Every March since 1987, Congress and U.S. Presidents have designated March as Women’s History Month. This year, The Crude Life celebrates and honors their accomplishments and contributions in history with interviews and stories that center around women’s experiences in industry.The Crude Life believes woman are vital in energy. Today more than ever. From a female’s point of view to intuition to specific skill sets, woman are vital in energy.
Today’s women in industry are not only modern-day leaders, but truly are defining history as well.
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Summary and interview by Genneca Houser
Did you know that there are people whose job it is to design well pad sites? We talked with two well educated and industry experienced ladies who work together for KLJ to do exactly that. Because a person can’t just place well pads and roads just anywhere, people or businesses will hire individuals like Daphne Senn and Corie Ereth to look at the site to determine the best placement and design to ensure the least amount of environmental disruption.
Daphne and Corie work together to account for things like vegetation, animal habitats, cultural resources, and permitting to make sure there isn’t anything to get into trouble for later. Daphne, a Civil Engineer and Project Leader, designs the layout of the well pad as well as the road to it, and Corie, an environmental expert, assists with placement using her extensive knowledge of the soil, animals and vegetation. Together, they can help clients to put well pads together that are not only efficient, but could be considered environmentally symbiotic.
“I can also help, too, with sometimes trickier soils on providing a seed mixture that works the best for that type of soil, too.” – Corie Ereth, KLJ
With the focus on ESG, such an environmentally conscious approach is keeping them busy. Daphne and Corie say that they’re very glad to be able to work together on these projects because each project has so many moving parts. But the popularity is an interesting item to note because on private land it’s not required to have a civil engineer design the site. If it’s not required, though, why should operators go through the extra of hiring professionals like Daphne and Corie? According to Daphne, it’s because spending now means saving later.
“So, that’s what we’re trying to convince these operators, that if they just spend a little bit more money up front then maybe they’ll save money in the long run.” – Daphne Senn, KLJ
KLJ is a company that has been around for quite some time and has a hand in many different industries. But the well-pad design branch is fairly industry specific. Daphne has been working for KLJ ever since she first graduated college, and Corie has been working for KLJ for 6 years after her time at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. It’s a company that they say, not only treats the employees well, but also allows them a career with daily surprises and new challenges. Their line of work also allows them to build good relationships with customers and feel a sense of reward when the job is well done.
“For me, it’s a little bit of balance, right? So, it’s nice because you don’t have to choose one or the other, right? You can actually help them problem solve to have the least amount of impact on any of the environmental stuff… that’s what’s nice. And working with Daphne – I give her the problems and she thinks around them.” – Daphne Senn, KLJ
For Corie, it’s all about that balance as well; balance between environmental conservation and public health and safety.
“I feel like I still provide a lot of conservation and protect a lot more because of the position I’m in. I’m helping our clients do better.” – Corie Ereth, KLJ
It’s not just the job that makes it worthwhile though, it’s also the clients. According to Corie, their clients are “top notch.” It seems that, because they were already doing everything possible to be environmentally friendly as possible, the ESG regulations didn’t even affect them or the work. This makes it all the more frustrating when some media outlets correlate the oil and gas industry with environmental destruction, when the reality is that there is so much being done that it could take over a year to complete just one project.
“I feel like they’re an easy target, but nobody actually sees the upfront work and that they put time put into it. One project is a year minimum… there are a lot of hours that get put into a project before it’s actually constructed.” – Corie Ereth, KLJ
In any one project, there are a great many moving pieces which makes their favorite thing also the most difficult. Having new obstacles to overcome everyday may keep them on their toes, but it also can be difficult to plan for. So they say that you just have to continue working to find new solutions for new problems.
“There’s always that one. It seems like you have one a year that, you’re like, this one is going to fight us until the end… but again, they’re just a different challenge and you look at other options…” – Corie Ereth, KLJ
The most prominent issues, however, seem to be with environmental constraints and run-off issues surrounding the pad. The latter is the reason both Daphne and Corie came to the WBPC as keynote speakers. Apparently, when the soil and vegetation aren’t given the proper consideration, the root systems on the surrounding vegetation don’t grow properly causing erosion and that leads to water puddling on location. Of course, that leads to a mucky mess among other issues. It could even lead to run-off in other areas making it necessary to start all over with propagating the proper vegetation.
“It’s the worst whenever it’s a newer pad, so then you don’t even have your vegetation established and then it’s just creating headaches for them.” – Daphne Senn, KLJ
Taking proper care of the surrounding plant life may not seem like a big issue, but the problems it can cause from negligence can be quite big when the water can’t get to where it should be going. The plants and trees don’t even have to be fancy; in fact, they just need to be able to grow well in the environment. With that goal in mind, they will match the plant life to the soil so that it will take root and grow more quickly, and thus saving from ponds and erosion on the pads.
“Once you get roots in the ground, that’s going to hold the soil together. It allows water to move into the soil profile versus running on the top and cutting your slopes and causing sediment to leave the sites…” – Corie Ereth, KLJ
With all of the controversy surrounding the different practices within the oil and gas industry supposedly accelerating environmental decline, we had to ask candidly if there was any detriment to the area when well pads are put in. Corie was confident in answering no, saying that they utilize the native environment from start to finish so that not even outside soil is brought onto location. In fact, when the site is prepared, the top soil is pushed to the side so that the well may be reclaimed by its own soil once the well is retired. But that is exactly why these two ladies are trying to spread the word that the good work of people, like themselves, can prevent serious issues and proactively plan how to get the best results.
“Upfront, thoughtful planning equals minimizing and mitigating risk.” -Excerpt from KLJ Well Pad Keynote Presentation
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Sponsors, Music and Other Show Notes
Studio Sponsor: The Industrial Forest
The Industrial Forest is a network of environmentally minded and socially conscious businesses that are using industrial innovations to build a network of sustainable forests across the United States.
Weekly Sponsor: KBL Complete Services
Strikingly dynamic, incomparably strong and absolutely reliable, KBL Complete Services excels at all of your pipeline needs. From AGM Surveys, ILI tool tracking, Digsite Locating, and Equipment Decontamination, to Project Management, KBL Complete Services are ready to make your project a success.
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Great American Mining monetizes wasted, stranded and undervalued gas throughout the oil and gas industry by using it as a power generation source for bitcoin mining. We bring the market and our expertise to the molecule. Our solutions make producers more efficient and profitable while helping to reduce flaring and venting throughout the oil and gas value chain.
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