SC & PPA Call for HDD Drilling to be Covered Under the Law

The New Jersey Sierra Club and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance recently submitted comments on NJ’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) rule proposal regarding Well Construction and Maintenance; Sealing of Abandoned Wells N.J.A.C. 7:9D.  They believe the DEP has the power and need to include horizontal directional drilling (HDD) among the projects that require Well Drilling permits. The Department is proposing amendments to address issues that have become apparent since the January 2, 2018 adoption.

“There has been a serious problem with HDD. For too long, DEP has had the ability to regulate HDD through well drilling. What is happening in the case of New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG), DEP is allowing drillers to get around these rules and the law. We have already seen the kind of damages and spills that have occurred during the HDD for the SRL pipeline. HDD falls under the law, however the DEP has been ignoring the law and needs to correct their mistake. Based on the law, HDD is no different than well drilling under the definition. That is why it needs to be covered. New Jersey needs to regulate this type of drilling. DEP already has rules for drilling wells for water or for geothermal, or non-potable sources,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “HDD is a disaster and DEP has the authority to regulate it through drilling permits. It’s critical that they do so to avoid any more catastrophes.”

The NJ Sierra Club and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance argue that HDD represents a new and unforeseen threat to public health and welfare, which the DEP did not previously anticipate. The groups argue that the department now needs to address the threat posed by HDD in its proposed amendments to the well drilling regulations. Under the definition of the law, in most cases, well drilling applies equally to HDD. Under the regulations, “well” is defined as, “a hole or excavation larger than four inches in diameter or a hole or excavation deeper than 10 feet in depth that is drilled, bored, cored, driven, jetted, dug, or otherwise constructed for the purpose of removal or emplacement of, or investigation of, or exploration for, fluids, water, oil, gas, minerals, soil, or rock, or for the installation of an elevator shaft.”

An “inadvertent return”, or spill of drilling fluid common with HDD, has no meaning in the law or under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The CWA does not recognize what an inadvertent return is. This is an illegal discharge into groundwater, streams, and wetlands that is in violation of the Clean Water Act under New Jersey and cannot be permitted. On July 8, 2020, the DEP issued a suspension letter to NJNG regarding three separate inadvertent return (IR) events that occurred during the horizontal directional drilling of NJNG’s SRL pipeline. These IR’s impacted freshwater wetlands, transition areas, and headwater streams. The June 19 IR caused damage to a private residence.

“DEP needs to take a critical look at HDD and how it is regulated in New Jersey,” said Andrew Gold of Pinelands Preservation Alliance.  “The environmental destruction the SRL has caused, and the fact that someone lost their home to a drilling failure, gives the lie to any notion that HDD is a safe, environmentally preferable way to install pipelines.  These projects inevitably leave a trail of destruction, no matter the method- and opponents of the SRL from the beginning warned about the very type of accidents that have occurred.  DEP needs to establish stricter oversight over this kind of fossil fuel infrastructure in New Jersey, if it is approved at all.  It can do that by enforcing laws already on the books and drafting new rules as necessary.”

“The DEP needs to require stricter regulation than just the general permits for HDD. A Pennsylvania study shows this type of drilling leads to spills, leaks, and more. We have already seen sinkholes, blowouts, and more from this technique that should be downright banned. The Murphy Administration must change the way companies drill for pipelines and prohibit HDD. The state also needs a stricter 401 process that involves an independent review of water quality,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

There have been potentially 19 incidents involving HDD during SRL construction where 9 have been proven and 10 others are being investigated. Six IRs occurred within the protected Pinelands portion of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The first incident reported on January 31, 2019 discharged 444 gallons of drilling sludge into adjacent wetlands. On February 4, 2019 about 80 gallons of slurry were discharged into wetlands. On February 7, 2019 two separate IRs yielded about 490 gallons that were discharged. On February 8, 2019 about 100 gallons were discharged into the forest. On February 19, 2019 another 190 gallons of sludge spilled in the same location as the January accident. There have been other reports along the SRL pipeline route in Monmouth, Ocean, and Burlington county about problems with the building of the pipeline. These include suspected spills, sinkholes, and materials from drilling in streams and ditches.

The DEP requires well drillers to comply with its rules and obtain a permit, to ensure that “groundwater is protected” and that such activities do not “compromise the quality of the State’s water resources or adversely impacts public health.” N.J.A.C. 7:9D-1.1. The well permit application must contain details such as proposed depth, location in relation to any building structures, and potential sources of contamination; and where appropriate DEP may require “geophysical logs, geologic or water samples as necessary.” N.J.A.C. 7:9D1.11(f)(1), (i)(2). There are many other additional requirements, such as minimum horizontal distances from various other utilities and structures. N.J.A.C. 7:9-2.7. These are all problems with which HDD operators must be concerned, particularly as evidenced by the recent drilling accidents along the SRL pipeline, which impacted ground and surface water, and the generally high failure rate of HDD.