Why Is This Information Important? Who Cares?

The primary report referenced herein, the Bakken Environmental Status and Trends report, was developed in collaboration with the Bakken Federal Executive Group to better inform environmental management decisions related to energy development in the Williston Basin. The Bakken Environmental Status and Trends report consists of four chapters: chapter A provides an executive summary (Post van der Burg and others, 2022b); chapter B provides a description of physiography, climate, land use, and demographics (Vining and others, 2022); chapter C describes water resources (Bartos and others, 2022); and chapter D focuses on species of conservation concern (Post van der Burg and others, 2022a). These decisions included actions related to environmental compliance, permitting, and leasing and how to engage with other State and Federal agencies. This fact sheet highlights specific research needs identified in the primary report and several independent U.S. Geological Survey workshops, which also will aid in contributing to better informed environmental management decisions.

Water Quality

Water-quality degradation from UOG development is most likely to result from accidental releases of produced water and chemicals at the land surface or leakage through the casing or annular space of incompletely sealed oil/gas wells in the subsurface (Vidic and others, 2013; California Council on Science and Technology, 2014; Council of Canadian Academies, 2014; Vengosh and others, 2014; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). Chemicals used in drilling and hydraulic-fracturing processes, hydrocarbons and formation water produced from oil and gas wells, and mixtures of these fluids contain many chemicals that could degrade groundwater and surface-water quality. However, only a relatively small number of these chemicals have been studied in groundwater or surface water. Moreover, publicly available data that thoroughly characterize the chemical and isotopic composition of produced and flowback water from UOG wells are limited. Those data are crucial for recognizing mixing between groundwater/surface water and UOG-related fluids.

Many of the research needs associated with water quality are associated with proper planning and the development of a research strategy. This strategy needs to be complementary of the research needs of other disciplines to maximize the utility and usefulness of subsequently collected data. More specifically, research in this area should be integrated with research related to ecological effects and the effects on ecological and human health. As part of this research strategy, specific needs include the following:

Water Availability

Water availability and the potential for reduction in aquifer storage volumes are important considerations in UOG settings. Long-term energy development requires sources of high-quality, sustainable water supplies and updated information about water use. Groundwater and surface-water availability must be evaluated and quantified to determine if the water sources can meet the needs of the energy development. Key components to consider when evaluating water sources for any type of energy development are water withdrawals (and returns) and consumptive use. Large volumes of water are used for oil well development and maintenance, as well as ancillary uses such as for dust suppression (fig. 4). It is important to understand the sources of these large volumes of water in consideration of other water needs that rely on the same sources of water for non-UOG development purposes. More specifically, an accurate and complete water budget is needed to fully understand water use associated with UOG development in the Williston Basin in the context of all water use.

Two completed studies highlight water availability in the Williston Basin. The first study assessed groundwater availability in the Williston Basin. Initial steps of this assessment included development of a three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework (Thamke and others, 2014) and a conceptual model of the three uppermost principal aquifer systems (Long and others, 2014) used to supply potable groundwater. Using these results, a numerical groundwater-flow model was developed to aid in understanding stresses on the groundwater system composed of the aquifer systems and assess changes in the groundwater budget and groundwater levels that might result from human activity and climate variability (Davis and Long, 2018a, b, c; Long and others, 2018). The second study estimated direct, indirect, and ancillary water use associated with development of continuous oil and gas resources in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana (Carter and others, 2016; Valder and others, 2018, 2019; McShane and others, 2020). Water-use data and models derived from this study were used to refine the methods of compiling water-use data as part of the USGS’s 5-year national water-use estimates (https://www.usgs.gov/mission-areas/water-resources/science/water-use-united-states). Additional research needs to improve understanding of water availability include, in part, the following:

Collectively, these efforts can be integrated to develop a well-informed water strategy that can help resource managers assess and account for water used or needed in the Williston Basin.

Characterize Ecological Effects to Inform Decision Support Tools

One of the primary questions surrounding the management of biological resources in the Williston Basin is how the incremental effect of individual energy development projects accumulates in the context of ongoing landscape change. Because of the complexity of this issue, large-scale spatiotemporally replicated studies that evaluate oil and gas extraction in concert with other stressors or replicated before-after control-effect studies are critical for resource managers to develop plans for minimizing negative effects to ecological systems and the species they support. Distributional models would be valuable tools to assess cumulative and spatially distributed effects; however, because of the amount of effort required to develop these models, managers would need to prioritize which species and ecological endpoints would benefit the most from more indepth modeling. The end goal of such modeling efforts should not only be to simply predict species effects and distributions, but also should be to analyze scenarios and management strategies and help inform and establish long-term, multispecies, spatially extensive ecological monitoring programs.

Research needs are largely associated with the development of decision support tools for planning projects that minimize the cumulative effects of UOG development on species and ecosystems. Much of the research in this area should be closely associated with research related to water quality and the effects on ecological and human health. Research needs to enhance the development of decision support tools include the following:

Effects on Aquatic Species and Human Health

Conventional and UOG development pose unknown risks to the quality of atmospheric, groundwater, surface-water, soil, and other environmental resources. These emerging risks need to be examined because of their potential effects on ecological and human health. The rapid pace of UOG development has brought these issues to the forefront of the national conversation about the role of oil and gas development on health (Post van der Burg and others, 2022a). Primary public concerns include contamination of water from drilling operations, injection of chemicals into the ground, and release of chemicals from wastewater spills (fig. 2; National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2015). Potential effects can occur throughout the life cycle of UOG development and by multiple environmental pathways. Effects to species that inhabit prairie pothole wetlands and low-order drainage streams are of distinct concern, especially in the Williston Basin.

Research in this area should be inextricably associated with research related to water quality and ecological effects. Research needs include, in part, the following: