A federal jury has awarded two couples nearly $4.25 million after finding one of the largest natural gas drillers in PA polluted their wells
Associated Press March 10, 2016
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Two couples were awarded nearly $4.25 million on Thursday after a federal jury found one of the largest natural gas producers in Pennsylvania was responsible for the contamination of their well water, capping a six-year odyssey that turned their sleepy village into a battleground over the nation’s shale drilling and hydraulic fracturing boom.
The verdict in Scranton came at the end of a bitter lawsuit pitting homeowners in …
Science panel faults EPA fracking probe for excluding baseline water testing
Jon Hurdle StateImpact PA January 6, 2016
The Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark investigation into the impact of fracking on drinking water lacked baseline testing that would have made its results more illuminating, according to a scientific panel that assessed it, and independent analysts.
The Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory Panel, a unit of the EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB), published its evaluation of the EPA’s report on Jan. 7.
The panel said …
Fracking Sharply Reduces Property Values for Property Owners Who Use Well Water
Phys.org December 15, 2015
Home values decline steeply when fracking occurs in neighborhoods that use well water, says new research from Duke University. But the outcome differs in neighborhoods that rely on piped water, where home values rise slightly after shale-gas drilling occurs.
The study, conducted in Pennsylvania, found that in areas using well water, home prices dropped by an average of $30,1676 when shale drilling occurred within a distance of 1.5 kilometers. Meanwhile, homes using piped water …
DEP Fines Range Resources $8.9 million for Marcellus Shale Gas Well
Don Hopey Pittsburgh Post-Gazette June 16, 2015
The state Department of Environmental Protection is seeking to fine Range Resources-Appalachia LLC $8.9 million for failing to fix a gas well in Lycoming County that it says began leaking methane and contaminating private water wells, streams and a pond in 2011 and continues to do so.
The civil penalty is the biggest ever assessed for a shale gas drilling-related environmental violation in Pennsylvania — more than …
New Technique Shows Shale-Drilling Additives in Drinking Water Taps Near Leak
Matthew Carroll Penn State News May 4, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Substances commonly used for drilling or extracting Marcellus shale gas foamed from the drinking water taps of three
Pennsylvania homes near a reported well-pad leak, according to new analysis from a team of scientists.
The researchers used a new analytical technique on samples from the homes and found a chemical compound, 2-BE, and an unidentified complex mixture of organic contaminants, …
Study Links Foam in Water Wells to Shale Well Sites
Laura Legere Pittsburgh Post-Gazette May 4, 2015
White foam in northeastern Pennsylvania water wells likely was caused by Marcellus Shale gas well sites that have already been blamed for causing natural gas to infiltrate residential water supplies, a paper published by the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported on Monday.
Environmental consultant Garth Llewellyn and biochemistry and geosciences researchers with Penn State University used a novel method to identify low levels of organic …
Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water
Nicholas St. Fleur New York Times May 4, 2015
An analysis of drinking water sampled from three homes in Bradford County, Pa., revealed traces of a compound commonly found in Marcellus Shale drilling fluids, according to a study published on Monday.
The paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, addresses a longstanding question about potential risks to underground drinking water from the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The authors …
Study, Cleanup Underway in PA Streams Contaminated by Wastewater Radiation
The before, during and after of the fracking fluid recycling process.
A study published by the journal Environmental Science & Technology last week brought widespread attention to a fact Pennsylvania regulators have known for over two years: Radioactive material in treated oil and gas wastewater has accumulated in the stream sediment near a discharge pipe for a western Pennsylvania treatment plant.
According to a Department of Environmental Protection order from May, Fluid Recovery Services found radiation …
Penn State receives $4.9 million NSF grant to study PA water
Anne Danahy Telicon October 8, 2013
Research on water quality will look at potential impact of natural gas drilling
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The National Science Foundation has awarded a $4.9 million grant to a team of Penn State researchers led by Distinguished Professor of Geosciences Susan L. Brantley to study the Earth’s surface, including efforts to understand the potential impact of natural gas drilling.
Known as the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, the project is focused on how …
Duke Study – Fracking wastewater contaminated, and likely radioactive
Melanie Blanding NBC News October 3, 2013
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, researchers found high levels of radioactivity, salts and metals in the water and sediments downstream from a fracking wastewater plant on Blacklick Creek in western Pennsylvania.
Among the most alarming findings was that downstream river sediments contain 200 times more radium than mud that’s naturally present upstream of the plant, said Avner Vengosh, a co-author of the study and a professor …
