Council hears from company planning study
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough Council heard from a company Monday that plans to conduct a seismic study in the borough early this summer to map geological strata for oil and natural gas producers.
GeoKinetics, based in Houston, Texas, is preparing a seismic study for about a 360 square mile area covering parts of Greene and Fayette counties, Ronnie McKay, company representative, told council.
He explained that the process will involve arranging cables and sensors, called geophones, throughout the borough and then using special trucks that create vibrations on the surface of the ground. Vibrations from the trucks penetrate the ground and are reflected back to the geophones on the surface, providing information on the various strata beneath the surface.
No explosives will be used to create the vibrations, McKay said. Vibrations from the trucks also should cause no damage to buildings or utilities, he said, responding to concerns expressed by council about possible damage to older buildings and the borough’s deteriorated sewer system.
Each truck is about the size of a garbage truck and produces energy of less than 0.35 of an inch per second, McKay said. Studies indicate the threshold for causing the first possible damage is a half-inch per second of energy.
An independent firm will monitor the testing to make sure the vibrations do not exceed the prescribed levels, he said. The company also uses its own staff to do traffic control for the trucks as they move around the borough.
GeoKinetics also will bond borough streets to ensure any damage is repaired and will add the borough to the company’s liability insurance to pay for any damages that may result from the study, he said.
However, McKay said in the 35 years he has conducted such studies the only damage he has seen caused by the process was to road surfaces, which are usually covered by a road bond. The company recently completed testing in Donora and Monongahela and experienced no problems, he said.
Asked if his company would be willing to give a presentation to the public to allay residents’ concerns, McKay said it would be glad to attend such a meeting.
Company representatives attended the council meeting as a preliminary step, McKay said. It will be sending a representative to the borough to begin surveying and mapping the area. McKay asked if the representative could meet with someone from the borough who could point out any sensitive areas including those where there may be vaults under the sidewalks.
A company representative also will be meeting with borough solicitor Linda Chambers regarding road bonds and an agreement for conducting the study, he said.
In other business, council agreed to purchase flow meters and a new rain gauge to conduct additional testing for the sewage improvement project, contingent on receiving a grant or loan for the equipment from the Rural Utilities Service.
The borough is getting near the time it must move ahead with a project to separate its storm sewers from its sanitary sewers and reduce surface water infiltration into the sanitary sewer systems.
The borough is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection to complete the work by December 2015.
Additional study is needed, however, to determine where surface water is entering the system, according to engineer Vaughn Leer of Fayette Engineering.
People in the borough use only 200,000 to 250,000 gallons of water a day, he said, citing data from the water authority. The sewage plant, however, receives flows of as high as 2 million gallons a day, he said.
Leer said it will be difficult for the borough to move ahead with the project to meet the DEP schedule until it collects additional information and identifies problem areas. He said the company will discuss this “revised approach” with DEP. He said he believed DEP would accept the borough’s plan as long as it shows it has an “aggressive timeline” for addressing the project.
Council agreed to spend about $24,000 for the meters contingent on receipt of a loan or grant from RUS. It expects to know if it will receive an award from RUS by next month’s meeting.