Cooperation between groups helps set standards for shale gas development

Energy firms including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and EQT Corp. have come together with environmental groups including the Group Against Smog and Pollution, the Clean Air Task Force and the Environmental Defense Fund to establish the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). The purpose of the center will be to provide independent, voluntary evaluations and certifications of shale gas developers, including the establishment of standards to limit flaring, maximize water recycling, and reduce the toxicity of injection fluids.

The group has established 15 standards which include:

1. Zero discharge of wastewater until CSSD adopts a standard for treating shale wastewater.
2.  Recycling flowback and produced water for use in drilling and fracturing.
3. Closed loop containment of drilling fluids and flowback water, thereby eliminating the use of pits.
4. Removal of free hydrocarbons from flowback and produced waters before storage, and use of impoundments with double-lined impermeable material and equipped with leak detection.
5. Establishment of an Area of Review before drilling a well, in which the operator must conduct a study of subsurface geology and a corresponding risk analysis.
6. Monitoring of existing water sources to demonstrate that water quality is not impacted by operations.
7. Casing and cement standards that ensure complete isolation of the wellbore from surface waters and aquifers. Chemical constituents of well stimulation fluids must be publicly disclosed; however, a provision in the standard allows a firm to assert trade secret protection to prevent mandatory disclosure of this information.
8. Well pad design that minimizes risk of contamination to water sources, and development of response and notification plans in preparation for a spill or release.
9. Capture for sale of pipeline-quality gas, with certain exceptions. Gas not captured must be flared and not vented.
10. Flaring requirements, including a 98% destruction efficiency of methane, and a prohibition on pit flaring.
11. Establishment of emissions standards for non-road dedicated diesel drilling rig engines and fracturing pump engines.
12. Establishment of emissions standards for compressor engines used in unconventional drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
13. Installation of controls for that achieve at least a 95% reduction in VOC emissions for all individual storage vessels with VOC emissions equal to or greater than 6 tpy.
14. Establishment of standards for various equipment dedicated to unconventional activities, including reciprocating compressors and pneumatic controllers.
15. Compliance deadlines for increased use of lower-emitting trucks to transport fresh or flowback water, limits vehicle idling, and requires use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel.
16. Next on the agenda: to create a system by which the standards will be rated and certification granted.

Source: Fracking Insider