Feds to Expand Dimock, Pa. Water Investigation
EPA to ship water to township families
Binghamton NY PressConnects.com
19 January 2012
By Steve Reilly
DIMOCK, Pa. -- In an apparent rebuke of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection's handling of the issue,
the federal government announced Thursday it is expanding its
investigation into gas drilling-related public health concerns in
Susquehanna County.
Starting Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will
arrange for shipments of fresh water to four Dimock Township
families with contaminated water wells, and in the coming weeks
will conduct testing at approximately 61 water wells in the
community.
Since contamination concerns emerged in 2008, the DEP has played
the lead role in trying to settle the fray between Cabot Oil &
Gas and a group of landowners who have said the company's nearby
drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations destroyed the water.
Now, it appears, the federal government is taking the lead.
The EPA indicated in a statement issued Thursday that the agency
decided to conduct the new testing based on its review of data
supplied by residents, Cabot and DEP.
The sampling is contingent on homeowners granting EPA access to
their properties, and results will be available within about five
weeks following the sampling, the agency said.
"We believe that the information provided to us by the residents
deserves further review, and conducting our own sampling will help
us fill information gaps," EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M.
Garvin said in a statement. "Our actions will be based on the
science and the law and we will work to help get a more complete
picture of water quality for these homes in Dimock."
Dimock landowner Craig Sautner, whose family is among the four to
receive water shipments starting Friday, said the EPA's decision
raises questions about the DEP's work.
"It makes you wonder: How come the EPA can find something in the
data but the DEP couldn't?" Sautner said. "Was somebody
overlooking something or they didn't want to say something? I
really don't know."
While Cabot has maintained the contaminants are naturally
occurring, an EPA memo released along with the announcement
Thursday indicates EPA investigators may believe otherwise.
"A number of home wells in the Dimock area contain hazardous
substances, some of which are not naturally found in the
environment," states the memo, which was dated and signed by a top
EPA official Thursday. "Inorganic hazardous substances are present
in four home wells at levels that present a public health
concern."
A Cabot spokesman could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Binghamton Mayor Matthew T. Ryan, who spearheaded efforts to have
nonprofit agencies pay for at least nine shipments of City of
Binghamton water to Dimock families -- and whose offer of direct
aid to Dimock was shouted down by Dimock residents at a December
town hall meeting -- said he was heartened by Thursday's
announcement.
"I just hope that EPA works swiftly to deal with all the other
families," Ryan said. "I understand they're moving rapidly to try
to assess the other situations and test data that's available is
being analyzed, and I hope that the other people get water as well
very soon."
Problems emerged in Dimock Township soon after Cabot began
drilling for natural gas in 2008, with the explosion of a concrete
slab at a Dimock home on Jan. 1, 2009, triggering a DEP
investigation.
As indications emerged 18 water wells were affected by
contamination issues, Pennsylvania officials initially decided to
order Cabot to pay for an $11.8 million municipal water line from
Montrose to Dimock.
Those plans were eventually jettisoned in favor of less expensive
options.
In November 2009, the DEP signed a consent agreement with Cabot
ordering the company to provide fresh water deliveries to 18
affected families and install methane mitigation systems in their
homes. A number of families refused the methane mitigation systems
and began a federal lawsuit against Cabot.
While the original consent agreement required Cabot to provide
water shipments until testing indicated the water problems had
been resolved, a revised agreement signed in 2010 removed that
stipulation.
As a result, on Nov. 30, the DEP allowed Cabot to stop shipping
water to the affected families.
Federal documents released
Along with its announcement, the EPA released a trove of
documents Thursday that shed light on its decision to broaden its
investigation.
» A Dec. 28, 2011, document connected to a federal public
health review indicates the EPA became involved in Dimock in
November 2011, after residents requested help interpreting testing
data.
According to the document, the EPA's subsequent home visits and a
data review led to concerns about the adequacy of the methane
removal systems; the presence of other contaminants besides
methane; and potential contamination of untested homes.
» A Jan. 13 memo from an EPA toxicologist who reviewed data
from eight private water wells states that four of those wells
contain contaminants including sodium, manganese and arsenic at
levels "representing a public health concern."
» A Jan. 19 EPA memo states that a "chronic health risk"
exists for most of the wells covered by the original agreement
between Cabot and the DEP. The memo indicates EPA's work in Dimock
will cost an estimated $208,912.