PA DEP Fines Carrizo $192K for 2 Incidents in Wyoming County
In Mach 2013 Carrizo Oil & Gas was fracking a Marcellus Shale well in Wyoming County, PA when they lost control of the well and wastewater and brine started coming out of the well faster than they could handle it–about 800 gallons a minute. Eventually about 200,000 gallons of wastewater and brine overflowed at the site (see Carrizo Problem Fracking NE PA Well, Evacuates 3 Nearby Families). About a month later, after investigating the damage, the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) allowed Carrizo to resume their fracking and drilling operations in that area (see Carrizo Resumes Fracking at Site of Spill in Wyoming County, PA). It’s now more than a year later and the DEP has just handed Carrizo a $192,044 fine for failing to keep control of the well, which resulted “in environmental degradation and the evacuation of citizens from their homes.” The fine also covers a second, much smaller incident that happened in April 2013…
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Range Resources built an open-air frack wastewater and brine impoundment in Amwell Township (Washington County), PA in 2009–the Jon Day Impoundment. At the time, they installed a monitoring system under the impoundment to alert them (and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection) in case the impoundment–essentially a big pond with a rubber liner–sprung a leak. The monitoring system included 4-inch perforated pipes under the impoundment located inside trenches of gravel. The theory was/is if anything leaks, it will hit one of those pipes and come out the end. According to the DEP the monitoring system was “over and above” DEP requirements at the time. Unfortunately, the monitoring system somewhere along the way failed and the impoundment sprung a leak and now we have some 15,000 tons of “contaminated” soil which has nearly all been removed from the site…