NATRIUM - Axiall Corp. officials believe natural gas fracking at a site across the Ohio River from the Natrium facility led to a "near catastrophic event" in damaging four of the chemical producer's brine wells.
Now the firm wants to stop Gastar Exploration from proceeding with a similar operation.
Gastar - which the West Virginia Department of Commerce recently acknowledged as the highest bidder to extract natural gas from 232 acres of state-owned minerals under the river just to the south of the Axiall plant - signed a lease agreement with PPG Industries when that firm still owned the Axiall facility in 2011. The PPG chemical business merged with Georgia Gulf to form Axiall in early 2013, but PPG retained the mineral interests.
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Photo by Casey Junkins / Gastar Exploration Chief Operating Officer Mike McCown said his company plans to safely drill on land owned by the state
of West Virginia under the Ohio River and at the nearby site on land leased from PPG Industries.
After a Pennsylvania court refused Axiall's preliminary injunction against Gastar's plans, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection agreed to grant Gastar permits to drill on the 3,300 acres of land in southern Marshall County. However, Axiall then filed another injunction Friday against Gastar in Marshall County Circuit Court, which Second Circuit Judge David W. Hummel granted.
"A short delay in Gastar's fracking schedule will do little harm to Gastar," Hummel wrote. "Should the fracking activities of Gastar go wrong, the public would be greatly harmed. The potential permeation of natural gas through plaintiff's brine wells into the atmosphere would cause great danger of explosion and harm."
However, Gastar Chief Operation Officer Mike McCown is confident the company will be able to move forward. A hearing on the injunction is set for 2 p.m. Nov. 12 in Hummel's court.
"Once the evidence is again provided in court, we are confident we will prevail and it will once more be recognized that Axiall is not entitled to injunctive relief," he said. "Gastar's operations have been and will continue to be safe and environmentally conscious. We support and care about the communities in which we live and work."
Terry Engelder, professor of geosciences at Penn State University, said he believes the state should exercise caution before allowing fracking in the vicinity of the Axiall plant.
"I think an additional amount of information should be gathered," Engelder said. "The Triad Hunter activity compromised the integrity of four Axiall brine wells. The DEP, Gastar or Axiall should be able to gain more information."
According to court documents filed by Axiall operating subsidiary "Eagle Natrium," the Axiall officials noticed an increase in pressure at four brine wells in August 2013. In September 2013, a valve on one of the wells failed, leading it to begin "spewing flammable natural gas."
Court records show Axiall eventually determined the pressure in their wells began increasing when Triad Hunter, subsidiary of Magnum Hunter, fracked a well on the Ormet property across the river from the chemical plant.
Magnum Hunter officials could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, Engelder said he believes the dispute between Axiall and Triad has gone to arbitration.
"We are confident we can fracture these wells without harming Axiall's operations. We have routinely drilled horizontal wells 400 to 600 feet apart to maximize the gas recovery from the Marcellus," McCown said. "Out of an abundance of caution, we have redesigned the hydraulic fracture stimulation treatment of these wells."
Gastar and the Department of Commerce agreed on financial terms of $3,500 per acre and 20 percent of production royalties for drilling under the Ohio River. However, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin spokesman Chris Stadelman emphasized the environmental aspects of the lease are not finished.
"Gov. Tomblin is aware of the situation and Axiall's concerns, and he received an update last week from the Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP is responsible for permitting issues and will continue to monitor activity related to that site," Stadelman said.
"No leases for drilling on state-owned property along the Ohio River have been awarded. If and when they are awarded, any proposed drilling plan would be required to go through the appropriate process at the DEP, which provides an opportunity for public comments related to any concerns about the permit," he added.
