Keep Tap Water Safe

Caveat Emptor: DEP Not Required to Report Gas Drilling Violations to Landowners

Violations at Pennsylvania Mar­cel­lus Shale gas drilling well pads and asso­ci­ated infra­struc­ture occur at an average rate of 12-a-day, according to Iris Marie Bloom, director of Protecting Our Waters in Showdown Expected at the SRBC Corral by Susan Phillips of StateImpactPA. Some violations are more serious than others, but one thing they all have in common: the PA Department of Environmental Protection is not required to notify landowners of any violations on their leased properties, even though they’re on the line for damages.

“Land owners get rich from fracking, but don’t know about violations in their backyards.”

CNNMoney’s Poppy Harlow broke the news to lease-holders in Hughesville, PA who had no idea the violations had occurred on their property. DEP posts all violations on its website, yet these landowners don’t own a computer. The landowners were stoic in the face the revelation, and they all wanted more information. It’s a respectful and detailed piece of reporting which points to yet another gaping hole in the DEP’s current effort to regulate shale gas, and its failure protect PA residents. What’s more, no one can accuse Harlow of being a radical!

value=”http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2012/03/14/harlow-pa-fracking-violations.cnn&#8221; /><param name=”bgcolor” value=”#000000″ /></object>

Tags: CNN, Iris Bloom, Poppy Harlow

This entry was posted on March 14, 2012 at 6:44 pm and is filed under DEP, hydraulic fracturing, PA DEP, Unconventional Gas Drilling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.