Posted on 08/17/2010 11:51:19 AM PDT by Willie Green
A company drilling in the Marcellus Shale region in southwest Pennsylvania has been fined $97,350 for allowing "fracking" wastewater to overflow a pit and contaminate a watershed in Hopewell Township, Washington County.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said that Atlas Resources L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Energy Inc., based in Moon Township, Allegheny County, corrected the problem once it was discovered.
The wastewater was a by-product of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," during which millions of gallons of high-pressure water, sand, and chemicals are injected into a well to shatter the shale to release trapped natural gas.
In this case, the state said in a release, an unknown amount of water overflowed and ran into a tributary of Dunkle Run. The problem was discovered Dec. 5 and 6.
The company said that a water pump owned and operated by a contractor had activated improperly, and that the discharge consisted of about 90 percent fresh water and 10 recycled flowback water.
The spill violated Pennsylvania's Oil and Gas Act and Solid Waste Management Act, as well as the state's Clean Streams Law.
"Atlas Energy and the Department of Environmental Protection have conducted numerous tests of the surrounding area, and the test results confirm there have been no negative environmental impacts as a result of the incident," the company said in a statement. "There are no further actions required of Atlas to remediate this incident, and we are currently reclaiming the site. Atlas is also holding the pump contractor accountable for this incident."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields this morning unveiled a bill to ban natural gas extraction in the city, saying he won't let the city return to its steel-era days as a center of pollution.
Mr. Shields said he knows the bill, if passed, would draw a legal challenge from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group. But he said at a news conference he wants to assert the city's sovereign authority to protect itself from a potentially harmful industry and preserve the environmental advances made since the smoky-city era.
"You want that back?" he said of the pollution.
Ben Price, who helped draft the bill as projects director for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Franklin County, said the city's right to protect residents from the hazards of drilling should trump any state claim of authority over drilling matters.
"Rights precede the state," he said. "Rights precede government. Rights precede state statues and are superior to them.
Excerpted. Continued at post-gazezette.com
Fine, as long as WHEN Pittsburgh goes bankrupt, everybody remembers who prevented Pittsburgh from having at least SOME tax-revenue-generating operation in the city.
I can't blame him for not wanting anyone to foul his back yard, after all, no one wants that.
But natural gas comes from somewhere. Severe sanctions against operators who have accidents, whether due to neglect or negligence, will help deter pollution.
I can't help but think that ehat once smoky-city used to be the heart of steel manufacturing...
pity the answer always seems to be to destroy any effort of industry, instead of punish the irresponsible parties and let those with a spotless track record continue.
ehat=that. sheesh.
But we must stop fracking and drilling and mining and driving cars and raising beef and anything that imperils our Gaian mother! Exceptions, of course, for our imperial overlords.
I can't help but think that ehat once smoky-city used to be the heart of steel manufacturing...
Yes, Pittsburgh's famous "Three Rivers" were extremely polluted back in the old steel making days.
They've made a lot of progress in cleaning them up over the last 30~40 years.
But many of us older Pittsburghers remember that the City got much of it's drinking water from the fabled, underground "Fourth River" (aka "Wisconsin Glacial Flow")
IMHO, Pittsburghers and many other surrounding communities should be very concerned that Marcellus shale "fracking" doesn't contaminate this underground aquifer and the source of their drinking water.
read
Peddling the liberal agenda against fracking, eh, Willie? It's bad enough you're a choo-choo pimp, and now this.
But if they were digging tunnels for trains you’d be for it.
yawn
And another pimp for the liberal anti-fracking agenda chimes in. Hard to believe there are folks here on FR who swallow this stuff up hook, line and sinker.
But if they were digging tunnels for trains you’d be for it.There are many situations where tunneling would be the preferred alternative, so sure..
Willie, as is often the case, you are totally wrong.
Not a drop of the city water comes from that so-called 4th river and it never has. The vast majority comes from the Allegheny river about 10 miles upstream from the Point. The treatment plant (around 70 million gallons per day) is in a little island of city owned land on the North side of the Allegheny between Aspinwal and O'Hara township. The rest of the water (mostly for the South Side and suburban areas south of the city) comes from the Mon and supplied by a private company whose 40 million gallon/day treatment plant in located in Hays.
The City does not use well water.
I don’t have a problem with drilling. I’ve worked as a floor hand on a rig. Unfortunately Dunkard Creek which flows in both WV and PA was polluted by frac fluid to the point it changed the pH of the water which allowed a non-native algae to grow and poison every thing else in the creek.
Fracing uses huge amounts of water that must be disposed of properly. Even for a shallow well of say 6,000’, we had a lined pit to collect the material blown out of the bore hole. What’s happened is a few bad guys in the business have created a perceived need for tighter regulations that will make it more expensive for anyone to drill.
And that's the basic issue here - not that the fracking itself contaminates groundwater, but that you have to dispose of the leftover wastewater properly. But the opponents of fracking try to scare people into believing that somehow, fracking an impermiable formation thousands of feet below groundwater formations can contaminate them. That is simply not the case. The folks pushing this agenda are against developing our domestic natural gas resources, and they attract the occasional useful idiot to help them out.
Thanks
Excellent point! The only thing water from that “Fourth River” is used for is the fountain in Point State Park.
I suppose you’d have some legitimate concerns over fracking if you rely on a well for your water. The City of Pittsburgh would have fewer people in this situation than anyplace else in the state I can think of. Maybe a handful tucked into nooks and crannys in a couple of places.
Is Marcellus Wallace a b***h?
So when are yinz gonna learn what you're talking about before opening your Yap?
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