Leaking pits at well sites discussed at Bradford County commissioners' meeting

BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 6, 2010

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Review Photo/JAMES LOEWENSTEIN Betty Snyder of Ulster gestures as she talks at the Bradford County commissioners' meeting about the environmental effects of gas drilling.

TOWANDA - The environmental effects of gas drilling was one of the topics discussed at Thursday's meeting of the Bradford County commissioners, where an Ulster resident said the county is being "raped" by the gas industry.

Ulster resident Betty Snyder told the commissioners she is concerned about waste materials leaking from "ponds" that are created by gas drilling companies at well sites in the area.

"We have talked to several people who have them (the ponds)," Snyder said. "They are leaking, but it's never reported to the DEP."

"There are so many people who are afraid of what's going on," she said. "The county is being raped" by the gas companies, she said.

Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko said he has not heard of cases where "ponds" or impoundment sites at gas well sites are leaking in Bradford County.

Dan Spadoni, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, said in a telephone interview that there are two types of ponds or impoundment areas at natural gas well sites.

The first is a centralized impoundment area that contains fresh water that is used for hydraulic fracturing at a number of well sites in the area, he said.

The second type is known as a "drill pit" or a "reserve pit" which contain mainly drill cuttings, drilling mud, and oil and grease, he said.

Waste water from hydraulic fracturing, which flows back out a gas well, is not normally stored in a drill pit, Spadoni said.

Instead, the waste water is normally stored in tanks that are located on the well pad, he said.

The waste water from hydraulic fracturing that flows back out of a well can be mixed with fresh water and used for a future hydraulic fracturing of a well, or it can be pumped into a tanker truck and taken to a treatment facility, he said.

State regulations require that the drill pits be lined, Spadoni said. The pits are lined with a material that is similar to the material used to line landfills, he said.

While municipal waste landfills are required to be double-lined, drill pits are only required to have a singe layer of lining, he said.

Spadoni said there have been "some" leaks and spills from pits and impoundments at natural gas well sites in Bradford County.

However, he said he was not able to obtain more specific information Thursday on the number and location of such spills and leaks.

At the commissioners' meeting, McLinko also said that the DEP is understaffed.

When asked for comment, Spadoni provided a written statement from the DEP which states: "For more than two years Pennsylvania has been pro-actively increasing its oversight of gas drilling. No other state has added more staff, done a more comprehensive strengthening of its rules or more aggressively enforced its rules than Pennsylvania has."

"In 2009, Governor Edward G. Rendell directed the hiring of 37 additional employees for oil and gas staff," according to the DEP's written statement. "In 2010, the Governor directed the hiring of an additional 68 oil and gas employees. The 2009 and 2010 hiring will more than double the number of state employees regulating Pennsylvania's gas industry."

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com

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