MAHONING VALLEY More gas wells, higher prices go together for now

New technology may have played a role in the drilling.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- While many Valley residents are heated up over the recent price increase for natural gas and questioning the need, given the extra gas well drilling in the area, a state official says the drilling and price increases are necessary.
Nancy Falgiani, Boardman resident and Robinwood Lane Elementary School librarian, has been keeping a close eye on gas wells being drilled in residential neighborhoods in the township for the last 12 years.
Falgiani has stacks of news clippings and correspondence that deal with gas well drilling and any accidents or opposition to the wells. She said the fear of explosion or fire is what made her begin looking into the issue.
"I was always one of those people that felt like drilling for gas was fine, but not in my back yard," she said. "What if there was some large accident or explosion and a child happened to be in the area?"
What she learned: Falgiani stayed in contact with officials and local drilling companies about the issue until she was told that Mahoning County has a wealth of natural gas that needs to be tapped into and that all the drilling would result in lower gas prices for residents.
"I still didn't like the pollution and the noise, but I began to feel guilty when they told me about the pricing," she said. "I thought that maybe I was complaining for no reason at all, but look at what has happened now."
She said she stopped complaining about the drilling until she received her first heating bill this winter. She said there is more drilling now than ever -- but now she also has a high heating bill to deal with. The very incentive that has kept her calm, she said, has now been taken away.
What's increased: Mike McCormick, a geologist with the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management, said Mahoning County has seen a sharp increase in the number of drilling permits being issued. The county saw almost an 80 percent increase in permits from 1999 to 2000.
Here's the situation: According to state records, Mahoning County had 25 permits issued for drilling in 1999. There were 44 permits issued for drilling in 2000. Trumbull County, records show, dropped from 21 permits in 1999 to 16 in 2000.
McCormick said the 1999 numbers for Mahoning County placed the county at seventh for total number of permits issued in the state that year. The 2000 figures, he said, will place the county at least in the top five.
But McCormick said the increase in gas well drilling does not mean prices should automatically decrease. He said Ohio is one of the most gas-consuming states in the country, producing very little of the gas actually consumed in the state.
"What we produce here in Ohio is only about 12 percent of what we consume in the state," he noted.
According to McCormick, consumers have enjoyed lower gas prices over the last several years. The downside to that is those lower prices did not stimulate any exploration, drilling or investment. Now, he said, the increase in prices is making companies explore and dig wells for more natural gas.
Plugging wells: Many have also asked why wells are being plugged or closed off if natural gas is so desperately needed, but McCormick said it is unlikely that any active wells are being plugged. He said when one well is no longer producing, it is likely that the company will salvage the equipment, cap the well and drill elsewhere.
"It is kind of ironic, but plugging increases at the same rate drilling does. They kind of work together," he said. "I guarantee you that no one would be plugging a well today if there is anything in them because of the high prices."
McCormick said higher prices stimulate plugging of old wells, new drilling and getting older wells that were not being used back into operation.
McCormick also said that drilling may have increased because of a relatively new technology called directional drilling -- where the well is drilled straight down at first and then to an angle to reach the gas supply. He said many gas deposits that could not be reached before are now in use because of this technique.
Directional drilling technology has really improved over the last 10 years. "That is one reason Mahoning County has stayed so active," he said.