Abandoned oil and gas well site environmental risk estimation. Issue 7 (14th September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Thiessen, Ron J.; Achari, Gopal
• Is Part Of: Toxicological and environmental chemistry. Volume 99:Issue 7/8(2017)
• Page Start: 1170
• Page End: 1192
• Publication Date: 2017-09-14
• Subjects: Well site -- reclamation -- environmental risk -- statistical analysis -- fuzzy logic -- prioritization; Toxicology -- Periodicals; Environmental chemistry -- Periodicals; 571.95
• DOI: 10.1080/02772248.2016.1260132
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0277-2248

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The article estimates the environmental risk (i.e. potential adverse biological receptor effects) of abandoned yet unreclaimed well sites in Alberta. This estimation was completed through a statistical analysis of publicly available environmental data on 298 well sites. The connections among contaminant hazards, exposure pathway-routes and biological receptors were analyzed using fuzzy logic. Based on the available data, well type is the only predictor required to classify the environmental risk of a site into one of four adverse effect (AE) classes. Generally, the large majority of well sites in the data-set did not pose a significant AE. At well sites posing a significant AE, produced water impacts were the primary contributor.