EPA Develops Plan to Study Hydraulic Fracturing Process

The U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) has announced the submission of its draft study plan on hydraulic Fracturing for review by a panel of independent scientists.

After announcing its intention to study the hydraulic fracturing process in March 2010 and conducting a series of public meetings across the country last July, August and September, the EPA has developed a draft plan for the study and given it to the agency’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) for review.

Hydraulic fracturing, also called HF, fracking or fracing, is a process used to increase the output of natural gas and oil wells. During hydraulic fracturing, well drilling operations pump 2 to 5 million gallons of a toxic cocktail containing water, chemicals, including known carcinogens and neurotoxins, and sand into rock formations at extremely high pressure. While between 50% and 75% of fracking fluid remains in the ground, the rest returns to the surface. Called produced water, it contains not only fracking chemicals, but also heavy metals and other toxins from exposure to the rock formation.

Fracking fluids, produced water and methane gas from drilling operations have contaminated soil, ground water and surface water through surface spills, faulty well casings and rock faults.

“EPA scientists, under this administration and at the direction of Congress, are undertaking a study of this practice to better understand any potential impacts it may have, including on groundwater,” the EPA news release said.

As proposed, the EPA will study the entire hydraulic fracturing process, including the acquisition of the millions of gallons of water, the mixing of the fracking fluid chemicals, the injection of fracking fluids into the well and the management and disposal of produced water.

The SAB review will occur March 7-8, 2011. The public may comment to the SAB during the review. In response to SAB recommendations, the EPA will revise the study plan and begin the study. The EPA expects to make Initial study findings available to the public by the end of 2012, with a report in 2014.

The hydraulic fracturing process, used in 37 states, has fueled a natural gas and oil drilling boom in the last decade, especially in states with natural gas producing shale formations such as Colorado, Pennsylvania and New York.

This is not the first EPA study of hydraulic fracturing. One of the EPA’s own scientists called a 2004 EPA study on hydraulic fracturing that concluded the process posed little or no threat to drinking water supplies “unsupportable.”

Other EPA and independent scientists questioned the study’s methodology and the reviewing panel’s impartiality, the Union of Concerned Scientists reports.

Recent Gas Explosions Raise Questions of U.S. Pipeline Safety

A series of natural gas explosions has raised questions about the safety of the nation’s aging pipeline system.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has scheduled a hearing March 1-3 concerning results of an investigation into a San Bruno, CA pipeline explosion caused by a faulty pipe and will discuss concerns about the pipeline infrastructure in the United States.

According the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), there are more than two million miles of pipelines in the U.S., delivering trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton/miles of liquid petroleum products each year.

Nearly a quarter of the nation’s gas pipelines are now more than 50 years old. In response to the aging pipeline infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy program is working on ways to improve their safety and performance, but most of the technology is a long way away.

A number of natural gas pipeline explosions have happened recently across the United States:

• On February 8, the rupture and explosion of a 36-inch natural gas pipeline near Hanoverton, OH could be seen from 30 miles away. It damaged one home. County officials said they were lucky, that the explosion would have been more serious if it had occurred in one of their cities. El Paso Corp. shut down the county’s pipeline, part of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, pending investigation and repair of the pipe failure.
• The day before in neighboring PA, a natural gas explosion of a home in an Allentown residential neighborhood killed five people, leveled two homes and damaged the structure of six more houses so severely they required demolition, reports The New York Times. Investigators are investigating the condition of the 12-inch low-pressure gas main, which dates back to 1928.
  “Since the incident, we have thoroughly surveyed every foot of pipeline in the area, and we will be testing the soil around the pipeline for additional clues to the cause of the accident,” said UGI Utilities, a subsidiary of UGI Corp. of Valley Forge, PA, in a statement regarding the Allentown explosion. “We continue to work closely with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to investigate and determine exactly what happened and why.”
• In a residential subdivision northeast of Philadelphia, PA on January 19, 2011, as employees of Philadelphia Gas Works responded to reports of a gas smell and discovered a 12-inch gas main break, an explosion occurred. That event killed one person, injured five more and damaged nearby buildings and vehicles.
• The most devastating natural gas pipeline explosion recently occurred in September 2010 in San Bruno, CA. A 50-inch Pacific Gas & Electric pipeline in a residential neighborhood exploded and caused the death of eight people and injured fifty more. The resulting fires swept through the neighborhood, destroying 37 homes and damaging eight. The investigation found that the pipeline, installed in 1956, had numerous weld defects.

From 2005 to 2009, there was an average of 282 significant incidences involving pipelines in the U.S., including an average of 51 injuries and 14 fatalities. The PHMSA classifies “significant” as one resulting in fatality or injury requiring hospitalization, incident costing more than $50,000, a release of 5 barrels or more of volatile liquid or 50 barrels of other liquid, or liquid release resulting in unintentional fire or explosion.

Until robots can zip through, inspect and photograph the millions of miles of pipeline as the U.S. Department of Energy envisions, the USDOT and the Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA) developed recommendations to enhance pipeline safety in communities.

Thousands of Gallons of Fracking Fluids Spill at Natural Gas Well on PA State Forest Land

A mechanical failure during hydraulic fracturing operations on a natural gas well in Pennsylvania’s Tioga County caused a blow out of the well and a spill of about 21,000 gallons of fracking fluid.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process used to increase the output of oil and gas wells by forcing thousands of gallons of a toxic cocktail, including water, chemicals and sand, into rock formations under extreme pressure, opening fissures in rock and releasing trapped gas and oil.

Fracking fluid that returns to the surface after the hydraulic fracturing process, called produced water, also contains heavy metals, sulfates, chlorides and other toxins from exposure to rock deep in the earth.

The incident occurred at the Talisman Energy USA well pad DCNR #8 - Well #5, in the Tioga State Forest in Ward Township. Just after 12:00 noon on January 17, a valve on the well failed during the fracking process. The drilling crew lost control of the well as pressurized fracking fluid and sand spewed into the air and spilled onto the drilling pad. Crews eventually shut the well down at 3:35 pm.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) launched an investigation of the incident.

“This was a serious incident that could have caused significant environmental harm had it not been brought under control,” said DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber.

Talisman halted all hydraulic fracturing operations in North America for eight days while the company and DEP investigated the incident.

“Our preliminary findings indicate the cause of the incident was due to a mechanical issue on the well site,” Talisman Energy USA said in a release. “As a result, we have modified our component design to prevent this from reoccurring.”
While the spill appears to be contained on the well pad, soil sampling continues.

“The safety of our employees, community residents and stakeholders is our first priority,” said Talisman Energy. “This is a regrettable incident and we will apply the learnings from it to the continuous improvement of our well site operations.”

In early January, the DEP fined Talisman for spilling diesel fuel at another natural gas well that contaminated soil and water.

Poor Welds Found in Gas Pipe Explosion that Killed 8 People, Injured 50, Destroyed 37 Homes

A government investigation into a gas pipe explosion last September that caused the death of eight people and destroyed 37 homes in a California neighborhood has found weld defects in pipeline recovered from the site.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a report on the September 9, 2010 incident in which a 30-inch pipeline ruptured and later exploded in San Bruno, CA. The rupture left a crater 26 feet wide by 72 feet long. In total, the incident killed eight people, injured more than 50 people, destroyed 37 homes and damaged eight more.

Pacific Gas & Electric operates the pipeline. Shortly before the incident, the company was working on their uninterruptable power supply at a terminal some 39 miles away, which caused a fluctuation in the pressure in the pipeline.

USA Today reports that in dozens of instances, welds on the pipe were inadequate and poorly done. The thickness of the steel of the pipe was also too thin to meet standards in 1956, when first installed.

The NTSB also found discrepancy in PG&E records about the affected pipe, having noted it as a seamless pipe, when in fact it was of longitudinal seam-welded pipe. This type of record keeping error could cause the operator to operate the pipeline at a higher pressure than the pipe was built to withstand.

The NTSB issued three safety recommendations to PG&E, two of which the agency classified as urgent, asking the utility operator to do the following:

1. Conduct an intensive records search to identify all the gas transmission lines that had not previously undergone a testing regimen designed to validate a safe operating pressure (urgent recommendation);
2. Determine the maximum operating pressure based on the weakest section of pipeline or component identified in the records search referenced above (urgent recommendation); and
3. If unable to validate a safe operating pressure through the methods described above, determine a safe operating pressure by a specified testing regimen.

The NTSB is also concerned that other pipeline operators may have discrepancies in their records that could potentially compromise the safe operation of pipelines throughout the United States.

“While it may seem like a small paperwork error, if companies are basing operating pressures on inadequate or erroneous information contained in their records, safety may be compromised,” said NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “We believe this safety-critical issue needs to be examined carefully to ensure that operators are accurately gauging their risk and that pipelines are being operated at pressures no higher than that for which they were built to withstand.”

The NTSB also made urgent recommendations to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), which regulates PG&E’s pipeline operations as well as all intrastate pipeline operations within California, asking CPUC to:

1. ensure that PG&E "aggressively and diligently" search documents and records to determine which pipeline segments had not previously gone through a testing regimen to determine a safe operating pressure
2. provide oversight of any testing conducted by PG&E if the document and records search cannot be satisfactorily completed.
3. immediately inform California intrastate natural gas transmission operators of the circumstances of the San Bruno accident so these operators can likewise proactively implement any corrective measures for their pipeline systems.

“This accident has exposed issues that merit further attention and have implications for the pipeline infrastructure throughout the country,” said Chairman Hersman.

The NTSB is holding a public hearing on the investigation on March 1-2, 2011 at the NTSB’s Board Room and Conference Center, 429 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, D.C. The hearing is open to the public and free with no reservation required. The NTSB will publish and agenda listing technical witnesses in the middle of February. The hearing can also be viewed via webcast at www.ntsb.gov.

“Today’s NTSB findings indicate there were faulty welds on the ruptured pipeline installed in 1956,” said Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo). “ I am profoundly disturbed by what I read today. Over the past several months experts have told me that welding flaws are detectable. We know that PG&E believed this pipe was seamless and that in 54 years it never once inspected the condition of the welds. The loss of life might have been prevented if PG&E had properly identified the risks it had underground in the Glenview neighborhood. The utility will have to answer for eight deaths, the suffering of burn victims and 38 destroyed homes.”

In response to the release of the NTSB report, PG&E released a statement from PG&E President Chris Johns.

“Public safety is PG&E’s highest responsibility and highest priority,” said Johns. “With that as our focus, all pipelines in PG&E’s system that are of a size and vintage similar to the line in San Bruno are continuing to operate at pressures that have been reduced by 20 percent—a measure that builds a significant additional margin of safety into our current operating conditions.”

Propane Recall, Lack of Odor May Lead to Fire, Explosion or Burns

A processor of propane gas, also known as liquefied petroleum (LP) gas, has issued a recall of its propane sold in portable tanks and propane delivered to storage tanks because the company failed to add a sufficient amount of an odorant intended to alert consumers of a gas leak.

Failure to detect leaking gas can present fire, explosion and thermal burn hazards to consumers.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced today that Aux Sable Liquid Products, of Morris, IL, is voluntarily recalling propane sold at retailers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia from February 25, 2010 through September 30, 2010.

The amount of propane affected by the recall would fill 700 railroad cars.

Consumers or businesses in those states who purchased propane in a portable tank, like those used for a grill, or had propane delivered to their storage tank, such as the kind used for home heating, who have not had their tank refilled since September 30, 2010, should immediately call Aux Sable toll-free at (866) 473-7612 to arrange a free inspection. If the inspection finds insufficient odorant in the propane, the company will provide additional odorized propane or a replacement portable propane tank free of charge.

The CPSC says consumers should not attempt to test the propane gas themselves. In addition, if you smell even a faint odor of gas and suspect a gas leak:

• Leave the house immediately.
• Do not use your phone; Call your gas supplier or dial 911 for assistance from a neighbor’s house.
• Do not light a match.
• Do not turn on a light.
• Do not switch on anything electrical.

Consumers may still have supplies of this hazardous propane in their possession, especially consumers who stored their portable propane tanks for grilling away at the end of summer or residents who have large propane storage tanks at their home. In many areas, it is common for residences to have a 500-gallon propane tank on the property.

Philly Gas Explosion Kills 1 and Injures 5

The explosion of a gas main in a Philadelphia suburb has left one person dead and five others injured.

After reports of a gas smell in the Tacony neighborhood in Northeast Philly just before 7:30pm Tuesday, employees from the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) and the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to the scene and discovered a water main and 12” gas main break. Firefighters requested police assistance and had residents in a 2-block radius evacuated for safety reasons.

At 8:30pm, as the employees of PGW worked to shut off the gas, the gas main exploded and sent up a fireball fifty feet into the air, damaging vehicles and two nearby buildings.

“Yesterday, our worst fears were realized, when we lost a member of the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) family,” the company said in a press release today. “On behalf of PGW’s officers and the entire PGW family, we extend our sincerest condolences and our continuing support to those involved in this tragic incident. “

According to PGW, three more employees sustained injuries requiring treatment at Temple University Hospital’s Burn Center and one other was treated and released. The hospital is also treating one firefighter for burns caused by the explosion.

NBC Philadelphia identifies the worker killed a 19-year-old Mark Keeley and reports that the three gas workers are in critical condition. The firefighter is in stable condition.
“It just blew up the whole street," resident Jim Campoli told Philly.com.

The gas company eventually shut off the gas and firefighters had contained the situation by about 11:00pm.

According the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), there are more than two million miles of pipelines in the U.S., delivering trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and hundreds of billions of ton/miles of liquid petroleum products each year. From 2005 to 2009, there was an average of 282 significant incidences involving pipelines in the U.S., including an average of 51 injuries and 14 fatalities. The PHMSA classifies “significant” as one resulting in fatality or injury requiring hospitalization, incident costing more than $50,000, a release of 5 barrels or more of volatile liquid or 50 barrels of other liquid, or liquid release resulting in unintentional fire or explosion.

Cruise Ship Increases Disinfection Efforts after Outbreak of Intestinal Illness

A cruise ship returned to port on Saturday with more than 150 sick passengers, prompting enhanced sanitation efforts aboard ship.
Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas returned to its home port of Tampa, FL on today after a five-night voyage to ports in Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico with 150 of its 2336 passengers suffering from an intestinal illness causing diarrhea and vomiting. Three crewmembers also became ill.
Vamped up cleaning procedures to sanitize the ship delayed the next cruise scheduled to depart tonight.
According to an update on the investigation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Royal Caribbean and its crew have done the following in response to the outbreak:

• Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan,
• Made announcements to both notify onboard passengers of the outbreak and encourage case reporting
• Are preparing the ships disembarkation infection barrier plan for arrival in Tampa, FL
• Submitted to VSP their response and ship disinfection plans
• Collecting 10 stool specimens for submission to the CDC lab
• Making twice daily reports of gastrointestinal illness cases to the VSP

Royal Caribbean and its Radiance of the Seas participate in the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP), a program with the CDC to prevent and control the introduction, transmission and spread of gastrointestinal (GI) illnesses on cruise ships. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program public health inspectors and one epidemiologist will boarded the ship on arrival in Tampa to evaluate the outbreak and response activities.

Actions of the CDCs VSP:

• inspecting cruise ships, including both periodic, unannounced operational sanitation inspections and scheduled construction inspections;
• monitoring gastrointestinal illnesses and investigating or responding to outbreaks;
• training cruise ship employees on public health practices;
• providing health education and reliable and current public health information to the cruise ship industry, the traveling public, public health professionals, state and local health authorities, and the media.

The CDC last inspected the Radiance of the Seas on June 13, 2010 and the ship had its best inspection score ever, a 100.

“At Royal Caribbean International, we have high health standards for all our guests and crew,” Royal Caribbean said in an update. “Therefore, in an abundance of caution, tomorrow we will conduct some enhanced sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next sailing.”

Royal Caribbean reminded that, “Norovirus is an extremely common gastrointestinal illness, and only the common cold is more prevalent. According to health specialists, about 300 million people in the world are affected by norovirus every year.”

The company asks anyone who has experienced any gastrointestinal illness within three days of a planned cruise departure to reschedule their cruise.

Norovirus is a highly contagious viral infection sometimes called viral gastroenteritis, stomach flu and food poisoning. It can spread quickly in communal living environments such as cruise ships, daycare centers and nursing facilities. People infected with the norovirus are contagious from the moment they feel ill until as long two weeks after recovery.

Noroviruses are found in the stool and vomit of infected people and can be spread by:

• Eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus.
• Touching surfaces or objects that are contaminated with norovirus, and then placing their hand in their mouth.

Having direct contact with an infected person; for example, by exposure to the virus when caring for or when sharing food, drinks, or eating utensils with an infected person.

There is a Cancer Causing Toxin in the Tap Water of Millions of Americans

Across the United States, millions of Americans are drinking tap water contaminated with chromium-6, a pollutant known to cause cancer.

A report scheduled for release on Monday by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows that tap water in 31 out of 35 cities tested by the EWG contained the contaminant chromium-6, also called hexavalent chromium and chromium VI.

Chromium is a naturally occurring metal element. The most common forms are chromium-3, which in small quantities is an essential nutrient, and chromium-6. All forms of chromium are toxic. However, chromium-6 is more dangerous, even at lower levels, than chromium-3. The public may remember chromium-6 as the cancer-causing pollution made famous in the movie Erin Brockovich, which was a true story.

Many manufacturing applications, including the making of stainless steel and chrome plating, use chromium. Chromium can enter the environment and water supply by pollution from manufacturing facilities.
Of the 31 cities found to have levels of chromium-6 in the water supply, the top five cities with the highest levers were:

1. Norman, OK with 12.9 ppb serving a population of 89,952
2. Honolulu, HI with 2.00 ppb serving a population of 661,004
3. Riverside, CA with 1.69 ppb serving a population of 280,832
4. Madison, WI with 1.58 ppb serving a population of 200,814
5. San Jose, CA with 1.34 ppb serving a population of 979,000

“At least 74 million Americans in 42 states drink chromium-polluted tap water,” said the EWG website. Just the water utilities in 31 cities where EWG found chromium-6 contamination serve more than 26 million people.

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR), chromium-6 is a known human carcinogen. Despite this knowledge, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not set federal limits for chromium levels in tap water. California is the first and only state to set attempting to limitchromium-6 in drinking water, a goal of no more than 50 micrograms per liter, or 0.06 parts per billion (ppb).

“Every single day, pregnant mothers in Norman, Oklahoma, school children in Madison, Wisconsin and many other Americans are drinking water laced with this cancer-causing chemical,” said EWG senior scientist Rebecca Sutton, Ph.D. “If the EPA required local water utilities to test for hexavalent chromium, the public would at least know if it was present in their local water. Without mandatory tests and a safe legal limit that all utilities must meet, many of us will continue to swallow some quantity of this carcinogen every day.”

Breathing chromium causes respiratory problems such as irritation to the lining of the nose, nose ulcers, asthma, cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, lung cancer and gastrointestinal cancers. People who ingest chromium can experience irritation and ulcers in the stomach or small intestine, anemia, stomach tumors and damage to the male reproductive system including sperm damage.

A 2007 study by researchers at Brown University found that even tiny amounts of chromium-6 can cause cancer because it interacts with vitamin C and causes “massive DNA damage” to cells.

PA DEP Takes Aggressive Action and Fines $240,000 after Cabot Fails to Fix Gas Migration into Ground Water and Wells

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., of Houston, TX, faces severe penalties from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) after the company failed to correct problems regarding Susquehanna County water supplies polluted by migrating gas from Cabot’s natural gas drilling operations.

“Gas migration is a serious issue that can have dire consequences to affected communities and we will not allow Pennsylvania’s citizens to be put in harm’s way by companies that chose not to follow the law,” said DEP Secretary John Hanger in a news release yesterday.

In 2009, the Pennsylvania DEP investigated complaints of natural gas in water supplies by Dimock Township residents and an explosion of a water well in a resident’s yard. DEP inspectors discovered well casings on some of Cabot’s natural gas wells cemented improperly or insufficiently, allowing methane gas to migrate to groundwater.

A November 2009 consent order and agreement between Cabot and the DEP required the gas company to fix defective cement and well casings on certain wells or plug defective wells by a March 31, 2010 deadline. The agreement also required Cabot to restore or replace those affected water supplies permanently. Cabot paid a 120,000 civil penalty for violations of the Oil and Gas Act, the Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Streams Law.

Because Cabot has failed to comply with the 2009 consent order and agreement, the DEP has taken action to enforce environmental laws and protect the public in Susquehanna County.

Under today’s consent order and agreement, Cabot must plug three wells within 40 days believed to be the source of migrating gas that has contaminated groundwater and the drinking water supplies of 14 homes in the region. It must also install permanent treatment systems in those homes within 30 days.

Until Cabot fulfills its obligations, the DEP has suspended review of any pending permit applications for new drilling activities statewide. The DEP also barred the company from drilling any new wells for at least one year in the Dimock Township area.

Cabot paid a $240,000 fine to the commonwealth and must pay $30,000 per month beginning in May until DEP has determined that the company has met its obligations under the 2009 order.

“Cabot had every opportunity to correct these violations, but failed to do so. Instead, it chose to ignore its responsibility to safeguard the citizens of this community and to protect the natural resources there,” said John Hanger. “I have ordered that all of Cabot’s permit applications for further drilling in any region of the state be put on-hold, indefinitely, until the region’s homeowners receive their new water treatment systems, the fines are paid, and the wells are plugged.

“Companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale have the legal responsibility to design and construct their wells to keep all gas contained within the wells and to prevent gas from moving into fresh groundwater. These standards are not mere suggestions or recommendations,” Hanger said. “Oil and gas companies doing business in Pennsylvania will follow the environmental rules and regulations put in place to protect citizens and our natural resources or face aggressive action by this department.”

Environmental hazards can cause serious illnesses or even death among children and adults living in areas where there is pollution, toxic spillage, chemical seepage, improper waste disposal and other environmental issues. Because the companies that cause these hazards often have excellent attorneys and a lot of money available for fighting claims, it is important that you hire an attorney immediately if you feel that an environmental hazard caused your illness or the illness of a family member. Call Napoli Bern Ripka LLP today at 888-529-4669 to discuss your legal options.

Sources:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/news_releases/14288

Cabot Pays $120,000 for Environmental Violations in PA as New Yorkers Debate Gas Drilling Regulations

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. have executed a consent order and agreement regarding Susquehanna County water supplies polluted by migrating gas from Cabot’s natural gas drilling operations.

The Pennsylvania DEP began an investigation early this year when numerous residents of the Dimock Township area reported evidence of natural gas in their water supplies. An explosion that blew apart a concrete slab above a water well in a township resident’s yard was also reported. DEP inspectors discovered that the well casings on some of Cabot’s natural gas wells were cemented improperly or insufficiently, allowing methane gas to migrate to groundwater.

Under the agreement, Cabot must develop a plan that specifically identifies how the company intends to prove the integrity of the casing and cementing on existing wells and fix defective casing and cementing by March 31. If Cabot fails to fix the defective casing and cementing by the March deadline, the company must plug defective wells or implement another alternative as approved by DEP.

Cabot paid a 120,000 civil penalty for violations of the Oil and Gas Act, the Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Streams Law.

This past week, Cabot provided an interim solution for all of the homes with affected water supplies and must develop a plan by March 31 to restore or replace those affected water supplies permanently. Cabot must submit information on all parties who have contacted the company about water quantity or quality issues to the DEP.

Several other violations that have been corrected by Cabot were addressed in the consent order. In September 2008, drilling mud leached into a spring near the Black 2H well; in January, 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled at the Gesford 3 well; in February, 25 to 50 barrels of drilling mud spilled into a ditch and field at the B Severcool 1 well and in March drilling mud leaked into Burdick Creek during a spill at the Gesford 1 well.

In September, the PA DEP also fined Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. $56,650 for three spills of a hazardous water/liquid gel mixture at its Heitsman natural gas well in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County.

These environmental violations happen at a time when New York has proposed new regulations for natural gas drilling. It is a hotly contested issue across New York State at public hearings of the NY Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) environmental review of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. At a public hearing in New York City on November 10, many residents and public officials called for a ban on natural gas drilling in New York City’s upstate watershed, which supplies drinking water for 9 million people.
A layer of rock 365 million years old called the Marcellus Shale rock formation extends deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York and is believed to hold a giant natural gas reserve. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking is a drilling process, used by companies such as Cabot, to extract natural gas from the earth in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped deep underground to break apart the rock formation and release the gas.

The NY Department of Environmental Conservation has recently extended the public comment period on the report and will hold more public hearings until the review period ends Dec. 31. Comments can also be submitted by mail or online at http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html.

Environmental hazards can cause serious illnesses or even death among children and adults living in areas where there is pollution, toxic spillage, chemical seepage, improper waste disposal and other environmental issues. Because the companies that cause these hazards often have excellent attorneys and a lot of money available for fighting claims, it is important that you hire an attorney immediately if you feel that an environmental hazard caused your illness or the illness of a family member. Call Napoli Bern Ripka LLP today at 888-529-4669 to discuss your legal options.

Sources:

http://www.ahs2.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=5722&varQueryType=Detail
http://www.independentweekender.com/news/1.410308
http://www.propublica.org/feature/new-yorkers-tell-dec-no-fracking-way-1111
http://www.wbng.com/news/local/69817402.html
http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/46288.html
http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/news/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=549335
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20091002_Environmentalists_fight_natural-gas_leasing_in_Pa__forests.html