Water Wells

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.

The threat of natural gas drilling has made the Upper Delaware River the most endangered waterway in the nation, according to a national advocacy group. The nonprofit American Rivers plans to announce that dubious distinction - its 25th in as many years - Wednesday at noon at a City Hall news conference. The Upper Delaware - the stretch from Upstate New York along the Pennsylvania border and south to the New Jersey line - is believed to be an exceptionally rich area for drilling, and drilling companies have already scrambled to snap up thousands of leases from homeowners.

On the heels of penalizing one natural gas operator $240,000 for contaminating water wells, Pennsylvania's top environmental official Thursday urged the industry to immediately adopt proposed new drilling standards rather than waiting for them to be formally enacted. John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, summoned industry representatives to Harrisburg to discuss new construction standards for wells drilled to tap natural gas reserves. The new guidelines are designed to reduce the chance of incidents such as the one that has contaminated 14 water wells in the Susquehanna County town of Dimock.

On the heels of penalizing one natural gas operator $240,000 for contaminating water wells, Pennsylvania's top environmental official Thursday urged the industry to immediately adopt proposed new drilling standards rather than waiting for them to be formally enacted. John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, summoned industry representatives to Harrisburg to discuss new construction standards for wells drilled to tap natural gas reserves. The new guidelines are designed to reduce the chance of incidents such as the one that has contaminated 14 water wells in the Susquehanna County town of Dimock.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection fined a Marcellus Shale operator $240,000 Thursday, ordered it to plug three gas wells, and banned it from drilling for one year in a Susquehanna County community that has been plagued with contaminated water wells. DEP Secretary John Hanger said Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. of Houston had failed to correct problems that caused gas to migrate to 14 residential water wells in Dimock Township. One water well exploded last year, an incident often cited by activists who are seeking a moratorium on drilling.

A husband and wife awake each morning without a trace of memory about their identities or the home they've slept in, together. So every morning, in Lee Blessing's oddly disorienting play A Body of Water, they must begin a process of discovering who they are - and no matter what they believe about themselves by day's end, it will all be lost again by next morning. The scenario's a little far-fetched. Blessing (A Walk in the Woods) sees his play, currently on the stage of Act II Playhouse in Ambler, as meaning something more than its surface plot: He has written that it's a metaphor for a world in which our identities are not fully under our control.

This is the war on terrorism that most Americans don't know about: A few days after Christmas, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Adam Reed rode into the parched, hungry village of Sankabar with a present: a new water pump. This month, Reed returned to the village, where elders gleefully showed the soldier from Sidon, Miss., what the simple irrigation system had brought: budding green fields of corn, bananas and oranges, the most promising crops in years. A small U.S. military task force in East Africa is installing water pumps, rebuilding schools and health clinics, making medical house calls, and training national armies - all part of a mission to stabilize a region that is seen as a potential breeding ground for terrorist groups.

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 will pay to connect residents of the Rahway section in East Norriton to the public water system. The hookup is required by state and federal agencies to circumvent tainted wells believed to pose health risks, officials said at a public meeting Wednesday night. Hookup construction for the 50 households dependent on well water will likely begin this summer, said EPA on-scene manager Myles Bartos. Although experts haven't determined how much the project will cost, funding will come from the federal government's Superfund.