Since January, Pennsylvania officials have found more than 530 violations at natural gas drilling sites across the state, ranging from spills and leaks to poor erosion and sediment controls.
This surprisingly large number of problems in the gas-rich Marcellus shale formation was revealed in testimony that John Hanger, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, gave recently to the state Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. The number compared to 638 violations in the same region in all of 2009.
The hearing was held because of what Hanger called a “potentially catastrophic” natural gas well blowout on June 3 in Clearfield County, which spewed gas and chemicals into this part of central Pennsylvania, in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“All of us recognize the value of benefits of the Marcellus Shale to Pennsylvania, but we also recognize the need to make sure that drilling sites are safe – that the safety of workers, the public and the environment are not compromised,” Hanger said during the hearing, according to a transcript of his testimony.
In light of the historic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the need for government at all levels to carefully regulate and inspect drilling has become all the more obvious. Billions of dollars are at stake for drilling companies. But their desire to exploit resources and earn profits should not trample the rights of average people to clean water. Drinking water wells, streams, and rivers are at risk in the rush to multiply wells in the Chesapeake Bay region.
During the June blowout in Pennsylvania, operators of a well owned by EOG Resources of Houston (formerly Enron Oil and Gas) on a hunting club lost control of the well. Gas and hydraulic fracturing fluids, which combine water with a mixture of chemicals, were released uncontrollably into the ground and 75 feet into the air for 16 hours. Afterwards, the state ordered EOG to cease all hydraulic fracturing activities in the state for 14 days.
At nearly the same time of the Pennsylvania blowout, a natural gas well operated by Chief Oil and Gas across the state line in West Virginia’s portion of the Marcellus shale formation caught fire, injuring seven workers.
More recently, On June 23, Pennsylvania state police put 250 drilling waste water trucks used in gas drilling temporarily out of commission because inspections found numerous violations, according to the state environmental agency.
And on July 1, Pennsylvania officials announced that they had quarantined cattle on a Tioga County farm, in the northern part of the state, after wastewater from natural gas drilling seeped into a field with the animals. The cows could have consumed water contaminated with dangerous chemicals, including the heavy metal strontium, which can be toxic to humans, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
“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,” said state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding in a written statement.
When even the cows have something to worry about, you know drilling pollution is becoming a widespread problem.
----------------------------
Article and photo by Tom Pelton
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Article written by very good, very serious, very much agree with you some thoughts
Posted by: christian louboutin | 11/04/2010 at 02:10 AM