Oil and Gas Companies Erecting New Types Of Walls Around Drilling And Frack Sites
Posted on Jun 2, 2014 7:47am PDT
Made of earthen-color fabric on steel frames up to 32 feet high and 800
feet long, the walls shield industrial machinery from a high school and
wetlands greenbelt in Greeley, prairie homes in Windsor, and kids riding
bikes and skateboards in Mead. It is the latest innovation for companies
equipped with horizontal drilling technology that are trying to solve
a puzzle: how to extract more fossil fuels from under where people are
living and minimize impact.
The walls help companies meet Colorado's noise limits (55-80 decibels
during the day and 50-75 at night, and measured 350 feet from the source).
Walls also are being considered for wildlife habitat where proposed drilling
threatens mating of sage grouse.
Previously, oil and gas companies tried to ease impact of industrial operations
near people by stacking hay bales and shipping containers around engines.
Beyond cutting noise by 20 to 30 decibels, the fabric walls partially
block the glare of floodlights and dust clouds during companies' multi-month
period of drilling and hydraulic fracturing. But industry officials are
uncertain whether their voluntary installation of walls will quell the
political storm over the oil and gas boom. Rising opposition in Colorado
has led to nine statewide ballot initiatives to boost local control and
increase required buffers between wells and houses.
The walls are made using 4-inch-thick polyvinyl fixed to steel beams anchored
in soil or cement. It takes a few days to build them, depending on length.
About $125,000 maintains a wall for two months during drilling and subsequent
fracking, the noisiest part of extracting oil and gas. Wind gusts present
a challenge, sometimes ripping and fraying the fabric. Encana Oil and
Gas has found that noise-related complaints decrease where walls are installed,
spokesman Doug Hock said. "It has become the norm in that area (around
Mead) and areas where we are drilling in the (Denver-Julesburg Basin)
because we are near communities and homes. It makes sense," Hock
said. "Given the concerns about noise and dust, it's certainly
something we feel we need to do."
Local government leaders confirmed a decrease in noise complaints. Oil
and gas companies often conduct noise surveys before and after operations
to comply with state limits, which the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission is charged with enforcing. COGCC officials said they received
17 noise complaints in 2012, 13 in 2013 and 14 so far this year, and they
investigate all of them. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. officials are exploring
potential benefits of the walls in discussions with residents before drilling
begins, stakeholder relations manager Alex Hohmann said.
Noble Energy officials said they've been installing walls around drilling
and fracking sites and find them to be effective. The sound-wall company
Behrens and Associates Environmental Noise Control, based in Los Angeles,
recently bought 5.5 acres east of Longmont at Firestone for offices and
a large warehouse, chief executive Don Behrens said. The company is working
on about 50 wall projects, including consultations for use of walls to
protect the greater sage grouse nesting areas near Hayden on the Western
Slope, Behrens said.