EPA Completes Drinking Water Sampling in Dimock, Pa.
EPA News Release
Contact: Terri White white.terri-a@epa.gov 215-814-5523
PHILADELPHIA (July 25, 2012) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has completed its sampling of private drinking water wells in Dimock, Pa. Data previously supplied to the agency by residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot Oil and Gas Exploration had indicated the potential for elevated levels of water contaminants in wells, and following requests by residents EPA took steps to sample water in the area to ensure there were not elevated levels of contaminants. Based on the outcome of that sampling, EPA has determined that there are not levels of contaminants present that would require additional action by the Agency.
“Our goal was to provide the Dimock community with complete and reliable information about the presence of contaminants in their drinking water and to determine whether further action was warranted to protect public health,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “The sampling and an evaluation of the particular circumstances at each home did not indicate levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action. Throughout EPA’s work in Dimock, the Agency has used the best available scientific data to provide clarity to Dimock residents and address their concerns about the safety of their drinking water.”
EPA visited Dimock, Pa. in late 2011, surveyed residents regarding their private wells and reviewed hundreds of pages of drinking water data supplied to the agency by Dimock residents, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Cabot. Because data for some homes showed elevated contaminant levels and several residents expressed concern about their drinking water, EPA determined that well sampling was necessary to gather additional data and evaluate whether residents had access to safe drinking water.
Between January and June 2012, EPA sampled private drinking water wells serving 64 homes, including two rounds of sampling at four wells where EPA was delivering temporary water supplies as a precautionary step in response to prior data indicating the well water contained levels of contaminants that pose a health concern. At one of those wells EPA did find an elevated level of manganese in untreated well water. The two residences serviced by the well each have water treatment systems that can reduce manganese to levels that do not present a health concern.
As a result of the two rounds of sampling at these four wells, EPA has determined that it is no longer necessary to provide residents with alternative water. EPA is working with residents on the schedule to disconnect the alternate water sources provided by EPA.
Overall during the sampling in Dimock, EPA found hazardous substances, specifically arsenic, barium or manganese, all of which are also naturally occurring substances, in well water at five homes at levels that could present a health concern. In all cases the residents have now or will have their own treatment systems that can reduce concentrations of those hazardous substances to acceptable levels at the tap. EPA has provided the residents with all of their sampling results and has no further plans to conduct additional drinking water sampling in Dimock.
For more information on the results of sampling, visit: http://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/states/pa.html .
Commission suspends water withdrawals on low river levels
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission on Monday expanded the list of suspended water withdrawals from 37 to 64, affecting natural gas exploration companies, golf courses and other businesses with permits to take water from rivers or streams.
Low river and stream levels in the watershed triggered the suspensions.
Under SRBC regulations, when streams drop to predetermined protected low-flow levels, operators who are required to meet the agency’s passby requirement must stop taking water until streams recover, which typically happens after a return to normal rainfall.
The suspension is not a ban on water withdrawals, said commission spokeswoman Susan Obleski. Water-related activities will continue, even among some companies on the suspension list. Obleski said often a company will have several withdrawal permits for different locations on a stream or river. This is particularly common among natural gas companies. Also, withdrawals of less than 100,000 gallons per day that are not associated with natural gas development are not subject to commission regulation.
A total of 33 companies in 14 counties are affected by the suspension, including Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties.
According to the National Weather Service, rainfall from June 1 to July 15 was 2.5 inches below normal.
citizensvoice.com/news/business/commission-suspends-water-withdrawals-on-low-river-levels-1.1344369
By David Falchek (Staff Writer)
dfalchek@timesshamrock.com
Published: July 17, 2012
The Need to Work as a Community
The Need to Work as a Community
by Mr. Brian Oram, Professional Geologist
The Water Research Center and B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc.
I am not an insider in the natural gas development process, but I am a citizen and professional geologist from Pennsylvania. I grew-up in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in the middle of the largest Anthracite Coal Fields in the World and became exposed to environmental issues while playing and living on abandon coal mine lands and near acid impacted streams. After attending Wilkes University and Pennsylvania State University, I worked as an environmental consultant and then ran a research laboratory at Wilkes University. After 23 years of running and conducting research, I decided to concentrate on my private consulting practice and other public education programs through B.F. Environmental Consultants Inc. and the Water Research Center. For the record, I have no master service agreements with any natural gas company and the views posted here are mine.
The phrase “Working as a Community” comes out of my talk titled “Getting the Waters Tested- The Marcellus Shale Factor”. The development of the Marcellus and Utica Shale has brought to the surface a little known fact that up to 50 % of private well owners are drinking water that would not meet one or more drinking water standards and the existing private wells are improperly placed and poorly constructed. These pre-existing problems include corrosive and aggressive water, iron, manganese, bacteria, arsenic, salt, saline water, barium, strontium, some organic compounds, radon, and yes Methane Gas. This fact, in combination, with inadequate baseline testing has resulted in a significant amount of confusion, misinformation, and un-needed delays to meet the needs of a private well owner. We need to start working together to move forward as a community. To start working as a community, I am recommending the following path:
1. Join the Pennsylvania Forum for Private Well Owners (It is not about shale or energy-it is about groundwater quality)- Part of the solution – must include fixing private wells.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/244338025659838/
2. If you have baseline testing data, submit the data to the Citizens Groundwater and Surfacewater Database or if you do not know what the data means you can ask for help –Assistance is Free.
http://www.water-research.net/privatewellPA.htm
3. Participate in the Private Well Owner and Watershed Survey for Pennsylvania- (Another Free Program)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NMG6RQ3
4. Host a local Community Workshop and Education Session for Private Well Owners and for Royalty Owners and Watershed Groups it may be worth helping to Develop a Local Watershed Monitoring Program.
http://www.bfenvironmental.com/natural-gas-exploration.php
5. Get the facts – A well by well review of the data from Dimock, PA – A NO Spin Zone – Fact based Reviews Only.
Dimock
This is a positive step in the Right Direction. It is time to start working together. It is time to get educated, informed, and start working together. Free information can be found on any of our portals and all of work is funded by us. For a free booklet on drinking water quality for private well owners – visit our webportal and download a free copy of the 2009 booklet. We are anticipating a new booklet will be available in a few months.
Thanks for your time,
Brian Oram, PG
Citizen of Pennsylvania
bfenviro@ptd.net
Pennsylvania Landowners Settle Groundwater Contamination Suit Against Chesapeake Energy Corp.
Allen Stewart, P.C. attorneys celebrate $1.6 Million settlement for landowners harmed by oil and gas drilling.
DALLAS, Jun 25, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Attorneys with Allen Stewart, P.C. announced today that a group of Pennsylvania landowners represented by the Dallas-based law firm have settled their claims against oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corporation for $1.6 million. The settlement was reached immediately after attorneys with Allen Stewart, P.C., who acted as lead trial counsel, presented the plaintiffs’ case to the arbitration panel and before Chesapeake Energy called any witnesses–a testament to the strength of the plaintiffs’ claims. The landowners were also represented by attorneys with Pennsylvania-based law firms O’Malley & Langan, P.C.; Goldberg, Persky & White, P.C.; and Florida based The Romano Law Firm.
The plaintiffs are three families who live on Paradise Road in the small town of Wyalusing in northern Pennsylvania. Gas extraction and drilling activities by Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy and affiliated companies contaminated the property and groundwater of these Bradford County residents with excess methane levels that required one family to evacuate their home for 2 weeks.
Before Chesapeake Energy began drilling in 2009, the plaintiffs’ water showed no signs of pollution. By the summer of 2010, however, the plaintiffs experienced sudden changes in their ground water quality. At the same time, Chesapeake Energy’s wells located near the plaintiffs’ properties were leaking gas because the wells had been poorly cemented. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigated and determined that Chesapeake Energy’s gas wells were responsible for the methane in the plaintiffs’ water.
“These landowners signed oil and gas leases under assurances that gas drilling would never be close enough to affect their properties. These assurances proved false and Chesapeake’s inadequate design and maintenance of the gas wells allowed methane to pollute the plaintiffs’ underground water supply,” said Allen Stewart, who represents the landowners.
Allen Stewart, P.C. has been a leading force in obtaining justice for landowners harmed by poorly designed and maintained gas extraction wells. Landowners who know or suspect that their own water supply or property has been contaminated are encouraged to contact the attorneys at Allen Stewart, P.C. to learn more about their legal rights.
press release
June 25, 2012, 10:43 a.m. EDT
SOURCE: Allen Stewart, P.C.
www.marketwatch.com/story/pennsylvania-landowners-settle-groundwater-contamination-suit-against-chesapeake-energy-corp-2012-06-25
Hazleton Oil accused of dumping hazardous materials
Hazleton Oil and Environmental Inc. is alleged to have dumped contaminated soil, stored hazardous waste and discharged antifreeze into sewer drains at their Banks Township location without a state permit, according to an affidavit of probable cause for a warrant authorizing searches at three properties.
Numerous other allegations are listed in paperwork that authorized agents from the state Attorney General’s Office to execute search warrants Tuesday at the firm’s locations at 300 Tamaqua St. (state Route 309) in Banks Township, 14 Fairview St. in Barnesville and 620 Quarry Road in Harleysville, Montgomery County.
The attorney general’s office initiated the criminal investigation based on information from DEP, the court papers state.
Agents seized 85 boxes of materials over the past four days including work orders, price lists, invoices, environmental records, hazardous materials files, recycled oil receipts, transfer files, state Department of Environmental Protection documents, halogen testing analyses, permits, customer files, annual operation reports and truck driver records, according to the court documents.
Also seized were maps, test kits, vials, sample bottles, computers, laptops, digital drives, hard drives, storage tapes, floppy disks and CDs, electronic storage assistants, zip disks and forensic examiner drives. They include devices that can store information dating to 2001, according to the warrant and affidavit.
The special agents from the Attorney General’s Office, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Environmental Crimes Section, filed the seized items with courts in Carbon, Schuylkill and Montgomery counties to build a case alleging violations of the Solid Waste Management Act and unlawful conduct, the court documents state.
Several former employees were interviewed by investigators, the documents state, while an eyewitness account of a special agent also revealed a number of alleged violations that took place in 2010 and 2011.
They include mixing oil samples with recycled oil, altering analytical reports by switching off-spec waste oil with on-spec waste oil, and mixing hazardous waste oil with less-contaminated waste oil and selling the blended oil as reprocessed waste oil, the court papers state.
Other alleged practices by Hazleton Oil and Environmental include mixing antifreeze and oil in the same compartment, dumping antifreeze down the drain and pumping untested waste oil into storage tanks at the Banks Township facility. Also, the company is alleged to have misrepresented oil to customers and billed customers for oil they did not receive.
In addition, the documents allege that oil with high levels of halogen and PCBs leaked out of a truck on-site.
The court papers also allege that the firm stored hazardous waste oil for periods longer than allowed, and mixed waste oil with reprocessed oil then sold it as reprocessed oil.
Also, quarterly waste water samples were altered by company officials at its tank farm in Barnesville, authorities allege.
Agents searched and seized evidence from the warehouse, storage building, storage tanks and lots in Banks Township. They looked at different forms of solid waste; samples of soil, water and other liquids, and soil samples of allegedly contaminated media, court papers state. The agents also looked at vehicles that transported oil, waste antifreeze, emulsions, and at several bottles and vials of samples on-site.
The court papers say Hazleton Oil and Environmental is in the business of hauling waste oil as well as media contaminated by waste oil. The company also reprocesses “off-spec” waste oil and sells it as fuel. Its business operations extend into several mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania.
On April 21, 2003, Broadus Bordeaux Enterprises, LLP, registered with the state corporation bureau listing its principal place of business as the Harleysville address and the company president as Sloane R. Six.
The court documents state that on Dec. 28, 2009, Broadus’ status as a limited liability partnership was terminated for failure to file an annual registration with the state corporation bureau for five consecutive years. However, by Feb. 28, 2011, the company was reinstated as an LLP after coming back in compliance with registration requirements.
The corporate address was changed to 300 Tamaqua St., Hazleton. Six was identified as CEO, Scott Clemens as vice president and Danny Clemens as operations manager on the corporate website.
A statement issued by the company earlier this week said it was cooperating with investigators and would comment further once it learns more about the focus of the investigation.
citizensvoice.com/news/hazleton-oil-accused-of-dumping-hazardous-materials-1.1333717
By Tom Ragan (Staff Writer)
Published: June 23, 2012
tragan@standardspeaker.com
Weather story so far this year: Drought averted
live.psu.edu/story/60086#nw69
June 15, 2012
In the eastern half of Pennsylvania, last month was one of the top 20 wettest Mays on record.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The final chapters of the weather story for 2012, of course, have yet to be written, but halfway through the year the plot will surely focus on the dramatic swing in precipitation trends, according to a hydrologist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
After the extremely warm and dry winter Pennsylvania experienced — one of the mildest since records began being kept — very dry conditions prevailed, and there was no snow in the mountains to melt and replenish streams and groundwater. That led to drought worries, noted Bryan Swistock, extension water resources specialist.
“Most people were probably not aware of it, but by the end of April, there were definitely real concerns about a drought,” he said.”To be that dry, at that time of year when it is usually wet — it looked like a bad situation. We were set up for a pretty severe drought if things had not changed.”
But change they did, in a major way.
It started raining frequently in May, and it has not stopped. In fact, in the eastern half of Pennsylvania, it was one of the top 20 wettest Mays on record, Swistock pointed out. Except for northwestern counties, which remain slightly below average levels of precipitation, most areas of the state are now at or above average for precipitation.
“The change in weather patterns has been dramatic,” he said. “And the long-term weather predictions that I have seen indicate the wet weather will continue.”
Some climatologists attribute the abrupt change in weather patterns to the transformation of ocean currents in the South Pacific that affect weather — from a La Niña phenomenon to an El Niño.
“Everything that I’ve been reading from the climatologists suggests that there will be more of the wet weather we have been seeing in Pennsylvania,” Swistock said. “And under this El Niño scenario, they predict we are likely to get more tropical storms. If the remnants from even one hurricane or tropical storm track directly over the state this summer or fall, that could have a huge impact.”
Penn State weather expert Paul Knight, senior lecturer in meteorology, Weather World host and Pennsylvania state climatologist, is dubious about the connection between Pennsylvania’s spring and summer weather and Pacific Ocean currents. But he agrees that the wet weather trend should continue for awhile.
“El Niño effects are much stronger in the wintertime — the summer season is really a muted message at best,” he said. “I don’t think that there is any clear message that Pennsylvania is more likely to see more tropical cyclones in an El Niño year versus an average year.
“Now will there be more storms in an El Niño? The answer is yes, El Niño years normally produce a few more storms. However, El Niño and La Niña are never potent in May, June and July.”
The dominant story of Pennsylvania’s weather so far in 2012 is that it’s been so mild, Knight explained. The first half of the year has been exceptionally warm — 4 or 5 degrees above normal.
“That March warm spell was really unprecedented,” Knight said. “The other thing is that January, February, March and April all averaged well below normal precipitation. And just about the time we were getting uncomfortably dry — and we were well on our way toward a drought — the rains came just in the nick of time.
“Drought averted.”
US DOE testing for links between faults, groundwater pollution
Federal researchers are testing whether hydraulic fracturing fluids can travel thousands of feet via geologic faults into drinking water aquifers close to the surface, a US Department of Energy official said Friday.
A fault from the Marcellus Shale formation, which is thousands of feet below the surface, could provide “a quick pathway for fracking fluids to migrate upwards,” said Richard Hammack, a spokesman for the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.
The experiment is being carried out at a site in Greene County in southwestern Pennsylvania where conventional shallow wells were drilled and long since capped, NETL said on its website. Drillers are now actively drilling in the county in the Marcellus Shale formation.
The study will provide regulators, landowners and the general public “an unbiased, science-based source of information which can guide decisions about shale gas development,” NETL said.
The study also will help the industry “develop better methods to monitor for undesired environmental changes” and develop technology or management practices to address the changes, NETL said.
Speaking at a congressional briefing in Washington, Hammack said faults “form a plane that allows fluids to move up through the frack.” Some faults can be easily seen and avoided, but Hammack said some faults are not easily detected and could extend from the Marcellus Shale formation into other formations close to the surface.
The testing “is taking place right now,” Hammack said. “It should be completed next week. Within a month, we will have the micro-seismic data that will show how high fracture fluids have migrated upwards” toward the surface.
He said that Pennsylvania has a long history of oil and natural gas production and thousands of wells were drilled before the state mandated drillers map their locations in 1921. There is a concern if these well bores penetrated faults they also could be a means for fracking fluids to travel to the surface, he said.
All of these “vulnerabilities” are present at the Greene County site where researchers can “examine and quantify” all of these factors, he said.
www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/6370255
Washington (Platts)–8Jun2012
–Rodney White, rodney_white@platts.com –Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron_greenhalgh@platts.com
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.
DCNR to collect money from drillers who harvest gas under public streams
republicanherald.com/news/dcnr-to-collect-money-from-drillers-who-harvest-gas-under-public-streams-1.1324563
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer llegere@timesshamrock.com)
Published: June 4, 2012
Natural gas drillers have to sign leases and compensate the state if they plan to collect gas trapped deep beneath publicly owned streams and rivers, according to a policy developed recently by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
The policy applies to gas gathered from pads on neighboring properties – away from the streams and their banks – where wells are drilled vertically before turning and boring laterally underground.
Waterways in the commonwealth are considered publicly owned if they are, or have ever been, used for commercial trade or travel. The list and maps of the waterways compiled by DCNR include hundreds of streams throughout the state’s Marcellus Shale region.
Where the state owns the streambeds, it also owns the mineral rights beneath them.
DCNR spokeswoman Christina Novak said the state is developing a standard agreement for companies who either want to drill horizontal wellbores under streams or who will, through hydraulic fracturing, draw gas from rock formations deep under the waterways. Unlike standard lease agreements for drillers who operate in state forests, the leases will not address surface impacts because there won’t be any on state property, she said.
“This would just allow an operator to access underneath a navigable waterway from nearby but to compensate the commonwealth because it is the owner of the resource,” she said.
The agency alerted gas drillers in March that the state would begin seeking compensation through lease payments and royalties for gas removed under the waterways.
The issue emerged because the mineral rights beneath publicly owned waterways were either impeding natural gas development or drilling was taking place without the state being appropriately compensated, Novak said.
DCNR has not determined how many miles or acres of public waterways will be included in the leasing effort or how much Pennsylvania might make from current or future gas leases. It is also still exploring if it can collect money from any companies that might already have pulled gas from under the waterways.
DCNR has created an interactive map to help operators determine which streams are considered publicly owned, but the agency also cautions in a policy summary that the list of waterways is neither official nor final.
The list developed so far is based primarily on statutory declarations of navigable waterways from as early as the 18th century, but a declaration is not required for a waterway to be considered navigable and the state says it reserves the right to add or drop streams from the list.
Publicly owned waterways in the heart of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s shale region include the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers; Tunkhannock, Bowman and Mehoopany creeks in Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, and Wyalusing, Wysox, Wappasening, Sugar and Towanda creeks in Bradford County.
Washington County families sue over fracking, water testing
www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/marcellusshale/washington-county-families-sue-over-fracking-water-testing-637631/?p=0
By Don Hopey / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
May 26, 2012
Three Washington County families claim in a lawsuit that they face serious health problems, including a heightened risk of cancer, due to exposure to toxic spills, leaks and air pollutants from a Range Resources Marcellus Shale gas site.
The 182-page lawsuit, filed Friday in Washington County Common Pleas Court, alleges that Range and two commercial water testing laboratories, Microbac Laboratories Inc. and Test America, conspired to produce fraudulent test reports that misrepresented the families’ well water as good and contributed to their exposure to hazardous chemicals and a multitude of health problems.
Filed by attorneys John and Kendra Smith, the lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive damages and is based on information contained in hundreds of pages of water test reports and documents, many subpoenaed from Range and other defendants. In addition to Range, defendants named in the suit include 12 of the drilling company’s subcontractors or suppliers, two individuals and the two water testing laboratories. A jury trial is requested.
According to the lawsuit, Range Resources knew its shale gas development operation on the Yeager farm property on McAdams Road in Amwell had contaminated the groundwater with chemicals from a leaking drilling waste pit and a 3 million-gallon hydraulic fracturing fluid flowback impoundment as early as November 2010. But, the suit states, the company told the plaintiffs that tests showed their well water was safe to drink, shower and bathe in, cook with, and provide to farm animals and pets. Some of those animals were sickened, and some died.
The suit says the plaintiffs developed health problems that included nose bleeds, headaches and dizziness, skin rashes, ear infections, nausea, and numbness in extremities.
“It’s unfortunate that our clients had no choice but to file a civil action due to damage not only caused to their water and property, but to their health,” said Mr. Smith in a written response to a request for comment. “Had the [state Department of Environmental Protection] protected these people, it may have been a different outcome.”
Mr. Smith said the lawsuit is the first he knows of in Pennsylvania to allege that a Marcellus Shale gas drilling company didn’t provide complete and fully accurate water test results to residents and state regulators.
Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella issued a statement saying the company cares about the quality of its operations and stands by testing that “has repeatedly proven that our operations have had no adverse impacts in this instance.” His statement went on to attack the motives of the law firm and attorneys representing the Amwell residents, and its tactics, which he characterized as “fear-mongering.”
“This isn’t about health and safety; it’s unfortunately about a lawyer hoping to pad his pockets, while frightening a lot of people along the way,” he said.
Mr. Smith said it’s easier to attack the messenger than to refute facts.
Range Resources has maintained for years that its Yeager operations, which include one “fracked” well and two drilled wells, condensate tanks, the flowback fluids impoundment and drill cuttings pit, have not contaminated groundwater.
The suit says full and complete test results, subpoenaed from Range but never revealed to residents near the Yeager well site, show that chemical contaminants similar to those found in the fracking flowback impoundment and the drill cuttings pit were also found in water samples from wells and springs.
Range showed or sent to the plaintiffs and the DEP less detailed test reports but, the lawsuit claims, omitted results for others, including several semi-volatile organic compounds that were present in the groundwater samples and the company’s impoundment and pit, and that showed the water was contaminated.
DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday declined to comment because the matter is in litigation.
Due to continuing health problems, three of the plaintiffs, Stacey Haney and her children have, on the advice of their doctor, moved out of their home on McAdams Road, about 1,500 feet from the Yeager flowback-water impoundment.
Toxicity testing of urine from all the Haney family members has measured higher than safe levels of toulene, benezene, arsenic, cobalt and cadmium. Benezene and arsenic are known carcinogens.
Plaintiffs Beth, John and Ashley Voyles, who live about 800 feet from the impoundment and drill site, and Loren Kiskadden and his mother, Grace Kiskadden, who live in separate homes about 3,100 feet from the Yeager impoundment, have had similar health problems and urine test results.
The filing alleges that in September 2011 Range provided incomplete drinking water test results from Test America to the DEP that omitted findings showing a high concentration of nitrate — which can cause cancer — plus fracking fluid, flowback water, uranium and silicon.
Mrs. Voyles sued the DEP in Commonwealth Court in May 2011, claiming the department wasn’t properly investigating odor and water complaints related to the Yeager impoundment. That case is pending.
Today both the Voyles and Haney properties are receiving replacement water supplied by Range.
But Range has denied Mr. Kiskadden’s request that it supply him with an alternative water source, based on the water test results that the company and the DEP said shows his well water was not contaminated by its drilling operations. He has appealed that determination by the DEP to the state Environmental Hearing Board.
The lawsuit also says Range used the Yeager drill cuttings pit to dispose of hazardous drilling waste from at least three other gas drilling sites in Washington County, and the pit leaked and contaminated groundwater.
In April 2010, DEP issued a notice of violation against Range for “failing to control/dispose of production fluids properly,” and a month later Range drained the pit, replaced the pit liner and excavated contaminated soil. Range has not been fined for that violation.
It’s the only violation DEP has issued to Range for its Yeager operations or to any of the defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges the defendants committed various violations of the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law, the state Solid Waste Management Act, and the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.
First Published May 26, 2012