Gas Drillers Miss Progress Report Deadline
Washington PA Observer Reporter
28 August 2010
Staff & Wire Reports
More than half of the natural gas drillers operating in the Marcellus
Shale missed the deadline to report the production levels of their
wells in violation of state law, the state Department of Environmental
Protection said Friday.
DEP Secretary John Hanger said in a news release that 41 of the 74 oil
and gas companies operating in the Marcellus Shale, or 55 percent,
failed to submit reports on the past 12 months of production by the
Aug. 15 deadline.
"When the General Assembly approved this law and the governor signed
it, they did so because they believed this requirement provided
much-needed transparency into the industry's operations," Hanger said
in a statement. "The fact that so many companies failed to meet the
deadline for providing this information is troubling. We plan to follow
up with each noncompliant firm and pursue whatever enforcement action
is necessary to get them to follow the law."
The new law required gas companies drilling into the Marcellus
formation to report production totals from July 1, 2009, to June 30 by
Aug. 15. Companies also will be required to report production every six
months, making the next report due Feb. 15. Prior to the new law taking
effect, DEP was required by law to keep production reporting data
confidential for five years.
According to DEP, companies with operations in Washington and Greene
counties that filed production data on time included Chesapeake
Appalachia LLC, CNX Gas Co., Consol Gas Co., EQT Production Co. and
Range Resources Appalachia.
Local producers failing to meet the Aug. 15 deadline were Atlas Energy
Resources and Consol Pa. Coal Co.
Atlas spokesman Nate Calvert said Friday the company had technical
difficulties reporting its production figures on deadline and received
a 30-day extension from the DEP until Sept. 15.
Consol Energy spokesman Joe Cerenzia did not immediately return a call
seeking comment.