Gas well switch

SRBC takes enforcement action

By FRITZ MAYER

BRADFORD COUNTY, PA — A drilling company with a well in Bradford County has been ordered to stop using water for drilling because they broke the rules. The company, Belden & Blake Corporation based in Ohio, was reusing a well that was drilled in 1995, which targeted the Oriskany formation, to now target the Marcellus formation.

According to a press release from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), in February of this year the company used 600,000 gallons of water to frack the well, without getting approval from the SRBC.

Natural gas operators withdrawing or using any amount of water to develop wells in the Marcellus formation in the Susquehanna watershed must have approval from SRBC. According to the release, in 2008, SRBC did extensive outreach to natural gas operators, making them aware of the agency’s regulations and the industry’s obligations to obtain an approval to remain in compliance. SRBC’s outreach included letters to individual companies sent in June, August and October, all of which Belden & Blake received.

“Clearly, the company should have been aware of the commission’s regulations,” said SRBC executive director Paul Swartz. “The company will remain in noncompliance status and will not be able to complete additional wells in the Marcellus formations within the Susquehanna watershed until this matter is resolved with the commission.”

On April 15, the SRBC initiated action enforcement against the company, and it has 15 days to respond. The company issued a statement saying that it would cooperate with the investigation.

The matter is of concern to residents who follow gas drilling events in the Upper Delaware Valley, because a proposed well that is soon to be drilled in Oregon Township, called the Robson Well, is targeted to the Oriskany formation. Critics say the well could easily be used to also target the Marcellus formation.

But because the drilling company, Chesapeake Appalachia, has said the well will target the Oriskany, the company was able to bypass getting permits from the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). The DRBC’s decision not to pursue permits for the Robson Well provoked a negative reaction from environmental groups and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

Pat Carullo, of the gas-drilling watchdog group Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, said that in conversations with residents around the country, this kind of violation had repeatedly led to belated fines. He wrote in an email, “This is why the Damascus Citizens have taken the urgent step of encircling the [Robson] site with a coordinated water testing program to establish a regional baseline.” The organization wants to be able to hold the gas company accountable if there is any contamination of the local water supply.

Chesapeake has not responded to inquiries about the well.

From the viewpoint of the SRBC, the Belden & Blake violation is not indicative of the behavior of the drilling industry overall.

Swartz said, “The natural gas industry, as a whole, has been and continues to operate in compliance with SRBC water withdrawal and consumptive water use regulations and has demonstrated a desire to work cooperatively with the commission. This recent noncompliance by Belden and Blake has been the exception, not the rule.”