Black Warrior Riverkeeper - Coalbed Methane & Fracking

As of April 2012, there are 5,537 coalbed methane (CBM) – aka natural gas – wells operating in the Black Warrior River watershed. The first drilling for coalbed methane in Alabama occurred in the Black Warrior Basin in the 1970s. Initially, this practice served as a way to degasify coal seams prior to mining them, reducing the potential for explosions in mines. The gas was simply vented into the atmosphere. In the early 1980s, when it was realized natural gas has tremendous energy potential, drilling for commercial sales really took off. The Black Warrior Basin has the longest development history of any coalbed methane reserve in the United States.

Tens of thousands of acres in the Black Warrior Basin are leased for drilling wells to access coal seams where the gas is trapped, creating a massive network of roads, well pads, and pipelines. Erosion from these areas is a documented source of sedimentation, choking streams and reservoirs throughout the basin. The extraction of coalbed methane involves a process known as hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”). Hydraulic fracturing forces a pressurized fluid mixture including water, acid, surfactant, gel, chemicals, and sand into the earth around coal seams, ranging anywhere from 350 – 2,500 feet deep. The fluids create underground fissures in targeted coal seams and surrounding rock and shale, and phenolic resin-coated sand holds the fissures open, allowing natural gas to flow toward the surface.

In the Black Warrior Basin, coalbed methane drilling targets the Pennsylvanian Pottsville Formation, which is part of an unconfined aquifer and the Cretaceous outcrop, which is associated with high groundwater salinity. Groundwater contamination is a major concern for people living in rural areas near CBM drilling operations. We have received numerous reports from people whose well water has gone bad. If you have experienced a decrease in well water quality, please contact us.

Wastewater from the drilling process, called produced water, is commonly stored in open, lined pits. Some of this water is re-used. The state of Alabama allows CBM operators to discharge produced water to both area streams and the river as well as to wastewater treatment plants. Drilling in the Cretaceous outcrop involves deposits of ancient saline water from long ago that must be extracted and discarded, which means salty water is being discharged into the river and its tributaries – our source of fresh water.

Coalbed methane, or natural gas, is known as a clean burning fuel. However, when considering the full cycle costs of this form of energy – from drilling to waste disposal to consumption – it’s not so clean after all.

To see a Google map of CBM operations’ footprint in the Warrior Coal Field, click here.

Map showing coalbed methane fields in the Black Warrior River watershed. Source: Geological Survey of Alabama’s website:
http://www.gsa.state.al.us/CO2/SECARB2/secarb2_files/CBMfields.jpg

Village Miller coalbed methane Coalbed methane well and roads in the foreground. Miller Steam Plant in the background. (Jefferson County, Alabama) Photo by Nelson Brooke.

upper_black_warrior_coalbed_methane_close Coalbed methane wastewater ponds on the Black Warrior River. (Tuscaloosa County, Alabama) Photo by Nelson Brooke. Flight provided by
SouthWings.org