Water Leak from Washington County Gas Well Kills Fish
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
4 June 2009
By Don Hopey
A leaking waste water pipe from a Range Resources Marcellus Shale gas
well drilled in Washington County's Cross Creek Park has polluted an
unnamed tributary of Cross Creek Lake, killing fish, salamanders,
crayfish and aquatic
insect life in approximately three-quarters of a mile of the stream.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said Range Resources
reported the May 26 waste water discharge from a coupling on a 6-inch
pipe running from a recently drilled well to a waste water impoundment.
The DEP has taken water samples of the stream above and below the
pollution release, said Helen Humphreys, a department spokeswoman, and,
after those are evaluated, will determine the appropriate enforcement
action.
The Range Resources wastewater pipeline connects three Marcellus Shale
deep gas wells drilled in the 3,000 acre county-owned park.