Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?
Range Resources has had a long-running dispute with some of the neighbors near some of it’s wastewater impoundments in Washington, PA. Without recounting the details (see MDN’s previous stories here), the entire thing came to a head recently when the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) completed their investigation and fined Range the highest amount any driller has paid so far in the modern shale drilling era (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Part of the deal is that Range is closing those impoundments. There are, of course, legal actions involved, as you might expect. One of the neighbors near the Yeager impoundment sued Range with claims of well water contamination from chemicals leaking from the impoundment. The DEP determined the landowner’s well was not contaminated by the Range impoundment and the landowner challenged that finding in DEP’s version of court, the Environmental Hearing Board. Testimony at the hearing last week from a DEP official about the investigation indicates the DEP “might have used incomplete and inaccurate test information to decide whether chemicals leaking…contaminated a water well and springs”…
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Range Resources has just had their knuckles rapped, hard, by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) with respect to wastewater/recycled water impoundments (i.e. ponds) they operate in Washington County, PA. Range has been fined the most any company has been fined by the DEP in the modern shale era–$4.15 million. They will also be required to close five of the seven impoundments they’ve operated in the county (Range was closing them anyway), and make major upgrades to the two remaining impoundments. There’s no way to sugarcoat this–Range was taken to the proverbial woodshed by the DEP and got a lot more than a switch to the rear-end…
In March 2013, the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) burst onto the scene. It had been a closely guarded secret, the creation of a few hand-picked people from both industry and the environmental movement working together to see if there is any common ground on which both sides can agree that shale development would be safe, sustainable AND affordable. They worked hard for over a year and finally hammered out a set of 15 standards that if a driller (or midstream company or contractor) would meet, it would get a stamp of approval from both the industry and environmental groups as being a good goobie–a safe driller. We were somewhat skeptical from the start (see 
Who knew the U.S. Constitution had a clause in it that grants the Deerfield, Massachusetts town health board “unlimited power” to do what they want to do. That’s what Cristobal Bonifaz, a lawyer from Conway, MA, is claiming. Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to federal law, is the sole agency charged with granting or withholding permission on interstate pipelines, Bonifaz says the Deerfield health board has “unlimited power” to do what they want, and he’s volunteering to be their attorney in attempting to stop the expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through the township. How?…
Finally! On Friday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection wisely granted drilling permits to Rex Energy for a site 3/4 of a mile away from a school in Mars (Butler County), PA. Some of the Martian parents are anti-drilling and demanded the school board engage in the illegal action of setting up a no-drill zone two miles beyond school property (see