Pipeline company won’t pay for Dallas Twp. well testing

www.timesleader.com/stories/Pipeline-company-wont-pay-for-Dallas-Twp-well-testing,159997

SARAH HITE
June 6, 2012

Drilling operations resulted in drilling mud spills at sites in early May.

DALLAS TWP. – PVR Partners will not pay for water testing at sites where a contractor of the company spilled drilling mud within the township, supervisors announced Tuesday.

Jeffrey Malak, attorney for PVR Partners, formerly Chief Gathering LLC, stated in a letter the company would not provide water testing for property owners in the vicinity of two drilling mud spills that occurred near Kunkle-Alderson and Upper Demunds roads in early May.

Supervisor Bill Grant, who lives on Hildebrandt Road and plans to test his own water, said the township will provide interested residents with information about water testing.

Supervisor Liz Martin said she spoke to George Turner, a professional geologist, who estimated the tests required for the chemicals involved in the spills would cost between $450 and $500 per sample.

Martin said the boring for the pipeline should be done soon, and those kinds of issues are not likely to occur again.

Supervisors also addressed residents’ concerns about PVR Partners’ contractor working at the pipeline work site after hours.

Grant said he received one complaint and another official received three complaints about the pipeline contractor working beyond normal hours of operation last Sunday.

Malak wrote that the company’s work hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. six days a week, but because of deadlines, some work during off-hours has been necessary.

Grant said he understands the company will be finishing up the work soon and will not be working out of normal operating hours again.

PVR Partners is in the process of building a 30-mile pipeline to flow natural gas from wells in Susquehanna County to the Transco pipeline, located near the Dallas School District campus.

The company will also build a gas metering facility off Hildebrandt Road.