Ohio's first-quarter natural gas/oil production goes up in 2013, down in 2014

There’s gold in them there two Ohio shale layers.

Only that gold is liquid and gaseous in nature and not a metal. Never-the-less they remain just as valuable to the state, the nation, and even the world.

Based on data assembled by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio’s natural gas production nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013.

Of course what goes up must come down, and so it seems true for oil and natural gas production. 

That production has seen a substantial shaving when the first quarters of both 2012 and 2013 and poured side-by-side with the first quarter of 2014.

And the reason for the jump between 2012 and 2013, says the department, is because of the boom in the exploration of the gas via the so-named organic-rich Utica and Marcellus Shale geological formations that underlay much of eastern Ohio.

 U.S. Geological Survey data notes the Utica Shale Formation covers most of eastern Ohio, nearly one-half of Pennsylvania, a goodly bit of New York and for all practical purposes, all of West Virginia.

 Also, a rather wide slice of eastern Ohio sees the Utica layer beneath the Marcellus Shale layer. Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga and Ashtabula counties all are within the Utica Shale oil and natural gas field.

Where these two petroleum-rich formations lie one atop geologists frequently like to call this an “oil sweet spot,"

And Geology.com reports that scientists believe the entire Utica Shale fossil fuel field may contain up to 38 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, 940 million barrels of oil, and 208 million barrels of natural gas liquids.

An attraction for drillers is that the Utica Shale formation rises closer to the surface in Ohio than in other states.

For Ohio, the Natural Resources Department says its 2013 data (collected by state regulators) comes from 352 licensed horizontal shale wells. In raw figures these 352 wells produced 3.6 million barrels of oil and 100 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

By comparison, this production increased 65 percent from 2012’s first quarter to 2013’s first quarter.

When all of the numbers for 2013 are crunched, the Natural Resources Department anticipates that eight million barrels of oil will be slurped from the bowls of Ohio along with 171 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Compared to 2012, Ohio’s total oil production increased by 62 percent and natural gas production increased by 97 percent. The percentage increase in natural gas production is the largest in Ohio history, and the total production is the fourth highest annual total in state history, the Natural Resources Department says

 However, the Natural Resources Department’s production data for the first quarter of 2014 showed production declines in spite of an increase in the number of permitted wells. For the first quarter of this year, 418 permitted wells reported a decreased production of 1.9 million barrels of oil and 67 billion cubic feet of gas.

Even so, the Natural Resources Department sees the production growth through rose-colored glasses.

The agency says oil and natural gas production “depends heavily on the development of the midstream infrastructure needed to transfer the resources to market.”

“In a little more than 24 months, a new industry developed, including 11 processing facilities and miles of new pipelines. Companies have spent or have committed more than $6 billion on midstream infrastructure,” says a Natural Resources Department press release.

In a hearty and healthy – if not just a tad hyperbole – press release the department’s director James Zehringer says “Ohio’s oil and gas industry is growing and moving our state toward energy independence.”

“At the same time, we have updated our laws and increased our staff to provide Ohioans the proper protections as the industry continues to grow,” Zehringer crowed.


“Companies are investing billions of dollars and creating jobs for Ohioans, proving the value and importance of the Utica shale play,” also says JobsOhio Senior Managing Director David Mustine, who once was the Natural Resources Director..

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@News-Herald.com

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

Ohio environmentalists waiting to see if a Monroe County wild fire set in motion a huge fish kill

With the debate regarding hydraulic fracturing (Fracking) far from over in Ohio, opponents of the practice may have been handed a pretty big “I told you so.”

Or maybe not, as state wildlife officials join with their environmental brethren continue to collect evidence and other information related to the fire/fish and wildlife kill that happened over the last weekend in June.

  

What is known is that in the aftermath of a Monroe County wildfire that encapsulated a well pad where fracking occurs, an enormous fish and wildlife kill was found in nearby Opossum Creek.

It is believed – at least by some environmentalists anyway – that the kill is directly related to the fracking employed at the site, says Nathan Johnson, the Ohio Environmental Council’s staff attorney.

Johnson says as well that the incident stretches for about two miles along Opossum Creek.

“This may be unprecedented; perhaps even being the biggest Ohio fish kill related to the oil and gas industry,” Johnson said.

Yet Johnson does say that drawing a line from Point A (the wildfire) to Point B (the fish kill) and then to Point C (a well hole employing fracking fluid) is a bit “speculative.”

Thus the Council is still awaiting word from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources “as to the particulars” of the accident.

Even so, says Johnson who calls this incident an “environmental crisis,” the Ohio EPA” has classified this waterway as one of the cleanest and healthiest streams in the state.”

Johnson does say that a well-related problem threatening a nearby stream is not without precedence, too. In May a Morgan County well blow-out threatened a nearby stream.

And for this reason alone the Ohio legislature needs to become more and better engaged in modifying the state’s laws regarding drilling to make them more ecologically friendly and also help prevent any accidental or deliberate fracking discharges into any waterway, Johnson says.

“Extending the legal stream buffer is an urgent no-brainer for Ohio’s environment,” Johnson says.

This story will be updated as further information becomes available. That update could include the numbers dead fish and wildlife found, the exact nature of the relationship (if any) between the fire and the fish kill.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

Lake Erie Commission grants to boost Northeast Ohio aquatic protection

Donators with an eye toward helping Lake Erie will likely applaud the latest grant awards presented by the Sandusky-based Lake Erie Commission.

The Commission’s Lake Erie Protection Fund recently was tapped in order to help contribute to a pair of worthwhile efforts in Northeast Ohio intended to bolster watershed enhancements including one designated for a popular steelhead fishing stream.

Since its genesis about 20 years ago about $11.5 million has gone to support more than 300 local conservation and environmental protection projects.

And not one cent has come from the Ohio General Fund, either. All monies were (still are, in fact) generated through the sales of two specialty motor vehicle license plates along with direct donations. 

All of which, by the way, are not tax-deductible.

The first license plate motif depicts the Marblehead Lighthouse on Catawba Island in Lake Erie’s Western Basin. This depiction is the oldest of Ohio’s various specialty license plates, too.

Meanwhile, the second, newer of the two license plate designs features a life preserver.

Regardless of which design a motor vehicle opts to choose, the money generated from each goes to support the Commission and its grant-awarding program, says Rian Salee, the program’s grant administrator.

“Revenues from the sales of the Marblehead license plates have declined due in part to the increasing number of such plates,” Salee said. “So we came up with an alternative; an option that people can choose from.”

For every additional $25 that a Marblehead Lighthouse or life saver set of plates is sold for, $15 goes to support the Commission’s grant program. The remaining $10 is earmarked for the Bureau of Motor Vehicle’s administrative costs, Salee says as well.

“We are always looking for ways to try and enhance our outreach for the direct benefit of Lake Erie protection,” Salee said.

For the most recent grant awarding cycle the Commission presented $13,370 for stream enhancement along Euclid Creek which exits into Lake Erie at Cleveland Metroparks’ Wildwood unit. This stream is seasonally very popular and productive for steelhead anglers and the enhancement will help maintain the creek’s water quality.

Another grant is worth $35,000 and awarded to Cleveland State University. The intent here is to provide technical help to local communities as well as the making of materials and conducting of workshops to better enable landowners and public entities understand watershed environmental issues.

For further information about the Lake Erie Commission, its Lake Erie Protection Plan, and the agency’s grant-awarding program as well as its annual calendar photography contest, visit it at http://lakeerie.ohio.gov/.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.

 

UPDATED with both Donnelly & Pellgrini quotes. Lake, Cuyahoga counties each to get their (Wildlife Division) man

Without a full-time presence in either Lake or Cuyahoga County for several months, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has assigned two of its 16 soon-to-graduate cadets to the respective county jurisdictions.

Under policies laid out long ago the Wildlife Division assigns to each of the state’s 88 counties a commissioned wildlife officer.

Though while such a policy makes perfect logistical and management sense the state frequently experiences openings. The reason for this is due to retirements, promotions or simply because a person no longer desires to remain a state wildlife officer.

And both Lake and Cuyahoga counties are known to burn out officers, who exit them because each are urban in nature and thus exposes the agents to round-the-clock people problems even more so at times than wildlife issues.

Consequently, when the latest Wildlife Division academy graduates July 3, 22-year-old Ryan J. Donnelly will make the drive to Cuyahoga County while 23-year-old Marino A. Pellgrini will high-tail it to Lake County.

In all, Ohio has 10 counties in which vacancies exist.

Donnelly hails from Albany, Ohio in Athens County. He graduated in 2012 with an associate degree in Natural Resources Law Enforcement from Hocking College, also in Athens County.

Previously Donnelly interned with the Wildlife Division as well as the Ohio Highway Patrol.

He also is the son of Tom Donnelly who was at one time the state wildlife officer assigned to Ashtabula County and most recently the law enforcement supervisor for the Wildlife Division’s District Four (Southwest Ohio) Office before retiring about one year ago.

“I was only about nine months old when we left Ashtabula County so I really don’t remember anything about the area,” Donnelly said.

Donnelly says he’s well aware of the dynamics associated with Cuyahoga County; its large size, the fact that its northern edge is defined by massive – and massively popular - Lake Erie, and the very fact that Cuyahoga County being urbanized means a significant network of roads that defy memorization.

“I know there’s going to be a lot to do,” he said.

The important thing now, says Donnelly, is to get his boots on the ground and work with his training officer, a veteran Wildlife Division office.

 Pellegrini’s resume shows he is a native of Canfield in Mahoning County. He graduated last year from Youngstown State University with an associate degree in criminal Justice.

He has no previous employment experience with the Natural Resources Department.

No matter, as Pellegrini says Lake County was his first choice when the cadets were asked where they wanted to anchor their respective flags.

“Well, my family still lives in the Youngstown area so I’ll be close to them,.” Pellegrini said. “I’ve fished Lake Erie before out of Fairport and it’s a tremendous resource.”

Pellegini is going to become much more familiar with Fairport Harbor too and not just the straight-shot road leading to the public boat launch.

The new state wildlife officer has picked Fairport Harbor  as to where he will live.

 That particular detail has some additional merit since the Wildlife Division’s assistant chief Tom Rowan grew up in Fairport Harbor even as the agency has established its Central Basin fisheries station in the community.

Among the first big steps Pellegini says he’ll be taking is getting to know the county’s lay of the land, introducing himself not only to the area’s sportsmen and conservation groups but also to the county’s various law enforcement agencies and officers.

“I want to establish good relationships with everyone,” he said. “I really am looking forward to starting and getting to know the county and everything about it.”

As Wildlife Division cadets, Donnelly and  Pellegrini earned about $16.83 per hour. As first-time commissioned wildlife officers each man will earn around $21 per hour.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn

JFrischk@Ameritech.net

Jeff is the retired News-Herald reporter who  covered the earth sciences, the area's three county park systems and the outdoors for the newspaper. During his 30 years with The News-Herald Jeff was the recipient of more than 100 state, regional and national journalism awards. He also is a columnist and features writer for the Ohio Outdoor News, which is published every other week and details the outdoors happenings in the state.