[On December 20, 2023, the Associated Press published this update on the resumption of shale gas drilling in the Dimock area of Susquehanna County after criminal charges against Coterra Energy, Inc. were resolved last December [Read more here] and a consent order and agreement signed with the Department of Environmental Protection [Read more here]]
A year after pleading no contest to criminal charges, one of Pennsylvania’s leading natural gas companies is poised to drill and frack in the rural community where it was banned for a dozen years for polluting the water supply.
Coterra Energy Inc. has won permission from state environmental regulators to drill 11 gas wells underneath Dimock Township, in the state’s northeastern corner — the sweet spot of the largest natural gas field in the United States, according to well permit records reviewed by The Associated Press.
Billions of dollars worth of natural gas, now locked in shale rock deep underground, await Coterra’s drilling rigs.
Some landowners, long shut out of royalties because of the state’s lengthy moratorium, can’t wait for the Houston-based drilling giant to resume production in Dimock. Other residents dread the industry’s return. They worry about truck traffic, noise and the threat of new contamination.
Coterra has not set a date for the resumption of drilling. A company spokesperson, George Stark, said “Coterra is committed to safe and responsible operations wherever we work.” Under its deal with the state, the driller agreed to monitor drinking water supplies within 3,000 feet of the new gas wells and take other steps designed to mitigate risk.
Dimock, a tiny crossroads 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the New York state line in northeastern Pennsylvania, became ground zero in a national debate over fracking — the extraction technique that spurred a boom in U.S. oil and gas drilling — after residents began reporting that methane and drilling chemicals in the water were making them sick.
A state investigation concluded that faulty gas wells drilled by Coterra’s corporate predecessor, Cabot Oil & Gas, had allowed methane to leak uncontrolled into the community’s aquifer. Cabot was banned from Dimock in 2010 after regulators accused the company of failing to keep its promise to restore or replace the water supply. An Emmy Award-winning documentary, “Gasland,” showed residents lighting their tap water on fire. [PaEN]
Click Here to read the entire article.
[Note: Weekly reviews of DEP’s Oil and Gas Program inspection reports shows DEP is putting a significant amount of time into inspection of Coterra Energy operations in the Dimock area of Susquehanna County every week. Read more here.]
NewsClip:
-- AP: Drilling Under Pennsylvania's 'Gasland' Town Has Been Banned Since 2010, It's Coming Back
Related Articles - Dimock:
-- Republican Herald/Scranton Times Editorial: DEP Professes Unwarranted Faith In Shale Gas Drillers [PaEN]
Related Articles - Oil & Gas Health, Environmental Impacts:
-- CNX Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Facility Malfunction Dec. 27 Released 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas; Same Facility Plagued Community With Blowdowns 3 Times A Day, 7 Days A Week For Nearly 10 Years Until Criminal Charges Brought Against CNX [PaEN]
-- New Penn State Study Finds Runoff From Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Dumped On Unpaved Roads Contains Pollutants That Exceed Human-Health, Environmental Standards [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project - Part 1: Personal Narrative Of Environmental, Health Impacts From Oil & Gas Drilling On Siri Lawson, Warren County [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project - Part II: Personal Narrative Of Environmental, Health Impacts From Oil & Gas Drilling On Siri Lawson, Warren County [PaEN]
-- DEP Reports Shale Gas Operations Sent Over 138,000 Cubic Feet Of Radioactive TENORM Waste To Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facilities For Disposal In 2022 - Over 911,000 Cubic Feet Since 2017 [PaEN]
-- House Committee Hearing On Increasing Safety Setbacks Zones Around Natural Gas Facilities Heard About First-Hand Citizen Experiences On Health Impacts, From Physicians On Health Studies And The Gas Industry On Job Impacts [PaEN]
-- Sen. Yaw, Republican Chair Of Senate Environmental Committee, Calls Bill To Reduce Shale Gas Industry Impacts On Health, Environment ‘Stupid’ [PaEN]
-- State Dept. Of Health Pushing For Changes To Reduce Adverse Health Impacts From Natural Gas Development [PaEN]
-- University Of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health Studies Find Shale Gas Wells Can Make Asthma Worse; Children Have An Increased Chance Of Developing Lymphoma Cancer; Slightly Lower Birth Weights [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project Finds Results ‘Very Concerning’ From University Of Pittsburgh Studies Showing Links Between Natural Gas Development And Lymphoma Cancer, Worsening Asthma Conditions, Lower Birth Weights [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project: Gov. Shapiro Must Acknowledge Health Risks Of Natural Gas Development And Take Meaningful Action To Protect The Public [PaEN]
-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]
-- 9th Compendium Of Studies On Health & Environmental Harms From Natural Gas Development Released - ‘The Rapidly Expanding Body Of Evidence Compiled Here Is Massive, Troubling And Cries Out For Decisive Action’ [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project: PA’s Natural Gas Boom - What Went Wrong? Why Does It Matter? What Can We Do Better To Protect Public Health? [PaEN]
-- Environmental Health Project: How DEP Issues Permits For Shale Gas Facilities Without Considering Cumulative Impacts - How New Facilities Will Add To Existing Pollution Loads And Impact The Area [PaEN]
-- Former Employees Of Eureka Resources Oil & Gas Wastewater Treatment Company Ask For Criminal Investigation Of Eureka And An Audit Of DEP Over Alleged Workplace, Environmental Violations [PaEN]
-- Other PA Environment Digest Articles
PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:
-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 16 to 22 - 46% More Conventional NOVs; More Abandoned Wells; Conventional Well Fire; Venting Gas, Spills, Plugging Mess [PaEN]
-- Conventional Oil Well Storage Tanks Burn In McKean County, 6 Local Fire Companies Respond [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Compliance So Far In 2023 - It Isn’t Pretty [PaEN]
-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - December 23 [PaEN]
-- DEP Posted 56 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In Dec. 23 PA Bulletin [PaEN]
Related Articles This Week:
-- AP: Drilling Under Pennsylvania's 'Gasland' Town Has Been Banned Since 2010, It's Coming Back [PaEN]
-- CNX Resources Begins Disclosing General Information On Fracking Chemicals, Air Monitoring Results Online At 2 Shale Gas Well Pads [PaEN]
-- Oil & Gas Facilities Self-Reported 13,432,713 Tons Of Air Pollution In PA In 2022; 101,741,616 Tons Total Since 2012 [PaEN]
-- US DOE, Treasury Release Proposed Regulations Implementing Clean Hydrogen Production Credit Setting A Sliding Scale For Credits [PaEN]
-- CNX Ends Coordination On West Virginia Adams Fork Ammonia Energy Project, Anchor Of ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub Application [PaEN]
-- HEI Energy, Penn State Study Uses 28,500 Water Sample Results To Help Identify Oil & Gas Industry Groundwater Pollution [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves Water Withdrawal Requests For Shale Gas Drilling In Loyalsock, Pine Creek Exceptional Value Watersheds [PaEN]
-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves 32 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use General Permits In Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wyoming Counties [PaEN]
-- FERC Approves PJM $1.25 Billion Winter Storm Elliot Settlement With Non-Performing Natural Gas, Other Electricity Generators [PaEN]
-- Project InnerSpace Launches Cross-Collaborative Future of Oil/Gas Well-Based Geothermal In Pennsylvania Study [PaEN]
-- PUC Update On Investigation Of Dec. 12 Home Explosion In Sewickley Heights, Allegheny County [PaEN]
NewsClips This Week:
-- The Allegheny Front: Environmental Groups Pressure Gov. Shapiro To Crack Down On Shale Gas Industry
-- ABC27: PA Environmental Groups Hold Press Conferences Asking Shapiro To Take Action On Fracking
-- Fox News Guest Essay: Pennsylvania’s Radical Plan To Produce Energy And Protect Our Environment - By Gov. Josh Shapiro & Nick Deiuliis, CEO CNX Resources
-- PA Capital-Star: CNX Gas Company Begins Self-Reporting Air Quality Data As Part Of Shapiro Partnership
-- Bob Donnan Blog: Oil & Gas Industry Air Pollution In Pennsylvania
-- Bob Donnan Blog: Oil & Gas Industry Groundwater Pollution
-- Marcellus Shale Gas Industry Coalition: All We Want For Christmas Is - Permit Reform; More Energy Infrastructure
-- StateImpactPA - Rachel McDevitt: PA Shale Gas Drilling Activity, Gas Prices Fall, Report Says [406 new shale gas wells drilled in 2023 increasing DEP’s workload]
-- Bloomberg: Congressional House Democrats Investigate Diversified Energy Oil/Gas Producer Methane Emissions, Business Practices [PA Largest Conventional Well Operators]
-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Diversified Energy Oil & Gas Well Company Share Drop Sharply After Congressional Democrats Start Well Probe
-- Tribune-Democrat: CPV Fairview Natural Gas-Fired Power Plant Gets $900,000 School District Tax Repayment After Reassessment Settlement
-- TribLive: Home For Holidays Has Different Meaning For Victims Of Natural Gas Explosion In Plum Boro, Allegheny County
-- AP: 1 Dead After Propane Gas Hotel Explosion In Lancaster County
-- WPXI: Major Natural Gas Leak At Ross Twp., Allegheny County Business Forced Road Closures, Evacuations
-- KDKA: Explosion, Fire At AmeriGas Propane Gas Facility In Beaver County, No Injuries
-- Bloomberg: LNG Natural Gas Shipping Rates Slump On Lower Demand Despite Red Sea Chaos
-- Inside Climate News: Thousands Of Oil/Gas Wastewater Spills Threaten Property, Groundwater, Wildlife, Livestock Across Texas
-- Reuters: Texas Grid Over Relies On Natural Gas To Restore Power After Blackouts, Study
-- The Guardian: How US Utilities Keep Fossil Fuels In New Homes
[Posted: December 20, 2023] PA Environment Digest
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