XTO modifies gas drilling plan

Saying they listened when Fairfield citizens voiced concerns in January about drilling in the city limits, officials with XTO Energy returned here Thursday night for a town hall meeting and presented a new and improved plan to city administrators and the two dozen or so community members who attended.

The public meeting was held to review amended proposals to the natural gas well permit requests made by XTO earlier this year, and presented to council members for approval. The city tabled the requests until questions about the health and safety of city residents could be answered.

At the January meeting, XTO personnel recorded the list of concerns with plans to return and provide answers.

"We listened," says Bobby Stark, environmental manager for the eastern and residents meeting, recorded with provide says environmental eastern division. "And the next morning we met and went to work."

New program objectives were presented and promised to "minimize the impact of development and production operations on the citizens of Fairfield; to drill, complete, and operate all wells safely and effectively; to adhere to all city ordinances; and to maintain good relationships in and around Fairfield."

Major change for the company is the intent to drill 14 new wells, but install only one new surface location.

"When we were first here we had three L.V. Jones wells, No. 4, No. 6, and No. 3 scheduled," says drilling engineer Derek Gibson. "Those did not sit well with the citizens of Fairfield."

Location of L.V. Jones No. 6 was a concern to Fairfield schools and hospitals. XTO's new plans are to move the surface location to an existing pad, A-1, and drill from there. Wells No. 4 and No. 3 will also be drilled from A-1 as directional wells.

Regarding the City of Fairfield lease, the existing pad is outside the city limits, but so close that XTO says they will follow city ordinances, move the pad farther north, and will drill six directional wells from that pad. Drilling officials also point out that they will maintain Cotton Street.

The commercial real estate value of L.V. Jones 5 was discussed in January, and in response, XTO will drill No. 2, No. 7 and No. 5 off No. 1.

"This gives us 14 directional wells off four pads as far away from the center of town as we can be," Gibson notes.

Mark Stidola, with XTO production and operations division, discussed several other potential problems and their solutions, including traffic, which the energy company will alleviate by moving the pads, the actual locations, which will be fenced and have fewer tanks, more agreeable options are being considered for salt water disposal, the need for pipelines will be minimized with multiwell pads on existing locations, and compression noise.

"We will utilize existing compression facilities north of Fairfield," Stidola says. "We do not anticipate wellhead compressors."

Concerning H2S, hydrogen sulfide, or "sour gas", XTO representatives assured those attending the meeting that the energy company has operated safely in numerous environments all over east Texas, but that in the event of a problem, personnel have been properly trained and they have the equipment to alleviate any problems.

In a "worst-case scenario," the oil and gas supplier notes that OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration who governs drilling operations, says the field of danger is 200 feet, which means it remains inside the XTO fenced area.

With more details about noise problems, Gene Young addressed city requirements, which state that noise inside the city limits cannot exceed 78 decibels at 300 feet from the noisemaker.

"We hired an outside company to test some of our rigs, and we almost never exceeded those limits," Young says. "There were a couple of short spikes but they were not sustained. The average decibel level was 67-68."

The company promises to add sound blankets around their drilling pads, and put hospital mufflers on generators, as well as work with location layout to keep the sound at an acceptable level.

Questions put to the drilling experts began with, "Will you drill at night?" to which the answer was that drilling is a 24 hour a day operation, but that drilling should be completed in seven to 10 months.

Other assurances heard were that directional drilling will be done at a significantly lower depth and would not affect property values, and that the company would drill their own water well above the water table currently used in Fairfield so as not to affect water availability in the future.

Excess salt water will be trucked to other disposal sites or injected deeply into the ground, again so as not to interfere with water tables.

Charles Morgan, with Citizens for Environmental Clean-Up, asked about the use of hazardous chemicals and additives. The mud used for drilling is derived from all naturally occuring sources, and additives would only be diesel at a low concentration or a polymer based fluid. The company did agree to more closely examine the closedloop process, although they feel it is less cost-effective.

Morgan also requested a noise assessment test be made at a compressor facility, and XTO officials agreed. Morgan also pointed out the concerns about low-frequency noise and street damage.

When asked about an evacuation plan in the event of a problem, Fairfield Police Chief Kenny Bulger pointed out that the city does have an evacuation plan available at city offices, but that work continues on a more effective plan.

Fairfield Mayor Roy Hill added that the city does have safety concerns on its agenda and will host a town hall meeting soon to cover some of these issues.

Bobby says that XTO takes safety very seriously and will work with the city to have a plan in place.

In closing, Bobby thanked those who attended the meeting for allowing XTO the opportunity to address the concerns presented by the city residents. "We are ready to work with ya'll," he said.

Approval to issue drilling permits will be addressed again at the next city council meeting.