Earlier today, word was received that the PA DEP knew of potential wastewater contamination at the Worstell Wastewater Impoundment operated by Range Resources in Cecil Township, Washington County. The Township advised residents about the situation because the DEP declined to do so. Now the DEP is claiming there have never been complaints about water quality near the Worstell Impoundment, which is quite simply a lie.
Below find the letter I sent today to DEP Secretary Abruzzo with documented proof of a complaint made to DEP in late 2012. DEP allowed Range Resources to deal directly with the property owner and despite elevated levels in water tests which would strongly suggest flowback water from the impoundment, decided not to pursue the issue any further.
This is unacceptable on every level.
The pdf version of the letter has attachments; below that is a text-only version.
Scridb filterSecretary Abruzzo,
This morning I received information from Cecil Township in which DEP confirmed possible groundwater contamination at the Worstell wastewater impoundment operated by Range Resources. I am deeply concerned and disturbed by this turn of events, and I believe the Department owes the people of the 46th Legislative District an explanation.
Despite numerous letters and inquiries to DEP regarding concerns about the Worstell Impoundment beginning nearly two years ago and continuing through this week, DEP has shown what I will respectfully call a casual indifference to the truth. The Department has refused to attend public meetings held by Cecil Township, refused to address questions raised by concerned citizens and repeatedly downplayed any problems to the public and the press.
In an email sent by Brian Schimmel at DEP to Cecil Township, it was revealed that Range Resources notified DEP of elevated chlorides in the monitoring wells at Worstell on July 11, 2014. Despite numerous requests for information about Worstell from both Cecil Township and myself, this information was not revealed by DEP for nearly three weeks. The ludicrous excuse given by another DEP employee on the call was that “groundwater migrates slowly and a few weeks will not make an impact”.
Act 13 clearly mandates a public water supplier must be notified immediately of any potential groundwater contamination related to drilling activity. Was Pennsylvania American Water notified in a timely manner? Have they been notified at all?
With all due respect, sir: would you feel comfortable waiting “a few weeks” if your children or grandchildren were drinking and bathing in that water every day?
Equally disturbing is the way information is being gathered and distributed. Nearly every statement given by DEP on this issue begins with “Range Resources told the DEP”. When are we going to start hearing “The DEP told Range Resources”? The dictionary defines ‘regulator’ as “a person or thing that regulates”, not “a person or thing that repeats whatever the entity being regulated tells us”.
As highlighted by Auditor General DePasquale’s recent report, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has seemingly abdicated all regulatory responsibility over the natural gas industry to the drilling companies themselves. You have lost the trust of the public to perform your Constitutional responsibility of protecting the people of Pennsylvania.
And finally, and perhaps most egregiously, DEP is engaging in semantic skullduggery to hide the truth. In the July 31 email to Cecil Township, Mr. Shimmel states, “If private groundwater has been impacted, it is very likely complaints would have been made to DEP re: odor and taste changes. DEP has no current well water complaints filed by nearby property owners.”
Amazingly, DEP spokesman John Poister sent an email to journalist Amanda Gillooly as I was writing this very letter in which he states “DEP has not had any complaints from private water well owners in the vicinity of the impoundment.”
Here’s the problem, and it’s a big one. DEP absolutely knew about previous complaints and took no action. I know this because I found the proof during a DEP file review I conducted last year.
On September 27, 2012, Jonna Ference, a Regulatory Compliance Specialist for Range Resources, wrote an email to Vincent Yantko at DEP in which she describes a complaint from a resident living near the Worstell Impoundment. It says the resident is “concerned because their water has a rotten egg smell to it”. The resident’s name and address was redacted by DEP. The email says that Range Resources was going to order water sampling and testing.
Those test results are also included in the file, along with a letter from Range Resources sent on October 31, 2012 that is clearly designed to minimize certain portions of the results. The letter mentions “strontium and magnesium were reported above the normal maximum value for Western Pennsylvania.” What the letter fails to mention is that strontium and magnesium are clear indicators of flowback water from hydraulic fracturing- the same flowback water being dumped into the Worstell Impoundment.
There is another email from Jonna Ference to Vincent Yantko (which is oddly undated), which says “Just spoke with [REDACTED]. Pleased with Range’s response to her complaint allegation and does not want a separate DEP investigation at this time.”
Based on these emails and the test results, it seems likely, if not probable, that Range Resources entered into some sort of agreement with this resident which could have easily included a financial settlement and/or a non-disclosure clause (which we know to be past practice with Range).
Do you think that resident, or any resident, is competent to know what water quality testing results mean? Do you think they have any way of knowing what elevated chemicals to look for to know if their water was contaminated? Of course not; that’s what their tax dollars are supposedly paying the DEP for. But DEP completely and totally looked the other way; not by accident, but as a policy.
What about the people living downstream? What about hunters who may have eaten animals drinking from that water? What about fishermen who caught and ate fish in downstream waters? They would never know about a problem because DEP never issued an Administrative Order and took no action.
This scenario is exactly what Auditor General Eugene DePasquale outlined in his recent audit of DEP performance. In response, you told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on July 22, 2014, “Most of this audit reflects how our oil and gas program formerly operated, not how the program currently functions”, claiming that DEP’s practices and procedures changed after Act 13 became law. For the record, Act 13 was signed by Governor Corbett on February 14, 2012; the incidents I am referring to occurred nearly eight months later.
So for DEP to tell Cecil Township “DEP has no current well water complaints filed by nearby property owners” is for all intents and purposes an intentional misrepresentation. DEP knew there were problems and went out of their way to avoid telling the complete truth to people desperately seeking answers. Simply put, the DEP lied.
Unless and until sweeping and dramatic changes occur, nobody in Pennsylvania should trust anything the DEP says or does when it comes to Marcellus Shale. The agency has lost the public trust and has shown no remorse or desire to get it back. Instead, the strategy is clearly to double down on the lies, as evidenced by a presentation I attended for elected officials at the DEP office in Pittsburgh in April 2014. We were shown a power point presentation in which DEP claimed there were no incidents of water contamination relating to Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. How such a brazen lie could be presented to public officials is beyond comprehension.
I am working with local officials to pursue any and all options to ensure the health and safety of the people of the 46th Legislative District. It is my intention to formally ask the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to take control of all wastewater impoundment sites operated by Range Resources and to have the Justice Department investigate the matter to determine if there are any criminal repercussions of these events.
The only way to ensure the long-term success of the Marcellus Shale industry is to have a strong, independent regulatory agency to punish bad actors when necessary. Too many of the people I represent have a substantial economic interest in the natural gas industry, either as employees or leaseholders, for me to remain silent. It is time for the misinformation, word games and outright lies to stop. The people of Pennsylvania counted on DEP to do a critically important job, and you have utterly failed us all.Respectfully,
Jesse White
State Representative, 46th District of PA