2 Years, 1435 Violations Drilling in PA Shale

Over the past two and a half years 43 companies drilling into Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale accrued 1435 violations - and possibly more - says the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association (PALTA). Using records obtained from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) PALTA identified 952 violations they judge as "having the most potential for direct impact on the environment". Those do not include violations incurred by wastewater haulers (who racked up more than 1,000 violations in an enforcement blitz in June).

A quick breakdown of those 952 violations shows that:

• 277 (29%) involve improper erosion ans sediment plans
• 268 (20%) involve improper construction of wastewater impoundments
• 154 (16%) involve discharge of industrial waste
• 100 (11%) involve violations of PA's Clean Stream Law
• 16 (2%) involve improper blowout prevention
• 10 (1%) involve improper well-casing construction

The report also lists the 25 companies with the most violations and the 25 companies with the highest average number of violations per well driller. Leading the pack for violations are: East Resources (138 violations for 140 wells), Chesapeake Appalachia (118 violations for 153 wells), Chief Oil and Gas (109 violations for 45 wells) and Cabot Oil & Gas (94 violations for 60 wells).

Many of the companies had, on average, more than one violation per well drilled. JW Operating led the list with 11 violations for one well. Chief Oil and Gas had an average of 2 violations per well and Chesapeake came in at the bottom with 0.8 violations/well drilled.

Read the entire report here.

DEP to meet with Drilling Companies about Preventing Gas Migration into Water

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is continuing to seek ways to protect the state's water resources. Last week DEP took further action against Cabot Oil & Gas after the company failed to address migrating gas discovered in 2009 from drilling operations that contaminated groundwater and the drinking water supplies of 14 homes in Dimock. Now DEP wants to meet with gas drilling companies to figure out how to prevent water contamination by migrating gas. And, if residents are lucky, how to safeguard water supplies from other other contaminants as well.

Yesterday DEP Secretary John Hanger announced that he has called a meeting of oil and gas companies with permits to drill in the Marcellus Shale for Thursday, May 13. They'll gather in Harrisburg.

"The Department of Environmental Protection has a constitutional and statutory obligation to protect Pennsylvania’s environment," Hanger told the press. "That right is not for sale and is not subject to compromise." Hanger believes that drilling for natural gas can be done responsibly without putting the citizens of Pennsylvania, their property or livelihoods at risk.

"I am urging the industry to come and discuss how to effectively and safely prevent gas migration, protect our natural resources, and ensure that what happened to the residents of Dimock Township, Susquehanna County, does not happen elsewhere," Hanger said. He added that gas migration is unacceptable, and the DEP is taking whatever steps necessary to address the issue.

"In addition to increased oversight, the department has proposed tougher regulations to meet the growing demand and new drilling technologies including improving well construction standards to protect from gas migration," Hanger said.

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

EPA asks for Citizen's Help to Report Drilling Incidents

(overspray of drilling slurry; photo courtesy of Wes Gillingham, Catskill Mountainkeepers)

Like any industry, drilling for natural gas is bound to cause accidents and spills. As the pace of drilling picks up, so too will the corresponding rate of spills and incidents. This is already happening in Pennsylvania, reports ProPublica.

Even the EPA is concerned about the potential for increased spills and illegal disposal of drilling muds, sludge and wastewater. Earlier this week Region 3 announced the creation of a new “Eyes on Drilling” tip line. They created the tip line for citizens to report non-emergency "suspicious activity" related to oil and natural gas development that they observe. Although the announcement came from Region 3, they indicated they'll take calls from people anywhere in the country and act as a clearinghouse for citizen reports.

The toll free tip line number is 1-877-919-4EPA ( 1-877-919-4372) and reports may be e-mailed to . Those who don’t wish to identify themselves may provide tips anonymously.

In some cases a spill or release of hazardous material, including oil, presents an emergency. In those cases people should call the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802 .

EPA explained that the tip line grew out of "increased public concern about environmental impacts of oil and natural gas drilling" over the past few months. A lot of this concern was particularly focused on the development of Marcellus Shale.

You may read the EPAs press release here .

Tips for how to report suspicious activities are here.

Concerned New Yorkers to Governor: Withdraw the SGEIS

This is a busy time for board members and other municipal officials in Upstate NY. They've got til the end of December to submit their comments on the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) regarding horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in Marcellus and other shales. This is not a trivial pursuit; the Town of Danby's comments spread over 20 pages.

But even as public officials try to beat the comment deadline, thousands of others are calling on Governor Paterson to withdraw the SGEIS.  Last week over 100 people attending a meeting in Ithaca signed on to the letter, and they're hoping to get another couple thousand over these next few days.

Their reason? The SGEIS presumes that the 1992 Generic Environmental Impact Statement for oil and gas drilling - a document that took over a decade to produce - adequately protects human health and the environment.

But it doesn't, says Walter Hang of Toxics Targeting. The current regulations fail to adequately safeguard citizens against impacts on water quality, land use, economic and cultural resources and wildlife - and he has 270 cases of spills and accidents to prove it.

Regulations for current gas wells aren't protective enough and the industrial nature of drilling in the Marcellus will create multiple opportunities for even more environmental problems. The SGEIS would allow huge impoundments for flowback and brine - and already PA's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has slapped a couple corporate wrists for poorly engineered impoundment structures.

Then there's the problem of wastewater. “Where will it go?” Hang asks. Public wastewater treatment plants in NY aren't equipped to deal with the high levels of dissolved solids in the brines. Nor are public treatment plants set up to deal with the radioactivity expected to be in Marcellus brines. Instead, NY drillers have been transporting millions of gallons of brine and well wastewater to Pennsylvania and Ohio. But at the last DEC hearing in Corning a Pennsylvania man said, "don't send it to us. We don't want it."

“The bottom line,” says Hang, “is that the [NY] government is not safeguarding your public health and safety. That's why he is actively circulating the petition that asks Governor Paterson to withdraw the SGEIS. "That action will allow the de-facto moratorium on drilling permits to continue," Hang says, and a continued moratorium will allow towns and citizens more time to push for stronger environmental cleanup protections.

As of last Monday, nearly 2,000 people and organizations had signed on to the letter. Now it's your turn. Anyone concerned about the flaws in the proposed rules (even folks outside NY) can read the letter and sign on right here. And if you can get a few celebrities to sign on, so much the better!

You'll also find an interactive map and the profile of 270 oil and gas spills at that site. And check out the facebook page "no fracking way".
 

270 Drilling Accidents in NY - So Far

For the past 18 months or more the NY Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has steadfastly clung to their mantra that there have been no drilling accidents in NY. Ever. And we've had lots of experience with drilling, they say, noting that since the 1800's there have been close to 70,000 wells drilled in the state.

Furthermore, many of these wells have used fracking, they add, claiming that what was safe in the past few decades will continue to be safe for the future.

Apparently they forgot about the 270 drilling accidents reported in the last three decades. Walter Hang, who owns a small research company called Toxics Targeting recently posted a file to his website listing 270 incidents of wastewater spills, well contamination, and other ecological damage related to gas production since 1979.

Hang, who has also mapped TCE plumes in the local neighborhoods in Ithaca, NY, is an environmental advocate. While he's never come out against gas drilling, he has said on many occasions that there are environmental risks, and has asked for public disclosure by DEC on well accidents. They didn't; Hang did, and now we can read all about it.

The interesting thing Hang noted is that of the 270 incidents he posted, DEC only caught 60 of them. The remainder were reported by citizens - people who were involved in the incident or folks who just happened to notice something looked wrong and called it in.

Hang's release of this data comes just as DEC announces a 30-day extension for comments on the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) for horizontal drilling/hydrofracking in the shales. You can find that 809-page document on the DEC website.

It also comes on the heels of an announcement by PA's Department of Environmental Protection fining Cabot Oil and Gas $120,000 for damages and ordering the company to restore or provide a permanent alternative for the drinking water wells destroyed by methane migration earlier this year. You can read the full announcement here.

The most interesting thing to notice about the spills Hang posted is that in the first dozen the cause is "equipment failure". The next interesting thing is that there are no penalties. Here's a sampling of incidents from Hang's files:

November 1996- a resident in Freedom complained about a problem with drinking water from his home well. He thought it might be related to the gas drilling over on Bixby Rd about a mile from his house. The DEC investigator commented that gas escaped through a fault in the shale and affected properties 1 and 1/2 miles away. He found gas bubbling up in ponds and ditches, and they evacuated 12 families. The problem? An equipment failure. The penalty? None.

October 1997 in Willing, NY - a brine tank overflowed spilling 15,000 gallons which flowed through a field and into a local creek. The brine spill killed vegetation, and a local farmer was concerned about his cows drinking from the creek. Solution: gas company erected a fence so cows wouldn't get to creek and provided temporary water supply. They decided to let natural vegetation grow back following season. The problem? A faulty valve. The penalty? None.

September 2003 in Independence, NY - another brine spill. This time 100,000 gallons spilling into Shanada Creek. DEC comments: no one saw any dead fish. (That means it's good, right?)
The problem? A broken valve. The penalty? Oh, come on.... do I have to really say it again?

You can read the entire report here. Just don't eat your lunch while reading....