Posts Tagged ‘Fish and Boat Commission’

BY STEVE McCONNELL (STAFF WRITER)
Published: July 15, 2010

A company developing a railroad facility to serve the natural gas drilling industry is also seeking to withdraw 905,000 gallons of water a day from the Lackawanna River in Fell Twp. to support its operation.

Honesdale-based Linde Corp. began developing the Carbondale Yards Bulk Rail Terminal this year inside the Enterprise Drive business park to provide a transportation mode for materials and to mix fluids on-site that natural gas drilling companies use in the drilling process.

Susan Obleski, a spokeswoman with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which regulates surface water withdrawals in the watershed, said the commission is reviewing Linde’s application to see if flow meters, which measure the amount of water in the river at all times, will need to be installed around the withdrawal point as a way to mitigate potential impact to aquatic life, especially during drought conditions.

Linde officials have said they intend to mix the drawn water with sand and a chemical concentration to create a “drilling mud.”

The river withdrawal point, which is located near Linde’s facility, is also upstream from a stretch of the Lackawanna River from Archbald to Olyphant designated as wild, “trophy” trout waters with stringent fishing regulations enacted by the state Fish and Boat Commission.

Larry Bundy, a law enforcement assistant regional supervisor for the state Fish and Boat Commission, which also regulates state waters and aquatic wildlife, said Wednesday that he “wasn’t aware” of Linde’s application. However, he said his agency relies on the river basin commission’s biologists and staff to make determinations on whether water withdrawals may impact trout or other aquatic life.

“I haven’t seen any problems,” he said of other commission-approved water withdrawals in his Northeast Pennsylvania jurisdiction.

As of Monday, the river basin commission had only approved only one water source withdrawal for natural gas-related development projects in Lackawanna County – 91,000 gallons a day from the South Branch of Tunkhannock Creek in Benton Twp.

It has approved dozens of others throughout its 27,510-square miles jurisdiction, however, including 22 water withdrawal applications specifically for natural gas projects in Susquehanna County.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission could vote on Linde’s application at its September meeting.

Contact the writer: smcconnell @timesshamrock.com

View article here.

Copyright:  The Scranton Times 

PA American Water Co. to sample water from Huntsville Creek near natural gas well.

By Jerry Lynottjlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer

A water company has begun inspecting a creek flowing from the Huntsville Reservoir as a result of a permit issued for a natural gas well in Lehman Township.

PA American Water Co. also will soon begin sampling water from Huntsville Creek, company spokesman Terry Maenza said Thursday.

The testing is to check whether drilling has affected the 1.9-billion- gallon reservoir that supplies drinking water to the utility’s customers. The reservoir is in the Back Mountain area of Luzerne County where more than 25,000 acres have been leased by companies planning to tap into the natural gas rich Marcellus Shale formation underground.

Technicians will go out once a week to take water samples, said Maenza, “so we have baseline data.”

Last month township officials approved a drilling permit for EnCana Gas & Oil USA Inc. It has partnered with Whitmar Exploration Co. to locate possible drilling sites within nine townships and Harveys Lake in the Back Mountain.

PA American has two reservoirs bordered by lease holdings. The 2.9 billion gallon Ceasetown Reservoir also is located in Lehman Township. In conjunction with Huntsville, Ceasetown supplies water to 100,000 people in the Wyoming Valley, Maenza said.

The reservoirs have 500-foot buffer zones around them where drilling is not permitted, he explained.

Maenza added that the water company relies on regulators and inspectors to enforce laws related to drilling and disposal and treatment of waste water used in the hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the high pressure injection of a mixture of water, chemicals and other materials to break up the rock containing the natural gas.

The utility frequently is in contact with the state Department of Environmental Protection on a number of issues, including permits issued for drilling. “They’re letting us know about it,” Maenza said.

Two other water companies that serve customers in the Back Mountain are leaving oversight up to DEP, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission and the state Fish and Boat Commission.

Donna Alston, a spokeswoman for Aqua Pennsylvania, said existing DEP regulations provide protection for the company that draws its water from wells. The company provides service to customers in Luzerne County through its White Haven Division. Statewide it serves 1.4 million people in 30 counties.

Still, Aqua is stepping up its own efforts.

The utility “will be monitoring water quality more frequently and extensively than required by regulation whenever drilling activity is occurring anywhere near one of its well supplies to detect and respond to any water quality changes that might occur,” Alston said.

What steps United Water takes depends upon how close a natural gas well is drilled to one of its water wells, said spokesman Bob Manbeck.

“If a permit for extraction was under consideration within a one mile radius of a United Water-owned well, we would intervene in the permitting process and attempt to ensure that the extraction points are an appropriate distance from our wells,” said Manbeck.

United Water has six wells in Dallas, two each in Dallas Township and Harveys Lake and one in Noxen Township in Wyoming County. It serves 10,000 customers in the Back Mountain.

Copyright: Times Leader

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

About 8,400 gallons of a gel used in drilling natural-gas wells was spilled on Wednesday at a well being drilled in Dimock Township for Cabot Oil & Gas, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday.

Spilled at the Heitsman well site, the substance affected an unknown amount of “shallow wetland,” said company spokesman Ken Komoroski.

DEP and state Fish and Boat Commission officials were on hand Wednesday and Thursday as a crew cleaned up and contained the material, said DEP spokesman Mark Carmon. It may have gotten into Stevens Creek, he said.

“What was done was the spilled material was immediately contained” using an eight-man crew, Komoroski said. “The gel was able to be removed by vacuum trucks.”

The spill occurred as Halliburton was using a fluid to fracture the Marcellus Shale and release the natural gas within it, he said. Baker Tank, the contractor responsible for tanking and piping for the “frack” job, allowed a pipe to come loose and release the gel, he said.

“This is certainly disappointing to Cabot that this occurred,” Komoroski said. “On the other hand, these are the types of things that are typically unforeseeable and it’s important to react to it when it occurs.”

The slippery substance is “relatively innocuous,” he said, but “does have the potential for eye, skin and respiratory irritation.” Used to help suspend sand particles evenly throughout the so-called fracking fluid, it’s made of “paraffinic material” and polysaccharides, or something like fluid wax and starch.

Copyright: Times Leader