Posts Tagged ‘Jerry Lynott’

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

Partnership of two energy companies lines up area covering over 25,000 acres in the Back Mountain for gas exploration.

By Jerry Lynottjlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer

Just a few sites have been approved for natural gas drilling in Luzerne County, but a partnership of two energy companies has signed leases for more than 25,000 acres, primarily in the Back Mountain, to explore the Marcellus Shale formation that runs underneath.

Since September, Whitmar Exploration Co., of Denver, Colo., has been signing leases with property owners in nine townships and Harveys Lake borough. The company has been working with EnCana Oil & Gas USA Inc. in a joint venture to develop the properties. EnCana holds a 75 percent interest in the leases and is responsible for drilling.

Whitmar wanted to partner with an experienced operator, said Wendy Wiedenbeck, a public and community relations adviser for EnCana.

“This is what we do,” said Wiedenbeck. “We have a team working on this project that possesses deep experience gained from working on similar projects across North America.”

EnCana received approval Tuesday from the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board to sink a well in Lake Township and set up a natural gas metering station in Fairmount Township. In April, Lehman Township officials approved drilling for another well.

Wiedenbeck on Wednesday confirmed a map provided to The Times Leader was one EnCana prepared for the Back Mountain Community Partnership to show the extent of the leaseholds.

She cautioned that “the map is quite dated,” having been created in February. Whitmar has signed additional leases into April, according to a search of the county property database.

Wiedenbeck said EnCana’s presence will grow in the region. “As we move forward, EnCana is acquiring new leases.”

When pieced together, the leases cover large swatches of land in the largely rural northern and western sections of the county. The leaseholds range in size from under 1 acre to over 100 acres.

Fairmount Township had the most coverage with approximately 7,500 acres leased, according to the map. Lehman and Ross townships each had nearly 4,300 acres leased; Lake Township, close to 2,600 acres; Jackson Township, 2,400 acres; Huntington Township, 1,400 acres; Dallas Township, 1,300 acres; Hunlock Township, 700 acres; Union Township, 400 acres; Plymouth Township, 200 acres; and Harveys Lake, 50 acres.

The region has also attracted the attention of another major player in the natural gas industry.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has signed 93 leases since August 2007. More than two-thirds of them were filed this year, according to county property records.

Copyright: Times Leader