Water Wells

In the latest salvo over Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the embattled town of Dimock, a natural gas company on Tuesday alleged that federal regulators had cherry-picked old test data to distort the amount of contamination in drinking-water wells. Cabot Oil & Gas Co., whose drilling was blamed for the pollution, said that the drinking-water tests the Environmental Protection Agency used to justify its Jan. 19 order to deliver fresh water supplies to four Dimock houses "do not accurately represent the water quality" and are inconsistent with the body of data collected at the residences.

More than the drinking water has become poisonous in Susquehanna County. In a sharp rebuke of one of the state's biggest Marcellus Shale gas drillers, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered an $11.8 million pipeline built to deliver water to 18 rural residences in Dimock Township whose household wells are contaminated by natural gas. In response, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Texas driller whose wells the state blames for the pollution, denounced the decision as "unfounded, irrational, and capricious" and accused DEP Secretary John Hanger of "obvious political pandering.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Pennsylvania environmental regulators are investigating the source of stray methane gas found in the North Branch Susquehanna River and six private water wells in Bradford County last week. Environmental Secretary John Hanger says the gas "probably . . . migrated through the ground as a result of drilling in the area. " He says the gas is most likely not from the Marcellus Shale, but from a shallower deposit. The Citizens' Voice of Wilkes-Barre reports that Chesapeake Energy is evaluating its natural gas wells in the area, and is taking corrective action.

Security guards have been posted at Camden's 16 water wells because of a strike by 33 employees of the city's water-management firm, officials said yesterday. City officials described the security at the wells, which are in Camden in Pennsauken, as a necessary precaution by United Water-Camden to protect the city's water. Camden's "interest is maintaining the health and safety of the residents," said Patrick J. Keating, director of the city's Department of Public Works. He added that the guards "were brought in by the firm, not by the city.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would not take any action in response to tests of 16 more drinking-water wells in the embattled natural gas-drilling town of Dimock, Pa., and one resident whose well showed elevated levels of carcinogenic arsenic declined the agency's offer for alternative water. The test results largely reinforced findings the EPA released recently on its tests of 31 other residential water wells in the Susquehanna County township, where opponents and supporters of Marcellus Shale natural gas development have clashed.

The editorial "Hold drillers accountable" (Oct. 7) took a predictable - and wrongheaded - position on a recent announcement made by Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger. For nearly a year, Cabot had been working diligently with DEP to address Carter Road water issues. Hanger told Cabot that the "final solution" to restoring clean water would be installing methane separator systems on the affected water wells. While Cabot does not agree that our activities caused the alleged problems with the well water of certain residents in Dimock Township, we provided potable water for an extended period of time, purchased methane separators, and offered to install them on all water wells deemed by DEP to have been "affected.

Families in a northeastern Pennsylvania village with tainted water wells will have to procure their own water for the first time in nearly three years as a natural gas driller blamed for polluting the aquifer moves ahead with its plan to stop paying for daily deliveries. Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. ended delivery of bulk and bottled water to 11 families in Dimock on Wednesday. Cabot asserts Dimock's water is safe to drink and won permission from state environmental regulators last month to stop paying for water for the residents.

MUNCY, Pa. - State environmental officials are investigating new instances of methane contamination in residential water wells and a northern Pennsylvania stream near a Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operation. The Department of Environmental Protection found the flammable gas in seven water wells in Lycoming County and gas bubbling into nearby Little Muncy Creek. That prompted XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., to stop operations in the county and provide the well owners with bottled water.

East Pikeland Township residents living near the Kimberton Superfund site want clean drinking water. But they don't want to give up their private water wells and start paying public water bills in order to get it. Therein lies the problem with a proposed plan to clean up the Kimberton site, which in 1982 was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund list of hazardous waste sites targeted for cleanup. The Kimberton site, which borders Hares Hill and Cold Stream Roads and Route 113, was owned by the Ciba-Geigy Corp.

Well-water tests of 20 more homes in the embattled natural-gas drilling town of Dimock, Pa. showed no contamination levels "that present a health concern based on risk assessments," a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday. "This set of sampling did not show levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take immediate action," said Roy Seneca, a spokesman in EPA's regional office in Philadelphia. The test results reinforced initial findings the EPA released last month on its tests of 11 other residential water wells in the Susquehanna County township, the epicenter of a clash between opponents and supporters of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale formation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it would not take any action in response to tests of 16 more drinking-water wells in the embattled natural gas-drilling town of Dimock, Pa., and one resident whose well showed elevated levels of carcinogenic arsenic declined the agency's offer for alternative water. The test results largely reinforced findings the EPA released recently on its tests of 31 other residential water wells in the Susquehanna County township, where opponents and supporters of Marcellus Shale natural gas development have clashed.

Well-water tests of 20 more homes in the embattled natural-gas drilling town of Dimock, Pa. showed no contamination levels "that present a health concern based on risk assessments," a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday. "This set of sampling did not show levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take immediate action," said Roy Seneca, a spokesman in EPA's regional office in Philadelphia. The test results reinforced initial findings the EPA released last month on its tests of 11 other residential water wells in the Susquehanna County township, the epicenter of a clash between opponents and supporters of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale formation.

In the latest salvo over Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the embattled town of Dimock, a natural gas company on Tuesday alleged that federal regulators had cherry-picked old test data to distort the amount of contamination in drinking-water wells. Cabot Oil & Gas Co., whose drilling was blamed for the pollution, said that the drinking-water tests the Environmental Protection Agency used to justify its Jan. 19 order to deliver fresh water supplies to four Dimock houses "do not accurately represent the water quality" and are inconsistent with the body of data collected at the residences.

In the latest salvo over Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the embattled town of Dimock, a natural-gas company on Tuesday alleged that federal regulators had cherry-picked old test data to distort the amount of contamination in drinking-water wells. Cabot Oil and Gas Co., whose drilling was blamed for the pollution, said that the drinking-water tests the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used to justify its Jan. 19 order to deliver fresh water supplies to four Dimock residences "do not accurately represent the water quality" and are inconsistent with the body of data collected at the residences.

Federal regulators said Thursday that they would deliver drinking water to four households near natural gas wells in the embattled town of Dimock, casting doubt on Pennsylvania's decision to allow a Marcellus Shale operator to halt deliveries in December. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also said it would conduct its own water sampling at 61 homes in the rural Susquehanna County township "to further assess whether any residents are being exposed to hazardous substances that cause health concerns.

Families in a northeastern Pennsylvania village with tainted water wells will have to procure their own water for the first time in nearly three years as a natural gas driller blamed for polluting the aquifer moves ahead with its plan to stop paying for daily deliveries. Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. ended delivery of bulk and bottled water to 11 families in Dimock on Wednesday. Cabot asserts Dimock's water is safe to drink and won permission from state environmental regulators last month to stop paying for water for the residents.

Pennsylvania's experience with shale-gas drilling has given the Delaware River Basin Commission plenty of reason to take a long and careful look before letting the rigs set up shop in the region's most important watershed. Gas wells bring up millions of gallons of water that carries high levels of radioactivity. Air pollution builds up as drilling rigs and diesel trucks and huge gas-pumping compressors proliferate. Pipelines spread across the land, even where landowners don't want them to cross.

MUNCY, Pa. - State environmental officials are investigating new instances of methane contamination in residential water wells and a northern Pennsylvania stream near a Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operation. The Department of Environmental Protection found the flammable gas in seven water wells in Lycoming County and gas bubbling into nearby Little Muncy Creek. That prompted XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., to stop operations in the county and provide the well owners with bottled water.

A Duke University study has found that methane levels in private water wells are, on average, 17 times higher when within 1,000 yards of a natural gas drilling site. Of 60 wells that the researchers tested for methane in northeastern Pennsylvania and New York, they found the gas in 85 percent. When they fingerprinted the methane - comparing the chemistry of the methane in the wells with that from natural gas wells in the region - "the signatures matched," said Robert Jackson, a professor at Duke and a study author.