Our look at
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Yellow triangles
with ! marks indicate violations |
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DEP gas drilling violations database
List of some Pennsylvania incidents:
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WASHINGTON_COUNTY SPILL - October 31, 2011
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WASHINGTON COUNTY FRACK OUT - May 9, 2011
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BRADFORD COUNTY BLOWOUT - April 20, 2011
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WASHINGTON COUNTY, AVELLA, PA FIRE - February 23, 2011
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WASHINGTON COUNTY FISH KILL - October 20, 2010
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ALLEGHENY COUNTY, INDIANA TWP FIRE - July 23, 2010
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WASHINGTON COUNTY FIRE - December 5, 2009
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WASHINGTON COUNTY FISH KILL - October 6, 2009
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DUNKARD CREEK FISH KILL - September 1, 2009
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WASHINGTON COUNTY SPILL - August 13, 2009
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WASHINGTON COUNTY FISH KILL - May 26, 2009
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WASHINGTON COUNTY POND - April 20, 2009
Natural Gas, as an end fuel, may burn cleaner than coal, but don't let anyone tell you that drilling for natural gas isn't dirty and has its share of seeps, leaks and spills.
The air pollution from thousands of trips by heavy diesel trucks, the constant running of diesel-powered equipment and extensive travel by drilling personnel in full-size pick-up trucks, all add to the air pollution problem that already existed in Washington County, Pennsylvania before they got here. The main reason residents have to burn that special fuel every summer in their vehicles.
Just as gas drilling has created new problems with our drinking water, adding to our existing air pollution problem is yet another case of tipping the apple cart. Washington County and Allegheny County are two of worst 35 counties in the United States for air pollution. All this drilling activity seriously impacts an existing problem.
When you add to this all the water pollution caused by drilling activities, you begin to understand that you are looking at a heavy industry, with many of the traditional pollution problems, as well as many others you might never expect.
We'll call this Marcellus-Shale.us page Seeps, Leaks & Spills. Stuff you probably didn't see before, not even in the newspapers or on the TV news (..is anyone covering this story??).
Newcomers to Marcellus Shale from the gas drilling industry need to know that engaged citizens in Pennsylvania and other states are watching their every move, and that we demand accountability and responsibility. Nothing less will do.
If you aren't already an Engaged Citizen, become one now. Begin monitoring suspicious looking activity around drilling sites and streams. Report all suspicious incidents you see to 911 or the Pennsylvania DEP right away. Keep asking the right questions. Stay alert.
WASHINGTON COUNTY
OCTOBER 31, 2011
Hopewell Township, Washington
County, Pa
Temporary wastewater line breaks, spills 16,800 gallons
16,800 gallons of drilling water spills
Observer-Reporter
November 1, 2011
An estimated 400 barrels, equal to 16,800 gallons, of recycled water used for natural gas drilling spilled along Farrar School Road in Hopewell Township Monday. The company was moving the line for the next step in a nearby well completion. The contractor attempted to remove the line with his excavator, causing the pipe to break.
By afternoon, the company was removing contaminated soil from the site and had also installed filter socks along the stream bed and a boom across the stream to keep any mud from getting into the tributary.
(Newspaper story link was removed)
(Note: The broken
temporary pipeline connects the Rush Impoundment to the Kearns site)
Range Resources
Rush to Kearns Temp Water Line
Permit No. 12033754
Twp. Hopewell County Washington
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WASHINGTON COUNTY May 9, 2011 March 4, 2011 Blaine Township, Washington County, Pa Blowout and spill polluted a high quality stream |
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Foamy substance in Buffalo Creek still a mystery Observer-Reporter
May 15, 2011 Photos
Pipeline accident, rain cited in Buffalo Creek spill By Pittsburgh
Tribune-Review A pipeline accident and heavy rains led to clay and foam polluting at least 25 miles of Buffalo Creek in Washington County stretching to the Ohio border, according to the Pennsylvania DEP. MarkWest Energy Partners had an incident called a "frack out" that the company reported to the Pennsylvania DEP on March 9, the spokesman said on Wednesday. Workers on March 2 had used the clay bentonite and the unidentified foaming agent to help bore a hole for a pipeline under the creek near Route 231 in Blaine, Washington County. The two substances seeped up into the streambed and likely were stirred up later during heavy rains. Emergency officials in Brooke County, W.Va., responded to reports of foaming on Monday night and traced it to the Pennsylvania state border, where firefighters traced it into Blaine.
May 15, 2011 Photos
May 15, 2011 Photos
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WASHINGTON COUNTY |
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PA DEP fines driller $1.1 million over contamination, fire May 17, 2011 HARRISBURG -- State environmental officials have issued a nearly $1.1 million fine against Chesapeake Energy for water contamination in Bradford County and a February fire at its Avella site. Another $188,000 was assessed for the Avella tank fire that injured three workers. Two of those workers, who suffered burns, have since sued Chesapeake and two other companies working at the site. |
| Original KDKA-TV News Story & Video |
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WASHINGTON COUNTY |
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truck runs off road; contents spill
By Kathie O. Warco, Staff
writer Joshua M. Duell, 28, of Johnstown, was driving north about 6:45 a.m. on Plum Run Road about a mile from Brigich Road when he was reportedly forced off the road by a speeding Jeep traveling in the opposite direction, said Officer Rob Sumney. The other vehicle, driven by a woman, did not stop. Police were notified about 45 minutes after the crash occurred. "Once the wheels went off the right side of the road, the tanker rolled down the embankment and emptied its contents into the field," Sumney said. "The side of the road gave way. There is no question he was forced off the road." Duell was driving the tanker for Highland Trucking of Somerset. Representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection, along with Weavertown Environmental Group and Range Resources, responded. Sumney said the fracking material was being hauled from a Range Resources site. Responders quickly built a dam and put down booms about a mile downstream in Plum Run to catch the leaking substance, also known as flowback, said Katy Gresh, DEP spokeswoman. The substance is used for fracking wells. Water and chemicals are mixed together for the fracking process, in which the liquid is forced at high pressure into wells drilled into the Marcellus, Gresh said. About 10 to 30 percent of it flows back out of the well and into a fracking pit where minimal treatment is done and then hauled to another site, where it is reused. Vacuum trucks also were being used to remove some of the liquid. Gresh said the DEP is waiting for a report from the trucking company to determine how much of the liquid leaked from the tank, but a representative at the scene believed that much of the contents leaked out. Several dead minnows were spotted in the creek. Gresh said a DEP biologist will assess the effects of the spill on the stream today. Samples will be taken before determining appropriate enforcement action. Sumney asks that anyone who might have information on the other driver call police at 724-745-8030. |
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| Plum Run spill site being cleaned up |
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| White absorbent materials scattered about |
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| Excavated soil in spill area |
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| More absorbent roping near stream along with a vaccuum hose from nearby tanker truck |
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| Spill workers shoo cattle away from contaminated
stream |
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| Spill workers herding cattle away from the stream
since cattle like to drink salty brine wastewater |
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Highland Environmental vacuum truck removing spilled fluids near a bridge further downstream |
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| Two more vacuum tanker trucks and a
Weavertown Environmental truck with a tarped dumpster near the clean-up activities |
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ALLEGHENY COUNTY INDIANA TWP FIRE July 23, 2010 Two fatalities in shallow gas well fire |
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WASHINGTON COUNTY BRUSH RUN FISH KILL OCTOBER 6, 2009 Hopewell Township, Washington County, Pa |
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Range Resources said Friday that a temporary above-ground water transfer line connection failed Tuesday night and discharged about 250 barrels (10,500 gallons) of partially recycled flowback and fresh water into a small, unnamed tributary to Brush Run on private property in Hopewell Township. The company said the water, which contained about 1 percent chloride salt, killed between 200 and 300 minnows but other aquatic species living in the tributary survived. Helen Humphreys, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said species including crawfish and frogs also were observed to be impaired or dying. DEP officials inspected about four-tenths of a mile of Brush Run in the area of the spill. Brush Run is a high-quality stream under Pennsylvania law, meaning it meets standards of chemical and biological makeup that warrant special protection. Documentation (PDF files from DEP) |
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DUNKARD CREEK FISH KILL SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 Dunkard Creek, Mason-Dixon Line Greene County, Pa & West Virginia |
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 Click photo to view web page |
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WASHINGTON COUNTY CHARTIERS RUN & ULLOM ROAD SPILL AUGUST 13, 2009 Chartiers Township, Washington County, Pa |
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| Ullom Road near Route 519 |
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| Temporary fluid line appears to be
leaking... what is it carrying? |
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| This vehicle was parked in the same area and carries a fuel tank in back |
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| Weavertown Environmental Group (WEG) vehicles handling
the spill |
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| Absorbent material placed on the surface of the
polluted stream |
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| Plastic-lined dumpster onsite to collect the
cleaned-up
hazardous materials |
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| Absorbent material along side of Ullom Road |
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| The red color could indicate diesel fuel... from
where? Clean-up personnel weren't even sure when they were asked. |
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| More of the weird looking mud you see near
other local gas drilling sites |
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| Rainbow-colored water a few hundred feet
downstream from the spill |
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| Weavertown Environmental Group crew scans the stream in
front of the Washington County Firefighter Academy for signs of
pollution from the
spill downsteam |
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| The crew won't have to look very far... this
polluted water is just upstream from where the environmental
clean-up crew is looking |
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 WEG dumpster loaded and tarped |
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WASHINGTON COUNTY CROSS CREEK LAKE FISH KILL MAY 26, 2009 Hopewell Township, Washington County, Pa |
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Great Lakes is now Range Resources but the old sign hasn't been
changed. These three horizontal wells are on the same drilling pad
in this Washington County Park. |
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Cross Creek County Park Washington County Parks & Recreation |
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Cross Creek Lake is the premier fishing lake in Washington County |
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When these three gas wells were being hydraulically fractured, a
spill of "a couple thousand gallons" killed fish and aquatic life in
Cross Creek Lake. |
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October 9, 2008 letter from the DEP reminding Range Resources they
were drilling in a Special Protection Watershed before the
drilling and fracing began. |
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Range Resources Consent of Civil Penalty (CACP)
New! (October 28, 2009 - PDF - 587KB) |
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DEP Inspection Report on Spill (May 27, 2009 - PDF - 463KB) |
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Range Resources Incident Report on Spill (June 3, 2009 - PDF - 650KB) |
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Spilled Pit Water DEP Analytical Report (May 27, 2009 - PDF - 463KB) |
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WASHINGTON COUNTY ULLOM ROAD POND APRIL 20, 2009 Chartiers Township Washington County, Pa |
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Below are three photos taken of a run-off area beside Ullom Road, just off Route 519, between Houston and Westland Pennsylvania. A new gas well was fracked 100 to 200 yards upstream from these marshy areas in the weeks just prior to when these photos were taken. |
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Vegetation Kill Vegetation was killed in the run-off area of this marsh |
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Painted Black Notice the black oily substance along the shoreline |
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Dead run-off area This has the same appearance of vegetation sprayed with a non-selective herbicide |
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