(Pa. Rep.) White Calls For Investigation of DEP Deceptive
Testing Practices
Press Release from Rep. Jesse White's office
1 November 2012(Pa. Rep.) White calls on state, federal
authorities for investigation of DEP over deceptive Marcellus Shale
water-quality testing practices
Testimony by DEP lab chief reveals possibility of intentionally
undisclosed public health risks from Marcellus Shale gas drilling.
HARRISBURG, Nov. 1 – State Rep. Jesse White,
D-Allegheny/Beaver/Washington, today called for state and federal
law enforcement agencies to investigate the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection for alleged misconduct and
fraud revealed by sworn testimony given by a high-ranking DEP
official.
White said he received a letter and corresponding documents
highlighting the sworn testimony of DEP Bureau of Laboratories
Technical Director Taru Upadhyay, who was deposed in a lawsuit
alleging nearby natural gas drilling operations contaminated
drinking water supplies in Washington County, causing serious
health issues. In the deposition, Upadhyay said that the DEP was
clearly aware of water impacts from Marcellus Shale drilling, but
no notices of violation were filed – a violation of the state’s
Oil & Gas Act.
Of more critical concern to Pennsylvania residents, according to
White, was that the deposition revealed that the DEP developed a
specialized computer-code system to manipulate the test results
for residents whose water was tested by the DEP over concerns of
adverse effects from gas drilling operations.
According to the transcripts, which have been filed as exhibits in
a related lawsuit in Washington County Court of Common Pleas
(Haney et al. v. Range Resources et al., Case No. 2012-3534), the
DEP lab would conduct water tests using an EPA-approved standard,
but the DEP employee who requested the testing would use a
specially designed ‘Suite Code’ which limits the information
coming back from the DEP lab to the DEP field office, and
ultimately to the property owner.
The code in question, Suite Code 942, was used to test for water
contamination associated with Marcellus Shale drilling activities,
yet specifically screens out results for substances known to be
hazardous and associated with Marcellus Shale drilling. Similar
codes, Suite Code 943 and 946, are also used by the DEP in similar
circumstances; both of these codes omit the presence or levels of
drilling-related compounds.
As a result, if Suite Code 942 is applied, the report generated
for the homeowner by DEP only includes eight of the 24 metals
actually tested for: Barium, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Magnesium,
Manganese, Sodium and Strontium. The homeowner would not be given
results for: Silver, Aluminum, Beryllium, Cadium, Cobalt,
Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Silicon, Lithium, Molybdenum, Tin,
Titanium, Vandium, Zinc and Boron.
“This is beyond outrageous. Anyone who relied on the DEP for the
truth about whether their water has been impacted by drilling
activities has apparently been intentionally deprived of critical
health and safety information by their own government,” White
said. “There is no excuse whatsoever to justify the DEP conducting
the water tests and only releasing partial information to
residents, especially when the information withheld could easily
be the source of the problem. This goes beyond incompetence; this
is unlawful and reprehensible activity by the DEP. If these
allegations are true, there needs to be a thorough and objective
investigation to determine if someone belongs in a jail cell.”
White continued: “I am not releasing this information to hurt
Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania, but to help ensure
the reality matches the rhetoric. The Marcellus boom was built on
the assumption that the DEP was competent and capable of balancing
the positive impacts of the industry with its job of keeping
residents safe and secure, but we now know that simply isn’t the
case. Like most of us, I want the Marcellus Shale industry to
succeed by doing things the right way, so it is crucial to find
out what exactly the DEP was up to. If the system is indeed
rigged, we must do everything in our power to root out corruption
and restore public confidence in our ability to have an honest
conversation with one another about developing a responsible
energy policy for Pennsylvania.”
Due to the strong possibility of unlawful conduct, White is
calling on the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Environmental
Protection Agency, state Attorney General Linda Kelly and any
other appropriate law enforcement agency to pursue an
investigation of the DEP to discover the scope and depth of this
scheme to withhold important information from Pennsylvanians.
White is also sending a letter to the National Environmental
Laboratory Accreditation Program (NJ-NELAP), to investigate
whether the DEP’s conduct and practices violated the accreditation
standards for the DEP laboratories. If accreditation standards
were violated, White is requesting the DEP’s accreditation be
stripped, rendering the agency unable to conduct and certify its
own tests.
White said he is sending a letter to DEP Secretary Michael Krancer
seeking a summary of how many constituents in his legislative
district, which includes communities with high levels of Marcellus
Shale drilling activity, had DEP tests done using Suite Codes 942,
943 or 946. White also intends to make a blanket request on behalf
of his constituents that DEP release the full testing data
directly to the individual property owners in question.
Any Pennsylvania resident who received water quality test results
from the DEP should look for the number 942, 943 or 946 as a
‘Suite Code’ or ‘Standard Analysis’. White encouraged anyone with
questions to contact his district office at 724-746-3677 for more
information and noted that the property owner should be entitled
to the complete testing results from DEP.
“This isn’t a technicality, and it isn’t something which can be
ignored,” White said. “We are talking about people’s health,
safety and welfare. The sworn testimony from inside the DEP about
a scheme to withhold vital information about potential water
contamination is truly alarming. An investigation is necessary to
answer these serious allegations.”
The letter sent to Rep. White alerting him of these issues can be
found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/111821139
The deposition of TaruUpadhyay, technical director of PA DEP
Laboratory can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/111821978