From the NY Times of 2 Dec 2011:
Quote:
Learning Too Late of the Perils in Gas Well Leases
So Mr. Ely said he was surprised several years later when the drilling company, Cabot Oil and Gas, informed them that rather than draining and hauling away the toxic drilling sludge stored in large waste ponds on the property, it would leave the waste, cover it with dirt and seed the area with grass. He knew that waste pond liners can leak, seeping contaminated waste.
"I guess our terms should have been clearer" about requiring the company to remove the waste pits after drilling, said Mr. Ely, of Dimock, Pa., who sued Cabot after his drinking water from a separate property was contaminated. "We learned that the hard way." ...
In Pennsylvania, Colorado and West Virginia, some landowners have had to spend hundreds of dollars a month to buy bottled water or maintain large tanks, known as water buffaloes, for drinking water in their front yards. They said they learned only after the fact that the leases did not require gas companies to pay for replacement drinking water if their wells were contaminated, and despite state regulations, not all costs were covered. ...
Some industry officials say the criticism of their business practices is misguided. Asked about the waste pits on Mr. Ely’s land in Pennsylvania, for example, George Stark, a Cabot spokesman, said the company’s cleanup measures met or exceeded state requirements. ...
Mr. Astrella said that leases also typically lacked a clause requiring drillers to pay for a test of the property's well water before drilling started, and landowners often do not think to do the tests themselves. If drilling leads to problems with drinking wells, landowners have few options if they want to prove that their water was fine before drilling started.
For some landowners, it can be a costly mistake.
"It's been one expense after another since our water went bad, and the company only has to cover part of it," said Ronald Carter, 72, of Montrose, Pa. ...
On Wednesday, Cabot stopped delivering water to the Carters, the Elys and others in Dimock after state regulators said the company had satisfied requirements of a settlement agreement with the state.
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Drilling is already contaminating land and water that provides drinking water for Wilkes Barre, Harrisburg, and Chesapeake Bay (Maryland). That includes Dimock and Montrose. Other water sources currently protected but under threat of future drilling include drinking water for Easton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and a large part of western New Jersey including Princeton.
The Governor of PA has been taking major campaign contributions for stifling all regulation on these drillers. Has insisted all this has not contaminated water supplies. Has banned taxes on any of these wells except by the local county. Even townships get nothing from the risk that they are stuck with long after the drilling companies have no more responsibility. Cities such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia must suffer risk to their water supplies but get no money from the mineral rights.
Burial of toxic chemicals inside plastic sheets is supposed to protect the water? Nonsense.
They can leave extremely toxic chemicals on the land. PA Governor Tom Corbett says that is safe.