Another less biased source for information on best practices is Penn State's Marcellus Electronic Field Guide which provides information on ecological concepts, pre-development issues, invasive plant management, restoration and goals, revegetation, restoring and creating wildlife habitat, sample leases looking at natural resource considerations, and best management practices.  There is also an area for people to subscribe to a forum on various issues.  A picture gallery is provided to demonstrate what different elements of drilling infrastructure and landscape change look like, and users may upload their own photos as well.

http://www.marcellusfieldguide.org/

With regards to Natural Gas Flaring and Venting, the Energy Information Adminstration published  best practice guidelines in 2004.

NATURAL GAS FLARING AND VENTING: Opportunities to Improve Data and Reduce Emissions

The drilling industry and policymakers may no longer be able to claim that "there has never been a single proven case of ground water pollution associated with hydraulic fracturing."

The EPA has released a preliminary report documenting aquaifer contamination and points a finger towards gas production practices. Here's the EPA press release, links to the report and related coverage.

EPA Releases Draft Findings of Pavillion, Wyoming Ground Water Investigation for Public Comment and Independent Scientific Review
Release Date: 12/08/2011 Contact Information: EPA HQ: Larry Jackson, 202-564-0236, jackson.larry@epa.gov; EPA Region 8: Richard Mylott, 303-312-6654, mylott.richard@epa.gov

(Denver, Colo.–December 8, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a draft analysis of data from its Pavillion, Wyoming ground water investigation. At the request of Pavillion residents, EPA began investigating water quality concerns in private drinking water wells three years ago. Since that time, in conjunction with the state of Wyoming, the local community, and the owner of the gas field, Encana, EPA has been working to assess ground water quality and identify potential sources of contamination.

EPA constructed two deep monitoring wells to sample water in the aquifer. The draft report indicates that ground water in the aquifer contains compounds likely associated with gas production practices, including hydraulic fracturing. EPA also re-tested private and public drinking water wells in the community. The samples were consistent with chemicals identified in earlier EPA results released in 2010 and are generally below established health and safety standards. To ensure a transparent and rigorous analysis, EPA is releasing these findings for public comment and will submit them to an independent scientific review panel. The draft findings announced today are specific to Pavillion, where the fracturing is taking place in and below the drinking water aquifer and in close proximity to drinking water wells – production conditions different from those in many other areas of the country.

Natural gas plays a key role in our nation’s clean energy future and the Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that the development of this vital resource occurs safely and responsibly. At the direction of Congress, and separate from this ground water investigation, EPA has begun a national study on the potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources.

“EPA’s highest priority remains ensuring that Pavillion residents have access to safe drinking water,” said Jim Martin, EPA’s regional administrator in Denver. “We will continue to work cooperatively with the State, Tribes, Encana and the community to secure long-term drinking water solutions. We look forward to having these findings in the draft report informed by a transparent and public review process. In consultation with the Tribes, EPA will also work with the State on additional investigation of the Pavillion field.”

Findings in the Two Deep Water Monitoring Wells:
EPA’s analysis of samples taken from the Agency’s deep monitoring wells in the aquifer indicates detection of synthetic chemicals, like glycols and alcohols consistent with gas production and hydraulic fracturing fluids, benzene concentrations well above Safe Drinking Water Act standards and high methane levels. Given the area’s complex geology and the proximity of drinking water wells to ground water contamination, EPA is concerned about the movement of contaminants within the aquifer and the safety of drinking water wells over time.

Findings in the Private and Public Drinking Water Wells:
EPA also updated its sampling of Pavillion area drinking water wells. Chemicals detected in the most recent samples are consistent with those identified in earlier EPA samples and include methane, other petroleum hydrocarbons and other chemical compounds. The presence of these compounds is consistent with migration from areas of gas production. Detections in drinking water wells are generally below established health and safety standards. In the fall of 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reviewed EPA’s data and recommended that affected well owners take several precautionary steps, including using alternate sources of water for drinking and cooking, and ventilation when showering. Those recommendations remain in place and Encana has been funding the provision of alternate water supplies.

Before issuing the draft report, EPA shared preliminary data with, and obtained feedback from, Wyoming state officials, Encana, Tribes and Pavillion residents. The draft report is available for a 45 day public comment period and a 30 day peer-review process led by a panel of independent scientists.

For more information on EPA's Pavillion groundwater investigation, visit: http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/wy/pavillion/index.html

Related News Coverage
Feds Link Water Contamination to Fracking for the First Time
(ProPublica 12/8/11)
E.P.A. Links Tainted Water in Wyoming to Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas
(NYTimes 12/8/11)
EPA investigators connect fracking to groundwater pollution
(PghTribReview 12/9/11)

This next series of posts hints at the kinds of cumulative impacts that we can expect as the natural gas processing and pipeline infrastructure gets built out -- spills, inadvertent returns, compressor station venting/releases, forest/farm fragmentation.

Pipeline Spills Put Safeguards Under Scrutiny

 (NYTimes 9/28/11)

Texas Eastern Appalachia to Market Expansion (TEAM)

TEAM 2012 Project

• Location: Greene, Fayette, Franklin Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
• Capacity: 200 million cubic feet per day
• Ownership: 100% Spectra Energy
• Project Completion Date: November 2012
• FERC Docket #CP11-67-000

Agreements in place

Spectra Energy, along with Range Resources and Chesapeake Utilities, have executed agreements to deliver up to 190 million cubic feet per day of Marcellus natural supply along our Texas Eastern Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern) system to the Northeast United States by November of 2012. We are happy to be working with these 2 companies and appreciate they recognize that our Texas Eastern system is in place and ready to be efficiently expanded to bring new supply to market.

Proposed Detailed Scope of Work

• Addition of approximately 1.8 miles of 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easement in Greene County, PA west of the Monongahela River.
• Addition of approximately 3.2 miles of 36-inch diameter natural pipeline generally within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easement in Fayette County, PA east of the Monongahela River.
• Replacement of an abandoned 24-inch diameter pipeline with a new 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline for approximately 7.3 miles eastward toward the Heidlersburg Compressor Station in Franklin County, PA. This replacement will generally be within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easement.
• Replacement of an abandoned 24-inch diameter pipeline with a new 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline for approximately 4.00 miles eastward toward the Marietta Compressor Station in Adams County, PA. This replacement will generally be within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern pipeline easemen.
• Replacement of a 24-inch diameter pipeline with a new 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline for approximately 1 mile in Futton and Franklin Counties. This replacement will generally be within or adjacent to the existing Texas Eastern Pipeline easement.
• Addition of approximately 26,000 horsepower (HP) at the existing Bedford Compressor Station and associated work in Bedford County, PA. In addition, 2 existing compressor units will be increased in horsepower by 3,300 HP each. 9 reciprocating will be abandoned in place, retiring 11,880 HP.
• On Jan 25, 2011, we filed an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and Order Approving Abandonment authorizing the installation, construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of its TEAM 2012 Project in FERC Docket No. CP11-67-000. For further information, please see FERC’s pamphlet entitled “An Interstate Natural Gas Pipeline on My Land? What Do I Need to Know?” or visit FERC’s website (www.ferc.gov). You may also review hard copies of our application at the following locations.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spectra-energy-corp-receives-ferc-app...

Visit the U.S. Energy Information Admistration for more maps and information about natural gas pipelines.

Another spill into our region's drinking water sources. And more lame coverage and fact-checking of science-based claims. 

"Bentonite is a form of impure clay that easily absorbs water and is used to facilitate gas and oil well drilling."  Absorb water, is that all the drilling industry uses it for? 

Here's the article.

********

Sure Bentonite clay  is "a non-toxic substance that comes from the earth" -- it is also known as "Haliburton Gel." But how is bentonite being used by the gas drilling industry? 

Bentonite clay is a super absorbant powder/clay substance used in multiple ways -- in drilling mud slurries, to soak up chemical/hydrocarbon spills.  Some say that highly concentrated flowback water and drill cuttings are being treated with bentonite clays which turn this drilling waste into a semi-solid slurry 'frackwater goo'  that can then processed as part of the solid waste stream and sent to landfills. 

According to the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, “drilling fluids or muds are made up of a base fluid (water, diesel or mineral oil, or a synthetic compound); weighting agents (most frequently barite is used); bentonite clay to help remove cuttings from the well and to form a filter cake on the walls of the hole; chrome lignosulfonates and lignites to keep the mud in a fluid state; and various additives that serve specific functions, such as biocides, diesel lubricants and chromate corrosion inhibitors….Drilling muds that circulate through the well and return to the surface may contain dissolved and suspended contaminants including cadmium, arsenic, and metals such as mercury, copper and lead; hydrocarbons; hydrogen sulfide and natural gas, as well as drilling mud additives, many of which contain potentially harmful chemicals (e.g., chromate, barite).” (http://www.earthworksaction.org/pubs/OGAPMarcellusShaleReport-6-12-08.pdf)

  * * *

A little more digging into the incident (see comment below) brings up the industry phrase "Inadvertent Returns" that occur during the HDD drilling of natural gas pipelines which go under streams, wetlands and other kinds of enviromentally sensitive areas where the "cut and cover" trench option is not doable. Seems like they were drilling to place a pipeline under Silver Creek, and these kind of blowout incidents of bentonite clay based slurries are not uncommon.  The acticle for the really curious.

Inadvertent Slurry Returns during Horizontal Directional Drilling: Understanding the Frequency and Causes.

Source: The Earth Institute at Columbia University, Urban Design Lab (Urban Design Research Seminar/2009)

View of Versailles from across the Youghiogheny River during the peak drilling period (from M. E. Johnson, 1929).

Versailles, PA, circa 1920 (Photo courtesy of Mrs. Josephine Cindric).

[ Source ] National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Methane Emissions
Project

The Nature Conservancy Pennsylvania Energy Impacts Assessment Report (2010) Press Release
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/pennsylvania/news/news3...

*Interactive Energy Analysis Map*  See http://maps.tnc.org/paenergy/
Look for existing and projected Marcellus Shale natural gas activity and projected Wind Turbines in your area.

Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of Toxic Chemical Exposure in the United States
The stories of residents of low-income communities across the country who took action when pollution from heavy industry contaminated their towns.

By Steve Lerner 
MIT Press / September 2010