Talisman Energy Fined for Spill in PA

It took a few months, but the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has fined Talisman Energy (formerly Fortuna) a modest $15,506 for a spill of used natural gas drilling fluids that occurred last November at its Klein gas well pad in Armenia Township, Bradford County. According to a DEP press release, that spill polluted a waterway too small to be named.

DEP notes that the spill involved hydraulic fracturing flowback fluid - the stuff that returns to the surface after drillers inject the pressurized mix of water and chemicals underground to fracture a geologic formation in order to allow natural gas to flow.

DEP’s investigation in late November 2009 determined that Talisman spilled between 4,200 to 6,300 gallons of fracking flowback fluids when a pump failed and sand collected in a valve,” said DEP North-Central Oil and Gas Program Manager Jennifer Means. The fluids flowed off the well pad and toward a wetland, with a small amount discharging into an unnamed tributary to Webier Creek. Webier Creek drains into the upper reaches of the Tioga River, a cold water fishery. DEP noted that Talisman has successfully completed DEP’s Act 2 process for spill cleanup activities.