Philly Inquirer runs in-depth series on fracking

If you haven't yet seen the Philadelphia Inquirer's recent investigative series on fracking in PA, be sure to check it out.  The newspaper has also collated all make and manner of resources, graphs, timelines, maps and an archive of previous stories about all aspects of drilling the Marcellus Shale.  Click HERE to read the series and access the links to all other resources.

Gas Drilling Vote Cancelled: Delaware Governor to Vote No

Trenton, NJ:  The November 21, 2011 vote to be held at the Trenton War Memorial by the Delaware River Basin Commission has been cancelled according to sources.  The vote was to seek approval of regulations that would have allowed shale gas drilling in the Delaware River Basin by the beginning of 2012.  The last minute cancellation is the second time this vote has been put off.  And this time is believed to be in response to an announcement by the Governor of Delaware that he would vote against the regulatory/drilling proposal.

Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum praised Governor Markell.  “Governor Markell has listened to the will of the people, to the science and to the tremendous environmental and community harm being caused by gas drilling where it is happening.   The issue of shale gas drilling has finally moved out of the political arena and is now being treated as an issue of genuine public policy concern,” said Delaware Riverkeeper van Rossum.

Read the remainder of the press release in full by clicking HERE.

"It's like giving the earth Alka-Seltzer...

-- if the Alka-Seltzer shattered your internal organs so oil companies could harvest your juices."

In case you missed it, last night comedian Stephen Colbert addressed the issue of fracking on his show The Colbert Report.  Yes, it's a serious issue, but if we don't laugh everyone once and again at the gallows humor of it all I think we would all lose our minds.  There are so many funny things in this piece...I don't know where to begin.  I know I'll never look at Alka Seltzer in quite the same way again.  And who knows...will PA soon be under attack??  Have a look-see and a laugh.  You're welcome.

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France becomes 1st country to ban fracking

Just as New Jersey recently became the first state in the country to ban fracking, we are learning that France has become the first country in the world to ban it.

The French parliament voted on June 30 to ban the controversial technique for extracting natural gas from shale rock deposits known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the web sites of Le Monde and other French media reported.

The bill had already passed the National Assembly, the country's lower chamber, on June 21, and on June 30 a Senate vote of 176 to 151 made France the first country to enact such a ban, just as New York State is preparing to lift a moratorium on the same method.

The vote was divided along party lines, with the majority conservative party voting in favor and the opposition voting against the bill, according to Le Monde. The Socialist Party, in particular, opposed the bill because it did not go far enough. The bill's critics said that it left open possible loopholes and that in particular it does not prevent the exploitation of oil shale deposits by techniques other than fracking. An earlier version of the bill, which the Socialists had supported, would have banned any kind of development of the deposits, Le Monde reported.

Companies that currently own permits for drilling in oil shale deposits on French land will have two months to notify the state what extraction technique they use. If they declare to be using fracking, or if they fail to respond, their permits will be automatically revoked.

[This article, by Davide Castelvecchi, appeared June 30, 2011 in the "Observations" blog on Scientific American's website.  To read the remainder of the article in its entirety, please click HERE.]

Earthquakes from fracking?

So what does the largest earthquake to hit Arkansas in 35 years have to do with us?  It seems that Arkansas, home to the Fayetteville Shale, has fallen victim to more than 800 small earthquakes since September alone.  Some are drawing a possible connection between the earthquakes and the large amount of fracking going on in the area.  They have issued a  6 month moratorium against new injection wells while they study any possible connections.

The following excerpt is from article posted by the Associated Press yesterday:

Largest earthquake in 35 years hits Arkansas
by Sarah Eddington

GREENBRIER, Ark. — The central Arkansas town of Greenbrier has been plagued for months by hundreds of small earthquakes, and after being woken up by the largest quake to hit the state in 35 years, residents said Monday they're unsettled by the increasing severity and lack of warning.

The U.S. Geological Survey recorded the quake at 11 p.m. Sunday, centered just northeast of Greenbrier, about 40 miles north of Little Rock. It was the largest of more than 800 quakes to strike the area since September in what is now being called the Guy-Greenbrier earthquake swarm.

The activity has garnered national attention and researchers are studying whether there's a possible connection to the region's natural gas drilling industry. The earthquake activity varies each week, though as many as nearly two dozen small quakes have occurred in a day....

...What woke Tarkington was a magnitude 4.7 earthquake that was also felt in Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi. No injuries or major damage have been reported, but the escalation in the severity of quakes in and around the small north-central Arkansas town has many residents on edge. Some said they're seeing gradual damage to their homes, such as cracks in walls and driveways....

...[S]cientists continue to study whether there may be a connection between the earthquakes and local injection wells, where the natural gas industry pumps waste water that can no longer be used by drillers for hydraulic fracturing....

To read the original article in full, please click HERE.

Catching up; deep thoughts

Dear Friends,

I realize it's been several weeks since my last post.  First it was due to a tropical vacation, then the holidays hit, and before I knew it, it was mid-January.  My apologies for seeming to drop into a black hole.  Lately, however, I've struggled with what to post.

I started this blog a little more than a year ago, when gas drilling operations in my area began to overwhelm the landscape.  As I watched what was happening around my beloved hometown, I wrestled to find a way to deal with my feelings of helplessness.  To my dismay, many area residents seemed resigned to what was happening.  After a few months of gas drilling on my mind (and in my hearing, in my sights....), it occurred to me that I didn't have to feel helpless--there *was* something I could do.

I put to use my skills as a librarian and created this site to be a sort of "one stop shop" for people like me--people who were concerned about what was happening, wanted to educate themselves about natural gas drilling and network with similar-minded folks.  My goal was to reach the widest possible audience and to make the information easily accessible.  I spent a considerable amount of time researching and identifying authoritative local, state and national resources.  When I started this process, I didn't know beans about fracking, the current means by which natural gas is extracted.  Now, I know more than I wish I did.

I had also never built a blog or linked it to other social media sites, so I had to educate myself on that too.  I created links to other topical blogs and made it easy for visitors to find and contact their legislators or locate the latest information in their newspapers (you don't even have to do the search--click on the link and it's done for you!)

But over the course of the past year as the number of blog/Facebook fans grew, so did the number of drill  sites in my area.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not against gas drilling.  Many people I know are finally out of debt or at the very least, aren't living paycheck to paycheck since they leased their mineral rights or allowed compressor stations to be built on their property.  I'm thankful for that.  But I'm increasingly frightened at the cost of this new-found wealth.

I'm for responsible gas extraction; unfortunately fracking is not a responsible means by which to extract gas.  It's quicker and cheaper.  It also negates the entire marketing campaign by which gas companies insist natural gas is a "cleaner, greener" fuel.  I can assure anyone who believes that piece of fiction that it's just that:  fiction.  Anyone who doubts it need only live next to a drill site...or two.  Or three.

The cost of this new-found wealth is steep and the repercussions far-reaching.  As drilling activity increased, more of our roads were destroyed by the constant stream of heavy equipment and trucks that come with it; state police stings netted hundreds and hundreds of gas truck violations.  More leaks, explosions and "accidents" occurred.  A resident was murdered by a gas company worker.  Jobs were promised; instead hotels were booked solid and new ones built to accomodate workers from out of state.  Hunters were warned they could be stopped and questioned if they inadvertently stepped on land under development by gas companies.  Even our state parks were not immune to the onslaught of the drills.  Then came the recent state elections.  Incredibly, PA residents elected a new governor and other legislators who were "gas friendly" and had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations.  Either people voted against their own self interests...or apathy prevented them from voting at all.

Perhaps I was fooling myself into thinking that I could actually make a difference.  As I look at what's happening around me, it's hard not to feel that the gas companies have won.  And dear readers, I'm having a really hard time coming to terms with that.

Farmers take up camera against fracking practice

"They’ve been labeled “farmers turned filmmakers,” but it’s what Jeff and Jodi Andrysick felt they had to do with their $10,000.

The couple, native Pennsylvanians, set aside the money for a multi-vendor farm market where they live in Keuka Lake, N.Y., in Finger Lakes country. But the fight against fracking became more pressing, so the money went to a high-definition camcorder.

This led to “All Fracked Up,” a documentary they made to rally people against fracking and what it could do to their areas. The couple was in Pennsylvania on Friday promoting the film, which will debut at the BTE Theatre in Bloomsburg, at 4:30 p.m. Oct. 2. Admission is $5, and they’ll host a discussion after the movie.

It all began when “a predatory gas corporation” — the Andrysicks’ lawyer advised them against using the name — tried to dump what is believed to be three-quarters of a billion gallons of toxic waste into an abandoned gas well in Pulteney, N.Y. The waste came from a drill site in Pennsylvania.

“We figured if Pennsylvania doesn’t want it there, why should we take it?” Jeff Andrysick said.

The people of the region successfully fought it back, and the Andrysicks want Pennsylvanians to know they can do the same.

“The gas corporations prey on ignorance,” said Jeff Andrysick, saying they play a smoke-and-mirrors game to get people and towns to buy into what they do."

Read the remaining text of Evamarie Socha's article by clicking here:  THE DAILY ITEM (as it appeared 9.24.2010).

CNN in Dimock, PA

"'Fracking' yields fuel, fear in Northeast."

 For the full story, click HERE.

Fracking featured on PBS's "Need to Know"

Thankfully the health concerns so many of us have arising from fracking are remaining in the forefront.  A recent edition of "Need to Know," a show airing on PBS, featured an investigative report on fracking.  Prominently featured was Abrahm Lustgarten, winner of the George Polk Award for his environmental reporting on fracking.  If you weren't able to see it, watch it online by clicking on the following link: NEED TO KNOW on PBS. 

Perhaps our DEP could take some notes?

The Colorado EPA--despite push back from oil and gas reps--is interested in pursuing studies on the effect of fracking on groundwater.  As things stand now, private citizens are the only ones monitoring Pennsylvania water supplies, lakes, streams, rivers, etc.  If Colorado follows through and leads the way, perhaps Pennsylvania's DEP would consider doing the same. The following story appeared in Colorado's Daily Sentinel this past Saturday.


EPA considers expanding fracturing study to air quality
By Dennis Webb

Recently retired Environmental Protection Agency environmental engineer Weston Wilson is best known for criticizing his employer’s 2004 finding that hydraulic fracturing poses little or no risk to domestic groundwater.

Now, the Denver EPA whistleblower is encouraged by the agency’s interest in studying the natural gas development procedure’s potential impacts on air quality as well.

“I’m proud of EPA now,” not just for undertaking the study, but indicating it may expand the study’s reach beyond water, Wilson said.

His position puts him at odds with the oil and gas industry. At a Denver EPA meeting this summer, several industry representatives argued the study should be limited, as directed by a congressional committee, to the relationship between fracturing and groundwater. “And certainly not air quality,” as Kathleen Sgamma of the Western Energy Alliance put it.

But one of a number of Garfield County residents who say their health has been affected by drilling says he supports the idea of the EPA considering whether fracturing creates airborne health concerns as well.

“I think they should look at all aspects that affect public health,” Ron Galterio said.

He and several other Battlement Mesa residents say they’ve suffered ill effects from fumes from recent nearby fracturing operations by Antero Resources.

Josh Joswick of the San Juan Citizens Alliance told the EPA during its Denver meeting, “I don’t think you can study water without studying air.”

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water, sand and chemicals into wells under high pressure to crack open formations and facilitate flow of gas and oil. The process has been key to developing gas in western Colorado’s Piceance Basin, where gas is mostly locked in sandstone formations until fracturing occurs.

“Simply put, without hydraulic fracturing, western Colorado’s natural gas activity would virtually cease to exist,” Doug Flanders, director of policy for the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, told the EPA at its Denver meeting.

But the process has raised fears that, in addition to drinking water aquifers, it could contaminate air when fracturing fluids and gas are brought to the surface.

Wilson, who obtained whistleblower protective status when he sent a report to Congress questioning his agency’s 2004 findings on fracturing, said part of the argument for looking into air-quality effects of fracturing arises from a health study conducted for Garfield County.

He said that study showed “mixed results” about what dangers gas development might present, but one disturbing finding involves benzene. The study said airborne benzene could exceed acceptable non-cancer health-risk levels within 250 meters downwind of well-flowback operations that don’t include gas recovery. It recommended use of “green” well completions to reduce this risk.

The report said neurotoxicity, depressed bone-marrow function, an impaired immune system and blood disorders are among the non-cancer risks of benzene, which also is a carcinogen.

“If that is an effect of oil and gas drilling, of fracking, it’s systemic, it’s endemic,” Wilson said. “It’s evaporating from the reserve pits and the condensate tanks. It’s not as if the current state of the art protects the public health from those volatile organics.”

Benzene is one of several volatile organic compounds associated with gas development. It can be contained both in fracturing fluid and the gas itself. Fracturing fluids also can contain numerous other toxic substances, which aren’t required to be disclosed to the public.

Some Battlement Mesa residents, including Galterio, recently complained of nausea, dizziness, coughing, burning eyes and other ill effects of fracturing by Antero just outside their community. They say the situation adds to their fears about what will happen if Antero proceeds with plans to drill 200 wells within Battlement Mesa.

Over the years, other Garfield County residents living near gas development have complained of similar symptoms from fracturing and other operations.

Marc Smith, executive director of the Western Energy Alliance (formerly the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States), said air quality is an important topic, and it’s not that the industry objects to studying it at some point as it pertains to fracturing.

“It’s always within the jurisdiction of EPA to look at human health and environmental issues, and by no means are we saying that the EPA doesn’t have a right to do that. What we do believe is that their interest in that area should not delay the timely completion of the study on hydraulic fracturing,” he said.

The EPA is still finalizing its study plans, but Smith said it appears to be vastly broadening the study scope. That would make it take longer to complete, and industry is anxious to see the agency issue findings that address the question of fracturing and groundwater.

“Industry believes it will provide the peace of mind to communities to have the EPA confirm what other reports have indicated, which is that state regulatory programs provide a high level of protection for groundwater,” he said.

Timely completion of the study is important because there are already federal legislative proposals “to address a problem that we don’t know even exists, and the sooner there is closure, the sooner good policy can be formulated,” Smith said.

The EPA also is going through a separate process to consider updating its air-pollution rules involving the oil and gas industry. Smith said that might be an appropriate process for considering fracturing and air quality, although he doesn’t know the best way the agency should be delegating its staff and resources.

Wilson said he can’t judge whether fracturing poses a serious threat to air quality.

“I don’t know. That’s sort of the Catch-22 of this industry, so little is known,” he said.

But he said people complaining of ailments deserve to at least have their concerns investigated.

Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission staff have cited Antero with an alleged violation in the Battlement Mesa case. Galterio said the company says it is using a closed system rather than open pits, and is containing flowback and produced water in tanks, but that didn’t prevent the problem with fumes.

Jon Black, Antero’s local operations manager, said the company is using equipment that exceeds the state’s green completion requirements.

He said the company plans to incorporate additional “best management practices” during the next round of fracking and flowback. It also is using equipment to measure odors, a weather station and other means of applying science to what otherwise can be a subjective matter, he said.

“It’s one of those ambiguous issues, and the reason I say that is everybody’s got a different level of sensitivity and perception to odor,” he said.

But Galterio said that with people becoming ill, residents took issue with Antero’s contention during a recent meeting that the fumes were mere nuisance odors because they didn’t exceed air-quality standards.

“We told them that the odors were much more than a nuisance to some people,” he said.

Upcoming protest on Marcellus drilling

What promises to be a large protest rally & march on Marcellus drilling is scheduled for October 1st in western PA.  The rally will be held in concert with the industry's SHALE GAS SUMMIT taking place at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.  The Shale Gas Summit is bringing together industry executives, financial experts, legislators and gubernatorial candidates and other key stakeholders in Marcellus drilling.  Such a rally could take advantage of the many Marcellus players gathered in one place and would send a clear message that PA residents will not sit quietly as their wells are contaminated; farmlands are ruined; homes are devalued and tourism dollars disappear.  For more information on the rally, click HERE to visit the Marcellus Shale Protest website. 

What better way to join forces with other Pennsylvanians and have our collective voices heard!

Response to industry & PAC attacks on GASLAND

If you haven't already done so, click HERE and take the time to read the response to the recent attacks on the documentary GASLAND.  With good reason, it's admittedly lengthy:  it's full of meticulously documented facts.  The final 3 pages are a listing of references--*with* web addresses so that the curious or dubious might verify the facts set out in this report.  It will be interesting to see how the industry/PACs respond.

Now is the time: make your voice heard on the FRAC Act

Support the FRAC ACT!  As Josh Fox of Gasland writes, "crucial pieces of legislation that would force companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking will be decided in the next two-three weeks."  If you haven't done so, it's extremely important that you let your legislators know where you stand.  To read about the FRAC act, see the information on bill co-author Senator Casey's site.

To find your legislator or his/her contact information, click on the appropriate links along the right sidebar of the Protect the Endless Mountains blog.

Our elected officials need to hear from you!

Exactly how is Marcellus drilling impacting PA residents?

If you missed this article by Hannah Abelbeck, please take the time to read it now.  Ms. Abelbeck does a fantastic and thorough job of investigating the myriad of ways drilling is impacting our land, water supply, health, and our local economies--many of which are heavily dependent on tourism dollars.


Marcellus drilling transforms the state
By Hannah Abelbeck
As the scale and pace of Marcellus gas well drilling picks up, people in rural Pennsylvania are learning how to fight traffic jams, research deed histories, encounter the FBI, self-monitor streams and light their tap water on fire.

Innovations in drilling technology have fueled the rush to extract natural gas from the Marcellus shale, a geological formation that underlies 70 percent of Pennsylvania and portions of Centre County.

The gas rush is on, and money is fueling all of it. Companies and lending institutions willing to invest the big money needed up front want a fast return, resulting in quicker and more intense drilling in rural areas desperate to save their sluggish economies. Residents are signing leases, desperate to supplement sagging incomes. Workers, hungry for jobs, hope to sign up for long, dangerous work days, if they can get them. And the industry promotes the benefits and downplays the costs of massive speculation, while opposing regulations that might shrink profit margins.

Meanwhile, the environment, health, and financial well-being of Pennsylvania residents is at risk like never before.

“I don’t think anybody realizes how big and ridiculous this whole situation is,” said Dave Bailey when describing what he and his neighbors have experienced in the last two years. All of his neighbors on Hedgehog Lane, a rural street in Bradford Township, McKean County had their private water wells contaminated when one company drilled and fractured 26 non-Marcellus wells near their homes two years ago.

“I’m not opposed to domestic drilling,” said neighbor Lorrie Trumbull. “What we don’t like is shoddy workmanship.” The layer of concrete that is supposed to seal the well bore from sources of underground drinking water was not properly installed on several wells, say the neighbors.

Marcellus wells are scattered over two-thirds of Pennsylvania. The 29 wells in Centre County are concentrated in a band north and west of State College.

Two neighbors had well water with so much methane they could light it on fire. One of them was Bailey. When the water in his pipes contained 89 percent free gas, he and his family had to move into a hotel for three months to avoid an explosion. Running his washing machine still sets off his gas detectors sometimes, he said. Although he was told it was safe to shower, the two or three times they tried, members of his family had rashes and burns.

Getting the problem fixed has been an ongoing headache. After the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection found the Schreiner Oil and Gas Co. responsible, the company vented Bailey’s well so that it wouldn’t explode. It didn’t solve the methane problem, so they drilled him a new well into the same water source. Then they had Culligan install a filtration system in his house, which did not remove the methane. In February DEP finally ordered the company to provide a permanent solution.

Bailey said the company plans to install a whole house osmosis system that uses lots of energy, takes up half his basement, and includes no maintenance plan. From the beginning, Bailey said, the residents have requested they be connected to the municipal water system.

Water isn’t the only problem. Schreiner’s drilling partner, Aiello Brothers Oil and Gas, built a gas processing plant, a so-called “stripper plant” right behind their houses. Trumbull said her house has filled with gas fumes several times. Bailey said he once went through two weeks of constant gas alarms.

What really bothers the neighbors is that Aiello’s New Century Pipeline Group built the plant dangerously close to their houses without a permit and in violation of zoning ordinances. The Bradford Township Zoning Hearing Board unanimously voted to deny the company’s last appeal and ordered it to remove the stripping plant altogether in February. The company is appealing the decision to the McKean County Court of Supreme Pleas and continues to operate.  Click HERE to read the remainder of the article & view accompanying photographs.

Dept of Agriculture quarantines cattle at Wellsboro farm due to containment leak

Cattle From Tioga County Farm Quarantined After Coming in Contact with Natural Gas Drilling Wastewater

HARRISBURG, Pa., July 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Agriculture announced today that it has quarantined cattle from a Tioga County farm after a number of cows came into contact with drilling wastewater from a nearby natural gas operation.

Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said uncertainty over the quantity of wastewater the cattle may have consumed warranted the quarantine in order to protect the public from eating potentially contaminated beef.  "Cattle are drawn to the taste of salty water," said Redding. "Drilling wastewater has high salinity levels, but it also contains dangerous chemicals and metals.  We took this precaution in order to protect the public from consuming any of this potentially contaminated product should it be marketed for human consumption."

Redding said 28 head of cattle were included in the quarantine, including 16 cows, four heifers and eight calves. Those cattle were out to pasture in late April and early May when a drilling wastewater holding pond on the farm of Don and Carol Johnson leaked, sending the contaminated water into an adjacent field where it created a pool. The Johnsons had noticed some seepage from the pond for as long as two months prior to the leak.

The holding pond was collecting flowback water from the hydraulic fracturing process on a well being drilled by East Resources Inc.  Grass was killed in a roughly 30- x 40-foot area where the wastewater had pooled. Although no cows were seen drinking the wastewater, tracks were found throughout the pool. The wet area extended about 200-300 feet into the pasture.

The cattle had potential access to the pool for a minimum of three days until the gas company placed a snow fence around the pool to restrict access.  Subsequent tests of the wastewater found that it contained chloride, iron, sulfate, barium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, strontium and calcium.  Redding said the main element of concern is the heavy metal strontium, which can be toxic to humans, especially in growing children. The metal takes a long time to pass through an animal's system because it is preferentially deposited in bone and released in the body at varying rates, dependent on age, growth status and other factors. Live animal testing was not possible because tissue sampling is required.

The secretary also added that the quarantine will follow the recommended guidelines from the Food Animal Residue Avoidance and Depletion Program, as follows:

Adult animals: hold from food chain for 6 months.
Calves exposed in utero: hold from food chain for 8 months.
Growing calves: hold from food chain for 2 years.

In response to the leak, the Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice of violation to East Resources Inc. and required further sampling and site remediation. DEP is evaluating the final cleanup report and is continuing its investigation of operations at the drilling site, as well as the circumstances surrounding the leaking holding pond.

Issued: Thu Jul 1, 2:39 pm
Media contact: Justin Fleming, 717-787-5085
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

Right-to-know request reveals hundreds of spills at PA drilling sites by nearly 100 different companies

Hazards posed by natural gas drilling not always underground

By Laura Legere, Times Shamrock Writer

Published: June 21, 2010

Fear about environmental damage from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling is often trained on what could happen deep underground, but some of the gravest hazards posed by the process are driven in trucks, stored in tanks, carried through hoses and left in pits on the surface of natural gas well sites.  Concentrated chemicals, as well as wastewater containing toxic levels of salts and metals, are stored, produced or transported in large quantities at each well site, creating the potential for tainting drinking water or seeping into local ponds and streams.  While recent incidents at Marcellus Shale wells involving explosions, blowouts and methane contaminated drinking water have drawn attention to the dangerous potential of the activity, information about the industry-wide frequency and impact of spills and leaks has not been reported publicly.

Department of Environmental Protection files made available to The Times-Tribune through a Right-to-Know Request reveal hundreds of examples of spills at natural gas drilling sites in the state during the last five years, recorded by at least 92 different drilling companies.  The documents show that many of the largest operators in the Marcellus Shale have been issued violations for spills that reached waterways, leaking pits that harmed drinking water, or failed pipes that drained into farmers' fields, killing shrubs and trees.  The frequency of violations have kept the state's gas inspectors on the run.

After a Marcellus Shale hearing last week, DEP produced a list for state legislators of 421 violations found by inspectors at Marcellus Shale wells this year through June 4.  At least 50 of the violations - recorded by 15 different Marcellus operators - involved a spill to soil or water. Generic descriptions used by the department to characterize the violations make it impossible to determine the exact number of spills.  "It goes from an accident to negligence," DEP Secretary John Hanger said at the hearing, and attributed the problems to "poor management" and "not proper oversight" by the companies.  "This industry's got to look in the mirror," he said.

Kathryn Klaber, the director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a Pennsylvania industry group, said shale drilling is an industrial activity, like many others.  "Any spill is a problem," she said. "For PR (public relations) reasons, for fines, for reputation, stock price - there's no good reason to have one."  But, she added, "I think if we were looking across multiple industries ... the question I'd like to pose is, is it worse or better than others?"

The following list highlights examples of spills, seeps and accidents as described in DEP documents that have been committed by an array of Marcellus Shale operators.  It illustrates that none of the companies currently pulling gas from the shale has been able to avoid potentially harmful accidents and errors.

Spills and leaks near a state forest

An accident at a Marcellus Shale well in early June caused a geyser of gas and wastewater to erupt for 16 hours on property owned by a private hunting club in the middle of a state forest frequented by campers and anglers.  The well is one of 44 permitted or pending Marcellus Shale wells operated by Houston-based EOG Resources on the hunting club land in Clearfield County, and the nearly catastrophic rupture was a dramatic demonstration of the hazards of natural gas drilling.  But months before that incident, a seemingly invisible plume of contamination affected water sources around the same EOG lease, prompting months of investigation by DEP.

Beginning in late August 2009, inspectors found evidence that Marcellus Shale waste fluids had impacted Alex Branch, a wild trout stream and high-quality fishery, and damaged the drinking water at a nearby hunting camp, where water tests found barium that was four times above the state and federal drinking water limits - an amount that can cause vomiting, diarrhea and muscle weakness after drinking it for even a short period of time.  DEP inspectors had not noticed any evidence of a spill from the nearest EOG well site and could see nothing wrong with the earthen pit where the company stored the well's waste, but it was determined that undetected seeps from one pit, and maybe several, most likely caused the wastewater to contaminate the stream.

An accident in early August may also have contributed to the damage when a small hole in a hose carrying wastewater from the well sprayed a fine mist for several days that landed on nearby plants and a small wetland. A heavy rain swamped the pad, likely washing the fluids downhill to the hunting camp and stream.

In response to the leaks, EOG excavated the suspected faulty pit and another nearby pit, backfilled other unused pits on the lease and transitioned to a system in which drilling fluids and waste drawn from a well are piped to closed tanks rather than pits, which helps to minimize the risk of seeps and overflows. In an e-mail to DEP, the EOG environmental safety administrator said the company would transition to the safer systems, which are not required by Pennsylvania law, because "we don't want to risk anything."

In a separate incident, on Oct. 12, 2009, a leak in a tank used to store a fluid mixture of water and hydraulic fracturing chemicals spilled about 7,980 gallons, most of which was absorbed into the ground.  It caused a nearby tributary to Alex Branch to turn cloudy and suds when agitated.  An EOG spokeswoman said the company "regrets these incidents occurred and took immediate steps to address the issues," including adopting new operating procedures and hiring outside contractors to perform water sampling after both events.

Acid leaks and unlabeled tanks

Twice in two months, hydrochloric acid spilled at two wells sites operated by Chesapeake Appalachia in Bradford County - including once when the company used a tank that was not meant to store the acid.

Alarmed notes from an inspector's telephone conversation with the tank's manufacturer at the time of the first spill, at the Chancellor well site in Asylum Twp. in February 2009, showed the tank was not designed or lined to hold 36 percent hydrochloric acid, and that even less concentrated acid should only have been held for a day and a half.  "Somebody messed up big time to put 14,000 gall. 36% HCL in a frac tank for 30 days!!" the note stated.

DEP records also show the same inspector pursuing concerns about the proper labeling of the tank, which was one among between 25 and 50 identical 500-barrel, corrugated wall storage tanks on site without placards to differentiate it.  "It's bad enough dealing with unlabeled 55 gallon drums in our line of work," he wrote in an internal e-mail, "but having to contend with unlabeled 21,000 gallon acid 'frac' tanks in the boondocks, on properties that have unrestricted access, is a bit much."

The second acid spill, at the Vannoy well site in Granville Twp., may have contributed to the contamination of a private pond and a 30-foot swath of dead or stressed vegetation, including several evergreen trees.  The 420-gallon acid spill was one of several accidents at the site DEP thought might have caused the damage, including a spill of several thousand gallons of water on March 3, 2009, that was never tested for metals and salts, the hallmark constituents of Marcellus Shale wastewater.

The acid spill, on March 20, also flowed into the pond. Chesapeake neutralized the acid and removed the contaminated soil, but a cleanup plan commissioned by the company in December said some of the acid likely percolated through the pad and may have remained perched on the shallow bedrock causing additional contamination.  In July, DEP inspectors found stained areas at the base of a waste pit where the company left rock cuttings and drilling fluids in direct contact with the ground, and said the stain was a sign that drilling fluid "either has or is seeping from the pit."

DEP fined Chesapeake $27,271.93 and its hydraulic fracturing contractor BJ Services $8,598.46 for the second hydrochloric acid spill in February 2010, a fine the agency never announced publicly.  Brian Grove, Chesapeake's director of corporate development, said the company "responded proactively to both situations" and "learned very valuable lessons from the incidents." It turned those lessons into new operating practices, including requiring secondary containment for all materials brought to a pad, he said.

Hydrochloric acid on public roads

A worker for Fortuna Energy (now called Talisman Energy USA) drove a tanker leaking hydrochloric acid about 2½ miles over public roads between two of the company's well sites in Troy Twp., Bradford County, on June 30, 2009.  At the second site, the driver, wearing an acid-resistant suit and a respirator, tried to put a catch pan under the leak, passed out from inhaling the fumes and was taken by helicopter to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre. The tanker lost between 100 and 200 gallons of acid and contaminated soil was later removed from both sites.  Talisman did not report the spill to DEP until late the next day, a delay DEP officials called "unacceptable."

A February 2010 press release from DEP announced a $3,500 fine for some incidents at one of the pads involved with the acid spill, but it did not address that spill. It also did not address three drilling wastewater spills in July and August 2009 on the same two well pads.  Efforts to reach a Talisman spokesman were unsuccessful. In the company's written response to DEP after the acid spill, the operations manager said it "takes the issue very seriously" and he visited each well site to emphasize to workers "the importance of our zero spill approach."

Mud eruption in a wetland

Crews for Chief Gathering - the pipeline subsidiary of driller Chief Oil and Gas - were boring a path for a pipeline 13 feet under a stream, wetland and road in Penn Twp., Lycoming County, on December 12, 2009, when the muds used to drill the hole erupted to the surface, spilling between 3,000 and 6,000 gallons into the wetland.  Initial reports from the company estimated the spill to be only about 100 gallons and to have stopped at least 10 feet away from the stream, but the DEP inspector who was called two days later found sandbags and a silt sock right at the water's edge and the barrier did not prevent some of the mud from reaching the stream.

Efforts to clean up the spill were slowed, first because the muds clogged the suction hoses the company used to try to remove it from the wetland, and later because the fluids froze solid.  While he was on site, the inspector also saw evidence of muds in a roadside ditch and was told that there had been another, unreported spill on December 10 of about 110 gallons.  The inspector noted that chemical safety sheets provided by the company for the mud, "Hydraul-EZ," listed the ingredients bentonite, a kind of clay, and a "bentonite extender," but the manufacturer "claims that any further details about these substances is proprietary" making it "difficult" to determine the potential of the mud to cause pollution.

Kristi Gittins, a Chief spokeswoman, said that the spilled mud is "not hazardous. It's dirt."  "There were no chemicals, and the DEP knows that," she said.  The remedy for such a spill is to "let it settle," she said, which is what the company was told to do.

Overflowing waste pit 1

More than 30,000 gallons of diluted wastewater overflowed a waste pit, rushed over a barrier and soaked a pasture on June 3, 2009, when workers transferring the fluid to the site owned by East Resources in Tioga County accidentally dumped too much into the pit.

The spill was first noticed by DEP inspectors, who happened to stop by the well pad.  The fluid was diluted enough, and cleaned up quickly enough, not to kill or stress vegetation, and the fluid did not appear to reach a stream.

The pit was among four at East Resources well sites in Tioga and Potter counties that discharged the wastewater they were holding. The three other pits all leaked and at least one was concentrated enough to kill or stress nearby vegetation.  East is finalizing a consent order with DEP that covers those and about 30 other violations at its sites, according to a violation notice posted on a DEP database that indicates the company will pay a $29,000 fine.

Stephen Rhoads, East's director of external affairs, said the spill was an "unfortunate accident" with no long-term impact.  "Working with DEP, we took care of it immediately," he said.

Overflowing waste pit 2

A 750,000-gallon pit holding a mixture of fresh water and wastewater overflowed off a well pad run by Atlas Resources in Washington County, through a drain and into a small tributary in a high quality watershed on December 5 and 6, 2009.

The spill was reported to DEP by the property owner, who noticed the spill before Atlas saw or reported it. It apparently was caused by a pump that turned on automatically but had no mechanism for turning off automatically when the pit was full.

The spill, for which the company has not been fined, is one of several violations the company has recorded in southwestern Pennsylvania. In January, DEP fined Atlas $85,000 for violations at 13 well sites between December 2008 and July 2009, including improper erosion controls and site remediation, and spills of diesel fuel and wastewater.

In late March, on the same Hopewell Twp. farm as the pit overflow, liquid hydrocarbons called condensate on the surface of a 400,000-gallon wastewater pit caught fire, engulfing the pit and burning its plastic liner, causing a plume of black smoke that was visible for miles.  Atlas, a Pennsylvania company, also drills non-Marcellus Shale natural gas wells, including one near Kushequa, McKean County which DEP found to have caused explosive levels of methane and ethane to seep into residential water supplies and triggered a small explosion in the village's public well in late 2007.

Efforts to reach an Atlas spokesman were unsuccessful.

Hydraulic oil leak

An oil leak from a hydraulic line in March 2008 spilled onto a field and into natural springs surrounding a Range Resources - Appalachia well in Washington County. The oil mixed with water and flowed 100 yards downhill, contaminating soil and killing vegetation.

Range excavated the contaminated soil and paid a $21,200 fine in June 2009 for the spills at that site and for 16 other violations, an enforcement action that was never publicized by DEP.  DEP also investigated whether a Marcellus Shale well drilled by Range on the same property affected an old abandoned well, causing gas to contaminate private water supplies and bubble up through the soil.

Matt Pitzarella, a Range spokesman, said the gas migration was a preexisting issue that was only discovered once Range's activities started on the site. The company capped and remediated the old well, he said.  The oil leak he called a mechanical error, and said the other violations included many that were administrative.

"Fortunately it was an incident that had minimal if any environmental impact, but you have to take care of every little detail," he said.  "Since that time we've increased efforts to keep spills on location."

Two months, two diesel spills

Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. had two 800-gallon diesel spills in five weeks in 2008 at some of its earliest Marcellus Shale sites in Dimock Twp.

On June 3, off-road diesel spilled from a break in a fuel line to a drilling rig, ran down a hill and into a roadside swale and pooled in a flooded wetland near Meshoppen Creek.

On July 11, a dump truck driver working to build an access road to a well backed into a 1,000-gallon tank of off-road diesel, panicked and dragged the tank about 30 feet before it tipped over and spilled onto the ground. Crews dug pits and vacuumed up about 170 gallons of the visible diesel, then removed contaminated soil and stone from the site. When two of nine soil tests showed continued contamination, contractors dug a foot deeper and excavated more soil. A total of 272 tons of contaminated soil was taken from the site.

The company was fined $4,915.30 for the first spill after the site was cleaned up.  According to DEP records, Cabot was never fined for the second spill.  Cabot spokesman George Stark said the company "works hard to ensure that we have a plan in place to control and maintain any accidental release."

Click here to access the original article.

Contact the writer: llegere@timesshamrock.com

In only 3 days...PA State Police's Operation FracNET nets nearly 2000 traffic citations and warnings.

State Enforcement Blitz Focuses on Trucks Hauling Drilling Waste Water

250 Vehicles Put Out of Service Due to Violations

HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania State Police placed 250 commercial vehicles out of service during a three-day enforcement effort last week that focused on trucks hauling waste water from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operations across the state, Commissioner Frank E. Pawlowski announced today.

Pawlowski said state troopers worked in partnership with personnel from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as part of Operation FracNET. In total, 1,137 trucks were inspected from June 14-16.

“Pennsylvania has experienced significant increases in heavy truck traffic in areas where Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operations are taking place, particularly in Bradford, Clearfield, Susquehanna, Tioga and Washington counties,” Pawlowski said. “The process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, requires significant amounts of water to be delivered to the sites and later trucked away.”

He said the enforcement effort centered on identifying commercial vehicle safety deficiencies that could lead to crashes.

Pawlowski said 131 of the 250 vehicles placed out of service were trucks hauling waste water. He said 669 traffic citations and 818 written warnings were issued as the result of waste water truck inspections. In addition, 23 of the 45 drivers placed out of service during the operation were waste water vehicle operators.

“As activities at natural gas sites continue to increase, it is important that everyone involved, including the waste transportation industry, understands Pennsylvania’s environmental and traffic safety laws and complies with them,” said DEP Secretary John Hanger.

The enforcement effort was conducted in areas covered by Pennsylvania State Police troops B, C, F, P and R.

Editor’s Note: The following is a breakdown, by state police troop area, of the number of inspections conducted, number of vehicles placed out of service, and number of citations issued during Operation FracNET:

• Troop B (Allegheny, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties), 227 inspections; 57 vehicles placed out of service; 241 citations issued;
• Troop C (Clarion, Clearfield, Forest, Elk, Jefferson and McKean counties), 260 inspections; 29 vehicles placed out of service; 111 citations issued;
• Troop F (Cameron, Clinton, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Union and Tioga counties), 239 vehicles inspected; 33 vehicles placed out of service; 205 citations issued;
• Troop P (Bradford, Sullivan, Wyoming and part of Luzerne counties), 166 inspections; 66 vehicles placed out of service; 358 citations issued;
• Troop R (Lackawanna, Pike, Susquehanna and Wayne counties), 142 inspections; 25 vehicles placed out of service; 141 citations.

For more information, visit www.psp.state.pa.us or call 717-783-5556.

Media contact:  Lt. Myra A. Taylor, 717-783-5556
Link to release: DEP.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06/23/2010

Marcellus drilling the topic of NPR's "Diane Rehm Show" today

If you missed NPR's Diane Rehm Show this morning, you can hear the podcast by clicking here  Her guests this morning included Josh Fox, director of the documentary "Gasland;" Mike Soraghan, reporter for E&E Publishing which publishes Greenwire and Energy & Environment Daily; John Hangar, Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection; and C. Boyden Gray, founding member of the Energy Future Coalition, former White House counsel to President George H.W. Bush, US Ambassador to the EU and special envoy for Eurasian energy diplomacy.

Gov Rendell: no need to ban new gas drilling

Gov. Addresses Concerns for Gas Well Safety

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell says an overall ban on new Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling isn’t necessary. Rendell made the comments in response to the Marcellus Shale gas well blowout Thursday night in Clearfield County.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has launched an investigation into the incident at the Lawrence Township well that shot natural gas 75 feet into the air for 16 hours.  DEP Secretary John Hanger says the investigation will look into the well’s entire history. EOG is barred from drilling or fracking at its more than 70 Pennsylvania wells until the investigation is complete. But the governor says drilling by others can continue....

“Given the degree of monitoring that we have and the checks and balances we have, we can go on and do this,” says Rendell. “Even for EOG, we’re not stopping them from extracting gas. We’re stopping them from any new drilling. They’ve got plenty of wells that are working right now, extracting gas.”

Rendell says current regulations have prevented major disasters for decades of oil and gas drilling, but he says they should be strengthened to minimize the potential for accidents.

He says two sets of bills that would make regulations stricter will soon be voted on by the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission. One of those packages would control the disposal of wastewater. The other would try to increase safety in well construction.

Click here to see original article, posted by 90.5DUQ, Pittsburgh's NPR Station on their blog.

DEP Orders EOG Resources to Halt All Natural Gas Drilling Activities in PA

DEP Press Release 6.7.2010

HARRISBURG -- The Department of Environmental Protection today ordered EOG Resources Inc. to suspend its natural gas well drilling activities in Pennsylvania after a June 3 blowout at one of the company’s Clearfield County wells sent natural gas and at least 35,000 gallons of drilling wastewater into the sky and over the ground for 16 hours.

DEP Secretary John Hanger said that while the order bans all drilling and hydrofracturing, or fracking, operations for specified periods of time, the suspension will remain in effect until DEP has completed a comprehensive investigation into the leak and the company has implemented any needed changes.

“DEP staff, along with an independent expert, will conduct a detailed investigation of not just the incident that occurred last week in Clearfield County, but of EOG Resources’ drilling operations, as a whole, here in Pennsylvania,” said Hanger. “The Clearfield County incident presented a serious threat to life and property. We are working with the company to review its Pennsylvania drilling operations fully from beginning to end to ensure an incident of this nature does not happen again.”

The order prohibits EOG Resources from drilling activities up to seven days; from engaging in fracking operations up to 14 days; and from completing or initiating post-fracking operations for 30 days in any wells throughout the state. These actions and operations cannot resume until the department agrees that the investigation has been fully completed.

The results of the investigation will also help determine whether DEP should take additional enforcement action against the company, such as fines or penalties.

Hanger added that EOG Resources has been fully cooperative and in agreement with the department’s ongoing investigation and order.

The leak began at approximately 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 3, when the well’s operators lost control of it while preparing to extract gas after fracking the shale. As a result, natural gas and flowback frack fluid was released uncontrollably onto the ground and 75 feet into the air. The well was capped at around noon on June 4.  The EOG well pad is located in a rural area near the Penfield/Route 153 exit of Interstate 80 in northwestern Clearfield County, near Moshannon State Forest.

The department’s Emergency Response and Oil and Gas programs responded to the incident, along with the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and local fire and police departments.

PEMA elevated its activation level to coordinate resources among multiple state agencies and worked with PennDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration to institute a temporary airspace restriction above the well. The restriction was lifted at approximately 1:45 p.m. on June 4.

“Fortunately, the well did not ignite and explode, and there were no injuries to the well crew or emergency responders,” said Hanger. “Our preliminary assessment is that the environmental damage was modest as the frack fluid was contained and did not appear to reach any streams, but DEP is continuing its monitoring efforts because sometimes the impacts of a spill like this are delayed. We have noted that a spring in the area has shown a spike in conductivity and that discharge is being collected by EOG for proper disposal.”

The secretary noted that the company expects to have a more accurate estimate of the amount of fracking water that was leaked after it finishes draining the pits and waterboxes it deployed to collect the fluids. As of June 7, initial estimates totaled 35,000 gallons, although more was certainly released and the company believes this accounts for a majority of the leaked water.

DEP’s preliminary investigation has determined that a blowout preventer on the well failed, but the agency does not yet know if that failure was the main cause of the incident. The blowout preventer has been secured and will be one piece of the investigation.

EOG Resources, formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas Co., operates approximately 265 active wells in Pennsylvania, 117 of which are in the Marcellus Shale formation.

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06/7/2010

CONTACT:
Neil Weaver, Department of Environmental Protection
717-787-1323

For more information, visit www.depweb.state.pa.us