By Mike Norman
I have to cede these points to Fort Worth Councilman Sal Espino: He has been persistent and consistent on the lingering issue of saltwater disposal wells inside the city limits.
He wants to continue the moratorium on new permits for those wells (also called injection wells) that's been in effect for more than five years. And he wants the city to issue a permit for one such well in his district. He says it would be for a "pilot project" in the Alliance industrial area of far north Fort Worth.
I just can't figure out how he can combine the two.
A moratorium on all permits but one -- isn't that the "a little bit pregnant" theory of regulatory controls?
I don't see how you tell one applicant (admittedly a very influential one) "yes" while telling all the rest "no," even if their proposals might be identical in every aspect except location.
You can't get around that just by calling the Alliance plan a "pilot project." That would have to mean Alliance would be testing something that is new and different that hasn't been tested elsewhere in the city. There is nothing unique about the Alliance proposal as it has been presented so far.
Fort Worth already has a pilot project for a disposal well to handle the millions of gallons of waste water and produced water from natural gas wells. It's the Chesapeake Operating Company Brentwood project off East First Street near Oakland Boulevard.
The City Council approved the Brentwood pilot in 2008 to examine the feasibility of a saltwater pipeline network to deliver gas well waste to the disposal well, study methods of recycling produced saltwater and gather other "appropriate data" on disposal options.
The council has been told to expect 14 drilling pad sites to be connected to its well by pipeline by the end of the year.
Evaporation units have been installed to test recycling by sending some of the waste into the air as water vapor.
The Alliance proposal aims for nothing more than that, at least according to a July presentation to the council from Russell Laughlin, senior vice president of Alliance Texas.
In fact, it aims for less. Alliance already has installed a 32-mile pipeline gathering system for saltwater from about 400 wells on 54 pad sites in the 17,000-acre development. About half of those wells have been drilled.
There's no real need to test whether gathering that water in pipelines is better than gathering it by the truckload -- that's a no-brainer.
And recycling? Well, not so much right now. Maybe later, said Laughlin, "when recycling comes to a point such that we can begin the recycling model of it."
Rick Trice, city assistant director of planning and development, told the council that the Brentwood pilot project has shown it is feasible to recycle only "a very low percentage" of saltwater produced from gas wells, although more tests will be done.
There are good arguments for lifting the moratorium on injection wells in Fort Worth, especially those served by pipelines rather than road-damaging trucks. There are also good arguments against them.
But as it has been described so far, the Alliance proposal appears to be nothing more than a one-time exception to the moratorium on disposal wells. It's hard to see the justification.
Espino and Alliance will have a chance to make their case in January and February, when the city will hold a series of public meetings to gather information and opinions about disposal wells for a council decision in March.
The moratorium is set to expire April 30.
Mike Norman is editorial director of the Star-Telegram / Arlington and Northeast Tarrant County. 817-390-7830
He wants to continue the moratorium on new permits for those wells (also called injection wells) that's been in effect for more than five years. And he wants the city to issue a permit for one such well in his district. He says it would be for a "pilot project" in the Alliance industrial area of far north Fort Worth.
I just can't figure out how he can combine the two.
A moratorium on all permits but one -- isn't that the "a little bit pregnant" theory of regulatory controls?
I don't see how you tell one applicant (admittedly a very influential one) "yes" while telling all the rest "no," even if their proposals might be identical in every aspect except location.
You can't get around that just by calling the Alliance plan a "pilot project." That would have to mean Alliance would be testing something that is new and different that hasn't been tested elsewhere in the city. There is nothing unique about the Alliance proposal as it has been presented so far.
Fort Worth already has a pilot project for a disposal well to handle the millions of gallons of waste water and produced water from natural gas wells. It's the Chesapeake Operating Company Brentwood project off East First Street near Oakland Boulevard.
The City Council approved the Brentwood pilot in 2008 to examine the feasibility of a saltwater pipeline network to deliver gas well waste to the disposal well, study methods of recycling produced saltwater and gather other "appropriate data" on disposal options.
The council has been told to expect 14 drilling pad sites to be connected to its well by pipeline by the end of the year.
Evaporation units have been installed to test recycling by sending some of the waste into the air as water vapor.
The Alliance proposal aims for nothing more than that, at least according to a July presentation to the council from Russell Laughlin, senior vice president of Alliance Texas.
In fact, it aims for less. Alliance already has installed a 32-mile pipeline gathering system for saltwater from about 400 wells on 54 pad sites in the 17,000-acre development. About half of those wells have been drilled.
There's no real need to test whether gathering that water in pipelines is better than gathering it by the truckload -- that's a no-brainer.
And recycling? Well, not so much right now. Maybe later, said Laughlin, "when recycling comes to a point such that we can begin the recycling model of it."
Rick Trice, city assistant director of planning and development, told the council that the Brentwood pilot project has shown it is feasible to recycle only "a very low percentage" of saltwater produced from gas wells, although more tests will be done.
There are good arguments for lifting the moratorium on injection wells in Fort Worth, especially those served by pipelines rather than road-damaging trucks. There are also good arguments against them.
But as it has been described so far, the Alliance proposal appears to be nothing more than a one-time exception to the moratorium on disposal wells. It's hard to see the justification.
Espino and Alliance will have a chance to make their case in January and February, when the city will hold a series of public meetings to gather information and opinions about disposal wells for a council decision in March.
The moratorium is set to expire April 30.
Mike Norman is editorial director of the Star-Telegram / Arlington and Northeast Tarrant County. 817-390-7830
