Just a few years after purchasing the wastewater treatment facility at the McKean County Landfill, Seneca Resources is using 75-percent recycled water to complete its shale wells, exceeding its 50-percent goal and reducing draw from local freshwater sources for operations.
Formerly operated by Casella, the Sergeant Township facility became Seneca’s subsidiary Highland Field Services, which manages the sourcing, handling and recycling of fluids associated with the Seneca’s Appalachian development program.
In 2015, Seneca Resources had projected freshwater would account for no more than 50 percent of fluids used in well completions. But, with investments and upgrades, recycled water use comprised three-quarters of total fluid used for Seneca’s Marcellus and Utica shale well completions in 2017, up from 62 percent in fiscal 2016.
Now, in its third year of operation, Highland has become the largest industry-beneficial reuse facility in the state based on the volume of fluids handled, according to Alyson Joyce, representative of Seneca’s stakeholder relations.
Joyce told The Era that, in 2017, Highland recycled 100 percent of Seneca’s produced fluids, or 5.2 million barrels, plus an additional 2.7 million barrels of fluids generated by and received from third-party operators.
The company estimates recycling of produced fluids can save an overage of a half-million dollars per well.
Joyce told The Era “sustainable water management is a top priority for the company.”
“The challenge nationwide for oil and gas development companies is to reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our environmental impact,” spokesman Rob Boulware told The Era at the time. “The goal is to reuse every gallon of water, to eliminate freshwater services.”
“We have upgraded the plant to accept all residual oil and gas associated fluid waste,” Joyce said.
To date, Highland has invested more than $20 million in water infrastructure in north-central Pennsylvania, including storage and treatment facilities, on-pad tanks and containment vessels, and a network of water distribution pipelines.
Highland’s pipeline delivery network enables Seneca to transport water from the centralized storage facilities directly to Seneca’s well pads, reducing truck traffic on local roadways, according to Boulware.
As a result, Seneca avoided an estimated 70,000 water truck trips in fiscal 2017, eliminating the associated air emissions and reducing the impact on local roads and public transportation.
A centrally-located treatment plant creates a safer process, too, according to Boulware.
“Having these capabilities in a defined region, we feel, is much safer,” he said. “We don’t have to truck water hundreds of miles. Any water that has been cleaned is meeting any (Department of Environmental Protection) and (Environmental Protection Agency) standards, so it would be the same as other water going through pipes.”
Highland treats approximately 5,000 barrels of wastewater per day at the facility, all third-party residual waste, and two-thirds of that waste comes from local conventional oil and natural gas producers, Joyce related.
She explained treatment involves the separation of residual oil, solids and minerals from the fluid, leaving a mixture of primarily salt and water.
The oil is then recycled and reused by local petrochemical facilities, and the water is then treated for reuse in Seneca’s drilling and completion operations.
When asked what exactly is removed from the wastewater — the quantities and types contaminants — Seneca Resources did not provide any specifics. The state DEP told The Era that it regulates the sludge from the Highland facility via the receiving landfills, so it would be best to ask the company.
The DEP did say radium levels could increase in the water from its re-use, being flushed through the deep shale wells where radioactive materials leech into the water, but the department believes the values tend to be in line with water from conventional oil and gas wells.
“The radium does get reduced/removed when the frac water is processed/treated through the waste treatment process,” the DEP told The Era in a statement. “Filter cake sludges from such wastewater treatment do show elevated radium concentrations are disposed of accordingly.”
Seneca said solids are disposed of “according to DEP standards.”
Details regarding appropriate disposal of such sludge were not provided by the DEP, but the department said treated wastewater is not forever recycled and reused — eventually it must be sent to a facility such as an injection well.
Joyce said Seneca follows a “zero surface discharge policy,” which requires containment of any liquids or solids that may be considered residual or waste as a means to protect surface and groundwater resources throughout the life of a well.
Seneca states it does not store produced water in open ponds or pits under any circumstances. However, Highland has five permitted wells in Ohio for underground injection of produced brines and Seneca discharges into a controversial injection well in Highland Township.
Township supervisors and citizens had fought for four years, even filed a Community Bill of Rights Ordinance, in the effort to have the choice to decline the injection well being placed within a half-mile of the township’s water source, now known as the Crystal Springs Ecosystem. Eventually, the case went in favor of Seneca Resources in district court.
“Responsible disposal options are sometimes necessary with natural gas development as another means of comprehensively and responsibly managing the fluid needs of the industry,” Joyce related to The Era on behalf of Seneca Resources.
