By Dave Lucas
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wamc/local-wamc-897790.mp3
Albany, NY – Development of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is now under closer scrutiny after sanctions and fines were issued against a driller in nearby Pennsylvania. Capital District Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.
Last week, the state of Pennsylvania fined Cabot Oil & Gas Corp $240,000 and ordered it to permanently shut three gas wells. State Environmental Protection officials said Cabot failed to comply with a November 2009 order to fix defective well casings that discharged natural gas into groundwater, contaminating the drinking water of 14 homes in the rural northeastern Pennsylvania community of Dimock. Cabot issued a statement announcing it entered a "modified agreement" with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Adrian Kuzminski is the moderator of Sustainable Otsego, an internet activist mailing list. He says the drilling industry has been trumpeting a safety record that "doesn't really exist." Dimock's Residents filed a federal lawsuit last year alleging Cabot polluted their wells with methane gas and other contaminants. Cabot has 30 days to install permanent water-treatment systems in those homes within 30 days. Cabot must also pay a fine of $30,000 a month until it meets the DEP's requirements. Kuzminski is critical of the DEC and expressed concern over the lack of laws governing gas drilling in New York. He believes a previous Study commissioned by New York City that concluded that upstate drilling would jeopardize it's water supply and is too risky, should be applied statewide.
John Conrad, president of Conrad Geoscience a Poughkeepsie-based consulting firm staffed by geologists and environmental professionals, says that for the vast majority of drilled wells, brine releases and methane migration are preventable. The New York DEC did not return calls for comment. A DEC spokesman told the Albany Times Union that the agency is monitoring gas drilling in other states and has "had folks out in Pennsylvania." Cabot is seeking at least 25 additional drilling permits in other areas of the state of Pennsylvania, while officials continue looking at 15 other Cabot gas wells that may also be shut off if they are found sources of migrating methane.