Marcellus Drillers' Image Suffering
Washington PA Observer Reporter
14 November 2010
It appears to be taking quite a while for some operators of Marcellus
Shale fracking-water trucks to realize that their vehicles are supposed
to be in safe working order.
Pennsylvania State Police and the state Department of Environmental
Protection recently announced the results of a three-day, statewide
vehicle enforcement action targeting trucks hauling gas-drilling
wastewater from the hydraulic fracturing process, commonly known as
fracking, and the results were not encouraging.
The report said citations were issued for 1,066 of the more than 1,400
trucks that were inspected from Oct. 25 to 27. More than 200 of the
cited vehicles were immediately taken out of service, as were more than
50 drivers. This came after similar inspection efforts in June and
earlier in October that led to the issuance of hundreds of citations
and hundreds of vehicles being ordered off the roads.
We hear often from drivers concerned about the speeds at which these
fracking-water trucks are being driven, often on secondary roads, and
the fact that some of them may be less than safe does little to assuage
our fears that a major accident is waiting to happen, one that perhaps
could lead to a severe environmental contamination or, even worse, the
maiming or death of a motorist sharing the roads with these big, heavy
vehicles.
The DEP and state police signed a deal in September to provide more
money for the roadside vehicle safety inspections, but no matter how
many are conducted, they will have little effect if these truckers and
the companies they work for consider the fines and actions against
drivers to be simply the cost of doing business. We don't know that to
be a fact, but the rampant disregard for safety laws could lead one to
that conclusion.
The drilling companies have the ultimate responsibility here. They
might argue that the trucking outfits are private contractors, but if
the Marcellus drillers truly want to be seen as good corporate
citizens, a demand that those hauling their wastewater comply with the
law would go a lot further with the public than the purchase of a cow
at the county fair. Perhaps they could take some of the big money they
have lavished on our politicians and direct it, instead, toward a
vehicle safety compliance program.
The vehicle enforcement sweep wasn't the only news recently casting the
Marcellus industry in a bad light.
On Tuesday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a
subpoena to Halliburton after the energy company refused to reveal the
chemicals it uses in the fracking process.
The EPA is looking into the potential health threats from fracking,
which involves forcing huge quantities of water, chemicals and sand
underground to free gas from shale formations. Halliburton contends
that the EPA's demand for disclosure of the chemicals it is pumping
into the environment is "unreasonable."
Also Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority took
the bull by the horns and approved about $12 million to extend public
water service to residents of the small northeastern Pennsylvania town
of Dimock, who contend that for the past two years they have been
unable to use their well water, which is brown, tainted by methane and
causes skin rashes.
A Marcellus driller operating in the area, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. of
Texas, denies that its operations are to blame. The residents think
otherwise. The DEP plans to sue Cabot to recoup the money spent on the
water extension. Cabot's attorneys made it clear at the meeting of the
infrastucture authority that it will sue to stop the project, which
exasperated DEP Secretary John Hanger, who said other drilling
companies have been much more responsive when environmental issues
arise.
"The only thing that I regret is that it's taken two years for this
company, Cabot, to be faced with a solution," he said. "You saw today
what Cabot does: They bring the lawyers in. They've done that for two
years. They are unique in having lawyered up, as opposed to really
dealing with the problem."
None of these stories gives us warm and fuzzy feelings about the
Marcellus Shale industry.