Not In My Backyard

‘Not In My Backyard’

Near Bolivar a couple weeks ago, a natural-gas-well explosion resulted in the death of young man who was painting the structure.

The gas storage tank blew 100 feet in the air and landed some 125 yards away from the well.

The storage tank landed in a ball of flames across the street from a neighborhood of homes. The flames from the explosion rose hundreds of feet in the air.

Elected officials and industry executives were quick to point out that this was a natural-gas well that was drilled in the mid-1980s.

It was a vertical well and not a more modern horizontal well like the ones that are being drilled currently all throughout Eastern Ohio.

For those familiar with the industry, this was a “Clinton” well. These are wells that are all around us and are drilled from 4,000-7,000 feet into the earth into the Clinton sandstone formation.

The well in Bolivar was of an older generation, and the industry was quick to point out that wells drilled today may have superior standards of safety. This is because of additional cement casings of vertical piping in each well.

However, we do not have the benefit of looking 30-some years into the future and determining if these standards will be adequate going forward.

For this reason, the Bolivar incident does bring to mind two major concerns:

The first is safe placement of well heads. The second is their long-term care and maintenance.

No matter what safety records are touted, the explosion near Bolivar proves that major explosions can happen. For this reason, every well head placed near people is a potential risk.

In my own neighborhood, along Shannon Road in Girard, there is a Clinton well placed about 100 feet from a large apartment complex. At Girard High School, there is a well placed no more than 100 feet from houses and potentially that close to the school.

When I was on city council in Girard, it voted to place a well roughly 50 feet from a baseball field in Liberty Park. The Mathews School District is discussing the placement of wells on its properties and is touting the financial benefits of doing so.

A park in the village of McDonald has these wells very close to their baseball field. The village of Poland is debating whether to put oil and gas wells at their cemetery property.

It is clear that all of these well placements were done for economic reasons. The wells help fund the activity and infrastructure on the surface properties.

Initially, these wells bring upfront money from signing bonuses.

Then the wells, if successful, bring royalties over time.

Once the wells get older and produce less, will they be properly cared for? Will incidents like the one in Bolivar occur?

These are places that involve the safety of our children. They are near schools, restaurants, offices and parks.

In addition, if these kinds of explosive accidents happen more regularly, will the liability insurance on these properties increase the overall cost of their operating expenses?

From the industry’s point of view, this will most likely be labeled as yet another “Not In My Backyard” gripe.

They would likely prefer these questions not be asked until after they have drained the last drop of oil from our region. I hope they are asked now, instead.