Pennsylvania DEP Fines Chesapeake Appalachia $565,000 for Multiple Violations
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Chesapeake Appalachia LLC a total of $565,000 in civil penalties and reimbursement costs for erosion and sediment control violations, wetland encroachment violations and an April 2011 well control incident.
Chesapeake was fined $215,000 for a March 2011 incident in West Branch Township, Potter County, Pa., where sediment discharged into a stream classified as high quality. High-quality streams receive some of the highest levels of protection in the state, and operators are expected to ensure their work does not negatively affect them. In late February and early March, heavy rain caused significant erosion to an access road and Chesapeake's Beech Flats gas well pad, both of which lacked sufficient controls in place to prevent the runoff. As a result, significant amounts of sediment entered the Right Branch of Wetmore Run, a high-quality stream.
The sediment traveled downstream and impacted Galeton Borough Authority's water treatment filters. Chesapeake has since paid $190,000 to the authority to repair and upgrade the water supply facility and has made assurances it will reimburse the authority any additional costs associated with the incident.
DEP issued a compliance order that required Chesapeake to cease all activity at the site that would disturb earth. Chesapeake was also ordered to implement additional measures designed to lessen environmental impact and submit a revised erosion and sediment control plan. The company has since installed silt fences, silt socks, gravel surfacing of the access road and a storm water capture ditch.
In addition, Chesapeake paid $190,000 as part of a consent order and agreement after the operator lost control of a well head during hydraulic fracturing of the Atgas 2H Well in Leroy Township, Bradford County, Pa., on April 19, 2011. Fluids from the well mixed with rainwater and entered a nearby unnamed tributary to Towanda Creek and Towanda Creek itself. On April 20, DEP detected levels of TDS, chlorides and barium that were higher than background levels at the mouth of the tributary, where it enters the creek. Subsequent testing further downstream and on the following days showed these levels returned to normal background levels.
A third incident also occurred in North Towanda Township, Bradford County, Pa.
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection