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
Pa. group wants stronger limits on gas drilling
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9N1G8480.htm
By MARC LEVY
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Policymakers in Pennsylvania should immediately strengthen rules that make areas around sensitive ecosystems, water sources and places where people live or work off limits to natural gas drilling, an environmental group said Thursday.
The message comes as drilling intensifies in the hotly pursued Marcellus Shale formation, the nation’s largest-known natural gas reservoir, and state officials consider adding extra safety precautions around drilling sites.
PennEnvironment said it has found permitted Marcellus Shale sites within two miles of numerous day cares, schools and hospitals in Pennsylvania. It also said that there are hundreds of instances of environmental violations flagged by state regulators at Marcellus Shale drilling sites within two miles of schools or day cares.
Current Pennsylvania law provides for a buffer of 200 feet between a drilling site and buildings and private water wells, as well as a 100-foot buffer around many waterways and wetlands. PennEnvironment’s Erika Staaf said her organization ideally would like to see mile-wide buffers as protection from potential drilling-related air or water contamination, although it is unlikely that the state Legislature would approve that.
“We have to step back and say, ‘What is the right distance and what are we able to see move through the Legislature?'” Staaf said. “But what we know right now is the distance (allowed in current law) is too close, and it needs to be farther away.”
A spokesman for one of the leading Marcellus Shale drilling companies, Range Resources Corp. of Fort Worth, Texas, said pollution from a drilling site is no more dangerous than a construction site.
“By (PennEnvironment’s) definition then, you shouldn’t have any construction within two miles of a school,” Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella said.
Pitzarella said the buffers are valuable as a way protect neighbors against the nuisance and inconvenience of drilling a well, and Range supports a 500-foot buffer between a well and any school or occupied residential or business structure, unless the owner permits it to be closer.
The Marcellus Shale formation lies primarily beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio. Pennsylvania, however, is the center of activity, with nearly 3,000 wells drilled in the past three years and many thousands more planned in the coming years as thick shale emerges as an affordable, plentiful and profitable source of natural gas.
At least a half-dozen bills awaiting action in the GOP-controlled Legislature would increase some or all of those buffers. Many of the bills would maintain exceptions that are in current law.
For instance, a company would be able to get permission to drill within a buffer if, for instance, it secured an owner’s permission or took extra precautions that satisfy state regulators.
Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Chairwoman Mary Jo White, R-Venango, wants to wait to hear what Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission reports before considering at least three bills in her committee, a spokesman said. The commission is due to report in July.
One of the Senate bills, introduced by Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, would increase the existing buffer around water wells and buildings to 500 feet. It would leave intact the 100-foot buffer around waterways and wetlands, but it would allow state regulators to impose a 500-foot buffer around them for the storage of hazardous chemicals or materials used in drilling.
In the House, a bill introduced by Rep. Karen Boback, R-Luzerne, would increase existing buffers to 1,000 feet. Clearfield County Rep. Bud George, the ranking Democrat on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, has a bill to establish 1,000-foot barriers around buildings and water wells. For drillers that use hydraulic fracturing or horizontal drilling, his will would establish buffers of 1,000 feet around groundwater sources and 2,500 feet around surface water sources.
For decades, energy companies have drilled shallow oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania. However, in the last three years, fresh environmental concerns have arisen with the influx of energy companies using high volumes of chemical-laced water in a process known as hydraulic fracturing to drill lucrative and deep Marcellus Shale wells. They also use the recent innovation of horizontal drilling underground to increase a well’s production.
Williams Production Appalachia has no plans to drill into Utica Shale
http://citizensvoice.com/news/williams-has-no-plans-to-drill-into-utica-shale-1.1140376#axzz1LCf5p0Sg
By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: May 2, 2011
Beneath the deep-lying Marcellus Shale lies the even deeper Utica Shale, a rock formation that geologists say also has the potential to be rich in natural gas.
However, nobody is tapping into it in Northeastern Pennsylvania just yet, and the Utica remains largely unexplored in the rest of the state.
The state Department of Environmental Protection issued Williams Production Appalachia LLC a permit on Feb. 4 to drill deeper for its exploratory well on Route 487 in Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County, past the Benton Foundry.
The permit sparked rumors Williams planned to drill into the Utica Shale, but company spokeswoman Helen Humphreys says they’re not true.
“I know that we are not going into the Utica Shale at all,” she said.
The plan is to drill down past the Marcellus Shale to tap into the Onondaga limestone formation beneath, then go back up into the Marcellus, Humphreys said. The well has been drilled and the next step will be to hydraulically fracture it, but she said she didn’t have a date for when it will be done.
A map issued by DEP on April 5 shows that, like the Marcellus, the Utica Shale runs completely through Northeastern Pennsylvania including Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming and Columbia counties.
Although DEP keeps track of Marcellus Shale drilling permits, the Utica is still pretty much off the radar for the state agency.
“We don’t have anything really identifying the formation in our system right now,” said Dave English of the DEP Bureau of Oil & Gas Management. “Basically all we’re tracking at this point in time is the Marcellus.”
There have been permits issued for the Utica Shale – although not many, and none in Northeastern Pennsylvania – and there are several other shale formations being tested, English said.
Range Resources, the first company to drill a Marcellus Shale well in Pennsylvania, in 2004, is a pioneer in the state’s portion of the Utica Shale as well.
Last year, the company drilled a productive well in Beaver County. Range Resources President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Ventura reported in an April 27 conference call the company is planning a second horizontal well in the Utica Shale later this year.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Environmental Protection Agency steps into probe of fracking spill
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/04/environmental_protection_agenc.html
Published: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 12:00 AM
By DONALD GILLILAND, The Patriot-News
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has thrown an elbow against Pennsylvania regulators in the job to regulate natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
The EPA announced Monday afternoon that it is investigating last week’s spill of drilling fluids at a Chesapeake Energy site in Bradford County.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection remains the lead investigating agency, but the EPA has asked Chesapeake officials for lists of fracking chemicals used, if any radioactive compounds were in the spill, and what affects there were to drinking-water sources.
“We want a complete accounting of operations at the site to determine our next steps in this incident and to help prevent future releases of this kind,” said EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin.
EPA’s action marks “a significant change in approach,” former DEP Secretary John Hanger said Monday.
“The EPA is asserting jurisdiction in a manner that it did not during my time as secretary or prior to this incident,” said Hanger. “It means that the gas-drilling industry in Pennsylvania will be regulated in practice by both DEP and EPA, at least in some cases and respects.”
An EPA spokesman said such information requests are “a common fact-finding tool which we use when necessary,” but they are apparently a first for the agency in regard to the Marcellus Shale.
Much of what EPA would do duplicates what DEP is already doing, and consistency in regulation — be it strict or otherwise — is what the business needs, those in the industry said Monday night. Having two monitors could foster confusion.
“Each and every one of EPA’s questions will be answered by DEP, as required under new state regulations,” said one. “This action is clearly more about politics and grabbing headlines.”
The New York Times recently reported an internal battle within the EPA over whether the agency should intercede in Pennsylvania to clamp down on drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
That coverage was less than flattering for the agency, which some see as hamstrung by powerful industry lobbying.
Nevertheless, the EPA fared better than Pennsylvania regulators, whom The New York Times story portrayed as bumbling and beholden to drilling interests.
The timing of the EPA’s move — last week’s spill involved no injuries, no damage and minimal environmental impact — had some in the industry questioning it.
There might also be personal politics involved. EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson recently said she had attempted to call Gov. Tom Corbett about regulation of Marcellus Shale, but Corbett never called her back.
Corbett’s news secretary, Kevin Harley, denied that the office received such a call.
Some environmentalists believe Pennsylvania has been too permissive and have been calling for the EPA to step in.
DEP did not address EPA’s entry into the matter directly.
“DEP has been on-site around the clock since the beginning of this incident, and as the regulatory agency, we continue to lead the way, “ DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said late Monday.
“DEP issued Chesapeake a comprehensive notice of violation Friday morning, telling the operator to respond to important questions that we have,” she said.
Those questions are similar to those asked by the EPA.
Chesapeake Energy has said an equipment failure caused the drilling brine — also known as fracking fluid — to gush out of the well and overwhelm containment systems. Some of the fluids reached a tributary of the Susquehanna River, but by the following afternoon that was stopped. The well was brought under control Thursday.
David Sternberg, the media officer for EPA’s Region 3 in Philadelphia said: “The information requested includes data on the cause and environmental consequences of this accident. EPA will evaluate this information promptly, in consultation with DEP, and take whatever action is needed to protect public health and the environment.
A Chesapeake spokesman said, “We intend to comply with the EPA’s request for information and have already communicated with the agency about how best to prioritize its requests in relation to the overall and ongoing response efforts.”
Chesapeake voluntarily suspended operations in the Marcellus Shale last week as it investigates the spill.
State geologists mapping deep aquifers
http://thedailyreview.com/news/state-geologists-mapping-deep-aquifers-1.1137358
by robert swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: April 26, 2011
State geologists are mapping the location of the deepest water aquifers in response to the upsurge in natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation.
With Marcellus wells reaching several thousand feet deeper than traditional shallow gas wells, locating the deep aquifers will tell geologists where potable water supplies that could be affected by drilling operations can be found.
The Pennsylvania Topographic and Geologic Survey, one of state government’s oldest offices dating to 1836, is taking on new work as a result of Marcellus development, survey director George Love told the citizens’ advisory council for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Geologists are also consulting an extensive water well inventory as part of this effort. Under state law, drillers of water wells are required to submit a public record after completing a new well.
In addition to locating aquifers, the survey is starting to examine the impact of hydrofracking operations on groundwater supplies, he added.
Love said the survey’s aim is to provide unbiased information.
The survey’s geologists routinely provide information about groundwater supplies, geologic formations and hazards and the location and extent of mineral deposits to state and local officials, commercial firms and the public as well.
The survey’s regional studies are of particular use to local and regional planning commissions, said Love.
Long before the Marcellus drilling became a phenomenon, the survey’s oil and gas division conducted extensive studies of Pennsylvania’s oil-and-gas producing areas to show where future prospecting would pay off.
By studying geologic data from oil and gas wells, the survey produces maps and cross-section diagrams as well annual production reports for minerals.
The roots of the survey lie in the development of the coal and iron industries in the early 19th century. The anthracite fields of Northeast Pennsylvania were among the first areas surveyed. The early surveys also identified potential routes for roads and railroads serving the new industries.
In the modern area, the survey provides information about sinkholes in the limestone-bearing regions of southern Pennsylvania and likely underground storage sites for any future program to sequester carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The survey is perhaps best known for its series of quadrangle and county topographic maps that are the basis of planning, land development, agriculture and recreation projects.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com
Residents claim negligence, sue Chesapeake
Arbitration sought by Bradford County families. Contaminated water claimed.
SCRANTON – Attorney Todd J. O’Malley on Monday filed what he called the first in a series of lawsuits against natural gas drilling companies on behalf of families he said have been harmed by negligent drilling activities.
Representing three Bradford County families, O’Malley, of O’Malley & Langan in Scranton, and New York attorney William Friedlander, filed a petition in U.S. District Court seeking to force Chesapeake Energy Corp. into arbitration, claiming the company contaminated their water, devalued their land and caused many other hardships.
Chesapeake Appalachia LLC and Nomac Drilling LLC are also named as respondents.
The petition states that Wyalusing residents Mike and Jonna Phillips, Scott and Cassie Spencer and Jared and Heather McMicken, all living in homes along Paradise Road, entered into 10-year oil and gas leases with Chesapeake in 2007 or 2008.
The petition also states that the families “suffered water and property contamination caused by the negligent and grossly negligent oil and gas drilling activities” of the companies, which “caused the release, spill, discharge, and emission of combustible gases, hazardous chemicals, and industrial wastes from their oil and gas drilling facilities.”
The releases caused damages including loss of home values, costs of property remediation, loss of quality of life, emotional distress and punitive damage. The amount in dispute exceeds $75,000, the petition states.
O’Malley said clauses in the leases require arbitration for such disputes, but the companies have refused to arbitrate. He said arbitration would be faster than a full-blown court case and the families need relief now.
O’Malley said water purification systems Chesapeake installed for the families work poorly if at all and improper installation led to flooding and mold problems in one family’s home.
“It has been one nightmare after another for them,” he said.
A Chesapeake spokesman, who was unaware of the petition, said he would look into the matter but did not call back on Monday.
Nels Taber, regional director for the North Central regional Office of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said DEP was informed of the gas migration problems in July 2010 and determined that the residents’ water wells “had been impacted by gas drilling activities.” He said Chesapeake took “some remedial activities” and Chesapeake installed three new drinking water with water treatment systems.
Taber said the possible levying of fines was “an ongoing matter.”
O’Malley said his clients were “not going to get rich” through the gas leases because each family owns only 2 acres of land. He said they signed the leases because a land man convinced them it would reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
O’Malley said he is representing about 10 other families in different locations who have suffered similar problems that he says were caused by Chesapeake or Chief Gathering.
Pa. ponders penalties over Bradford County drilling site mishap
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Pa__ponders_penalties_over_Bradford_County_drilling_site_mishap_04-24-2011.html
Posted: April 25, 2011
LAURA OLSON Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Once final seal is in place, Chesapeake can begin a probe of why the well blew out.
HARRISBURG — As workers on a Bradford County drilling site continued to prepare the now-stable well for a final protective seal, state environmental officials took a step toward assessing penalties for the accident.
Well-control specialists spent most of the day relieving pressure within the Chesapeake Energy well, a procedure that both company and Department of Environmental Protection officials said was not unusual. Those efforts were suspended late Friday afternoon, as rain began to fall, according to Chesapeake.
Company spokesman Rory Sweeney said they made “slow progress” toward completely plugging the well Friday, noting that no additional wastewater or gas had escaped since those leaks were stemmed Thursday evening.
Procedures to relieve well pressure are “something that is expected at this stage in the process” and raised no immediate concerns, DEP spokesman Dan Spadoni said.
Once the final seal is in place, Chesapeake can begin an investigation of why the well blew out during hydraulic fracturing late Tuesday night. That wellhead malfunction resulted in thousands of gallons of fracking wastewater spewing back to the surface, with some trickling into a tributary to Towanda Creek.
The well was continuing to leak wastewater Wednesday afternoon, when workers were able to put the briny fracking fluid in containers on the well pad. Neither the DEP nor company officials have estimated how much wastewater entered the tributary, though initial Chesapeake testing showed “minimal, if any” impacts on the waterway.
Incident reports posted on the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency’s website stated that “approximately 30,000 gallons of fresh water leaked out of a gas well and into a secondary containment area in Leroy Township.” A report issued Thursday also states that there are “no life safety or environmental concerns” from the accident.
A PEMA spokesman did not return a request Friday for additional information.
Chesapeake said it would account for the spilled wastewater as the investigation gets under way. “We’re not done here when the well is finally sealed,” Sweeney said.
For DEP officials, who have been involved in the accident response, the next investigatory steps are under way. The agency issued a notice of violation to Chesapeake on Friday, Spadoni said.
In the notice, the DEP asked the company to submit an analysis of what caused the equipment failure. The notice also stated that Chesapeake was expected to “be in a stand-down mode on hydraulic fracturing” as officials review what happened.
The company said it halted all post-drilling activities, which include hydraulic fracturing, “in order to conduct thorough inspections of wellheads used in completion operations throughout the Marcellus Shale.”
But environmental advocates from PennFuture called on DEP Acting Secretary Michael Krancer to shut down all Chesapeake sites until the agency conducts its review.
Two Bradford County lawyers representing local residents who say they have contamination-related ailments made a similar plea Friday.
Spadoni said the DEP would “evaluate the information that is provided to us by Chesapeake” and decide what additional steps may be necessary.
State calls for stop in using plants to treat tainted water. Drillers ready to comply.
End near for drill pollution
by DAVID B. CARUSO
April 24, 2011
Pennsylvania’s top environmental regulator says he is confident that the natural gas industry is just weeks away from ending one of its more troubling environmental practices: the discharge of vast amounts of polluted brine into rivers used for drinking water.
On Tuesday, the state’s new Republican administration called on drillers to stop using riverside treatment plants to get rid of the millions of barrels of ultra-salty, chemically tainted wastewater that gush annually from gas wells.
As drillers have swarmed Pennsylvania’s rich Marcellus Shale gas fields, the industry’s use and handling of water has been a subject of intense scrutiny.
The state’s request was made after some researchers presented evidence that the discharges were altering river chemistry in a way that had the potential to affect drinking water.
Locally, the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority has run into strong public opposition to a potential plan to build a treatment facility for the wastewater in Hanover Township. Many residents say they are concerned about environmental contamination as well as increased truck traffic bringing tainted water in for treatment.
The sanitary authority has consulted PA Northeast Aqua Resources to conduct a feasibility study on building a plant to treat wastewater produced by Marcellus Shale gas drilling.
John Minora of PA Northeast Aqua Resources said the initial study is complete, and the sanitary authority is now working on a second study with Red Desert/Cate Street Capital, a company seeking to build the plant next to the WVSA’s current facility.
For years, the gas industry has bristled and resisted when its environmental practices have been criticized.
But last week, it abruptly took a different tone.
Even before the initiative to end river discharges was announced publicly, it had received the support of drillers. By Wednesday evening, a leading industry group, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, had announced that its members were committed to halting the practice by the state’s stated goal of May 19.
“Basically, I see this as a huge success story,” said Michael Krancer, acting secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. “This will be a vestige of the past very quickly.”
After May 19, almost all drillers will either be sending the waste to deep disposal wells — mostly in Ohio — or recycling it in new well projects, he said.
While the movement to end the wastewater discharges followed years of environmentalists’ criticism, the most influential push may have come from within the industry itself.
Among major gas-producing states, Pennsylvania is the only one that allowed the bulk of its well brine to be treated and dumped in rivers and streams. Other states required it to be injected into deep underground shafts.
Publicly, the industry — and the state — argued that the river discharges were harmless to humans and wildlife.
Just months ago, the industry was actively opposing new state regulations intended to protect streams from the brine, saying fears about the river discharges were overblown.
But simultaneously, some companies were concerned.
John Hanger, Krancer’s predecessor as the state’s environmental secretary, said that as early as 2008 he had been approached by two of the state’s most active drillers — Range Resources, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Atlas Energy, now a subsidiary of Chevron, warning that the state’s permissive rules had left rivers and streams at risk from the salty dissolved solids, particularly bromides, present in produced well water.
“They came to me and said, if this rule doesn’t change, there could be enormous amounts of wastewater high in (total dissolved solids) pouring into the rivers,” Hanger said.
Almost since then, the companies have been working on alternative disposal methods.
“We never thought that it was a good practice to begin with,” said Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella.
For months, drillers have been introducing technology that returns brine to deep wells, rather than discarding it as waste. By the end of last year, this reuse was being considered by most big drillers as the industry’s future.
Efforts to curtail the waste flow accelerated, though, after a series of critical media reports, increased pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency, and new research that raised questions about whether drinking water was being compromised.
After reviewing that research, Range Resources began lobbying other drillers to confront the problem once and for all, and to do it publicly, Pitzarella said.
The water that flows from active wells is often contaminated with traces of chemicals injected into the wells during a drilling procedure called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which breaks up the shale and frees natural gas. The flowback water also brings back from underground such naturally existing contaminants as barium, strontium, and radium.
Worries about the contaminants took on added urgency after the Monongahela River, a western Pennsylvania waterway that serves as a major source of drinking water for Pittsburgh and communities to its south, became so salty in 2008 that people began complaining about the taste.
The Department of Environmental Protection responded by curtailing the amount of wastewater sent to plants on the Monongahela. It also wrote new rules barring wastewater treatment plants from accepting more drilling wastewater than already permitted unless they were capable of turning out effluent with salt levels that met drinking water standards.
Those rules, though, left most of the existing wastewater treatment plants alone, and between 15 and 27 continued to pump out millions of gallons of water that scientists said was still high in some pollutants.
Over the past year and a half, a handful of researchers, including Jeanne VanBriesen, a professor of civil engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanley States, director of water quality at the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, have been collecting evidence on an increase in bromide in rivers that were being used for gas wastewater disposal.
The industry has, until now, expressed mostly skepticism about any possible link between drilling waste and water quality problems.
When The Associated Press reported in January that some drinking water systems close to gas wastewater treatment plants had struggled to meet EPA standards for trihalomethanes, the article was written off by industry groups as irresponsible, as was a similar report by The New York Times in February that focused on the presence of radium in drilling waste.
But in recent weeks, Range Resources arranged for VanBriesen and States to present some of their preliminary findings on bromide to a gathering of industry representatives.
VanBriesen said she cautioned that her own findings didn’t necessarily point the finger decisively at natural gas waste as the main culprit behind rising bromide levels.
Still, her presentations had an impact, she said.
“I think what you are seeing is a realization that the problem isn’t going away,” VanBriesen said. “I’m not pushing the panic button … but it’s a directional change that you don’t want to continue.”
Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber said that after reviewing those findings, her group now believes the industry is partly responsible for the rising bromide levels.
In her letter to Krancer on Wednesday, she promised that the industry was taking action, but also encouraged state officials to evaluate whether other “sources” were contributing to the problem.
Krancer promised that evaluation would indeed happen, but he said he believed the gas industry’s actions would lead to immediate improvements in river bromide levels.
Look closer at this clean energy
http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/look-closer-at-this-clean-energy/10965/
April 24, 2011 at 6:00 am by Jay Jochnowitz, Editorial page editor
Opinion: Getting natural gas out of the ground turns out to be pretty dirty business. Energy shouldn’t come at the price of drinkable water and clean air.
The natural gas industry likes to portray its product as abundant, domestic and clean. Perhaps it thinks two out of three isn’t bad.
We don’t. Nor should Congress and the government agencies entrusted with protecting our drinking water and environment.
Time and again lately, we’ve received fresh warnings that mining this source of energy is far from a clean process, despite the industry’s often artfully parsed claim that the method of choice — horizontal hydraulic fracturing — is safe.
The process involves drilling deep underground, down and horizontally, and pumping in millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to crack the rock and release trapped gas. The industry is using fracking to tap portions of the Marcellus Shale, a gas-rich rock formation that lies under six states, including New York. The state has yet to issue permits while it drafts regulations.
Among the latest rebuttals to the industry’s claim of safety:
Thousands of gallons of chemical-laced water spewed into a stream last week from a well in Bradford County, Pa. Homeowners and farmers don’t know if their water is safe now for people and animals. This follows well contaminations elsewhere in the state, which embraced the rush to drill.
While the industry likes to note that chemicals are only a tiny fraction of the fracking mixture, a congressional investigation found that it added up to 866 million gallons, including hazardous and carcinogenic compounds, pumped into wells in at least 13 states from 2005 to 2009. And while underground, the water can become radioactive. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told Pennsylvania to test drinking water for radium.
Pennsylvania officials have halted the disposal of drilling wastewater through treatment plants that discharge into rivers and streams that provide drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. The plants, it turns out, aren’t equipped to remove the pollutants.
A Cornell University study concluded that fracking contributes to global warming even more than coal or oil burning by releasing methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. The industry — which has sought to block release of methane emission data — dismissed the peer-reviewed study as lacking credibility.
New York has prudently held off issuing drilling permits at least until regulations are finished this summer. We urge the state, once again, to continue its moratorium until the EPA finishes a study into the safety of hydraulic fracturing, most likely next year. That study, focusing on water, should be expanded to air quality in light of the Cornell report.
Likewise, the interstate Delaware River Basin Commission, which controls a watershed that spans New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and supplies water for millions including New York City residents, should wait for the EPA study, too, before issuing its own drilling regulations. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman should follow through on his threat to sue the commission if it doesn’t take the time for a proper environmental study.
Finally, Congress needs to fix mistakes it made in 2005 to exempt hydrofracking from federal clean air and water standards. Lawmakers need to let the agency charged with protecting the environment do its job in regulating an industry that has proven to be anything but clean.
Advocate: Driller’s fines low
MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
April 23, 2011
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Advocate__Driller_rsquo_s_fines_low_04-22-2011.html
Environmental advocate: DEP hasn’t fined Chesapeake enough in past; heavy fine merited if violations caused the blowout.
A state environmental advocate said Friday that Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection has handled natural gas driller Chesapeake with kid gloves in the past and should fine the company heavily for any violations related to a blowout in Bradford County.
A blowout Wednesday at Chesapeake’s Atgas H2 well in LeRoy Township, Bradford County, spilled a reported 30,000 gallons of salt-saturated and chemical-laced produced water from the well pad and into a tributary of Towanda Creek.
Crews successfully plugged the leak Thursday, and Chesapeake has been sent a notice of violation by DEP.
Jan Jarrett, president of Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, or PennFuture, a nonprofit environmental and energy advocacy organization, said state fines levied against the company have been too low to provide a deterrent effect and have been significantly lower than fines assessed other gas drillers for similar violations.
In February, Chesapeake allowed vapors to catch fire at a well site in Washington County, creating a danger to the nearby community.
In March, DEP ordered Chesapeake to stop work on a well pad in Galeton, Potter County, because the company failed to implement proper erosion controls, allowing sediment from the pad to pollute a stream that provided drinking water to the local community.
DEP did not fine the driller for either incident, Jarrett said, and she questioned why.
Following a blowout at an EOG Resources well in Clearfield County, which like Wednesday’s blowout spilled flowback water into the surrounding environment, DEP fined the driller $400,000 and temporarily suspended EOG’s operations statewide.
If Chesapeake is found to be at fault for the Bradford County blowout, she said a similar tough penalty is warranted, if not overdue.
“You don’t fine somebody if they are not breaking any laws, but if the investigation finds that they have, then they should be fined and fined heavily,” Jarrett said, adding, “they should not be allowed to operate until they can prove that they can drill safely.”
Chesapeake has voluntarily suspended all hydraulic fracturing operations at its wells in Pennsylvania and West Virginia while it determines what went wrong.
“A full investigation will be conducted to determine the root cause of the failure, evaluate best management practices and make any and all necessary corrections before returning to normal operations,” Chesapeake spokesman Brian Grove said in a statement Wednesday.
With 344 wells drilled, Chesapeake ranks among the most active companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale, rivaled by other giants Range Resources and Atlas Energy. The company has also been issued 1,229 drilling permits, 17 percent of all Marcellus Shale permits issued through April 1.
The company also ranks among the most frequent violators of DEP regulations. DEP inspectors found 364 violations at Chesapeake Marcellus Shale gas wells between January 2008 and March 31, ranking the company second only to Cabot Oil & Gas, now infamous for its alleged contamination of drinking water wells in Dimock, in number of violations.
Jarrett said Chesapeake ranks only eighth in the value of total fines assessed in the last five years, paying $61,000.
Jarrett said that’s too low.
“Fines are meant to motivate; it’s not just punishing a company for any particular incident or for violating environmental law, but fines motivate companies to focus on the future,” she said. “It’s a deterrent.”
DEP spokesman Kevin Sunday responded that “DEP has pursued aggressive enforcement actions in the past, and will continue to pursue aggressive enforcement actions as necessary.”
“The enforcement process is a vital and integral component of the department’s commitment to overseeing this important industry grow in an environmentally and economically conscious manner,” Sunday said.
Chesapeake did not respond to a reporter’s request for a reaction to Jarrett’s statements.