County Wide water Testing Now is a Necessity

I put this on the Commission agenda for September 6th

I say the price will provide enough sticker shock to stop that dead still.

google news article:
If private well owners anywhere close to Marcellus Shale drilling areas need a wakeup call to protect the integrity of their water supply, here’s a statistic: The natural gas industry in Pennsylvania accrued more than 2,000 contamination-related violations between 2008 and 2010.

An accident posing risks to groundwater doesn’t necessarily come from drilling alone. Ask Lock Haven resident Rebecca Dunlap. Last February, a tanker truck crashed near her property, spilling some 3,600 gallons of frack water within 200 feet of her well.

As reported in the Centre Daily Times’ two-part series on risks to water posed by Marcellus drilling, Dunlap could rest assured that her water wasn’t contaminated from the spill because she had a test done on her well in 2010. The baseline data from that test was compared to one after the spill and found no contaminants.

But what if some contaminants were present in tests after the spill and she didn’t have the results from the earlier test? How could she prove the contaminants weren’t present prior to the accident?

To protect themselves legally, water specialists at the Penn State Cooperative Extension said it is “critical’’ for property owners to have periodic tests conducted.

The northern and western parts of Centre County are of greatest risk of contamination since they are closest to drilling activity, and with it the threat of the escape of drilling mud from the pad site, a spill of potentially toxic flowback water from the drilling process, erosion, sedimentation from development of drilling pads or access roads, or a well blowout.

But as the truck accident shows, there are potential issues for those in areas within proximity of the Marcellus.

State and local officials appear to be on top of the situation. County officials, for example, are developing “zones of contribution’’ to water supplies, which gives them the authority to approach the state Department of Environmental Protection or drillers themselves to request readjustments to of well sites to better protect water from a possible accident or other potential source of contamination.

But the regulatory apparatus for natural gas drilling is still an evolving process in Pennsylvania — critics contend the state was not prepared for the industry’s arrival — and oversight legislation has been slow to come from the General Assembly.

This and the enactment, at a minimum, of extraction fees to aid local municipalities within the Marcellus in dealing with environmental and infrastructural issues should be one of the first orders of business when lawmakers return to session next month.

The need for improved regulations and fees isn’t in question. Even Gov. Tom Corbett’s industry-stacked Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission has recommended as much.

Meanwhile, private well owners in this area shouldn’t wait on Harrisburg. Get your wells tested and obtain the baseline data that could prove so legally and financially valuable.

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2011/08/28/2892125/time-to-get-baseline-testing-is.html#ixzz1WKO8GVHS

The First place to start is at Cass.