DEP withholds driller’s blowout response, saying it is under review

http://citizensvoice.com/news/drilling/dep-withholds-driller-s-blowout-response-saying-it-is-under-review-1.1143130#axzz1LlOmCfIh

By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: May 7, 2011

The Department of Environmental Protection is reviewing a natural gas driller’s response to a violation notice that asked why and how a well failed in Bradford County in late April causing wastewater to flow into state waterways.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. submitted its response to the violation notice on the evening of April 29, the deadline set by state regulators. Both DEP and Chesapeake declined to release the response.

“We are not making this information publicly available at this time as we need to carefully examine it as part of our on-going review of the blowout,” DEP spokesman Daniel Spadoni said.

The Times-Tribune submitted a Right-To-Know request for a copy of the response on Friday.

Chesapeake lost control of the Atgas 2H well in LeRoy Township late on April 19 during a hydraulic fracturing operation. An apparent failure of a flange below an above-ground piece of equipment called a frack stack caused thousands of gallons of tainted wastewater to overwhelm the company’s containment systems and flow into Towanda Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River.

The company has said tests “indicate only minimal environmental impact as a result of this incident.” State regulators confirmed last week that the spill killed several frogs and tadpoles in a farmer’s pond.

In its violation notice, DEP directed Chesapeake to tell the agency what chemicals and other materials it used to fracture the well, what failed at the wellhead and caused the spill, what exactly spilled into the environment and why it took the company 12 hours to bring a well control specialist to the site from Texas when a similar firm is located in Pennsylvania.

llegere@timesshamrock.com