Bird Mortality in Oil & Gas Fields

oiled bird/ US Fish & Wildlife Service

Pepper Trail may be the only full-time forensic ornithologist. He works for the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, Oregon. On November 3 he visited the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to talk about the sort of work he does.

Trail documents evidence of crimes against birds. That can include anything from smuggling endangered species to trade in feathered craft items. One of the most common kinds of evidence he gets – accounting for a quarter to a third of all his cases – is oiled birds.

These birds often come from oil pits and waste pits located at drilling sites, Trail said. Companies are supposed to make their waste pits inaccessible to birds, but in most cases the their attempts fall far short of the law. Some look like wetlands, with oily water spread over reedy areas, while others are well-defined rectangular ponds. Both attract birds.

Trail doesn’t visit drilling sites, so he can’t say exactly where the birds are coming from or whether the driller is fracking for gas or oil. It’s the job of field investigators to fish dead birds from the oily depths and send them in. Trail’s job is to clean the feathers – tail feathers are best, he says – and look for distinguishing characteristics. So he washes them with solvent, gives them a rinse and then dries them off with a hair-drier.

Waterfowl aren’t the only birds attracted to gas and oil waste pits. Trail has identified 172 species, including mocking bird, barn owl, lark buntings and even roadrunners. “The mortality due to gas and oil pits is in the range of 500,000 to a million every year,” he said. To put that in perspective, the Exxon-Valdez oil spill killed 250,000 to 300,000 birds. Wind turbines account for about 100,000 bird deaths each year.

 “This is some of the most important work we do,” said Trail. “Not because the fines are high, but because we can compel the companies to clean up their pits.”

flags don't adequately protect birds from waste pits

The current strategy of surrounding the pit with chain-link fence or stringing used-car-lot flags across the surface is totally inadequate. “The best way to protect birds is to pump out the pits and inject the fluids into storage tanks that are closed,” said Trail, adding that an alternative would be injecting waste into a geological formation – “if that’s safe.” Securely netting the pond could work, but too often the netting sags into the oil.

You can learn more about minimizing risks to migrating birds at oil and gas sites here.  This was taken from a longer article in the November 10, 2014 issue of Tompkins Weekly

Oil Spill, Pipeline Break in Flood-Ravaged Colorado

Update: as of Sept 20, Colorado reports 22,000-plus gallons of oil spilled.

Oil and gas crews are out and about in Colorado after the flood, and at least 5,250 gallons of oil have spilled from tanks into the South Platte River. Nearly 1900 oil and gas wells have been shut down and hundreds of industry crews are assessing damage. In addition to the tank spill there is one pipeline rupture and other pipelines that have been compromised by the flooding. Read more from yesterday's  Denver Post article.

Meanwhile, some members of Frack Free Colorado went out with their video cams to collect footage of damage to wells and storage sites in their area in Weld County. They note that while getting the footage they developed headaches, burning skin, eyes and throat. The air smelled strongly of chemicals.

17 Ways to Look at Pipeline Spills (with apologies to Wallace Stevens)

photo by resident, Mayflower, Arkansas Mar. 29, 2013

1. From your neighbor's back porch.
Maybe there was a swimming pool, or maybe it was just the swingset... but now it's thousands of gallons of heavy, stinky crude bitumen from Canadian Tar Sands, courtesy of EXXON. "Share this widely," said an email. "Local authorities have denied the media access so few have seen the extent of this spill."
March 29, 2013 - Mayflower, Arkansas

2. Through the eyes of a family of beavers who have sacrificed their home - and their store of spring twigs for noshing - to halt the flow of diesel into Willard Bay. Third spill in three years! March 27, 2013 - Ogden, Utah

3. From small town America - July 27, 2012, Grand Marsh, Wisconsin

4. From the banks of the Yellowstone River three days before celebrating our nation's independence. July 1, 2011 Billings, Montana

5. From a leak along the Keystone... don't worry! It's just a transnational flesh wound.
May 7, 2011 Brampton, North Dakota

6. As the reason for five funerals. February 10, 2011 Allentown, Pennsylvania

7.  A loud and noisy explosion in the middle of the neighborhood. January 18, 2011 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

8. In what used to be a furniture store.  December 29, 2010  Wayne, Michigan

9. From the point of view of a utility worker wondering if he's the next victim. September 28, 2010  Cairo, Georgia

10. As numbers: eight lives lost, 55 homes damaged, and unmeasurable sorrow. Sept 9, 2010 San Bruno, California

11. As yet another call to responders to clean up yet another Enbridge spill... September 9, 2010 Romeoville, Illinois

12. Through the oily mist of an orange and brown geyser. July 27, 2010 Barataria Bay, Louisiana

13. Beneath the surface of one of the largest spills since BP's Earth Day disaster in the Gulf of Mexico just a few short months ago...  July 26, 2010  Kalamazoo River, Michigan

14. As an oil slick on the city's drinking water. July 6, 2010  Justiceberg, Texas

15. While riding a bicycle around the Liberty Park loop. June 11, 2010 Salt Lake City, Utah

16. ooops! And other, less printable comments...  May 25, 2010 Trans-Alaska pipeline

17. As data reported to government statisticians at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration where data are pie-charted and analyzed over three-year and five-year increments.

This very short list does not include:
The March 27, 2013 Minnesota train derailment that leaked tens of thousands of gallons of tar sand oils, the January 2013 barge spills on the Mississippi River, the leaks from storage facilities due to Hurricane Sandy (October 2012) nor the ironic Earth Day blowout of Deepwater Horizon (April 20, 2010). Nor does it include spills, ruptures, explosions, etc in Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia or Africa.

Last year, in the US alone, there were 364 spills from pipelines. This year, as of February 28, there have been 41 reports of spills - 70% of which were caused by failure of materials, welding, or equipment - racking up damage costs of more than $3 million.

Shale Gas Over-hyped, Under-performing

Over-exuberance about the promise of shale gas is overshadowing the falling profitability and declining productivity of shale gas wells. That’s the message Deborah Rogers is bringing to communities scattered across the Marcellus shale region, and she should know – she’s been analyzing productivity of Barnett shale gas wells around her home in Fort Worth, TX.

Rogers, a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch, has served on the Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas since 2008. She became concerned when the numbers didn’t add up: estimates of reserves didn’t match the actual production-generated tax revenues that Fort Worth and neighboring municipal governments received.

When she started digging into the data she learned that less than six percent of Barnett shale wells met “minimum economic thresholds”. The industry claims that natural gas offers a cheap and abundant energy source that will last 100 years. But data from the Barnett shale gas play show a well failure rate that is increasing over time, says Rogers.

Even as companies drill more wells, the amount of gas produced has been declining. She points to audited records from the City of Fort Worth: in 2008 the city took in $50 million in income from wells drilled on city-owned properties. By 2010 the income was $38 million – based on four times as many wells.

Geologists are finding shale gas reserves to be less homogeneous than once thought.

Unfortunately, all those wells bring heavy environmental and health costs to the communities. Air quality data collected by the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) show high levels of  two carcinogens, benzene and formaldehyde. Air tests also measured hydrogen sulfide, a potent neurotoxin, at levels 400 times what is usually found in urban air. TCEQ’s conclusion: gas drilling “contributes more air toxins than all cars, trucks and airplanes in the region combined,” says Rogers.

The gas industry continues to promote the conversion of vehicles and power plants to natural gas, claiming this domestic source of energy will result in a cleaner environment. At the same time they are quietly pursuing an export market, seeking permits to convert import terminals to expert terminals. This is happening just as American companies are looking to bring production back home, says Rogers. The promise of cheaper energy costs has car manufacturers ramping up production of gas-powered vehicles and other manufacturers bringing their factories back to the US.

It’s a squeeze play, Rogers says. “It’s only a business transaction for the companies. Their job is to find, extract and sell minerals to the entity paying the highest price.”

But, hey – if you don’t believe her analysis you just have to look at the recent news from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). On January 23 the agencylowered its estimates of recoverable shale gas reserves in the US and slashed their estimate of  Marcellus reserves by 66 percent. That same day Chesapeake announced that they are cutting drilling andproduction of gas – due to low prices. 

You can read more about what Rogers said here.

EPA Hearings: Air Pollution Standards for Oil and Gas Production

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold three public hearings in September on the agency’s proposed standards to reduce air pollution from oil and gas drilling operations.  The proposed standards would rely on cost-effective, existing technologies and practices to reduce pollution that contributes to smog and can cause cancer, while supporting the administration’s priority of continuing to expand safe and responsible domestic oil and natural gas production.  The first hearing will be held in Pittsburgh on September 27. The other hearings will be in Denver, Colorado and Arlington, Texas.  

Pittsburgh Hearing: 9 am - 8 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 27

David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Rooms 315-316

1000 Ft. Duquesne Blvd.

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Denver Hearing: 9 am-8 pm, Wed. Sept. 28

Colorado Convention Center, Room 207

700 14th Street

Denver, Colorado 80202

Arlington Hearing: 9 am - 8 pm, Sept. 29

Arlington Municipal Building in the City Council Chambers

101 W. Abram Street

Arlington, Texas 76010

To register to speak at a specific time at any of the hearings, please contact Joan C. Rogers at 919-541-4487 or rogers.joanc@epa.gov. People also may sign up to speak in person on the day of a hearing; however, they may not be given their preferred time slot to speak.

Public comments will be accepted through October 24, 2011. When you submit your comments, identify them by Docket ID number EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0505.

Ways to submit written comments:

• online at the Federal rulemaking portal -  www.regulations.gov
• by email to A-and-R-Docket@epamail.epa.gov
• by FAX at 202-566-9744
• by postal service (include 2 copies) to: Docket ID number EPA-HQ-OAR-2010-0505, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460

If you mail comments, please mail an additional copy to: The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attn.: Desk Officer for EPA, 725 17th St. NW, Washington, DC  20503

EPA must issue a final rule by Feb. 28, 2012. More information at http://epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/

You can read the 106-page announcement of the rules in the Federal Registry at

 http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-23/pdf/2011-19899.pdf      

For further information contact Bruce Moore at 919-541-5460 or by email at moore.bruce@epa.gov