Federal environmental and health agencies collect data from Dimock families
citizensvoice.com/news/federal-environmental-and-health-agencies-collect-data-from-dimock-families-1.1232108#axzz1e4UZpkud
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: November 14, 2011
Officials from federal environmental and public health agencies met with residents of Dimock Township late last week to discuss the impacts of Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling and to gather water-test results from families affected by methane migration.
Three representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry visited Thursday with families around Carter Road, an area of Susquehanna County where state regulators have linked increased methane in water supplies to faulty natural gas wells.
“They wanted information; they wanted documentation,” Dimock resident Scott Ely said. “They are looking to see if there is any environmental impact that would threaten life or health.”
Efforts to reach an EPA spokeswoman were unsuccessful Friday, when government offices were closed for Veterans Day.
Natural gas drilling is largely regulated in Pennsylvania by the state Department of Environmental Protection, but the EPA is conducting a multiyear study to determine if there is a link between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and contaminated water supplies.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry is an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that works to prevent harmful exposures to toxic substances.
Dimock resident Victoria Switzer said the agencies were interested in copies of water sample results from her well, including data gathered by scientists not affiliated with the state or natural gas drilling contractors.
She also outlined her concerns that the state Department of Environmental Protection weakened enforcement actions against Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., the operator that DEP deemed responsible for increased methane in water supplies. Cabot denies it impacted the water and says the elevated methane pre-existed its operations.
“The watchdog is licking the hand of the thief that is giving it a steak,” she said. “We want to get this issue to a high place.”
Efforts to reach a DEP spokeswoman were unsuccessful Friday.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Lawyer: Dimock water unsafe; deliveries should go on
thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/lawyer-dimock-water-unsafe-deliveries-should-go-on-1.1227996#axzz1cqCyvXh1
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: November 5, 2011
Attorneys for Dimock Twp. families suing a natural gas driller over contamination claims are asking the state’s chief oil and gas regulator to reverse his decision allowing fresh water deliveries to the families to end.
Tate Kunkle, a lawyer representing the 11 families in a suit against Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., wrote to the head of the Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Oil and Gas Management on Thursday to rebut Cabot’s claim that the families’ well water is safe and that proposed treatment systems work.
He cited tests over the past 22 months showing elevated levels of lead, aluminum, iron, toluene, methane and manganese in some of the water supplies, as well as detection of chemicals found in synthetic sands, hydraulic fluid and antifreeze that “are not naturally occurring and that are associated with natural gas drilling.”
“The fact is that the water in the Dimock/Carter Road Area remains unsafe for drinking, even with Cabot’s proposed ‘whole house treatment system,’ ” Mr. Kunkle wrote.
The DEP determined that faulty Cabot Marcellus Shale wells allowed methane to seep into aquifers in the Susquehanna County township, a finding the company disputes. Families have been relying on deliveries of fresh bottled and bulk water for drinking, bathing and cooking for nearly three years.
On Oct. 19, the agency found that Cabot had met the obligations necessary to end delivery of the water supplies outlined in a December settlement between Cabot and DEP. The settlement was reached after the Rendell Administration abandoned plans to build a public waterline to the homes and sue Cabot for the costs.
Those obligations included funding escrow accounts for 19 affected families with twice the tax-assessed value of their properties and offering to install methane-removal systems in the homes. The obligations did not include restoring the residents’ well water to its original quality or reducing levels of dissolved methane in the aquifer.
A DEP spokeswoman referred to a recent letter to the editor published by DEP Secretary Michael Krancer in the (Chambersburg) Public Opinion for his comments on the issue.
Mr. Krancer wrote that Cabot met the requirements outlined in the December agreement “and the law, in turn, requires DEP to follow its obligations – which we have done.
“The real issue here is not safety,” he continued. “It’s about a very vocal minority of Dimock residents who continue to demand that taxpayers should foot the bill for a nearly $12 million public waterline along Route 29 to serve about a dozen homes.”
Cabot argues that the methane in Dimock water supplies occurs naturally and is not a result of its gas-drilling activities. It has produced data showing naturally occurring methane is detectable in 80 percent of Susquehanna County water supplies.
The company plans to stop the fresh water deliveries on or before Nov. 30.
Cabot spokesman George Stark said Friday that the company is reviewing Mr. Kunkle’s letter. “Cabot continues to fully cooperate with the DEP regarding our operations,” he said.
In his letter, Mr. Kunkle quoted email messages from a Dimock resident who accepted a Cabot treatment system and found it failed to treat turbidity and metals in her water.
Mr. Kunkle accused Cabot of misrepresenting or selectively reporting water-quality test results and charged DEP with colluding with and “coddling” Cabot while abandoning the regulatory requirement for drillers to restore or replace tainted water supplies.
“To be sure, PADEP has taken a stance: profits of a private corporation from Texas are more important than the constitutional right to pure water of the Commonwealth’s residents,” he wrote.
Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com
Critic disputes Penn State findings and thinks potential well water contamination overlooked
www.timesleader.com/news/Study__Gas_drilling_not_polluting_water_11-04-2011.html
Posted: November 4
By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
Study: Gas drilling not polluting water
The natural gas industry is pointing to a Penn State University study to boost its mantra that gas drilling is not linked to pollution of water wells.
But a drilling critic says the study found increased levels of a harmful chemical in water wells after gas drilling occurred nearby. He thinks other aspects of the study overlooked potential well water contamination.
“The Impact of Marcellus Gas Drilling on Rural Drinking Water Supplies” was authored by Penn State water quality experts led by Elizabeth Boyer, associate professor of water resources, director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center and assistant director of the Penn State Institutes of Energy & Environment.
The research was sponsored by a grant from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan legislative agency within the state General Assembly. The goal was a large-scale study of water quality in private water wells in rural Pennsylvania before and after nearby Marcellus Shale drilling.
For the study, the researchers evaluated water sampled from 233 water wells near gas wells in 2010 and 2011. The first phase focused on 48 private water wells located within 2,500 feet of a nearby shale well pad. The second phase focused on 185 private water wells located within 5,000 feet of a shale well pad.
During the first phase, researchers collected pre- and post-drilling water well samples and analyzed them for water quality. In the second phase, researchers or homeowners collected only post-drilling water well samples and analyzed them for water quality. The post-drilling analyses were compared with existing pre-drilling test records.
John Krohn, spokesman for Energy In Depth Northeast Marcellus Initiative, noted excerpts from the report that said analysis of the water tests “did not suggest major influences from gas well drilling (or hydraulic fracturing) on nearby water wells.”
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the high-pressure injection of millions of gallons of water, sand and chemical additives deep underground to extract natural gas trapped in shale rock.
The study also found no clear link between methane migration and natural gas production, Krohn said.
Methane is a gas that some residents living near gas wells have lit on fire as it escaped from their kitchen faucets along with their well water.
Krohn also noted 40 percent of the water wells tested failed at least one safe drinking water standard, mostly for coliform bacteria, turbidity and manganese, before drilling occurred. This shows a need for uniform water well construction standards that don’t exist in Pennsylvania, as well as a need for education of water well owners.
Dr. Tom Jiunta, founder of the local Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, said study findings of increased levels of bromide and sediment/metal levels in wells after drilling/fracking were of particular concern to him.
“This finding alone shows that many wells near drilling sites are impacted by migration of underwater brines and possible drilling muds, both hazardous to drinking water supplies,” he said.
Bromide itself is not a health threat, but elevated levels “can create an indirect health issue as it may combine with other elements in water to cause carcinogenic compounds,” the report states.
Jiunta said nearly 80 percent of the water wells were not pre-tested for methane, bromide or oil/grease because well owners couldn’t afford the expensive tests. “This skews the data,” he said.
Jiunta also said the study considers only short-term changes in well water after nearby gas wells were drilled – less than three-month time periods. He said that time period is “inadequate for determining contamination,” citing a Temple University engineering professor who said most problems with underground water contamination would most likely take several years to be detected.
The Penn State study was released as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency begins a federal probe into whether hydraulic fracturing is spoiling and diminishing drinking water supplies.
The agency’s final study plan was released Thursday. The first results will be available in 2012.
Free Pre-Drilling Private Drinking Water Testing Offered
paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-pre-drilling-private-drinking.html
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Free Pre-Drilling Private Drinking Water Testing Offered In 8 Northcentral Counties
The Headwaters Quality Drinking Water Project of the Headwaters Resource Conservation & Development Council is now providing low income families in Jefferson, Elk, Potter, Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton, Centre and McKean Counties with secure chain of custody water sample analyses of their private water supplies prior to Marcellus Shale Gas Well Drilling activities.
A $150,000 grant from the Colcom Foundation’s Marcellus Environmental Fund supports this project.
The Headwaters Project is also providing mandatory educational workshops and material explaining how to interpret the water quality results, when do things become toxic, and what the homeowner should do in case something does happen to their water supply.
RC&D will partner with various organizations and agencies including the Department of Environmental Protection, Penn State Extension and the local school districts and conservation districts.
Jefferson & Clearfield Counties
The first set of water samplings will take place in Jefferson and Clearfield Counties. Testing will be conducted from October 24 through December 2 with a mandatory educational workshop following.
For folks living in Jefferson County, the workshop will be held on December 15 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined. For Clearfield County, the workshop will be held on December 14 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined.
Elk & Centre Counties
The second set of water samplings will take place in Elk and Centre Counties. Testing will be conducted January 9 through February 17 with a mandatory educational workshop following.
For folks living in Elk County, the workshop will be held on March 8 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined. For Centre County, the workshop will be held on March 7 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined.
Cameron & Clinton Counties
The third set of water samplings will take place in Cameron and Clinton Counties. Testing will be conducted March 12 through April 20 with a mandatory educational workshop following.
For folks living in Cameron County, the workshop will be held on May 10 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined. For Clinton County, the workshop will be held on May 9 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined.
McKean & Potter Counties
The fourth set of water samplings will take place in McKean and Potter Counties. Testing will be conducted May 14 through June 22 with a mandatory educational workshop following.
For folks living in McKean County, the workshop will be held on July 11 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined. For Potter County, the workshop will be held on July 12 from 5-7 p.m., location to be determined.
Applications can be obtained at the Clearfield County Conservation District located at 511 Spruce Street Suite 6, Clearfield, PA 16830 and are available online.
For more information, contact Kelly Williams, Clearfield County Conservation District’s Watershed Conservationist at 814-765-2629 or send email to: kwilliamsccd@atlanticbbn.net.
The Headwaters Resource Conservation & Development Council is tasked with providing local leadership to improve the economic, environmental, and social well-being of the people of Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean, and Potter counties in northcentral Pennsylvania.
Posted by David E. Hess at 11:37 AM
Private well survey and database planned in PA
www.riverreporteronline.com/news/14/2011/10/26/private-well-survey-and-database-planned-pa
October 26, 2011
TRR photo by Sandy Long
Brian Oram, a licensed professional geologist, offered this advice at a presentation in Honesdale, PA: “If you want to protect the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, you need to protect where the water gets into the aquifer and that is in rural private wells.”
In preparation for natural gas extraction and its potential impacts and opportunities, a session on methane migration was hosted by the Wayne County Oil and Gas Task Force on October 18 in Honesdale.
During his presentation, licensed professional geologist Brian Oram announced that a private well owner and watershed survey would be conducted to obtain information on regional concerns related to development of the Marcellus Shale.
Oram is the owner of BF Environmental Consultants, Inc. of Dallas, PA and former director of the Center for Environmental Quality at Wilkes University, where he oversaw production of a free publication on private well water testing (www.bfenvironmental.com/pdfs/Waterbooklet070610.pdf).
Oram opened his presentation with a plea to move beyond the division created by supporters and opponents of gas drilling and to focus on “understanding the risks” and testing private wells now. “It’s the match of the century,” Oram said. “Which side are we on? That’s the mindset that’s causing us problems.”
The primary risk Oram points to is the fact that nearly half of the private wells tested in Pennsylvania don’t meet the drinking water standards established by the EPA. Typical problems include corrosion, copper, lead, iron, manganese and methane, according to Oram.
“For 23 years, I’ve been encouraging private owners to test their water,” he said. “Maybe five percent do. It took an industry to come to town to get people to think about the quality of their own drinking water and to get it tested.”
Oram also discussed the Citizen Groundwater Database established at Wilkes University
(www.wilkes.edu/pages/4197.asp).
The regional database provides a central location to store baseline pre-drilling and/or post-drilling water quality data in order to document quality by geological formation, identify existing regional issues or concerns and provide an unbiased community resource as well as a mechanism to track temporal,
spatial and other geospatial variations in water quality.
Data from 320 private wells in Luzerne County, secured with a full chain of custody and third party testing, is already stored. “Forty-nine percent of the wells tested in Luzerne County violated the drinking water standard for total coliform bacteria,” he said. “Twenty-five percent had elevated lead; 10% of the population is drinking water contaminated with e coli. Some private wells contain pthalates (plasticizers), which can cause gastrointestinal problems and are suspected endocrine disruptors and carcinogens.”
Oram is a passionate advocate for the establishment of well construction standards, and an active critic of “what PA has allowed to happen to the private well program” by not implementing such standards. Pennsylvania is one of two states without construction standards, according to Oram. The other is Alaska.
Wells with problems such as bacterial or viral contamination are conduits for contamination of aquifers, Oram added. “We need to fix those. These are the vulnerable points in our communities.” Water can also move along casings and contaminate the groundwater aquifer, he said.
Oram urged audience members to get baseline testing done now. “Spend what you can afford,” he said. “There’s a list of recommended DEP parameters which runs about $400.” If doing baseline testing, he recommends adding tests for methane, ethane and propane.
BF Environmental’s Private Well Owner Survey seeks information on regional concerns related to Marcellus Shale and other non-point sources of pollution. The survey also aims to gauge support for a construction standard for new private wells, and to find out if citizens would test their water once a year if it only cost about $50.
The company is also absorbing the costs for free radon testing for 200 private wells to explore “how a migration event could occur if it may be related to a Marcellus Shale activity.” The web-based survey (www.surveymonkey.com/s/NMG6RQ3can) can be filled out online or mailed in. The company also offers baseline testing related to Marcellus Shale development and has recommended testing packages that are region specific.
Oram urged local leadership to use the results of such testing to inform decision-making, support solutions that fix problematic private wells and develop a community support program where citizens can call and get answers.
The event also featured Burt Waite, senior geologist and program director for Moody and Associates, Inc. who spoke on “Understanding Stray Gas in Pennsylvania.” Wayne County commissioners Brian Smith and Wendell Kay offered concluding remarks.
“Understand the risks,” said Smith. “Make good decisions based on what the risks really are and do that by talking to the people who have the skill sets that can help address those risks and solve the problems. That’s what we’re doing by having these forums.”
Kay added, “The goal of this organization is to educate as many of us as possible to all the aspects. This commission is looking at a whole variety of issues, both positive and negative, that will come about as part of this economic opportunity that we all hope we will enjoy.”
For more information visit www.bfen vironmental.com, www.water-research.net, www.wilkes.edu/water or www.epa.gov/safewater.
Study looks at water quality in private wells near Marcellus drilling
live.psu.edu/story/55987#nw69
October 25, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A study of more than 200 drinking-water wells near Marcellus Shale natural-gas
Bryan Swistock, extension water resource specialist, led the first 'unbiased and large-scale study of water quality in private water wells .. both before and after the drilling of Marcellus gas wells nearby.'
wells in 20 counties did not find statistically significant evidence of contamination from hydraulic fracturing — a process used by gas drillers to release natural gas using a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemical additives.
The study was conducted by researchers and extension educators in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. The research was funded by the state General Assembly’s Center for Rural Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center at Penn State. A free online seminar focusing on the study results will take place from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Information about how to register for the live webinar can be found at http://extension.psu.edu/water/webinar-series/schedule online. A recorded version will be available for those who cannot log in for the live offering.
“This is the first project to provide an unbiased and large-scale study of water quality in private water wells used to supply drinking water to rural homes and farms both before and after the drilling of Marcellus gas wells nearby,” said project leader Bryan Swistock, water resources extension specialist.
Conducted from February 2010 to July 2011, the study found methane in about a quarter of the water wells before any drilling occurred, but the concentrations were generally below advisory levels for treatment, Swistock said. The presence of methane can be naturally occurring or related to drilling activity.
“We really didn’t see any significant changes in methane levels after drilling or hydraulic fracturing,” he added.
There is no federal drinking water standard for methane as it can be ingested without harm, but high levels can cause an explosion hazard as the dissolved methane escapes from water.
Elevated levels of dissolved bromide were measured in some water wells and appeared to be a result of the gas-well drilling process and not hydraulic fracturing.
“Bromide was not detected in any of the water wells before drilling, but it did show up in several wells after drilling, which needs to be investigated further,” Swistock said.
The study’s modest number of samples for methane and bromide and the relatively short length of the study speak to the need for additional data collection and analysis, Swistock pointed out.
“Future research should look at a broader number of water contaminants over a longer period of time,” Swistock said. “More detailed and longer-term studies are critical to ensuring that Pennsylvanians’ private water supplies are protected.”
Wells in the study were not randomly selected. Project publicity solicited participation from well owners who knew gas drilling was going to occur near them, and many responded by contacting Swistock or other project investigators working for Penn State Extension.
“Our network of Penn State Extension educators throughout the state was absolutely critical to the efficient completion of this project,” Swistock said.
The first phase of the study included 48 private water wells located within about 2,500 feet of a Marcellus well pad. These wells were tested by Penn State researchers both before and after gas-well drilling. Twenty-six of the 48 were near Marcellus wells that were drilled and fracked, 16 sites had drilling but no fracking, and six sites were controls where no drilling or fracking occurred.
These wells were tested for 18 common water-quality parameters that could occur from gas-drilling activity, including chloride, barium, sodium, iron, manganese, methane, ethane, bromide, and oil and grease.
The second phase was comprised of 185 additional private water wells located within about 5,000 feet of a Marcellus well pad. Homeowners provided water test results collected by independent, state-accredited laboratories prior to Marcellus gas-well drilling. These tests then were compared with samples collected by Penn State personnel or by homeowners trained by Penn State personnel after gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing occurred.
Phase two included 173 sites near hydraulically fractured gas wells and 12 control sites where no drilling had occurred with five miles. These wells were tested for 14 common water quality parameters — methane, ethane, bromide and oil and grease were not included due to funding and sample-collection constraints.
Separate statistical analyses of results from each phase of the project produced similar results, according to Swistock.
In addition to the increased bromide concentrations in some water wells, a small number of water wells examined in the study also appeared to be affected by disturbance due to drilling, as evidenced by sediment and/or increased levels of iron and manganese that were noticeable to the water-supply owner and confirmed by water-testing results.
“While most water wells, even within 3,000 feet of a Marcellus well, did not have changes in water quality after drilling or hydraulic fracturing, that was the distance where we did sporadically measure increased bromide, sediment or metals. This seems to be the distance that we need to focus on for future testing and research,” Swistock said.
In addition to future research directions, the study also identified critical education needs for owners of private water wells. Most water-well owners had difficulty interpreting detailed water-test reports that they received as part of pre-drilling surveys, according to the researchers.
“As a result, most homeowners with pre-drilling water-quality problems were unable to identify them even after receiving extensive water-testing reports,” Swistock said. “There is a clear need to help homeowners understand pre-drilling problems, their risks and how to solve them.”
Other investigators on this project were Elizabeth Boyer, associate professor of water resources and director of the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center in the School of Forest Resources; James Clark, extension educator based in McKean County; Mark Madden, extension educator based in Sullivan County; and Dana Rizzo, extension educator based in Westmoreland County.
The full initial report and executive summary of this study are available on the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s website at http://www.rural.palegislature.us/. The investigators currently are preparing this work to submit for publication in the peer-reviewed literature.
Dimock, Pennsylvania Residents Will Stop Receiving Water From Fracking Company
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/19/dimock-pennsylvania-replacement-water_n_1019743.html
MICHAEL RUBINKAM 10/19/11
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Pennsylvania environmental regulators said Wednesday they have given permission to a natural-gas driller to stop delivering replacement water to residents whose drinking water wells were tainted with methane.
Residents expressed outrage and threatened to take the matter to court.
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been delivering water to homes in the northeast village of Dimock since January of 2009. The Houston-based energy company asked the Department of Environmental Protection for approval to stop the water deliveries by the end of November, saying Dimock’s water is safe to drink.
DEP granted Cabot’s request late Tuesday, notifying the company in a letter released Wednesday morning. Scott Perry, the agency’s acting deputy secretary for oil and gas management, wrote that since Cabot has satisfied the terms of a December settlement agreement requiring the company to remove methane from the residents’ water, DEP “therefore grants Cabot’s request to discontinue providing temporary potable water.”
Residents who are suing Cabot in federal court say their water is still tainted with unsafe levels of methane and possibly other contaminants from the drilling process. They say DEP had no right to allow Cabot to stop paying for replacement water.
Bill Ely, 60, said the water coming out of his well looks like milk.
“You put your hand down a couple of inches and you can’t see your hand, that’s how much gas there is in it. And they’re telling me it was that way all my life,” said Ely, who has lived in the family homestead for nearly 50 years and said his well water was crystal clear until Cabot’s arrival three years ago.
If Cabot stops refilling his 550-gallon plastic “water buffalo” that supplies water for bathing and washing clothes, Ely said it will cost him $250 per week to maintain it and another $20,000 to $30,000 to install a permanent system to pipe water from an untainted spring on his land.
Ely and another resident, Victoria Switzer, said their attorneys had promised to seek an injunction in the event that DEP gave Cabot permission to halt deliveries. The attorneys did not immediately return an email and phone call seeking comment.
Regulators previously found that Cabot drilled faulty gas wells that allowed methane to escape into Dimock’s aquifer. The company denied responsibility, but has been banned from drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock since April of 2010.
Along with its request to stop paying for deliveries of water, Cabot has asked the department for permission to resume drilling in Dimock, a rural community about 20 miles south of the New York state line where 18 residential water wells were found to be polluted with methane. DEP has yet to rule on that request.
Philip Stalnaker, a Cabot vice president, asserted in a Monday letter to DEP that tests show the residents’ water to be safe to drink and use for cooking, bathing, washing dishes and doing laundry. He said any methane that remains in the water is naturally occurring but that Cabot is willing to install mitigation systems at residents’ request.
Months’ worth of sampling data provided by DEP to The Times-Tribune of Scranton show that methane has spiked repeatedly this year in the water wells of several homes, reaching potentially explosive levels in five, the newspaper reported Wednesday.
Cabot cited data from 2,000 water samples taken before the commencement of drilling in Susquehanna County that show that 80 percent of them already had methane.
“The amount of methane in a water supply is neither fixed nor predictable,” and depends on a variety of factors unrelated to drilling, Cabot spokesman George Stark said in an email Wednesday.
Methane is an odorless, colorless, tasteless gas commonly found in Pennsylvania groundwater. Sources include swamps, landfills, coal mines and gas wells. Methane is not known to be harmful to ingest, but at high concentrations it’s flammable and can lead to asphyxiation.
The December 2010 agreement between DEP and Cabot required the company to offer residential treatment systems that remove methane from the residents’ water, and to pay them twice the assessed tax value of their homes. A half-dozen treatment systems have been installed, and Cabot said they are effective at removing the gas.
But residents who filed a federal lawsuit against Cabot are appealing the December settlement. They favor an earlier, scuttled DEP plan that would have forced Cabot to pay nearly $12 million to connect their homes to a municipal water line.
Switzer said it’s inappropriate for the state to allow Cabot to stop the water deliveries while the appeal is pending – and while there still are problems with residents’ water.
“They keep changing the rules to accommodate this gas company. It’s so blatantly corrupt,” she said.
DEP spokeswoman Katherine Gresh said the December settlement gave Cabot the right to halt the deliveries once the company funded escrow accounts for the homeowners and is “independent of the water quality results.”
Cabot plans to inform each homeowner by Nov. 1 that it will discontinue deliveries of bulk and bottled water by Nov. 30. The company also offered to pay for a plumber to reconnect residents’ water wells. Cabot said it will stop delivering replacement water “at its earliest opportunity” to homeowners who refuse to allow testing of their well water.
Drilling’s effects to be analyzed
www.timesleader.com/news/Drilling_rsquo_s_effects_to_be_analyzed_10-16-2011.html
MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
October 17, 2010
Penn State database will look at impact of natural gas on groundwater resources.
Researchers at Penn State University will build a database to analyze the impact of natural gas drilling on Pennsylvania’s groundwater resources.
Funded by a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the research initiative aims to consolidate water data collected by government agencies, universities, industry stakeholders and citizens groups into a searchable database accessible to the public online.
“It’s very clear that the rate of drilling in the state is going faster and faster, and there have been some impacts on water, so we want to help the people of Pennsylvania pull together some of that data and analyze that impact,” said Susan Brantley, project leader and director of the university’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute.
Brantley said drilling’s effects on the state’s water resources have thus far been localized, and she expects the statewide data will reflect those localized impacts rather than an overall statewide pattern, but the consolidation of data will also give scientists and lawmakers a sense of the industry’s overall impact on the state’s natural resources.
The data will be posted by the university to a website where users will be able to search and plot data using various search criteria, and researchers at Penn State and other colleges will conduct their own analysis of the data as it is posted.
The challenge, Brantley said, will be to encourage well owners to submit their data, as water well testing is frequently done by homeowners and companies who may not wish to make their data public. The database will maintain anonymity, and will have quality control measures in place to ensure data submitted is genuine and valid, Brantley said.
Eventually, the university plans to train community groups to collect and interpret water data, and is planning a workshop in the spring.
Wilkes University professors Ken Klemow and Dale Bruns, who are conducting their own Department of Energy-funded surface water tests and are working towards building a similar database to Penn State’s for Northeastern Pennsylvania, said the Penn State database will complement their own research and that they hope to find ways to work with the Penn State researchers.
“People are very concerned about water quality as it relates to the Marcellus,” Klemow said. “There have been some statements made, especially in the press, saying that water supplies have been completely decimated, and then you have the industry saying there’s been no impact at all. To settle this question you really need to do the good science.
Battle in Dimock: Gas vs. water
www.timesleader.com/news/Battle_in_Dimock__Gas_vs__water_10-16-2011.html
October 17, 2010
MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Some wells have been fouled in an area where drilling for natural gas is intensive.
DIMOCK — Three years after residents first noticed something wrong with their drinking-water wells, tanker trucks still rumble daily through this rural Northeastern Pennsylvania village where methane gas courses through the aquifer and homeowners can light their water on fire.
One of the trucks stops at Ron and Jean Carter’s home and refills a 550-gallon plastic “water buffalo” container that supplies the couple with water for bathing, cleaning clothes and washing dishes. A loud hissing noise emanates from the vent stack that was connected to the Carters’ water well to prevent an explosion — an indication, they say, the well is still laced with dangerous levels of methane.
Recent testing confirms that gas continues to lurk in Dimock’s aquifer.
“We’re very tired of it,” says Jean Carter, 72. Tired of the buffalo in their yard, tired of worrying about the groundwater under their house, and tired of the fight that has consumed Dimock every day since the fall of 2008.
Like everyone else here, the Carters are eager to turn the page on the most highly publicized case of methane contamination to emerge from the early days of Pennsylvania’s natural-gas drilling boom. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based energy firm held responsible and fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for polluting the groundwater, is just as anxious to resume drilling in a 9-square-mile area of Dimock that has been placed off-limits to the company until it repairs the damage.
State regulators blame faulty gas wells drilled by Cabot for leaking methane into Dimock’s groundwater. It was the first serious case of methane migration connected to Pennsylvania’s 3-year-old drilling boom, raising fears of potential environmental harm throughout the giant Marcellus Shale gas field. Drilling critics point to Dimock as a prime example of what can and does go wrong.
Methane from gas-drilling operations has since been reported in the water supplies of several other Pennsylvania communities, forcing residents to stop using their wells and live off water buffaloes and bottled water. Though gas companies often deny responsibility for the pollution, the state has imposed more stringent well-construction standards designed to prevent stray gas from polluting groundwater.
Dimock’s long quest for clean water may finally be reaching a critical stage.
After a series of false starts, Cabot, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus, said it has met the state’s Oct. 17 deadline to restore or replace Dimock’s water supply, installing treatment systems in some houses that have removed the methane.
Residents who have filed suit against Cabot disagree, saying their water is still tainted and unusable. Another homeowner claims the $30,000 treatment system that Cabot put in failed to work.
Ultimately, it will fall to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to decide whether Cabot has fulfilled its obligation to the residents, whose story was highlighted in last year’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Gasland.”
If regulators sign off, the company plans to resume work on a dozen gas wells in Dimock.
And, in a move sure to infuriate the residents, it will also stop paying for water deliveries to the Carters and several others whose wells were tainted with methane and, some say, toxic chemicals.
It’s not clear how DEP will respond to Cabot’s bid to restart operations, but spokeswoman Katherine Gresh said the agency is not under any deadline.
“DEP will continue to require Cabot to do this work until we are satisfied that the methane migration problem has ceased, regardless of how long it takes,” she said via email.
Despite company assurances of clean water, testing reveals that methane persists in Dimock’s aquifer — though it remains to be seen whether that alone will thwart Cabot from drilling again.
A Cabot contractor who sampled the water in mid-September found a high level of gas in the enclosed space of a water well owned by Craig Sautner, who is among the plaintiffs suing Cabot. DEP test results indicate that five more homes had levels of dissolved methane that exceeded the standard set by a December 2010 agreement between DEP and Cabot — the same agreement whose conditions Cabot says it has met.
The latest results, Sautner said, prove that nothing has changed.
“I don’t know why Cabot says there aren’t any problems in Dimock,” said Sautner, 58. “If they’re going to say that our water’s fine, I want them to be the first guinea pigs and drink it. Nice, big, tall glass of water.”
Cabot characterized the mid-September methane spike at Sautner’s house as an anomaly and said the big picture is that Dimock residents who accepted a treatment system from the company enjoy methane-free water.
“The water is clean for the families inside that area,” said Cabot spokesman George Stark.
Questions also remain about the integrity of gas wells that Cabot has already drilled.
As recently as May, DEP said nearly half of Cabot’s wells in the Dimock area — 20 of 43 — continued to leak methane, including 14 that DEP said were of the “most concern.” In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, a DEP official wrote to Cabot that the leaking wells indicate faulty construction and that Cabot had “yet to achieve full compliance” with DEP mandates.
Cabot disagreed with DEP’s assertions about its gas wells, and has been supplying documentation to the agency showing that all the wells are safe, Stark said.
Some Dimock residents say their water wells were fouled not only with methane that DEP said migrated from improperly cemented Cabot gas wells, but possibly with toxic chemicals commonly used in the drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.”
The company denied responsibility, saying it doesn’t use the chemicals that a consultant working for the plaintiffs found in the wells last year. Cabot suggested a nearby auto repair shop was to blame.
The problems in Dimock, about 20 miles south of the New York state line, first arose in the fall of 2008, a month after Cabot started drilling in the area. The water that came out of residents’ faucets suddenly became cloudy, foamy and discolored. Homeowners, all of whom had leased their land to Cabot, said the water made them sick with symptoms that included vomiting, dizziness and skin rashes.
One of the water wells exploded on New Year’s Day 2009, prompting a state investigation that found Cabot had allowed combustible gas to escape into the region’s groundwater supplies, contaminating at least 18 residential water wells.
Cabot asserts the methane in the residents’ wells is naturally occurring and denies polluting the water — with methane or anything else — even though DEP has said its tests confirmed the gas migrated from Cabot’s wells.
The company has plenty of support in Dimock and the rest of Susquehanna County. Many homeowners living in the moratorium area are anxious for Cabot to start drilling again so they can begin receiving royalties on the land they have leased to the company.
Jean Carter, who lives a few hundred feet from a pair of gas wells, said she and her husband have spent countless hours worrying about the water. (Cabot asserts their supply is fine, pointing to test results that show an insignificant level of dissolved methane in the Carters’ well water.)
Panel recommends statewide statewide standards for new private water wells
http://republicanherald.com/news/panel-recommends-statewide-statewide-standards-for-new-private-water-wells-1.1188749
BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF rswift@timesshamrock.com)
Published: August 15, 2011
HARRISBURG – A special state commission recommends setting statewide construction standards for new private water wells, resurrecting an issue that has been debated for the past two decades.
The Governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission included the recommendation in last month’s report to guide the development of the deep pockets of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation. The commission also recommended doubling the distance separating a gas well from a water well from 250 feet to 500 feet.
Sen. Gene Yaw, R-23, Williamsport, is considering introducing legislation to set standards for new water wells.
More than three million Pennsylvania residents rely on about one million private wells for drinking water. Methane contamination of drinking water such as occurred last year in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, is one of the most volatile issues surrounding the hydrofracking operations used in the deep Marcellus wells in Northeast Pennsylvania. Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. agreed to pay $4.1 million to Dimock residents affected by methane contamination attributed to faulty natural gas wells.
Some 20,000 new water wells are drilled each year in the state, yet for all this reliance on well water, Pennsylvania is one of the few states without private well regulations.
The commission kept its water well standards recommendation general in scope, while referring to a 2009 study by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative research agency, that concluded that 40 percent of private water wells have failed to meet at least one health-related drinking water standard. The commission noted pointedly that poorly constructed water wells can be pathways for bacteria and contaminants such as naturally occurring shallow methane gas to migrate into water supplies.
Groundwater aquifers can be polluted by failing septic systems, fertilizer runoff and mining, the center study found, while individual wells can be contaminated by exposed well casings, or having a loose fitting well cap or no cap at all, allowing surface water to enter a well.
The study recommended passing state laws requiring testing of new water wells by a certified lab and standards for new well construction and education programs for homeowners.
The Marcellus Shale drilling has led people to call for protection of water supplies, Yaw said. The senator said there have been a few problems, but they have to be viewed in the context of hundreds of gas wells drilled in recent years.
He said setting water well standards is one way to allay public concerns.
“If there’s a concern people have, let’s do something about it,” Yaw said.
In a related vein, the federal Department of Energy’s Shale Gas Production Subcommittee recommended last week that requirements be set to do testing for background levels of existing methane in nearby water wells prior to gas drilling.
The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors is opposed to a statewide well construction standard and prefers letting municipalities handle the issue through local ordinances.
Supervisors in some regions are concerned it will lead to state regulations on how property owners use their well water or even metering of wells, said Elam Herr, the association’s deputy director.
The last major push for regulation of private water wells came in 2001-02 when drought conditions led to enactment of a state water resources planning law. The House approved a water-well bill, but it didn’t become law.
