You might say that the Mahoning Valley, and Ohio in general, is in phase one of the shale gas boom. Stories of sudden wealth -- “Shalellonaires” they’re called -- economic renaissance, 200,000 jobs, the rebirth of the rust belt.
These stories are the conversation of today.
But there are other voices, barely heard above the din of construction and clamor for higher bonus payments, that warn of a new landscape coming, one into which we are charging headlong and unprepared.
"People don’t understand how transformative this is going to be," said Nels Johnson, deputy director of the Nature Conservancy’s Pennsylvania Chapter about pipeline construction in Pennsylvania. "To give you a sense of what that will be, we’re going to see probably a quadrupling of pipeline mileage that exists in the state over the next 20 years."
Those pipelines come with 100-foot-wide cleared right-of-ways and significant limitations on any other future use of the land.
In Pennsylvania, the Nature Conservancy projects about 150,000 to 300,000 acres of forest will be cleared for pipelines -- that's equal to three or four Washington, D.C.’s.
“We haven’t done the projections for Ohio yet,” said Johnson.
Once the Nature Conservancy finishes their comprehensive look at the industry’s impact in the Keystone State, they intend to shift their focus to Ohio and prepare a similar report.
A difference between Ohio and Pennsylvania, points out Tom Tugend, deputy chief of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Oil and Gas Resource Management Division, is that much of Pennsylvania where heavy drilling is taking place had no infrastructure of existing pipelines. Tugend contends that in Ohio, companies will be able to take advantage of an already robust pipeline network and easement agreements.
"Whenever possible, they will use existing infrastructure," said Tugend.
But that's something Johnson questions.
"That may be true for what we call a transport pipeline, but the vast majority of new development is going to be what we call gathering pipelines," said Johnson. "Gathering pipelines service each individual well pad and gather gas from the drill site and send it to larger transport pipelines. That can’t use existing infrastructure because it doesn’t currently exist."
Interspersed along these pipelines will be compressor stations, which maintain consistent pressure along the lines. As pipelines age, and this often means just a couple of years, pressure from the well typically begins to drop before reaching a plateau through the rest of the well’s producing years. More compressor stations often need to be added. These stations run 24/7 and have generated noise and air pollution complaints in several areas in Pennsylvania.
For its part, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is taking a look at the pipeline issues experienced in Pennsylvania with an eye on revising regulations here before the drillers arrive in full force.
"We want it to be clear to all local entities as to who regulates each pipeline," said Tugend.
In the mix currently are ODNR, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates transport pipelines that cross state lines.
ODNR officials have traveled throughout the Keystone State seeing firsthand the challenges and solutions.
Issues arising across the border include a lack of design standards and oversight for gathering pipelines, right of ways that interfere with future residential or commercial development and the considerable surface disturbance in building the underground network.
One finding, said Tugend, is that properly designed well fields minimize surface disturbances. He cites a 15,000-acre tract of land in Bradford County that drill pads and supporting infrastructure ultimately disturbed only 300 acres of surface.
Bob Rea, a Columbiana County farmer turned leasing expert, represents several large landowner groups in leasing negotiations with gas company landmen.
"We don’t grant them the right for pipelines excepting the pipeline needed to service the leasehold that we are part of, said Rea.
In other words, Rea’s leases will allow a pipeline to run from the drill site to a transport line, but will not allow another pipe to ender the leaseholder’s land to connect the drill pads together. Gas coming from other properties is known as "foreign gas" in the industry.
This restriction doesn’t ultimately restrict interconnecting lines; it instead makes such an arrangement the subject of a new negotiation between the landowner and the drillers and a potential additional source of bonus money.
But what if a landowner doesn’t want a pipeline crossing his land? Are natural gas pipelines treated as utilities, with eminent domain as the ultimate tool to acquiring right-of-ways?
Neither Ohio nor Pennsylvania treats the smaller gathering lines as utilities, yet. The larger interstate transport lines administered by FERC do have that authority. But the gathering lines are currently dependent on negotiations and agreements between landowners and gas companies.
"In Pennsylvania, those lines are unregulated, totally, except for stream crossings and some other locations, but the actual location of them is not governed in any way," said Johnson. "Some of the companies here are requesting that they be treated as utilities so that they would have the right of eminent domain."
In Ohio, Tugend points out that many easements currently exist on property which could be used by the new gas producers to construct the pipelines as needed.
"It’s like piecing together a puzzle," said Tugend of the gas producer’s challenge in designing their pipe network.
Regardless of thoughtful design, the build-out of a new industry is going to change the face of the countryside in the years ahead.
"It’s going to be the biggest land use change in a century," said Johnson. "A lot of places are going to experience very significant change."
