SWPA Landowners Allege Range Withheld Info in Water Well Case
MDN has been highlighting stories and writing about potential water well contamination by Range Resources at their Yeager well and wastewater impoundment site in Amwell Township (Washington County), PA since 2012 (see MDN's list of Range/Yeager stories here). Residents living nearby have claimed their wells were contaminated, and their health affected. Range finally closed the wastewater impoundment at the site last year (see Range Resources to Begin Closing Yeager Impoundment on Monday). A judge ordered Range to produce a list of all chemicals used at the site since it was first drilled. One of the things Range didn't disclose, according to the residents living nearby, was that the company used "tracer" chemicals when they originally drilled the well in 2009. Tracers are used to track the presence of fracking fluids. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) eventually ruled the water wells near the Yeager site were not contaminated by Range's activities. The landowners are now appealing that decision based on this "new" evidence that Range used tracers, but never disclosed the use of tracers that investigators could have used in looking for evidence of contamination. The neighbors are alleging that Range engaged in a cover-up to keep what might have been damning evidence from the plaintiffs...
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