August 3, 2012 Mr. Michael Burton Division of Water Pollution Control Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation 6th Floor, L&C Annex 401 Church Street Nashville, Tennessee 37243-1534 Subject: Comments on the Proposed Rules of the Tennessee Oil and Gas Board

And Notice of Rulemaking Hearing Dear Mr. Burton:

Founded in 1999, the Harpeth River Watershed Association is dedicated to protecting and restoring the State Scenic Harpeth River and clean water in Tennessee. The Harpeth river is one of the most historically and archeologically significant rivers in the state and is a rich and uniquely biodiverse freshwater system. HRWA collaborates with a broad range of federal, state, and local public and private sector partners to implement work that is critical to protecting this vital natural treasure in the greater Nashville region of Middle, TN for the benefit of both the people and the wildlife that reside there.

While the regulations proposed by TDEC represent an admirable first step toward

regulating hydraulic fracturing operations in Tennessee, a number of changes are necessary to make the final regulations specific enough to the varying conditions in the state to protect our streams, groundwater, rural landscape and public health in Tennessee. We fully support those comments already submitted by the Tennessee Clean Water Network, the Tennessee Chapter of the Sierra Club, the League of Women’s Voters- Tennessee, Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), and the Southern Environmental Law Center. The TCWN comments provided TDEC with a line-by-line recommended revision of the proposed regulations that addressed a wide range of environmental issues, including water quality protection, fracturing chemical disclosure, and well-integrity standards. These recommendations are reasonable and supported by: 1) Industry-accepted minimum standards created by membership committees of oil and gas companies within the American Petroleum Institute (API), 2) Other state programs where oil and gas drilling activities are more pronounced than in Tennessee, and 3) Portions of other water and waste regulatory programs within TDEC.

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We believe the combined written comments should be viewed by TDEC as the minimum technical standards necessary to protect human health and the environment. TDEC’s rationale in the Notice for Rulemaking to not use API standards for hydraulic fracking operations in the proposed rules is that those standards are “generic”, are for “worldwide use”, and “do not take into consideration local conditions.” Actually, the use of these industry-accepted standards is the minimum needed and a foundation from which to create more specific rules. In the revised rules prepared by TCWN, the suggested changes in green-colored font, which represent the minimum industry-accepted standards noted in the rules, go beyond the proposed draft rules. Tennessee’s complex and varied statewide landscape and subsurface geology deserve, at a minimum, what API industry representatives use as their minimum standards worldwide. What is protective with deep shale gas in East Tennessee is not protective for the Cumberland Plateau or the Highland Rim.

A recent case study (attached) prepared by Global Environmental, LLC for HRWA clearly illustrates the imminent dangers associated with shallow oil and gas drilling and some of the inadequacies that need to be addressed in the proposed rules. In a specific situation in Williamson County, a well drilled through the Chattanooga shale formation and approximately 450 feet from Brush Creek resulted in crude oil flowing unabated into the creek for at least 5 months. The concentration of benzene (a known human carcinogen) in the groundwater was over 100 times the safe drinking water level, and there were explosive levels of methane in the well for over 3 weeks. The proposed TDEC rules would not have prevented such an environmental impact because, at a minimum, the rules:

1. Do not require that the operator demonstrate that an intact confining layer(s) of rock

exists during the application process and before drilling to ensure that vertical and horizontal migration of contaminants will not occur.

2. Only require a mere 100-foot horizontal separation between an oil and gas well and any stream, even though contaminants can travel hundreds of feet very quickly.

3. Allow oil and gas wells to be drilled in karst geologic settings where conduit, fractured bedrock flow exists and where cemented casings do little to prevent migration from a well.

4. Do not require pre or post-fracture monitoring for oil or gas contaminants in any receiving body of water near a well.

5. Allow shallow wells to be fracked with compressed gas or low volumes of water without ever notifying the general public. The high-pressure air drilling of the well near Brush Creek illustrates the harmful, widespread, and long-lasting effects of drilling with high-pressure gas even when fracking chemicals are not injected.

6. Only require a mere 200-foot separation from an oil or gas well and any water well or water body used for drinking water, irrigation, livestock, or commercial uses.

7. Allow for land application/disposal of salt water and liquid wastes without first requiring a formal assessment of the subsurface geology, depth to groundwater, soil type, or interconnections between the aquifer(s) and the nearest bodies of water or water wells.

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8. Only require a mere 100-foot separation between an oil or gas well and a nearby stream and its arbitrary “high water mark”.

Although the combined written comments do not ask for a ban of oil and gas drilling or

fracking of any type, there is ample reason to consider conditions where a ban is appropriate. TDEC’s official response to the Brush Creek case study1 provides strong justification for a ban in the rules for any natural gas drilling in the Chattanooga Shale west of the Cumberland Plateau. According to the TDEC response to the case study in Williamson County (see attached report), “there are no attempts and there won’t be any attempts to drill and frack in the areas where it (i.e Chattanooga Shale) is shallow”. Further, “because there are no deep layers of solid rock overlying the Chattanooga shale west of the Plateau, there are no volatile hydrocarbons of value confined in the shale to be recovered – whatever was there escaped long ago”. Also, “in the western highland rim areas including the Harpeth River, the shallowest viable producing formation would be the Knox, with a depth of around 1,000 to 1,500 feet”. As a result of those conclusions, the proposed rules need to include a prohibition on any drilling in the Chattanooga Shale west of the Cumberland Plateau because according to TDEC’s information, the formation does not and will not contain gas because a confining layer does not exist. That same confining layer is what is necessary to prevent vertical and horizontal migration of contaminants to prevent contamination of groundwater, streams, and other bodies of water.

In summary, we request that TDEC adopt the revisions to the proposed rules that have been submitted by the Tennessee Clean Water Network, the Sierra Club, the League of Women’s Voters – Tennessee, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), and the Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, include a prohibition on drilling in the Chattanooga Shale west of the Cumberland Plateau, and the revisions recommended by SELC. Thank you for your time and we look forward to continuing to work with TDEC in finalizing the proposed rules.

Sincerely,

Dorene Bolze Executive Director (615) 479-0181 (mobile) (615) 790-9767 ext 321 Attachment: Well Drilling Threats to the Harpeth River Watershed and the Highland Rim, by Mark Quarles, Global Environmental, LLC, for HRWA, July 3, 2012.

1"Meg Lockhart, TDEC, email correspondence with Demetria Kalodimos, WSMV, July 5, 2012."

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Fact Sheet

Well Drilling Threats to the Harpeth River Watershed and the Highland Rim: A Case Study demonstrates the need for revisions to the proposed Oil and Gas Regulations and

for changes to current drinking water well drilling practices by

Mark Quarles, P.G. For the Harpeth River Watershed Association

www.harpethriver.org

July 3, 2012 Background Oil and gas exploration and production activities and even water well drilling in the Harpeth River watershed are a potential threat to human health, rivers and streams, and groundwater when wells are drilled into or through the Chattanooga Shale formation. The Chattanooga Shale formation contains natural gas (mostly methane) and can even contain free crude oil. Water wells drilled into or through the formation have historically exhibited water with hydrogen sulfide odor, high dissolved solids concentrations, and radionuclides. The formation is naturally radioactive. Water wells drilled into or through the Chattanooga Shale can also contain explosive levels of methane. According to the Tennessee Oil and Gas Association (TOGA), two thirds of the land area in Tennessee is targeted for natural gas development, and that land area includes the rolling hills of the Highland Rim (illustrated in light blue below) that encircle Middle Tennessee. The Chattanooga Shale underlies these rolling hills within much of the Harpeth River watershed of the western Highland Rim, as it also does along the northern and eastern Highland Rim. According to TOGA, the Chattanooga Shale is “the little sister” of the Marcellus Shale formation that has garnered much attention in Pennsylvania due to groundwater and surface water contamination episodes that have occurred during the recent gas-drilling boom of that area. Physiographic Map of Tennessee:

The oil and gas industry portrays shale gas exploration and production activities, with or without the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, as safe and protective of drinking water

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aquifers and surface streams - supposedly relying on thousands of feet of vertical separation between the shale layer, our aquifers, and our streams. Those media reports fail to reveal the truth about shale gas formations around the Highland Rim – where the Chattanooga Shale is very shallow and is typically separated from our aquifers and streams by less than 100 feet. And the bedrock that provides that separation is broken and fractured – rendering that bedrock virtually useless as a dependable layer to prevent upward movement of contaminants. A conceptual geologic cross section is included on Page 7 of this Fact Sheet. Should exploration and production activities that target the Chattanooga Shale proceed without adequate protective standards, real water quality concerns exist. Similarly, water quality concerns exist even when drilling water wells for drinking, irrigation, livestock, and other purposes. This report discusses critical human health and water quality risks associated with drilling in areas where the Chattanooga Shale formation exists at shallow depths and in particular, beneath the Highland Rim around Nashville. Why Should You Be Concerned? Oil and gas companies have already quietly begun to sign leases for oil and gas exploration and production on the western Highland Rim, at a minimum. A recent proposed lease for Hickman County offered to pay the landowner a mere $10 per acre for the right to drill wells on a landowner’s property. To be economically viable, shale gas production depends on the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal wells that can extend thousands of feet to enhance the flow of gas. Contrary to public relations efforts by the oil and gas industry, hydraulic fracturing can be dangerous. Media efforts portray shale formations as being thousands of feet below ground and separated by a safe vertical distance from drinking water aquifers, although the Chattanooga Shale in the Harpeth River watershed typically lies less than 75 to 200 feet below ground. The overlying limestone and chert bedrock is extremely cracked and fractured, resulting in no confining layer overlying the Chattanooga Shale to prevent injected fluids, natural gas, or crude oil from migrating upwards and contaminating rivers, streams, and groundwater. Further, although hydraulic fracturing liquids contain mostly water, minute concentrations of chemicals that are injected can still be extremely harmful. Groundwater aquifers on the Highland Rim are shallow and lie in direct proximity to bedrock formations that hold oil and gas. Groundwater wells are the only source of drinking water for many rural residents in the Harpeth River watershed. Protection of that water supply is critical. Those wells are typically less than 200 feet deep and are sometimes drilled in direct proximity to the Chattanooga Shale formation. The bedrock that overlies the shale formation is fractured with no overlying confining unit. Horizontal fractures also occur in the bedrock. A generalized cross section of these conditions is illustrated on Page 7 of this Fact Sheet. Given that the shale formation is so shallow, even the least funded or sophisticated oil and gas company can afford to drill a well. Oil and gas wells can be fractured to crack the rock and increase the flow of oil and gas to the well by any method that they choose – including oil-based liquids (e.g. diesel fuel) and millions of gallons of water. Further, water well drillers are not

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prohibited from drilling into or through the Chattanooga Shale formation - or even required to notify water well owners of risks associated with the shale formation. Although the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) recently proposed (May 2012) an upgrade to the existing oil and gas regulations to address hydraulic fracturing concerns, the regulations fall short of recognizing Tennessee hazards. The proposed rules only require enhanced protection standards for wells that fracture with greater than 200,000 gallons of water. Assuming a vertical oil or gas well on the western Highland Rim might have an average depth of 150 feet, the proposed regulations allow such a well to be hydraulically fractured perhaps 1,000 times without first notifying TDEC or the public. And a well can also be fractured with a compressed gas (e.g. nitrogen) without notifying anyone beforehand and with no requirements whatsoever to sample and monitor potable water wells or adjacent streams. The proposed Tennessee oil and gas regulations only require 200 feet horizontal separation between an oil or gas well and an active drinking water well; 100 vertical feet separating the bottom of the protective well casing and the deepest aquifer; 200 feet from a home; and a mere 100 feet from a nearby stream. Shallow groundwater in the Harpeth River watershed flows to rivers and streams. These proposed regulations would not protect the surface or groundwater for the Harpeth River watershed and other watersheds in the Highland Rim. Current and proposed Tennessee oil and gas regulations allow a well less than 1,000 feet deep to be placed every 660 feet horizontally, even though the risks for water contamination are greater for those shallow wells. Surface waters are also at risk when you consider that each well pad, access road, and collection line encompasses almost three (3) acres, and the landscape will be de-vegetated. Further, oil and gas well related construction activities are exempt from national EPA storm water runoff protection standards. Although the TDEC permit for oil and gas wells contains runoff protection standards, those requirements fall short of EPA and TDEC’s requirements for other similar construction sites. The once rural landscape will become a commercial and industrial landscape when high density oil and gas drilling comes to the area. Water Contamination with Drilling Drinking Water Wells into the Chattanooga Shale Although drinking water wells are drilled to provide safe, potable water in rural areas, even the water well drilling practice can cause groundwater and surface water contamination when those wells are drilled within the Chattanooga Shale. When that contamination happens, TDEC does not hold the well drilling company responsible for any cleanup. If petroleum hydrocarbons and / or methane contamination is present in a water well, many times there is no treatment technology employed to remove the contaminants. And the well owner may not even know that such a threat exists. You cannot smell or taste harmful amounts of some chemicals or methane. When contaminants migrate into a water well, the well can be rendered useless for its intended purpose.

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A Case Study of What Can Go Wrong and Why A review of recent water well drilling activity in the Harpeth River watershed revealed an example of what can go wrong. A water well was drilled with an air rotary drilling rig adjacent to a home on a hillside located approximately 450 feet from a nearby creek. The drilling company reported that the Chattanooga Shale formation occurred at a depth of only 90 feet. That formation is estimated to be approximately 40 feet below the bottom of the nearby creek. The water well was drilled through the 20-foot thickness of the Chattanooga Shale to a total depth of 240 feet in an effort to produce more water for the home. A quick visual survey of the bottom of the nearby creek shows numerous vertical joints and horizontal bedding planes in the bedrock – bedrock that overlies the Chattanooga Shale – and similar bedrock conditions would be expected at the water well. One day after the water well was drilled, flammable and explosive levels of natural gas were reportedly venting from the top of the water well. Two months later, crude oil was first observed bubbling into the nearby creek from crevices in the bottom and sides of the creek. TDEC determined that the water well drilling activity through the shale caused the methane levels in the well, and the well was also the likely source of the crude oil in the creek. Photos of the oily water observations in the creek are below:

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TDEC required the homeowner, not the drilling company, to remedy the problem. The homeowner then paid the drilling company to permanently close the well. Although thousands of dollars were spent, the homeowner still has no source of potable water. Although TDEC water well regulations require the well be constructed to prevent oil and gas from getting into a water well, the possibility exists for this to happen - as was evidenced by this example. The drilling company operator apparently never knew that he encountered a pocket of oil and / or gas. Natural gas in its natural form is odorless and could go undetected by the drilling company and the well owner. Natural gas in drinking water wells is apparently a relatively common occurrence when wells are drilled near or through the Chattanooga Shale, rendering those water wells useless and unsafe when this occurs. Lessons Learned about Threats to Our Watershed Assuming that a natural gas well was instead constructed at the case study location, and the well was constructed according to TDEC’s current and proposed oil and gas regulations, the regulations would have required (and depended upon) a protective isolation casing in the well column to protect the deepest aquifer. Even if such a casing would have been placed into an oil and gas well at this location, that casing would likely have been ineffective in preventing horizontal and vertical migration of gas and oil because the bedrock above the shale is so fractured that there is no natural barrier to prevent this from happening, as illustrated on the attached cross section on page 7. Numerous vertical bedrock joints visible in the creek bottom would be expected to be present within inches or a few feet of the well and could have allowed the oil and gas to escape. If chemicals had been injected into the well to stimulate or fracture the formation or maintain the well, those fluids could, and probably would, have also migrated through any of the vertical joints or horizontal fractures located near the well, as was observed with crude oil flowing at least 450 feet horizontally into the creek. Even though the water well was drilled with air rotary technology (compressed gas), a technology that the oil and gas industry claims to be the safest, that process itself can push contaminants far from a well due to the high air pressures used. What is Needed to Protect Us and Our Water? 1. Enhanced drinking water well drilling regulations: The regulations for water well licensing and well construction standards do not include any requirement to avoid drilling through the Chattanooga Shale, nor does TDEC have an official position or guidance for drilling companies or residents to consider when drilling a water well near the shale formation. Further, there is no requirement to conduct baseline or post-drilling monitoring or inspections by the drilling company to look for fractures or the presence of oil or gas. These standards are needed at a minimum. Residents also need to know that methane and petroleum hydrocarbon contamination risks exist when drilling in direct proximity to the Chattanooga Shale formation. The contract signed between the landowner and the well drilling company should also be very clear in assigning responsibility, if contamination occurs.

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2. More protective oil and gas regulations that reflect Tennessee hazards:

Even with the proposed oil and gas regulations that require that a protective casing be installed, groundwater and streams can become contaminated. Using the water well contamination case study as an example, the current regulations should not allow a gas well to even be drilled where there is no adequate vertical separation from an aquifer and where there is no substantial confining layer above the shale layer to prevent horizontal and vertical migration of contaminants. The “improved” proposed regulations require that a protective casing be constructed to extend only 100 feet below the deepest aquifer and separate the shale zone. The proposed oil and gas regulations allow TDEC to waive that mere 100-foot vertical separation requirement, at their sole discretion. The proposed regulations also include, as examples:

1. No enhanced monitoring requirements or restrictions for shallow oil and gas drilling

on the Highland Rim, when compared to shale zones in East Tennessee that are much deeper.

2. No restrictions for siting wells in karst terrain with sinkholes, caves, and conduit groundwater flow.

3. No prohibition of earthen pits to contain wastes and drilling fluids. 4. No prohibitions for fracturing shallow oil and gas wells thousands of times during the

life of a well. 5. No requirements for baseline monitoring of drinking water wells unless oil and gas

wells are fractured with more than 200,000 gallons of water. 6. No meaningful setback restrictions from streams and water wells even though

contaminants can easily and quickly travel hundreds of feet. 7. No prohibition on oil or diesel fuel-based fracture liquids. 8. No comprehensive construction storm water runoff permit requirements to protect

surface water runoff during well drilling or construction of the pits, access roads, well pads, collection lines, or transmission lines.

9. Forced pooling of your property and mineral rights if your surrounding neighbors choose to sign leases, and you choose not to sign.

These problems above, in addition to numerous other deficiencies, need to be corrected in the proposed oil and gas regulations that are currently out for public comment. The proposed oil and gas regulations can be downloaded at http://www.tn.gov/environment/wpc/ppo/og_ph071012.pdf.

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