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Chesapeake Energy, one of Pennsylvania's biggest shale gas producers, said in a statement that it will pay the fines and has improved its cementing and casing practices since the investigation.
Chesapeake suspended completion of natural gas wells in Pennsylvania for three weeks after a well blowout on April 19 sent thousands of gallons of drilling fluid spewing into the surrounding area and into local waterways.
One sloppy operator, who will likely change their ways.
I firmly believe there should be regulations--at the State Level, and they should be enforced, also by the State--which is what is being done in PA.
We frack wells in North Dakota, too, and incidents are very few.
Locations can be designed to contain spills, and short of the occasional disaster (which no one wants--believe me), there will not be a problem.
Unless and until the EPA backs off the coal generated electricity industry, natural gas is going to be the fuel that electricity comes from. Some of us heat with gas, where heat is not optional for a significant part of the year. Either way, stopping fracking would stop a lot of natural gas development, which means prices will jump for both natural gas and electricity.
I guess we could go just back to burning coal to keep warm...
I'll take natural gas wells any day of the week.