Court Orders Fracking Contamination Case Records Unsealed

[From StateImpact PA - March 21, 2013] Range Resources, MarkWest Energy and Williams Gas agreed to settle a high profile contamination case in Washington County for $750,000, according to recently unsealed court records.  An order to unseal the records was entered Wednesday in Washington County Court of Common Pleas by President Judge Debbie O’Dell-Seneca. Judge O’Dell-Seneca reversed an earlier decision to permanently keep the more than 900 pages of court records secret. In the order she stated that the drilling company’s claims of privacy rights had no merit.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/03/21/drilling-companies-agree-to-settle-fracking-contamination-case-for-750000/#more-16811

Here at SkyTruth, we believe that data and information about environmental issues should be open and available to the public, especially documentation about events that are affecting or may affect personal health and wellbeing. We have worked to improve fracking chemical disclosure from a database that was not effectively transparent, all so that citizens and public officials can make informed decisions about risks and benefits. We hope that information like this will be useful in making good decisions about natural resource development, whatever those may be.

NOTE: Location approximated based on street address listed in court documents.

[[Location:40.286794,-80.34776]]

Methane Geyser: Shell Fracking Operation Suspected

EcoWatch reports that the Pennsylvania DEP is investigating a suspected methane migration problem which has caused a methane-driven geyser to erupt from the water well of a hunting cabin in Union Township.

The Suspected source of the methane is a frack site operatoed by Shell on the Guindon farm in Union Township

NPR Reports that Tioga County Emer­gency Ser­vices Coor­di­na­tor Denny Cole­grove suspects that an unmapped, aban­doned gas well more than 70 years old is part of the problem.

The geyser is  now under control, and evacuation is being planned for residents within a 1-mile radius.

If the cause is determined to be a horizontal frack intersecting with an unmapped, improperly abandoned well, then this is great concern for the future of fracking in a state that is littered with thousands of abandoned wells.


[[Location:41.567042,-76.998225]]

Gas Flaring at Scheible Drill Site near Knoxville, PA

During our recent trip to Tioga County, our flight crew spotted a frack site continually flaring off natural gas. The flaring is happening approximately 3 miles south of Knoxville, PA at a drill site on the Scheible farm.

Photo Credit: Bill Howard, The Downstream Project; Aerial support provided by Lighthawk.

Operator: SWEPI LP

Well API: 37-117-21415

Site Name: SCHEIBLE P 898 5H OG WELL

Permit Date: 12/22/2012

Permit Details

Drilling Start Date: 1/9/2012

SPUD Report

Frack Date: 3/20/2012

Frac Focus Report 

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[[Location:41.913758333333, -77.433805555556]]