Estero concerned with the future of fracking in the area
/Mike Danielewski
Part 3 of a three-part enterprise story for News Reporting and Writing
As Florida legislators seek to centralize the regulation of hydraulic fracturing and well stimulation at the state level, Estero’s village council and residents are concerned that the state cannot adequately enforce safety and environmental regulations.
Estero’s council hopes to ban fracking, amid worries that an accident resulting from well stimulation could contaminate the Density Reduction Groundwater Resource (DRGR), an area of land in southeast Lee County set aside to recharge aquifers and provide drinking water.
Estero realizes the importance of the DRGR on the area’s aquatic ecosystem.
“Estero, like most of the state of Florida, relies on its aquifer for its water supply,” said Ray Judah, former Lee County Commissioner and coordinator for the Florida Coastal and Ocean Coalition.
Working like a natural drainage system, the DRGR allows groundwater to flow from inland areas and drain into the Estero River. Conservationists are worried that the chemicals used in well stimulation and hydraulic fracturing could leak into the DRGR and contaminate the water table.
The villagers fear that a situation similar to the gas explosion at a Cabot Oil & Gas well, in Dimock, Pennsylvania, could happen in Estero. When operators drilled through the Northern Pennsylvanian water table to reach the shale, the explosion perforated the well’s lining, and methane gas leaked into the groundwater.
An investigation by the Department of Environmental Protection concluded that an aquifer that supplied water to 18 wells had been contaminated with the gas. Some of the homes in the area, where water quality was unable to be restored, were later purchased by the oil companies and demolished.
This situation sparked controversy over the DEP’s ability to adequately regulate the industry, similar to the 2014 events of the Collier-Hogan well, where the DEP found that the Dan A. Hughes Company was performing unauthorized injection procedures. Eventually, the Hughes Company shut down the well after the DEP’s pending legal action and inability to adhere to the department’s list of demands.
HB 191 provides for the DEP to regulate the oil and gas industry and potentially enforce stricter guidelines for the industry to adhere to.
Local conservationists are passionate about protecting the future of southwest Florida, an area still recovering from BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, there is potential for groundwater contamination during fracking, during well stimulation and during backflow and disposal of the chemicals. There are four main methods of disposing of the thousands of gallons of chemical-laced wastewater are reusing in a different site, storing in large, open containers, Injecting it underground, and treating it before introducing it into surface waters.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s oil and gas program is in charge of regulating oil and gas exploration, preserving human health and safety and protecting the environment. It does so via permits and inspections, though the permits for fracking, specifically, are vague.
But a look at FDEP’s oil and gas records raises concerns about its ability to accurately document well data.
The website has interactive maps that give data on nearly every well in Florida, whether active, inactive, producing or capped. The areas with largest population of active wells in Florida are on the Panhandle, which has 119 producing wells.
Some of the data on the website is unclear or even missing. [Link here]. Bar charts that are intended to give readers completion dates, plug dates, total depths and permit issue dates display data in categories like “other,” and “see comments,” and even “?.”
The FDEP Mining, Mitigation and Delineation field office in Jay, Florida, oversees each of these wells. Lee, Collier and Hendry Counties have a combined 63 active, producing wells. These wells are inspected by the Fort Myers field office.
But there are only two employees in the Jay field office and one in the Fort Myers office.
Pierre Bruno of the Fort Myers field office is required to inspect 63 wells, every month. His coverage spans Lee, Collier and Hendry counties. Bruno has not responded to calls and emails.
If Southwest Florida has an increase in the number of active wells, the FDEP may likely have to increase its number of well inspectors. Further, if legislation calls for increased regulation of the current wells and new wells, FDEP officials will potentially be required to service larger and more wells.
It’s unlikely that new wells will be dug in undeveloped Estero, considering the limited area that is left undeveloped. horizontally-bored wells, located in any part of the undeveloped area could reach underneath residential communities and public roads.
This brings to question mineral estate ownership, or “mineral rights.” Mineral rights are the ownership, or lack thereof, the minerals below a property’s surface. The decision to harvest or mine any of the minerals below the surface is up to the owner of the mineral rights.
Depending on the specific development, some developers sold off the mineral rights beneath the developed land. Homeowners, contingent on property title agreement, may have no rights to the organic and inorganic material beneath their homes. Property owners may also have the ability to receive royalties for their profitable minerals.
Property owners can look up their mineral estate details by contacting the Lee County Clerk of Courts or visiting their website.
------
Estero Fire Rescue does not have specific training for emergencies such as oil well fires or chemical accidents, according to Estero Fire Chief Scott Vanderbrook.
And providing proper training is difficult, he said, given that the disclosure of certain chemicals is exempt as “trade secrets.”
“If someone was going to do fracking, we would require them to train us in any kind of emergency that we would encounter,” he said.
But oil and gas companies are not required to provide specialized training, and neither the Florida State Fire College and the Fire Rescue Institute offer courses in oil well firefighting.
The preparation of first responders differs, depending on the company and area. Some states offer training in oil well-related emergencies, but in some cases it falls on the responsibility of companies.
For Estero, it's not clear who will provide specialty training and who would pay for it.