, and also very disappointed (at news of his departure) because I personally really like him and I know he’s been trying to work at this … and I know it’s been an uphill battle,” Foster said, referring to getting information from entities that resist.

Foster said her group is eager to see Ryan’s recommendations as soon as possible, because WOGISA meets on January 10 in Casper to plan its next moves.

In October, Ryan shared some of his data and analysis with WOGISA and other members of the public. He found that from 2001 to 2008, there were 62 workplace fatalities in Wyoming’s oil and gas industry alone, plus three more fatalities specifically related to highway transportation in the industry. That’s an average of one worker killed every 45 days — just in oil and gas.

Ryan had said 52 percent of those fatalities occurred on drilling rig locations (most the result of a worker falling, or being hit, crushed or entangled). In 98 percent of the falls, there was no fall safety equipment in use. Driver fatigue and not wearing seatbelts was prevalent and deadly in Wyoming’s oil and gas industry during the from 2001 to 2008 period — the most recent data available.

Fatigue was specifically cited as the cause for deadly vehicle accidents in the oil and gas industry in more than 70 percent of the cases. Only 4 percent of deadly oil and gas vehicle accidents were attributed to weather. “Weather is not a major issue in the (on-the-job) motor vehicle fatalities,” said Ryan.

— Contact Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin@wyofile.com.

REPUBLISH THIS STORY: For details on how you can republish this story or other WyoFile content for free, click here.

— If you enjoyed this article and would like to see more quality Wyoming journalism, please consider supporting WyoFile: a non-partisan, non-profit news organization dedicated to in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy.