Oil and Gas at Your Door? (2005 Edition) - Earthworks

STAGES OF OIL & GAS DEVELOPMENT
to the weather. There should be secondary containment in the case of spills. All drums
and containers should be kept closed except when in use. It is very important that all
chemical and material containers always be properly labeled so that their contents may
be identified at any time. Proper storage and labeling of containers allows quick and
easy identification and classification of released chemical or material in the event of a
leak or rupture. In some instances, that could save hundreds of dollars in soil sampling
and laboratory analysis costs.
• Recycling. For example, the cost of closing a drilling site is increased if waste drilling
fluid in a reserve pit must be dewatered and/or stabilized prior to closure. An alternative
is to recycle or reuse the waste drilling fluid, e.g., in another drilling project. One
company designed a multi-well drilling project where the same drilling fluid was used
for drilling each successive well. The result was significant cost savings and greatly
reduced waste management concerns. Another cost effective alternative for reuse of
waste drilling fluid is in plugging or spudding of other wells.
ALTERNATIVES USED DURING THE PRODUCTION PHASE
1. Minimizing Surface Disturbance
• Well pads are often much larger than they need to be—sometimes exceeding several
acres in size. At Ted Turner’s Vermejo Park Ranch, however, the well pads are only 0.6
acres. (See Vermejo Park Ranch Coal Bed Methane Project Mineral Extraction
Agreement Summary, in Chapter III).
• After the drilling phase if over, the portion of the drilling pad not needed for oil or gas
production can be reclaimed. This is known as interim reclamation, and it is required
by law in many states. Unfortunately, lack of enforcement by state agencies means
that interim reclamation does not occur in many jurisdictions.
FIGURE I-41. MINIMIZING SURFACE DISTURBANCE.
Left to right: Poor Practice: no efforts have been made to reduce surface disturbance at this site. Better Practice: this well
site and the road leading to it have been revegetated. The surface owner has 40 additional years of use, and a 40-year
head start on reclamation. Photos by Bob Miller.
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