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Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Families Affected By Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ In Greene County Have A Little Happier Holiday Thanks To Water Donated By Center For Coalfield Justice

On December 14, the Center for Coalfield Justice provided another round of free bottled drinking water to families impacted by an alleged ‘frack-out’ of an EQT shale gas well near New Freeport in Greene County. They have been without clean drinking water since June.

The group distributed 60 five-gallon containers of water to families in need for the holidays.

On November 19 the group provided over 3,000 cases of water for affected families at the New Freeport Fire Company. [Read more here.]

A “frack-out” occurs when fracking fluid is pumped down a shale gas well under pressure to fracture shale rock to promote natural gas flow, but instead finds an abandoned conventional oil and gas well and follows that well up to groundwater aquifers and sometimes blows out on the ground surface like a geyser.

On June 19, EQT reported a “possible communication” between its 13H lateral well and an abandoned conventional oil or gas well while fracking two new wells at its Lumber pad along Martin Hill Road near New Freeport in Greene County. [Read more here.]

In a statement to Public Source in July, EQT said, “water was brought to the surface near an abandoned well” and that it had stopped drilling operations at its well a mile away “out of an abundance of caution.”

Under state Act 13 of 2012 Section 3218(c), an unconventional shale gas well operator is presumed to be responsible for pollution of a water supply if the water supply is within 2,500 feet of the vertical wellbore and must provide temporary water supplies to those affected.

In this instance, the Center for Coalfield Justice said, almost no one affected lives within 2,500 feet of the well.

“Ongoing testing shows that the water for dozens of households is unsafe to drink,” the Center for Coalfield Justice said in a statement. “There is currently an ongoing investigation by the Department of Environmental Protection, but most residents are outside the ‘zone of presumption’ and are not being supplied with replacement water.”

“Since June, many residents have purchased every drop of water they drink or cook with,” Coalfield Justice wrote in its statement. “Some of them are still showering with unsafe water. The nearest big-box store is 40 minutes away, and city water is unavailable in their area. This frack-out has completely and unfairly inconvenienced them and negatively affected their quality of life.”

DEP is continuing its investigation of the June incident.

Visit the Center for Coalfield Justice website for more information.

Related Articles - Oil & Gas Industry Impacts:

-- Center For Coalfield Justice Holds First Water Distribution Day Nov. 19 To Help Provide Families Drinking Water In Greene County Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site In June [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land [PaEN]

-- Citizen Complaints Result In DEP Issuing PA General Energy More Violations At Loyalsock Creek Gas Pipeline/Water Withdrawal Construction Site In Lycoming County [PaEN]

-- Presentations Now Available From Shale Gas & Public Health Conference In Nov. Hosted By PA League Of Women Voters & University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health [PaEN

-- Senate Hearing: Body Of Evidence Is 'Large, Growing,’ ‘Consistent’ And 'Compelling' That Shale Gas Development Is Having A Negative Impact On Public Health; PA Must Act [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Natural Gas Drilling: An Industrial Machine Moving Across The PA Countryside Leaving Behind Big Liabilities & Spreading Pollution Everywhere It Goes [8.3.22]

-- Better Path Coalition: 65 Organizations, Businesses, 2,700+ Individuals Petition Gov.-Elect Shapiro To Ban Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater [PaEN]

DEP Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 17 to 23 [PaEN]