Marcellus Shale Gas Development Public Safety Aspects

Transcription

1 Marcellus Shale Gas Development Public Safety Aspects Brett Chellis Director of Emergency Services/Fire Coordinator Broome County Office of Emergency Services June, 2011

2 My Study thus far Broome County Gas Development Team Appointed by County Executive Well Site Tours BCGDT CTZ-6 Training/Education Awareness training Emergency Management training Guthrie Trauma and Critical Care Conference GasFrac Presentation Research Public Hearings

3 Stages of Gas Development Site selection and clearing Well pad preparation- 8 wells Drilling Fracturing Well production Pipelines Compressor stations Decommission/capping (20+ years away)

4 Considerations-FIRE Hazmat incidents High Angle Rescue Confined Space Rescue Fires/Explosions Access/location issues

5 HAZMAT Broome County is fortunate to have two well equipped and trained Hazardous Materials Response Teams at the county and city level that have a combined resource of several vehicles and approximately 75 certified personnel that train together and plan together on a regular basis.

6 HazMat con t Broome County Office of Emergency Services has conducted an initial review of chemicals on natural gas industry websites. Chemicals used for hydro-fracking, although shipped to site in concentrated solutions and definitely an environmental hazard if spilled, do not constitute a life safety hazard any greater than chemicals moving through Broome County daily Hydrogen Sulfide risks, although small do exist.

7 Typical Hydrofrack Chemicals FRP-21 Friction reducer Anionic 0.06 % Polyacrylamide 0.06 % Flomax 70 Surfactant Methanol 0.085% Surfactant % EC6116A Biocide Dibromoacetonitrile % 2.2 Dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide 0.01 % Polyethylene Glycol % Scalhib 100 Scale inhibiter Ethylene Glycol % Polyacrylate %

8 GASFRAC Alternative to Hydro-Fracking Used in 700+ wells in Canada Used in 4 wells in PA Marcellus for testing Uses Liquified Propane Gas (LPG) rather than hydro-solutions to frack shale Claim higher productivity, less water use, and less environmental risk

9 GasFrac continued Less Environmental Risk but: Large quantities of LPG transported to and stored on site during Fracking process. Company spokesman states sites with structures within 300 foot radius are not viable for this process. Public Safety Positives Much less truck traffic=less risk for MVA s Few other chemicals involved.

10 Robb Alberta March injured

11 HazMat Con t Planning and training on specific response and mitigation procedures is essential Firefighting personnel who are trained at the operational level need to have awareness training as well.

12 Frack Fluid Trucking Accidents

13 High-Angle rescue Accidents, although rare, do occur on drilling rigs. Sometimes involve elevated and complicated rescue techniques called High-Angle Rescue, defined as: Technical rescue that involves the use of specialized ropes, anchoring and belaying devices, friction rappel devices, devices for mechanical advantage and hauling systems to reach victims and safely recover them.

14 High-Angle Rescue Resources Currently there are limited training and resources for HA Rescue (Career Depts only) but we do have these resources available today. City of Binghamton Endicott Johnson City Binghamton University

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16 Confined Space/trench Rescue PESH OSHA regulates confined space entry Three Broome County teams currently certified in career fire departments Binghamton University and West Windsor FD have trench rescue units

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18 Fires/Explosions Sometimes well fires do occur. One wellfire company estimates probability of a blowout. Blowout extinguished by contractors of gas companies. Fire Dept priorities are life rescue, confinement, secure scene, and water supply

19 Marshall Co. PA June injured

20 Well Fire Considerations hour timeframe to transport, setup, and deploy firefighting contractor 2-3 millions of water needed for extinguishment. Large Diameter Hose pump relays Massive tanker shuttles utilizing fire and industry tankers Local FD priorities are evacuate, protect exposures, and assist with water supply

21 Chief Brunacini s Risk Management Plan Risk a lot to protect savable lives Risk a little (highly calculated manner) to protect savable property No risk for life/property already lost

22 Standard Functions of Command 1. Assume, Confirm & Position Command 2. Situation Evaluation 3. Initiate, Maintain & Control Communications 4. Deploy Appropriate Resources 5. Identify Strategy and Develop Incident Action Plan (IAP) 6. Develop Incident Organization 7. Review & Revise Strategy and IAP 8. Transfer, Support, Terminate Command

23 Access Issues Well sites are generally dead end access Emergency routes need to be planned Road conditions can be very poor in early development but are better with horizontal frack wells than vertical due to requirement for trucks GIS addressing maintenance is essential early in development for 911 location purposes and tracking. Coordination with GIS for a standardized 911 addressing protocol in regards to these well sites is in process.

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25 Considerations-EMS Blunt force trauma injuries and burns are commonly found in accidents Vehicle access can be an issue for smaller vertical wells, not so much for Marcellus. Medivac resources should be utilized for burns and serious trauma. Preplanning landing zone locations with local first responders will help expedite response coordination.

26 EMS Resources Good EMS resources locally Wilson Regional Trauma Center Two medivac services w/in 30 min ETA Sidney Sayre Burn Center at Syracuse-Upstate Medical Mass Casualty Incident supply trailer

27 Considerations-Law Enforcement Temporary residents Perception of some ruff neck workers being associated with rowdiness, substance abuse, and minor crimes. Some companies have good reputation of strict policies and self-policing. Companies have stepped up loss-prevention and security efforts Noise Complaints related to drilling, fracking, and compressor stations along pipelines

28 Planning Incident Action Plans critical for each development- Must be multi-agency coordinated through emergency management officials, working with gas company officials. Medivac Landing zone planning. Coordination with GIS- 911 addressing Site visits for preplanning Meetings with gas companies essential

29 Training Third Party specialized training Gas Company awareness training Site visits Senator Libous grant for training- Broome, Chenango and Tioga Counties. Specialized team training as well as general first responder training. Need to develop Farm-Medic style training for entrapment disentanglement with drill rigs.

30 Training rig

31 Natural Gas Pipeline Leak 1/11 Notified by Millennium Pipeline of leak Transmission Line shutdown Need to blow-off gas from valve miles away Incident Action Plan (IAP) developed Public notification Evacuation 115 KVA Power line de-energized Air space cleared EOC opened and staffed during venting Communications with company critical

32 Conclusions Risks are manageable Planning is critical Training is critical Relationships with gas companies is crucial for open line of communications.

33 Thank You Stay Safe

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