CBF and TU Call For Ban On Marcellus Gas Wells In Floodplains After Incidents In Susquehanna & Lycoming Counties

PA Environment Digest Daily Blog
February 18, 2010

In the rush to develop the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania, natural gas wells are being permitted and drilled in floodplains. Two such wells, one operated by Stone Energy along Wyalusing Creek in Rush Township, Susquehanna County, and one operated by XTO along Muncy Creek in Shrewsbury Township, Lycoming County already experienced flooding events.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and Trout Unlimited (TU) call upon the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to remedy this clear environmental and public health hazard.
“The handling of fracking chemicals and highly contaminated drilling wastewater in floodplains is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. It has to stop,” said Matt Ehrhart, executive director of CBF’s Pennsylvania Office. “Permitting well pads in floodplains causes a very serious threat of pollution. We call upon DEP to use its authority under the Clean Streams Law to order the companies operating these wells to permanently cap and abandon them, and then reclaim the sites to their natural condition.”

While current regulations do not allow well pads to be located within 100 feet of streams or within the floodway without an encroachment permit, neither the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act nor its regulations prohibit siting wells in floodplains. Because horizontal drilling technology is used to drill into Marcellus shale, the gas underneath streams and floodplains can easily be accessed from a pad location in an upland area, avoiding risk of flooding and catastrophic pollution to Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams. There is no reason to site wells in floodplains.
“This loophole must be closed immediately,” said Dave Rothrock, president of the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited.

In late January, heavy rains hit northern Pennsylvania and several streams and rivers experienced flooding events, including Wyalusing and Muncy Creeks. Both the Stone Energy and the XTO sites were flooded as a result of these events.
“The risk of pollution to our streams will increase exponentially in a matter of weeks,” said Rothrock. “As we head into the season of snowmelt and spring rains, there should be absolutely no more well drilling activity in floodplains anywhere in Pennsylvania.”

The Stone Energy site was permitted along Wyalusing Creek by DEP without the necessary encroachment permits. While DEP issued a notice of violation to the company the week before the flood, the agency should have never issued the well drilling permit in the first place. CBF has previously highlighted serious flaws in the fast track permitting process implemented by DEP since April 2009, where permit applications do not receive careful environmental review but are instead pushed quickly out the door.

...
“The Stone Energy site is yet another example of permits being issued without the necessary review,” said Ehrhart. “DEP should not have issued a drilling permit that close to the creek, plain and simple. If the agency was spending any time looking at the proposed location, it would have known that.”
...
Complete article: LINK

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

DEP Revokes Erosion and Sedimentation Control Permits for Two Gas Companies

N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

Agency Also Issues Notice of Violation Letters to Three Licensed Professionals

Williamsport – The Department of Environmental Protection has revoked three erosion and sedimentation control general permits previously issued to Ultra Resources Inc. and Fortuna Energy Inc. due to technical deficiencies, and has sent notice of violation letters to the three licensed professionals who prepared the applications.

“DEP took this action because of numerous technical deficiencies discovered after our approval of the permits,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Robert Yowell.

The erosion and sedimentation control general permits are required whenever more than five acres of earth will be disturbed during construction of natural gas well drilling pads or natural gas pipelines.

As part of an expedited permit review process that DEP announced earlier this year, a licensed professional engineer, surveyor, geologist or landscape architect must submit a notice of intent and supporting documentation to DEP, including a certification that the information submitted meets the permit requirements.

DEP staff performs an administrative completeness review, but relies on the professional’s certification that the application is technically correct and meets all the permit requirements.

The technical deficiencies in both permits included inaccurate calculations, failure to provide best management practices where required, and lack of proper technical detail.

The permit revocations mean that Ultra Resources and Fortuna Energy must immediately halt all earth disturbance activities at the sites except those necessary to install or maintain erosion and sediment control or post-construction and site restoration best management practices.

The Ultra Resources permit was for sites in Gaines and Elk townships, Tioga County, and Pike and Abbott townships, Potter County. The Fortuna permit covered sites in Ward and Jackson townships, Tioga County.

DEP has revoked permit for this site
Toxic sludgepit, Tioga State Forest, Ward Township - Fortuna Energy
(Note red pickup truck {dot} for scale)

Neither company is eligible to re-submit notices of intent requesting the expedited permit process for those locations.

The three permits were appealed to the state Environmental Hearing Board by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in August and September, prompting DEP officials to re-examine the permits to determine if they met the regulatory requirements.

In its letter to the three licensed professionals, DEP warns that additional enforcement action may be taken against them, including possible referral to the Department of State, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs for disciplinary action.

The licensed professionals receiving the letters include James Gensel of Fagan Engineers in Elmira, N.Y.; Karl Matz of Larson Design Group Inc. in Williamsport; and K. Robert Cunningham of Cunningham Surveyors in Wellsboro.

For more information, call 570-327-3659 or visit www.depweb.state.pa.us keyword: Oil and gas.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

LTE: Gas Drilling

www.gantdaily.com
OPINIONS/EDITORIALS:
September 30, 2009

The recent chemical spills at natural gas drilling sites in Susquehanna County and subsequent enforcement taken by the Department of Environmental Protection against Cabot Oil & Gas Co. underscores the need for a smart approach to drilling in Pennsylvania. As drilling activity continues to ramp up, more staff is needed to adequately monitor and enforce environmental laws.

DEP did the right thing in taking strong action, but the damage to local streams and wetlands has already been done. A severance tax on natural gas production would provide the state with additional revenue to conduct necessary monitoring, enforcement, and restoration. Yet politicians negotiating the state budget are scrapping the severance tax in favor of opening up more State Forest Lands to drilling.

This is simply the wrong approach.

As these spills show, environmental harm from the drilling will be felt. It is only fair to ask the industry to pay its fair share to help offset environmental and local community impacts from drilling. The environmental scars left by historic coal mining in Pennsylvania are well documented. This time, we need to be wiser in the development of our energy resources.

We cannot afford to leave our children with another costly legacy of environmental damage. Enacting a severance tax, keeping our State Forest Lands off limits to wholesale drilling, and requiring the revenues generated from natural gas taxes and leasing to be invested in conservation are smart ways to balance the budget and protect our natural heritage.

Sincerely,
Matt Ehrhart
Pennsylvania Executive Director
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

PennFuture, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Decry Plan to Abandon Severance Tax on Marcellus Shale, Sell off State`s Public Lands to Drillers

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Announces Lawsuit against
DEP for Lax Permitting

HARRISBURG, Pa.--(Business Wire)--

Jan Jarrett, president and CEO of Citizens for Pennsylvania`s Future
(PennFuture), and Matthew Royer, attorney for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, today called on the Pennsylvania legislature to abandon plans to sell off the state`s public lands to multi-national drilling companies tapping the Marcellus Shale formation and instead institute a tax on the natural gas removed anywhere in Pennsylvania. Their remarks came one day after the Chesapeake Bay Foundation filed a legal challenge to erosion and sediment control permits issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for drilling
activities on Tioga State Forest.

"This is just one of several a legal challenges we have filed because DEP is not doing its job to make sure our State Forests and other stream and wetland resources are protected from the environmental impacts of drilling," said Royer. "Instead of protecting the environment, DEP is rubber stamping permit applications without any formal review. DEP`s permit review process consists of simply making sure all the paperwork is in the permit application. Unbelievably,
they are not conducting any environmental review of the plans that drilling companies are required to submit in order to minimize environmental impacts. Pennsylvania`s precious water resources-our rivers, streams, and wetlands-are at risk due to the lack of thorough DEP oversight.

...

"Abandoning the severance tax on natural gas and immediately opening up hundreds of thousands of acres of state land to gas drillers is a giveaway to multi-national energy corporations directly at the expense of Pennsylvania taxpayers," said Jan Jarrett. ...

"If Pennsylvania does not assess a severance tax we are allowing the industry to foist the costs of drilling onto taxpayers - wear and tear on local roads, the costs of environmental regulation and oversight, damage to natural resources, strains on policing and emergency services.
That`s an insult to Pennsylvania taxpayers," continued Jarrett.

Read the complete article from Reuters HERE.

In a subsequent report from Reuters, Jon Hurdle writes:
The foundation argues that restraints on drilling companies were weakened when the DEP told county conservation districts in March that they no longer had authority to review permit applications for erosion and sediment control. They are urging the agency to restore the local oversight of drilling applications.

The DEP's new policies violate environmental laws including the federal Clean Water Act, the appeal alleges.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

YES!!! Bravo! CBF Files Challenges of DEP Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Permits...

For the first time since the Department of Environment Protection took over review of erosion, sediment, and stormwater control plans for natural gas drilling sites, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is challenging two permits in Tioga County contending violations of both Commonwealth and federal laws.
Not only did DEP strip review authority from local County Conservation Districts in April, but it instituted an expedited stormwater permitting process that does not allow for public participation or meaningful agency review of permit applications.
In fact, the Ultra permit was issued within two days of receipt of the application. Phase II of the Fortuna permit, the one with the Exceptional Value wetlands issue, was issued within three business days.
“Instead of protecting the environment, DEP is rubber stamping permit applications without any formal review,” said CBF’s Pennsylvania Executive Director Matt Ehrhart. “Wild trout streams and their tributaries, and exceptional value wetlands that should receive extra protection under the law are at risk due to the lack of thorough DEP oversight.”
CBF is challenging permits issued to Fortuna Energy, Inc. authorizing earth disturbance for pipeline construction in Jackson Township, and to Ultra Resources, Inc. authorizing earth disturbance for substantial drilling operations in Gaines and Elk townships.
The Fortuna pipeline will cross tributaries of wild trout streams and impact exceptional value wetlands in violation of Pennsylvania wetlands law. The Ultra project will include pipeline crossings of high quality trout streams within the Pine Creek watershed, home to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and one of the state’s premier outdoor recreation destinations. For both projects, there was no analysis of the rate or volume of stormwater runoff from the construction, which can pollute streams.
“That these permits were issued without technical review and an analysis of the damage caused by construction and post-construction runoff violates both the federal Clean Water Act and Pennsylvania law,” said CBF Pennsylvania Staff Attorney Matthew Royer.
...
For the complete report, CLICK HERE.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!