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This article appeared in the July, 2006 issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine
Hydrocarbon Pollution: This Insidious Murderer
Could Kill the Au Sable and Manistee Rivers
By Capt. Tony Petrella
Two of the finest trout streams in America are in danger of being destroyed by hydrocarbons that have been leaking into the aquifer for 10 years, perhaps even longer.
The Au Sable River and the Manistee River both begin in Michigan’s northern highlands, where their clear, cold headwaters are only about six miles apart. Now, both could die because of a deadly mix of chemicals nicknamed BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) spewing from five different sources at a gas and oil complex called Hayes 22, operated by Merit Energy in Otsego County.
Meanwhile, another danger to the Manistee River comes from a natural gas Central Production Facility (CPF) called Hayes 29, which is 2 ½ miles southwest of Hayes 22. At Hayes 29, owned by Quicksilver Resources of Houston, chloride is leaching into the aquifer less than one-quarter mile from Frenchman’s Creek, the main headwater tributary to the Manistee, from three different sources.
Of course, officials at Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality contend that both issues are under control and that the cleanup and treatment will prevent the complete destruction of insect life and trout populations in both rivers. But this story of indifference and incompetence goes back more than a decade. Not even the people within Michigan’s governmental alphabet soup of regulators really know for certain when it all began.
It is, however, a matter of record that Shell Western Exploration & Production, Inc. (SWEPI) reported a spill to Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality in 2001.
“They reported the spill to us as not very big,” says Rick Henderson, of MDEQ’s geological division. “But it rapidly became evident that it was more than what they thought because of leaks they never knew about. They ended up finding five sources, including pinhole leaks in a 1,500-barrel tank, a leaking vapor recovery line, and a blowdown pit made of concrete that allowed contaminants to seep through, just like spilled gasoline seeps into the concrete when you’re filling your car. Concrete is very porous, but they didn’t realize that.”
Since that initial discovery, SWEPI transferred ownership of the facility to Merit Energy, which now is responsible for the cleanup.
As of mid-January, the toxic plume has spread to 4,000 feet long and nearly 1,000 feet wide, and is creeping toward the Manistee River at the rate of six inches per day. It already has contaminated two residential drinking-water wells, forcing the properties’ condemnation as uninhabitable. Rather than allow that news to “go public,” SWEPI quietly bought out the property owners in 2003.
Merit’s permit application in March 2005 was granted by Rebecca Woodcock of the MDEQ without any questions and without MDEQ conducting any tests. Merit’s plan calls for treating the water with a process known as “air stripping”, then piping 1.15 million gallons per day 1.3 miles over state land into a presently dry section of Kolka Creek.
Further “downstream” Kolka Creek becomes “liquid” and flows into Lynn Lake and ultimately the Au Sable. Unfortunately, Merit Energy has not conducted any environmental impact studies on Kolka Creek, Lynn Lake, the AuSable River, or the surrounding wetlands.
When Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources field personnel were initially contacted to get approval for the pipeline to cross state land, everything blew up in a public relations bombshell. Anglers and non-anglers alike were outraged.
Henderson now says that isn’t really what they (Merit and MDEQ) meant. He now claims that “we’ll have a system something like a septic pipe with holes in it that will let the water distribute through the ground over a long distance. It’ll actually help improve the vegetation.
“Air-stripping completely removes BTEX from the water,” Henderson insists. “The air goes through a three-stage filter and is free of hydrocarbons. I hope to have it in place by spring. People get so emotional about these things.”
Indeed they do. The Anglers of the Au Sable, along with Jeff and Janney Simpson, filed for a Contested Case Hearing to block Merit from piping the water into the AuSable watershed.
“Our family has owned the property that surrounds Lynn Lake since 1916,” Janey Simpson said. “I don’t want my grandkids swimming in BTEX.” That hearing was held January 11, 2006, and scored at least one major—if perhaps only temporary—victory.
Until then, DEQ had refused to provide notification to the litigants prior to pumping water. But the Administrative Law Judge insisted that DEQ must abide by a 60-day notification period.
“There’s no timetable for future hearings,” according to Calvin (Rusty) Gates, Jr., president of Anglers of The AuSable. “But we’ve hired Jim Olson out of Traverse City as our legal counsel. He’ll be the one who will handle our case when it goes to Circuit Court. And it will go to court.”
“It’s unfortunate that people have been fighting this proposal,” Henderson says. “With air stripping, this water will be drinkable according to legally established criterion for toxicology.”
It’s been suggested that if the treated water actually will be drinkable, Merit Energy should bottle it and sell it for a profit. Inevitably, that proposal brings blank stares and nervous titters of laughter from MDEQ and gas company executives.
So, what really are the alternatives to air-stripping and transferring “treated” water from one watershed to another? There are several, but perhaps the best utilizes an infiltration pond. That method uses air-stripping, but then the clean water is injected back into the aquifer, where it mixes with more contaminated water, and is stripped again repeatedly until all traces of contamination is gone.
The upside is that everything is kept on site, so that if there are equipment breakdowns or any other sort of failure everything remains contained and contaminated water can’t pour into clean river water.
The downside? It’s more costly for Merit Energy.
MDEQ and MDNR are adamant, however. “Pumping the water into Kolka Creek is the decision that’s been made and the decision that will stand,” Henderson says.
At least until The Anglers, and the Simpsons get into court. And Anglers president Calvin Gates, Jr., is equally adamant that “we’re going to end up in front of a judge.
“The only reason they (Merit) want to do this option is based on expense,” Gates says. “How many millions of dollars have they made here in northern Michigan? They should do the right thing, not the cheapest thing. This has been going on for a long time.”
Which brings us to the relatively new issue involving chloride contamination at Quicksilver’s Hayes 29 CPF.
“There were two problems,” Henderson says. “There initially was a leak in a heat treater. When they were taking care of that, there was a leak in a three-inch line. The contamination is still confined within the facility. Steps are being taken to ensure that chloride won’t migrate into Frenchman’s Creek or the Manistee River.”
But another pipeline rupture that was discovered on property owned by Ken Borton has caused additional groundwater contamination. As of January 12, 2006, 1,370 cubic feet of contaminated soil had been trucked away. With plenty more to follow.
Quicksilver has long been considered unresponsive by environmentalists and some of the property owners who live in and around Wilderness Valley, where both Hayes 22 and Hayes 29 are located. Intolerable noise levels from Hayes 29 have for more than 10 years brought a storm of complaints, but have failed to stir Quicksilver, or its predecessor, Mercury Exploration, to effective remedial action.
Which is ironic, considering there is another issue involving a proposal that the Michigan Oil & Gas Association (MOGA) calls “Twinning.” MOGA filed a Petition with MDEQ last year requesting a special exemption to a 1995 Order that limits natural gas wells to one every 80 acres. That was concomitant with a court ruling by Judge Carolyn Stell which prohibits drillers from trenching through creeks and rivers in 22 northern Michigan counties (which happened to the Manistee near its headwaters on several occasions).
Since natural gas prices have spiked right along with petroleum, MOGA now wants to cash in on a layer of gas that had been identified prior to the black-gold rush in Michigan in the late 1980s. Tax credits spurred operators to drop wells every 40 acres, which was permissible at that time, and nearly 6,000 wells were drilled in Otsego and Montmorency counties within five years.
But because the deeper layer of gas was larger and more profitable, the upper layer was ignored. Now, after winning a Contested Case Hearing before Administrative Law Judge Richard A. Patterson in Gaylord, Otsego County’s seat, MOGA will “twin” many of those sites with a second, shallower well.
At the Hearing last fall, opponents cited first, the existing regulation prohibiting the creation of more than 5,000 thousand new wells within the 80-acre spacing units—which is what the Petition originally asked for. MOGA ultimately did agree to utilize as many of the existing footpads as possible, along with reducing the number of wells.
But opponents still point to the noise created by chainsaws, bulldozers, heavy trucks, pipeline construction, and gasoline-powered generators reverberating through the forest and along the rivers just like they did more than 10 years ago. It would be a one-two knockout punch to the jaws of hunters, anglers, canoeists, hikers and just about anyone else who enjoys the outdoors.
Finally, bringing us full circle, is the potential for more disasters such as the Au Sable River and Manistee River presently are facing. MDEQ and MDNR already claim they’re too financially strapped to fund the manpower required for complete oversight. So adding at least another thousand wells, plus hundreds of miles of pipelines and more production facilities to police, is sheer folly of the highest magnitude.
It’s particularly interesting to note that the order limiting spacing to 80 acres was signed by then-Assistant Supervisor of Wells R. Thomas Segall. His rationale was that any closer spacing would constitute “waste.”
Speaking of “waste,” at least six more property owners in Wilderness Valley have drinking wells directly in the path of the plume of contamination. Plus the latest finding of contamination on Borton’s property. One can only imagine their definition of “waste” if their property is rendered worthless.
Of course, there’s also that other rather pressing issue. The potential death of the Au Sable and Manistee rivers is beyond comprehension. Unless, I guess, if you live in Houston. |
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