Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Families Affected By Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ In Greene County Have A Little Happier Holiday Thanks To Water Donated By Center For Coalfield Justice
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On December 14, the Center for Coalfield Justice provided another round of free bottled drinking water to families impacted by an alleged ‘frack-out’ of an EQT shale gas well near New Freeport in Greene County.  They have been without clean drinking water since June.

The group distributed 60 five-gallon containers of water to families in need for the holidays.

On November 19 the group provided over 3,000 cases of water for affected families at the New Freeport Fire Company.  [Read more here.]

A “frack-out” occurs when fracking fluid is pumped down a shale gas well under pressure to fracture shale rock to promote natural gas flow, but instead finds an abandoned conventional oil and gas well and follows that well up to groundwater aquifers and sometimes blows out on the ground surface like a geyser.

On June 19, EQT reported a “possible communication” between its 13H lateral well and an abandoned conventional oil or gas well while fracking two new wells at its Lumber pad along Martin Hill Road near New Freeport in Greene County.  [Read more here.]

In a statement to Public Source in July, EQT said, “water was brought to the surface near an abandoned well” and that it had stopped drilling operations at its well a mile away “out of an abundance of caution.”

Under state Act 13 of 2012 Section 3218(c), an unconventional shale gas well operator is presumed to be responsible for pollution of a water supply if the water supply is within 2,500 feet of the vertical wellbore and must provide temporary water supplies to those affected.

In this instance, the Center for Coalfield Justice said, almost no one affected lives within 2,500 feet of the well.

“Ongoing testing shows that the water for dozens of households is unsafe to drink,” the Center for Coalfield Justice said in a statement. “There is currently an ongoing investigation by the Department of Environmental Protection, but most residents are outside the ‘zone of presumption’ and are not being supplied with replacement water.”

“Since June, many residents have purchased every drop of water they drink or cook with,” Coalfield Justice wrote in its statement. “Some of them are still showering with unsafe water. The nearest big-box store is 40 minutes away, and city water is unavailable in their area. This frack-out has completely and unfairly inconvenienced them and negatively affected their quality of life.”

DEP is continuing its investigation of the June incident.

Visit the Center for Coalfield Justice website for more information.

Related Articles - Oil & Gas Industry Impacts:

-- Center For Coalfield Justice Holds First Water Distribution Day Nov. 19 To Help Provide Families Drinking Water In Greene County Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site In June [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land  [PaEN]

-- Citizen Complaints Result In DEP Issuing PA General Energy More Violations At Loyalsock Creek Gas Pipeline/Water Withdrawal Construction Site In Lycoming County  [PaEN]

-- Presentations Now Available From Shale Gas & Public Health Conference In Nov. Hosted By PA League Of Women Voters & University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health  [PaEN

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes  [8.3.22]

-- Better Path Coalition: 65 Organizations, Businesses, 2,700+ Individuals Petition Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Ban Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater  [PaEN]

DEP Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 17 to 23 [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 48 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In The Dec. 24 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Navy Veterans Patrick & Helen Robinson Relate Their 7-Year Struggle Dealing With Impacts Of Mariner East Pipeline Construction In Indiana County, And They Continue  [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Cambria County Family Sues Sunoco After 3 Years Of Dealing With Damage To Home, Well, Septic System, Property From Mariner East Pipeline Construction  [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Families Affected By Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ In Greene County Have A Little Happier Holiday Thanks To Water Donated By Center For Coalfield Justice  [PaEN]

-- Republican Herald Editorial: Gas Industry Appeased Too Long [PaEN] 

-- Concerned Health Professionals Of PA Ask Health Professionals To Sign Letter Urging Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Protect Public Health, Environment From Impacts Of Oil & Gas Industry  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves Oil & Gas Development, Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Water Withdrawal Requests  [PaEN]

-- League Of Women Voters, Partners Host Jan. 12 Webinar On LNG Natural Gas Export Terminal Safety  [PaEN]

-- UGI Asks Natural Gas Customers To Conserve Energy Use Due To Regional Natural Gas Supply Constraints  [PaEN] 

-- PJM Interconnection ‘Possibility Of Rotating Customer Electricity Outages Is Real’ -  A Mix Of Power Plants In The System Are ‘Not Performing’ - Filing DOE Emergency Power Request  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- Inside Climate News - John Hurdle: Dimock Residents Fear New Methane Contamination As PA Lifts Shale Gas Drilling Ban In Susquehanna County

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Is The Public Being ‘Dimocked’ Again On Shale Gas?

-- Carnegie Mellon, Other Partners In Project Breathe Wish Southwest PA Residents Happy Holidays By Showing Memorable Moments In 2022  [Video]

-- PA Capital-Star Guest Essay: It’s Time Pennsylvania Residents, Regulators Demand Health Risks From Shale Gas Fracking Be Addressed - By Clean Air Council

-- TribLive Guest Essay: I’ve Seen Firsthand How Harmful Methane Pollution From Oil & Gas Industry Can Affect Our Health - Physicians For Social Responsibility Pennsylvania

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Better Path Coalition Wants More Information On DEP’s Settlement On Illegal Dumping 1,831 Truck Loads Of  Oil & Gas Waste In Fayette County

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Newsweek Ranks These Pittsburgh-Based Companies Among ‘Most Responsible In US  [Including Equitrans whose natural gas storage facility in Cambria County had a 1 billion cubic feet release of natural gas]

-- The Allegheny Front: ‘We Do Have Questions To Answer’ About Single-Use Plastic Waste, Shell Internal Emails Reveal

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Southwest PA Landowners Settle Class Action Lawsuit With Chief Oil & Gas For $5.5 Million

-- Moneygeek.com: Pennsylvania #28 On List Of States With Most Expensive Natural Gas Heating Bills

-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: PA Natural Gas Prices Rise [94.7%] As Production Falls, Report Says

[Posted: December 20, 2022]


12/26/2022

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