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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0825.078 2012-2014 Page 1 of 3 .z. Murashige, Laura From: Hank Banquer[hbanquer @earthlink.net] 'a 2: 7 Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 6:05 AM To: counciltestimony @co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: Spam Bill 292, Draft 1 Testimony -ongoing meeting If this email is not spam, click here to submit the signatures to FortiGuard - AntiSpam Service. To the County Council Opening remarks: Aloha County council member and the members of our community The attempt to limit drilling to 12 hours per day to me is of great concern as a resident of the Big Island, our community, viability and sustainability of our continued importation of energy to our island community. We are not talking about crippling development but of crippling the existing community as a whole with high unsustainable rates for electricity and vehicular fuel that is imported. Most communities envy our island and the natural resources we have been blessed with. As a member of the Big Island Energy Advisor Commission (EAC) and having spent 35 years in the drilling industry I think this proposal to stop drilling at night is absurd, counter productive and just another way a small special interest group seeks to stop all drilling activity by limiting the actual time spent drilling. Firstly drilling has gone on and continues to go on in densely settled areas with few problems and no noise issues. Some basic noise abatement practices can be adopted to reduce the noise but in general 24 hour drilling is practiced everywhere including in down town Los Angeles where it has gone on, unnoticed for decades and in a state (California) where the environmental laws are the strictest, infact are often the benchmark for many practices and even federal policies. I would hope you might familiarize yourselves with this and I would be glad to detail the procedures for you should you and the community want to really explore the issue in depth not just taking things verbatim that people say or based on emotion not fact. There are potential dangers to the environment, operations, drilling crews and the community allowing drilling operations only 12 hours a day. Also it creates major delays and ultimately cost implications in restricting drilling to only 12 hours in effect leaves 10 max. depending on the well depth to as little as 2-4 hours of actual drilling. Due to the dynamics involved even if you stop drilling you must continue to circulate the drilling fluid as otherwise temperatures and pressures build that are dangerous and compromise the well, drilling activity, people and the environment. Technical points: You just can not stop drilling, circulating or stop operating realistically for many reasons. 1. Control of the well 2. Temperature build up. There are 2 temperatures we deal with while drilling: a. Static temperature b. Circulating temperature If the hole is left static for 12 hours then there are many issues that would need to be dealt with that raise the safety, cost and/or viability of drilling. 3. Time lost and the time to drill the hole would not be 2 times longer but infact maybe 3-4 p. Comm. No. g:.2-S—• 70 Ref.To: (J/C -i 10/17/2012 Ref. Dote NOV 0 9 2012 Page 2 of 3 times longer 4. Open hole (not cased hole) dynamic conditions which can result in stuck pipe, re-drilling or reaming area of the open hole. 5. Having to trip (run the drill pipe in and out of the well bore into the cased section of the well) once every 12 hours would leave little time to drill and just expose the well bore, crew and environment to more risks. In most cases as you drill deeper it becomes more hazardous if the hole is left static and temperature and pressure build up. 6. Tripping the drill pipe into the casing where it is protected while drilling is stopped or pulling the drill pipe out of the hole completely takes time and is particularly noisy as you are handling the drill pipe in and out of the hole. This is also a risk the drilling industry tries to reduce for safety and economic reasons. Noise generated while tripping the drill pipe in and out of the hole can be mitigated with certain pipe handling equipment and techniques but it is still not "quiet". 7. Engine noise can be mitigate many ways from sound proofing to using a diesel electric rig where the engines run at a constant speed as opposed to changing RPM as the draw works (large winch) pulls the pipe in or out. 8. The bangs and clangs associated with drilling can be also mitigated with some basic measures and training of the drill crew. 9. When well is cased (often 3-4 times during the drilling operation) which means pipe (casing) is run into the well. This is done for many reasons. After the casing is run then the space between the pipe and formation(earth/geological formations) is cemented. This seals the casing to the cement and the formation to the cement creating a solid bond that protections and isolations the different geological zones and stops any migration of fluid, gases or steam over time into a zone were it is not normally present. The casing basically allows the well to be controlled during the drilling phase and then the production phase. When the well is first started the casing often principally protects ground water. Conditioning the hole to run the casing, running the casing then cementing the annular space can often take days (24 hours) of continual operation without any interruption or delays. The running and cementing of casing(s) during the drilling process is critical and can not be limited to 12 hour periods. 10. If you were to enact this (absurd) bill you would at minimum need to have an exemption for doing casing jobs as well as any situation where leaving the hole open and static could cause immediate risks to the environment, people on and off the rig as well as the equipment. Equipment ultimately has limitations with pressure and temperature as do all machines from your car to your kitchen mixer. My question is there a db sound level and duration that has been set that is acceptable for day and night? Often the db levels are set at max. exposure time not peaks that might occur in industrial situations. Have we taken sound data and reviewed this 2 ways real time including sound spikes and average sound level over a period of time ie: 12 hours or whatever is specified and the defining of"night time" which makes me wonder what you consider night time (sun down to sun up which changes throughout the year or average bed time to waking time? I have drilled in the UK Midlands and we had to keep noise levels to acceptable levels not for the farmers but not to disturb the cows! The measurement here was whether milk production decreased if the cows heard noises that were not common, constant or unexpected. Here simply making sound walls from baled hay stopped the noise and we went about our business drilling and the cows made milk! In my view really what this resolution is all about. It is an attempt to shut down the development of Geothermal making a side attack. Basically the sponsors of this resolution (bill) want to stop the drilling. They will try any approach or any method to do this. I think Mr. Yagong and those supporting this resolution (bill) are very uninformed and have not even done the basic research to establish the noise level or what could be done by the drilling contractor to reduce any noise. Drilling is just a temporary situation and I do not know how many private and public 10/17/2012 Page 3 of 3 construction jobs I have had to put up with over the last 50 plus years hearing jack hammers to banging of beams and diesel engines running bothered me but we lived through it and enjoyed the benefits these construction projects brought to us. We need to look at a what sometimes is a little inconvenience and maybe even discomfort we as an island community need to consider the long term benefits to ourselves and our fellow islanders. Really are we going to let a short term, alleged, inconvenience for some punish the rest of us on the island? I see the same people trying to stop the development of Geothermal by trying every tactic they can. Is the council concerned about a small special interest group or the good and future of our island and the people who live here. We need to start thinking what is best for our island as a whole not a few individuals whose goal is to stop development of a local resource because they claim they are slightly/temporarily inconvenienced. They have and will continue to try anything to stop the development of Geothermal not because of the noise but because they are anti development. To them it is a threat to their lifestyles and I question how many of them actually work regular jobs or are they surviving off public funds and/or trust funds. Many of these people do not actively contribute to our economy nor do they carry the state and federal tax burdens most of the islander do. Please correct me if I am wrong. Personally I think if this bill were to pass than a group of use might do what is required to have a county wide vote (referendum) on this and see really what the majority of the islanders want. This bill to limit drilling tim to 12 hours per day is actually a bill to STOP all drilling and we are letting a few dictate to the majority what the future of our island will be. Today our single biggest expense on the Big Island is the energy we import in the form of hydrocarbons for our vehicles and electrical power. Should any council member or individual in our community want to contact me regarding the specifics of drilling or want to take advantage of my 35 years experience in the drilling, energy, exploration and production field please feel free to contact me. If any of our council members should want to take the time to have an information and educational briefing on some of the specifics regarding drilling please contact me. Also I can recommend some basic reading and technical books that would introduce our council members to the drilling process. Regards H.Y. Banquer Hank Banquer Landline: 808-985-9266 Mobile: 808-990-5419 hbanquer()earthl ink.net 10/17/2012