[PA] Reported Violations at Pa. Drilling Sites Saw Drop in 2011
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
9 February 2012
By Don Hopey
State inspectors found 1,178 violations of state environmental
regulations at Marcellus Shale gas drilling and development sites
in 2011, according to a review released Wednesday by
PennEnvironment.
That number of violations is down slightly from 2010, but the
violations per well drilled has declined significantly, from .836
violations per well drilled in 2010 to .591 violations per well
drilled in 2011.
The statewide environmental advocacy organization's review of
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection violations
records did not analyze whether the decline in violations was the
result of better gas drilling operations, altered inspection
procedures or changed record-keeping.
The PennEnvironment review shows that for the four years -- 2008
through 2011 -- the DEP recorded 3,355 violations at 4,596
Marcellus well drilling operations and identified 2,392 of those
as likely posing an environmental threat or risk. The rest were
classified as reporting or paperwork violations.
"Our analysis shows that Marcellus Shale gas drilling companies
are either unable or unwilling to comply with basic environmental
laws," said Erika Staaf of PennEnvironment Research & Policy
Center. She added that the organization is asking for a halt in
shale gas extraction until gas operators can demonstrate it can be
done in a way that is protective of public health and the
environment.
Steve Forde, Marcellus Shale Coalition vice president of policy
and communications, said new environmental, health and safety
provisions in Marcellus Shale gas legislation passed by the
Legislature Wednesday will ensure continued environmental
protection.
"Natural gas development, which supports nearly 229,000 jobs in
the Commonwealth, is aggressively and tightly regulated," Mr.
Forde said in a statement released by the coalition. "Suggesting
otherwise may grab a headline or two, but such claims are simply
not supported by the facts."
PennEnvironment's release said the state violations numbers are
"conservative" and that because of the limited number of
inspectors and the rapid expansion of drilling operations,
additional undetected violations are likely.
"This report does not look at the reasons for the trends," Ms.
Staaf said. "Without digging into the number of inspectors on the
ground and their activities, which this report doesn't aim to do,
it's difficult to know whether the industry is actually getting
environmentally safer or whether there were fewer violations
detected because of inadequate enforcement staff."
DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh did not respond to a request to comment
on the report or about whether its gas well inspection staff is
able to review operations at the rapidly expanding number of wells
in the state.
The PennEnvironment review found that the greatest number of
violations -- 625, or 26 percent of violations likely to impact
the environment -- involved improper erosion and sedimentation
controls at well drilling sites. Such violations could be related
to runoff into streams. The second-biggest category -- 550
violations, or 23 percent of the total -- were for faulty
pollution prevention techniques.
The review also broke down the state violations data by individual
drilling companies and number of wells drilled. The drilling
companies with the most violations over the four years were Cabot
Oil & Gas, with 412; Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, with 393;
Chief Oil & Gas LLC with 313; and Talisman Energy USA Inc.
with 303.
Cabot also had the most violations in 2011, with 161, and
Chesapeake was second with 139.
J-W Operating Co. had the most violations per well for companies
drilling at least 10 wells in the state, with 53 for 10 wells or
5.3 per well. XTO Energy Inc. had 159 violations and 53 wells for
an average of 3.0 per well. Cabot's 213 wells recorded 412
violations, or 1.93 per well. Chesapeake operated 576 wells and
had 393 violations, an average of 0.68 per well.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.