Pa. DEP: Bradford County-based unit can get to incident anywhere within 5 hours.

Experts trained to deal with catastrophic events at natural gas wells now will be stationed 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Pennsylvania.

Recent high-profile accidents at natural gas wells in Pennsylvania prompted the Department of Environmental Protection to arrange emergency response services with a leading company that is opening a new operation in the state, DEP Secretary John Hanger announced Monday.

CUDD Well Control will locate a new facility in Canton Township, Bradford County, which means a highly specialized emergency response crew will be located about five hours from any natural gas well in the state, according to a DEP press release.

By comparison, it took 16 hours for out-of-state crews to address a June 3 blowout in Clearfield County and 11 hours to extinguish a July 23 fire in Allegheny County. In both cases, well operators had to wait for response crews to fly in from Texas.

“Recent accidents in our state have shown that the natural gas industry lacks the training and equipment to respond quickly to accidents. This creates a tremendous danger to the public and the environment. When an accident occurs, we cannot wait 10 or more hours for a crew to fly in from halfway across the country,” said Hanger, adding that CUDD’s presence in the state will ensure fast, expert response to emergencies at well sites.

Dr. Tom Jiunta, founder of the Luzerne County-based Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition, said that although he is happy to hear that expert emergency crews will be located closer to local gas wells, DEP’s response is “an after-the-fact remedy.”

Jiunta said he asked officials at a local zoning hearing how long it would take expert emergency responders to get to a well blow-out in Northeastern Pennsylvania and no one could provide an answer.

“It’s a double-edged sword. It’s good that we’ll have specialty crew in the state, but at the same time, it’s scary that we’re inviting an industrial process that needs to have a specialty response team nearby,” Jiunta said.

CUDD’s new operation will give Pennsylvania 16 specially trained well-control responders and a senior well-control responder in the state at all times. Senior responders can provide an initial assessment of emergency situations, advise local first responders and coordinate emergency response measures with other well control specialists.

Equipment at CUDD’s new facility will include: a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump; heat shields to protect responders as they work near a well fire; pneumatic cutting devices that clamp onto damaged pipe to allow responders to cut it at a safe distance; and a “hot tap,” which will drill a hole into damaged pipe to either relieve the pressure or allow responders to pump material into the well to kill it.

The state will use CUDD’s services as needed through emergency contracts on a case-by-case basis, so there is no cost to taxpayers unless CUDD personnel are mobilized. If that happens, the state will seek to recoup the costs from the well operator.

Hanger said he expects to have a contract with a well-control specialty company through a competitive bid process by Oct. 15.

He said natural gas well emergencies pose a considerable cost to local emergency crews, but enacting a severance tax would offset the additional expenses.

“When accidents happen, the natural gas industry should be bearing those costs, not the public or our fire, EMT and police departments. That’s one of the main reasons we need a severance tax; so taxpayers aren’t shouldering this financial burden and emergency response crews have the funds they need to respond appropriately, as well as get proper training and equipment,” he said.

While finalizing the 2010-11 state budget, lawmakers agreed to vote on a severance tax by Oct. 1 with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2011.

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