EPA Responds To Krancer’s Letter; Krancer Says Missive “Speaks For Itself”

Scott Detrow / StateIm­pact Pennsylvania

DEP Sec­re­tary Michael Krancer

The Asso­ci­ated Press has fol­lowed up on Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Sec­re­tary Michael Krancer’s most recent com­bat­ive let­ter to the fed­eral Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency, which we ini­tially reported on the StateIm­pact web­site Mon­day afternoon.

The EPA is con­sid­er­ing deliv­er­ing water to res­i­dents of Dimock, Susque­hanna County, whose well water has been con­t­a­m­i­nated by methane allegedly tied Cabot Oil and Gas drilling operations.

Krancer called the fed­eral agency’s under­stand­ing of the sit­u­a­tion “rudimentary.”

The AP has the EPA’s response:

In an email, the EPA said Tues­day that the fed­eral agency intends to work in a coop­er­a­tive spirit with the Penn­syl­va­nia Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Protection.

“We con­tinue to keep Mr. Krancer and the depart­ment updated as we’re actively review­ing the sit­u­a­tion in Dimock and fill­ing infor­ma­tion gaps,” the agency email said.

…The EPA’s involve­ment in Dimock has been erratic. Fed­eral reg­u­la­tors told res­i­dents in late Novem­ber their water didn’t pose a health threat, then back­tracked as more sam­pling data came in that the agency said mer­ited fur­ther investigation.

Then, on Fri­day, EPA offi­cials promised to hire a con­trac­tor to deliver water to the res­i­dents. A day later, EPA reneged and said the mat­ter was still under consideration.

I spot­ted Krancer at the Penn­syl­va­nia Farm Show this after­noon and asked if he had any­thing else to add about the sit­u­a­tion. He wouldn’t bite, only say­ing, “the let­ter speaks for itself.”