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Marcellus Shale Drillers Amass 952 Violations Likely To Harm The Environment
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The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association has reviewed environmental violations accrued by Marcellus Shale drillers working in Pennsylvania between January 2008 and June 25, 2010. The records were obtained via a Right to Know Request made to the Department of Environmental Protection. DEP records show a total of 1,435 violations of state Oil and Gas Laws due to gas drilling or other earth disturbance activities related to natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale in this 2.5-year period.
The Association identified 952 violations as having or likely to have an impact on the environment. 483 were identified as likely being an administrative or safety violation and not likely to have the potential to negatively impact the environment.
The report breaks the violations down by type. For example, of the 952 violations:
-- 268 involve improper construction of waste water impoundments;
-- 10 involve improper well casing;
-- 154 involve discharge of industrial waste; and
-- 16 involve improper blowout prevention.
The report lists the 25 companies with the most violations as well as the 25 companies with the highest average number of violations per well driller.
Among those companies with the most violations were Chief Oil and Gas, JW Operating, and Citrus.
Chief had the highest average number of violations per well in Pennsylvania with 2.4 per well and a total of 109 violations. JW Operating and Citrus drilled just one and two wells, respectively, but had more violations than Anadarko which drilled 91 wells and TW Phillips that drilled 125 wells.
In reaction to the report, DEP Secretary John Hanger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “There has been too many leaks, too many spills, too many instances of gas migrating to water supplies. The industry on the whole needs to do a better job.”
The high number of violations illustrates how diligently DEP is overseeing the industry, Secretary Hanger added.
Click here to download the report.
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8/9/2010 |
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