EPA Asks State to Improve Gas Well Water Checks
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
16 May 2011
By Don Hopey
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked Pennsylvania to do a
better job sampling, monitoring and regulating Marcellus Shale
wastewater discharges near public drinking water sources.
The EPA also has reminded the state Department of Environmental
Protection that any new methods for disposing of drilling wastewater
must comply with federal rules.
The federal agency last week directed six of the major Marcellus Shale
drilling companies in Pennsylvania to disclose, by May 25, how and
where they will dispose of or recycle wastewater now that they can no
longer use municipal sewage treatment facilities.
Range Resources, Atlas Resources LLC, Talisman Energy USA, Cabot Gas
and Oil CVorp.. SWEPI LP and Chesapeake Energy Corp. account for more
than half of the Marcellus gas drilling in the state.
The EPA said it is getting involved in regulatory and enforcement
actions usually overseen by the DEP because it wants to ensure that
Marcellus Shale gas development and production are done in ways to
protect public health and the environment.
"We want to make sure that the drillers are handling their wastewater
in an environmentally responsible manner," said Shawn Garvin, EPA
mid-Atlantic regional administrator. "EPA is continuing to work with
PADEP officials who are on the front lines of permitting and regulating
natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania."
The EPA actions follow a request by the DEP asking drilling companies
to voluntarily stop disposal of drilling and fracking wastewater at
sewage and wastewater treatment plants by Thursday.
In a May 12 letter to DEP Secretary Michael Krancer, Mr. Garvin asked
that the DEP:
• Provide notification when facilities are accepting hydraulic
fracturing wastewater so the EPA can determine if a pretreatment or
additional permits are needed.
• Use stricter public drinking water standards to assess water quality
as it is discharged from treatment facilities.
• Enact legally enforceable wastewater disposal regulations instead of
relying on voluntary actions by companies not to dispose of wastewater
at municipal sewage treatment facilities.
• Do a better job sampling water from treatment facilities accepting
Marcellus wastewater when public drinking water intake facilities are
downstream.
• Be aware that injection of drilling wastewater into abandoned
underground mines requires a federal underground injection control
permit.
The EPA also announced that it has issued a proposed order to the
Tunnelton Liquids Co. to stop the underground injection of Marcellus
wastewater and fracking fluids into an abandoned mine in Saltsburg,
Indiana County.
The company never had a federal underground injection control permit,
and the EPA issued the order because of alleged violations to the
federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
Tunnelton did not return phone calls requesting comment. The DEP did
not respond to requests for comment about the letter or whether it
intends to comply with the EPA requests.
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.