Posts Tagged ‘Dan Spadoni’

BY STACI WILSON (Staff Writer)
Published: July 2, 2010

HOP BOTTOM – Linda and Bob Lewis didn’t sign up to be part of Susquehanna County’s natural gas plan, but the industry is coming to them anyway.

The Lathrop Twp. property owners live along Route 2002, outside Hop Bottom, where Chief Gathering, a subsidiary of Chief Oil and Gas, is constructing a 12-inch pipeline headed to a nearby compressor station.

The pipeline construction is taking place on private property along a state Department of Transportation right of way.

It is the construction along the road that has Mrs. Lewis alarmed.

“They’re going right through the yard,” she said. “I’m so upset about it. PennDOT has given out permits to run the pipeline through the right of way and they say there is nothing we can do about it.”

PennDOT spokeswoman Karen Dussinger confirmed that the agency granted the gas company permission to install the pipe in its right of way. Ms. Dussinger said the right of way varies from place to place and could range between 25 feet and 50 feet from the centerline of the road.

“Property owners often believe they own the land right up to the road itself, but that isn’t so,” said Ms. Dussinger.

She explained the right of way is an easement the state gives PennDOT in order to maintain the roads.

Mrs. Lewis is concerned about the proximity of the pipeline to her home.

“I don’t know how they can go so close to homes with a 12-inch pipeline,” she said. “If that thing blows, we’re off the map.”

She said she has known about the pipeline coming through the area since January, but only recently learned it would be built along the side of the road she lives on. She said she has tried to contact Chief Oil and Gas for months but her calls were not returned.

Officials at Chief Oil and Gas could not be reached for comment.

Department of Environmental Planning, Bureau of Oil and Gas spokesman Dan Spadoni said the agency requires erosion and sediment control plans along proposed pipeline routes. He said a storm water discharge plan may also be required on pipeline projects.

DEP would also require a construction and encroachment permit if the pipeline was going to cross any streams or impact a wetlands area. DEP does not regulate the material and construction standards or set a minimum depth the pipeline has to be laid below the ground.

“It’s scary to have a 12-inch pipeline right out in front of your home,” Mrs. Lewis said. “That’s a lot of pressure.”

Contact the writer: swilson@independentweekender.com

View article here.

Copyright:  The Scranton Times

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. denies the allegation and said it has evidence to back its position.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DIMOCK TWP. – The state is alleging an energy company is responsible for contamination of a water well, a spring and wetlands after a black fluid was discovered recently near a Marcellus Shale drilling site in Susquehanna County.

The company denies responsibility.

The state Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday sent a notice informing Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. that violations of the state Clean Streams Law, the Oil & Gas Act and the Solid Waste Management Act were documented on site visits near the A&M Hibbard well pad on March 22-24.

The visits were the result of a phone report from Cabot of the presence of a black fluid in a ditch near the site on March 21.

“The investigation revealed that black fluid originating on the … drill pad was not properly contained in a pit or tank (and that the fluid) entered a hand dug well and a spring near the location, as well as a wetland downgradient of the spring,” the notice states.

“We believe it was waste from their drill pit,” DEP spokesman Dan Spadoni said Thursday.

He said he doesn’t think anyone was using the spring for drinking water, and the well was used only as “a back-up” water supply by the property owner.

Cabot has 10 days to provide the cause(s) of the incident, when the violations were or will be corrected, the steps taken to prevent their recurrence and documentation of clean-up activities.

DEP also asked Cabot to investigate the condition of the drill pit and liner and “strongly recommends that the liner and (drill) cuttings be removed from the pit and properly disposed of prior to restoration of the site.” The department also requested notification after all cuttings and fluid are removed from the pit so DEP can inspect the liner.

Cabot spokesman Ken Komoroski said the company has not confirmed the source of the fluid, but has confirmed that “Cabot activities are not the source.”

Komoroski said Cabot checked with its “independent third-party consultant,” which concluded that “the observance of black water in the well did not and could not have occurred as a result of Cabot activities” based on “observation and extensive analytical testing.” He said the well and spring contained “total and fecal coliform, which is indicative of human or animal waste” and that “the materials that exist in the well in high concentrations don’t exist on Cabot locations.”

Asked if any of the materials Cabot uses were found in the well, Komoroski said the company does not yet have all analytical results from lab tests and a final report is still in draft form. DEP continues to investigate the incident and Cabot will continue to cooperate and support the department’s efforts, he said.

The Clean Streams Law and Solid Waste Management Act provide for civil penalties and criminal fines ranging from a maximum of $10,000 per day to a maximum of $25,000 per day for each violation. Each day of continued violation constitutes a separate offense.

Copyright: Times Leader

DEP probes Cabot Oil & Gas query about “discharge of black water” in Dimock Twp.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

DIMOCK TWP. – The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating a possible leak or spill at a natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County.

Mark Carmon, DEP spokesman at the Wilkes-Barre office, said the department received a call to its emergency response line from Cabot Oil & Gas Co. on Sunday afternoon informing the department that employees found “a discharge of black water” at the site.

The call was referred to the department’s Gas & Oil Program team, which operates from DEP’s Williamsport office.

Dan Spadoni, DEP spokesman at that office, said the team is investigating “the possibility of a spill or leak at Cabot’s Hibbard drill pad” since Monday, but has not yet determined if there was a spill or leak at the site.

Spadoni said there are two wells on one pad at the site, and no drilling activity is currently taking place. He said the team took samples from a private drinking water well that is currently not being used, from two nearby springs and from the site pit.

The samples are being analyzed at DEP’s lab in Harrisburg.

“We need to see those results to see what our future course of action will be,” Spadoni said.

He expected lab results back in a week or two.

Spadoni said Cabot’s consultant also collected samples and the drill cuttings in the pit for analysis. Site pits, which are lined, are where the residue from the drilling and hydraulic fracturing processes ends up, he said.

There was discussion on an online Susquehanna County gas forum about the possibility of a nearby pond being drained, but Spadoni said he had no information about the pond and no samples were collected from it.

He confirmed Cabot had a vacuum truck on-site “in response to where this dark fluid was observed. It was a voluntary measure on their part,” he said.

Spadoni said he believes there was no recent drilling activity at the site. The site had not been shut down because of the discovery of the liquid, he said.

Ken Komoroski, spokesman for Cabot Oil & Gas, said there was no indication of any environmental contamination or pollution.

“Discolored water was observed over the weekend and Cabot immediately responded to observing water in a ditch. We notified DEP and took the additional measure to have a vacuum truck remove water from ditch,” Komoroski said, adding that employees noticed the water while driving by the site on Route 29.

Cabot also drained the pit to check if it was possible the water was leaking from the drill pit, but the pit liner was “completely intact. All indications are that it was not a result of Cabot activities,” Komoroski said.

Komoroski said the drill site has been in existence “for quite some time, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason” for the discolored water to appear “since it hasn’t been active site. We were not able to identify any potential cause or relationship.”

He said the water was found “in the vicinity of the site, but close enough that we wanted to consider the possibility that it was related to our activities.”

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

The initial events polluted a wetland and caused a fish kill in Susquehanna County.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Cabot Oil and Gas has been issued a letter of violation for two liquid-gel spills last week at the company’s Heitsman natural-gas well pad in Susquehanna County, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced on Tuesday.

The spills of about 8,400 gallons, which polluted a wetland and caused a fish kill in Stevens Creek, were followed up by a third spill at the site on Tuesday morning, according to DEP spokesman Dan Spadoni.

A hose burst, according to DEP, and released about 420 gallons of the same lubricant. A catch basin retained most of it, Cabot spokesman Ken Komoroski said, but it’s unknown what happened to 10 gallons.

He said he was unaware of the spills causing any environmental damage, but acknowledged that a dam created to block the contaminant caused flow problems and that DEP noticed “the minnows downstream were distressed and/or swimming erratically.”

“We think that it’s important to residents that no contaminants from the spill have compromised Stevens Creek,” he said.

The spilled material, known as LGC-35, suspends sand in water to fracture rock in the gas-drilling process used in the Marcellus Shale region.

LGC-35 is a “potential carcinogen,” according to its Material Safety Data Sheet, and can cause eye, skin and respiratory irritation, along with “central nervous system effects,” such as dizziness and headaches.

Komoroski said the drilling contractor, Halliburton, has since revised the safety sheet to exclude the carcinogenic reference because the potential cancer-causing agent is a “potential contaminant” to the gel, not part of its formula. Halliburton told Cabot the contaminant wasn’t present in the spilled batches, but Cabot is performing its own testing to confirm that, Komoroski said.

He added that Cabot feels Halliburton should have been cited for the spill. Halliburton had flushed the wetlands with clean water and collected the effluent before the third spill, Spadoni said, and it won’t be known whether the land needs to be excavated until results from soil samples are announced. “I would anticipate that would be done fairly soon,” Spadoni said.

Cabot has 10 days to respond to the violation notice with how it plans to further clean the affected area and prevent future spills. DEP may assess a civil penalty in the case, for which Komoroski said Cabot would seek compensation from Halliburton.

Copyright: Times Leader