Joseph Ryan News

Ryan interviewed on mine wastewater research

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 21:56:17 +0000

Ryan interviewed on mine wastewater research Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/25/2024 - 15:56

Joe Ryan spoke to the Colorado Sun about the use of viruses to kill bacteria in mining wastewater.

This wastewater, which can come with radioactive, cancer-causing materials, and yes, bacteria, often gets shoved back underground for storage. But increasingly, Colorado and other states are looking at ways to clean the wastewater enough that it can be used in other mining operations instead of fresh water. It’s an intriguing idea in Colorado, where fresh water supplies have been strained by a two-decade megadrought.

However, Ryan, an expert on contaminant fate and transport in waterways who was not involved in the research, has significant doubts about the utility of the development.

“It’s a questionable solution to a problem that just doesn’t seem at the top of the list of importance if you’re trying to do something with produced water,” Ryan said.

Read the full article at the Colorado Sun.

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Prof. Ryan talks Colorado oil and gas drilling in new podcast

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 19:09:23 +0000

Prof. Ryan talks Colorado oil and gas drilling in new podcast Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/23/2023 - 13:09

Joseph Ryan is a featured in a new episode of The Sweaty Penguin podcast, a product of New York PBS affiliate WNET.

The podcast focuses on issues related to climate change with a serious and humorous edge. This episode focuses on the Denver-Julesburg Basin, a major oil and gas formation in Colorado.

Ryan is a professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and the Environmental Engineering Program and has done extensive research on contamination from oil and gas drilling, particularly related to waterways.

List to the Podcast at The Sweaty Penguin

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Denver7: How oil and gas drilling might affect your drinking water

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 20:58:12 +0000

Denver7: How oil and gas drilling might affect your drinking water Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/30/2023 - 13:58

Joe Ryan's research into leaking oil and gas wells is being spotlighted in Denver and nationally.

Denver 7 ABC TV interviewed Ryan for a feature on research into groundwater risks from abandoned and gas wells. The station also syndicated the story to stations across the country.

Ryan, a professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and the Environmental Engineering program, recently published research into leaking oil and gas wells in Weld County. The data shows 26.5 percent of wells are leaking, presenting contamination risks to nearby ground water.

When oil is extracted deep from the earth’s surface it must pass through aquifers closer to ground level. In most cases, there is a layer of cement around the well’s casing to prevent leaking, but Ryan has found that the casing is not always intact as carcinogens can seep into the water supply.

“This is a problem that we have detected in certain water wells that have been monitored, but there are probably 10 times as many water wells out there that weren’t measured,” said Ryan.

Watch the full piece at Denver 7...

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Compromised oil and gas wells pose risks to groundwater in Weld County

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 19:00:31 +0000

Compromised oil and gas wells pose risks to groundwater in Weld County Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/02/2023 - 12:00

Jeff Zehnder

Cross-sectional diagram of a vertical oil and gas well in the Greater Wattenberg Area with hypothetical fluid migration pathways through the surface casing.

When gas leaks into and contaminates a household water well near an oil and gas drilling site, there is always a question of where it came from. Is it from a failure in the drilling or was the gas migrating naturally?

New research in the journal Environmental Science and Technology by Greg Lackey (CivEngr MS’13, PhD’17), Joe Ryan, a professor and interim director of the Environmental Engineering Program, and a team of investigators at the University of Colorado Boulder, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, and Dalhousie University could help definitively answer that question.

“When gas leaks from an oil and gas well, its geochemical composition varies depending on the depth of the formation it came from. We’re analyzing that composition and can know if it’s from the producing formation at the bottom of the well or if it’s from somewhere closer to the surface,” Ryan said.

To prevent leaks, drilled wells comprise a series of nested pipes and cement with only the innermost pipe carrying produced oil and gas. In a properly functioning well, oil and gas never enters the space between the outer pipes. Earlier studies have shown that in the Wattenberg Field – a densely drilled area that underlays much of Weld County in northern Colorado – 26.5 percent of oil and gas wells have a buildup of gas, oil, or water in their outer pipes indicating a leak.

The Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission requires operators to periodically test for leaked gas, oil, or water in the outer pipes of a well and to share the chemical composition of the leaked fluid publicly in a state database – the only state to do so. The team’s research analyzed those data for the study.

The chemical composition of the leaks in the Greater Wattenberg Area show that most are coming from failures of well pipes or cement, not natural stray gas migration.

While the study only looked at oil and gas wells, the ability to conclusively show failure in an inner pipe or cement has major implications, Ryan said.

“We don’t have to speculate anymore about sources. There are big projects going on across the country with contaminated water wells trying to tie them back to oil and gas drilling to help improve regulation. This shows that many oil and gas wells could indeed be sources for contamination,” Ryan said.

Map of the Greater Wattenberg Area showing oil and gas well locations and sample locations categorized by sample type.

While liability is a clear concern for a homeowner with a water well, Ryan said the data is also important for drillers, as leaking oil and gas represents lost money.

“Operators have contacted us about the research because they want to know what wells are leaking so they can stop it,” Ryan said. “These wells can be repaired and there is a lot of effort going into that right now.”

This research grew out of AirWaterGas, a massive, five-year National Science Foundation-funded initiative led by CU Boulder that studied environmental, economic, and social tradeoffs of oil and gas development and their relation to public policies and regulations.

Lackey was part of the project during his PhD research at CU Boulder. While AirWaterGas ended in 2019, Ryan said its efforts led in part to Colorado expanding well leakage monitoring requirements, making it possible to study these issues in a new way.

“This research can help inform regulations and well construction so we can protect groundwater into the future,” Ryan said. “To do that, you have to prove where things comes from. This gives us a really clear look.”

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Faces of Engaged Scholarship: Professor Joe Ryan

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:46:42 +0000

Faces of Engaged Scholarship: Professor Joe Ryan Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/22/2022 - 15:46

Joe Ryan started doing community-engaged scholarship in 1999 and hasn’t looked back.

“I had moved up near Jamestown and realized I was driving past old mine sites. I connected with a community group concerned about off-road vehicle use along James Creek and the effects on the water supply. The treatment plant was overwhelmed by sediment from the offroaders. The work we did helped to demonstrate that the vehicles were indeed causing a problem, and the county decided to close the road. After that, we started assessing the effects the old mines were having on the water quality.”

Ryan takes seriously CU Boulder’s responsibility to be a statewide resource and how community-based work enhances every aspect of his job from teaching to advancing research to securing new research funding.

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On what motivates Ryan to prioritize community-engaged scholarship:

It’s a chance to share my expertise in immediate ways, and I can get students involved in hands-on projects so that they can feel how motivating it is to solve problems. Another really nice by-product of community-based work is that it’s a chance to start research that can lead to deeper work and bigger funding.

My biggest return on investment was when the Office for Outreach and Engagement provided some seed funding for me and Professor Mark Williams in Geography to create the Colorado Water Energy Research Center (CWERC), which worked statewide with community groups dealing with oil and gas development. We were able to develop the center and apply to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a Sustainability Research Network. We got that $12 million grant and built a network of 27 investigators who worked together for seven years on the environmental, economic, and political effects of oil and gas development in Colorado.

On why it’s important for CU Boulder:

Expertise and money aren’t equally available around Colorado. I’ve found there’s real appreciation when better resourced locales work around the state.

For example, Mercury comes from burning coal and there are high concentrations of it, as high as anywhere in the USA, in the Four Corners area. My team worked with the Mountain Studies Institute in Silverton to take samples and bring in students from Fort Lewis College—some of whom were Native American—to learn about how to turn their education into a real project addressing community issues.

More recently, masters student Holly Miller participated in an outreach project with a public health consortium that represents six Western Slope counties. Many residents in that department’s area have private wells that aren’t monitored or regulated. Holly checked the water quality and was then hired to develop a map and website for residents. This is a great example of how an outreach partnership became a deeper connection where residents couldn’t have accomplished the same thing on their own. The public health officials really appreciated Holly’s work. She even turned it into her Master’s thesis.

On what he’d say to fellow faculty members:

I suppose if I was speaking to a newer faculty member concerned about tenure, I’d tell them that the practical benefits of this work can be turned into a bigger proposal. The work generates ideas and builds awareness about what problems exist and what research is needed. And the tie is not only for research, but for teaching.

Courses can be made more stimulating through service learning components–such as through CU Engage or projects funded by the Office for Outreach and Engagement. The teaching becomes more interesting this way, too. There’s pressure to achieve research goals, but community-engaged scholarship can make teaching something beyond adequate without that much more work.

We mentor newer faculty so much about tenure, and it’s important to understand how outreach can connect to tenure. The Faculty Report of Professional Activities (FRPA) has an outreach component. It’s recognized as a contribution that CU wants to know about, and I like that I can note my outreach work.

On being the chair of the CU Boulder Outreach Awards Committee and a member of the new Community Perspectives Cohort:

I have aspirations to see proposals submitted from all over campus. The applications we get are fantastic, but a higher percentage of the faculty could be submitting. Some never have, and I’d love to see more. The Marshall Fire is a good example of how research could be applied.

Community Perspectives is just getting started, but I am already enjoying how intellectually diverse the group is and how much synergy is present around doing community-engaged work. I’m looking forward to how this and ideas will develop during our June tour of Southern Colorado.

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The CU Boulder Office for Outreach and Engagement facilitates mutually beneficial partnerships between communities and scholars who seek to advance their work in community settings. Faces of Outreach highlights the stories of CU Boulder faculty, staff, students and public partners conducting the work and what they’re accomplishing together. See more Faces of Engaged Scholarship stories and learn about what the Office for Outreach and Engagement offers.

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