Data Collection Analysis of Phase 2 ESAs associate to Drilling Waste Compliance Option Triggers

19-RRRC-01

North Shore Environmental Consultants Inc. (North Shore) and Waterline Resources Inc. (Waterline) are pleased to provide Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) with a review of Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA) data from past drilling waste disposal locations to better understand the effectiveness of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) document “Assessing Drilling Waste Disposal Areas: Compliance Options for Reclamation Certification” (ADWDA, AER 2014).

The intended outcome of this work program is to evaluate the conditions and calculation triggers for drilling waste disposals completed prior to November 1, 2012 and determine if the Compliance Option 2 (CO2) criteria: 1) are appropriate as currently written; 2) require adjustment to reduce false positive or false negative triggers during Phase 2 ESAs; or 3) require other changes. The primary focus of the evaluation is concentrated on petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC), salinity and drill stem test (DST) endpoints as these conditions/calculations occurred in the highest frequency.

A total of 1681 sites were reviewed with 510 candidate sites identified for statistical evaluation.