State EPA Cracks Down on Marcellus Shale Drillers

The state Department of Environmental Protection is attempting to clamp down on Marcellus shale natural gas drillers, asking the companies to stop sending potentially harmful wastewater to sewage treatment plants.

Michael Krancer, secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, known as DEP, last week gave a May 19 deadline to the companies to voluntarily stop sending wastewater to 15 treatment plants still allowed to accept it.

The facilities were grandfathered into a new set of regulations issued last August, the Total Dissolved Solids, or TDS, regulations.

The DEP is concerned the facilities are not equipped to properly treat the wastewater for “fracking” fluid before releasing it back into the water supply.

Natural gas from the shale is extracted by a process known as hydrofracking, or hydraulic fracking. Bromides found in the resulting fracking fluid are not harmful alone, but they create a carcinogenic compound when they react with chlorine found in sewage treatment plants. 

“While the prior administration allowed certain facilities to continue to take this wastewater, conditions have changed since the implementation of the TDS regulations,” DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said. “Now is the time to take action to end this practice.”

Marcellus shale is a natural gas deposit found in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York that has been the main source of new jobs in Pennsylvania in recent years. Concerns about Marcellus shale drilling abound, however, and a move to impose a severance tax failed in the Legislature last year.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition, known as MSC, the lobbying group for the industry in Pennsylvania, responded to Krancer in a letter sent last week, claiming they support the deadline.

“Our members are carefully reviewing their operations and support achieving this milestone by May 19, 2011,” the coalition said in its letter. “To maximize the benefits of this opportunity for future generations, we understand that we must continue to operate responsibly with regard to our most important resources, notably Pennsylvania’s environment.”

But some lawmakers say stricter action must be taken.

State Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-Clearfield, minority chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, argued that if the water treatment has a “damaging effect” on drinking water, the Legislature should take a firmer stance on the industry paying to clean the water.

“Pennsylvanians have a guarantee in the state Constitution for clean water,” said George. “If this treatment is inadequate, we must find and fund alternatives, much better alternatives. I think the gas industry should help pay for those alternatives because the status quo isn’t working for anybody, especially Pennsylvania’s water supplies.”

George said that while the state government is facing a deficit of at least $4 billion, there are “some things we must do.”

“We have the ability in our society, with our technology, to make air, to make heat, to make biofuels,” said George, “but we can’t make water. The truth of the matter is our water has been under severe strain ever since the industry needed to utilize it or do a job with it.”

State Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, who sits on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, praised both Krancer and the actions by the DEP to protect Pennsylvania’s drinking water supply.

“In my part of the state, people are very concerned about drinking water and issues with regard to hydrofracking possibly damaging drinking water, and sewage plants are not designed to handle what’s in frack water,” said Harper. “It’s inappropriate to think a sewage plant can appropriately treat frack water and release it into a stream that ultimately makes it into someone’s drinking water.”

Harper said she also supported actions taken by the Delaware River Basin Commission, or DRBC, to implement new drinking water regulations, but expressed skepticism over whether this was a matter for the Legislature to handle now.

“I hope (the DEP and DRBC) have enough people to do the job right,” she said. “We know this is a problem so we just have to make sure we have enough people and we do good regulations (and) as the Legislature, we leave it in the hands of the people who are supposed to be experts.”

The DEP is facing proposed budget cuts by Gov. Tom Corbett of $7.2 million for the coming fiscal year, down from $147.1 million to $139.9 million.

State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne, minority chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, echoed the concerns over drinking water safety. He cited incidents of illegal dumping of Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater in western Pennsylvania that are currently being pursued by the state attorney general’s office.

“I applaud DEP for its reaction to our concerns, seen in its directive to end the treatment of Marcellus Shale wastewater at 15 treatment systems in Pennsylvania,” said Yudichak. “Whether it is bromides or other compounds, it is essential that we consider the long-term effects that the discharge of treated drilling wastewater might have on the Commonwealth’s waterways.”

State Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, who sits on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, said he supported the DEP and the move by Krancer.

Vitali said he did not see the Legislature stepping into the situation.

“It was a good move on the part of Secretary Krancer to do that,” said Vitali. “I am happy to see that Secretary Krancer ordered additional testing, for example, for radiation in seven waterways. This is a good step, so I am not anticipating any legislative action on water issues at this time.”