Shale Gas Wells With Smaller Footprint to Get Greater Scrutiny

Susan Phillips / State Impact PA

A view of the Delaware River from Mil­ford, Pa.

One of the first Mar­cel­lus Shale wells to be per­mit­ted in the Delaware River water­shed was nei­ther hor­i­zon­tal, or hydrauli­cally fracked. But envi­ron­men­tal­ists who chal­lenged the per­mit issued by the Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion say state reg­u­la­tors who approved the project took less than 35 min­utes to review it and did not con­sider its impact on nearby rivers and streams. In a set­tle­ment announced by the Delaware River­keeper Net­work on Mon­day, the orga­ni­za­tion says those days of quick turn-around per­mit reviews are over.

“The DEP needs to do a bet­ter job of review­ing per­mits, rather than just using its rub­ber stamp,” said Delaware River­keeper Net­work attor­ney Jor­dan Yea­gar.  “This set­tle­ment will help make that happen.”

The River­keeper Net­work, along with Dam­as­cus Cit­i­zens for Sus­tain­abil­ity, filed an appeal of the per­mit to the Envi­ron­men­tal Hear­ing Board. New­field Appalachia PA, LLC applied to drill the “Wood­lands” well in Dam­as­cus Town­ship, Wayne County, Pa., less than half a mile from the Delaware river. The nearby Hol­lis­ter Creek water­shed is also des­ig­nated as a “Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion High Qual­ity” (HQ) watershed.

In a press release, the Delaware River­keeper Net­work says the DEP will now update it’s per­mit­ting process when it comes to shale gas wells located within des­ig­nated high qual­ity and excep­tional value watersheds.

“Under the terms of the set­tle­ment, DEP has agreed that for future shale gas projects in spe­cial pro­tec­tion water­sheds (des­ig­nated or exist­ing use of High Qual­ity or Excep­tional Value pur­suant to 25 Pa. Code Chap­ter 93), appli­cants must demon­strate com­pli­ance with the Commonwealth’s anti-degradation reg­u­la­tions prior to the com­mence­ment of any earth dis­tur­bance activ­i­ties.  Prior to this set­tle­ment, for projects under five (5) acres, the Depart­ment was not requir­ing appli­cants to demon­strate this.”

The Delaware River­keeper Net­work opposes shale gas drilling within the Delaware water­shed with­out a cumu­la­tive impact study. DRN’s Maya von Rossum says although she wel­comes the settlement’s terms, more over­sight is needed.

“Our set­tle­ment def­i­nitely secured impor­tant improve­ments to the review process,” said von Rossum. “But we are under no mis­con­cep­tion that this is in any way the cure for gas drilling in the Commonwealth.”

The Delaware River Basin Com­mis­sionhas imposed a de facto mora­to­rium on any new per­mits for the water­shed until the Com­mis­sion agrees to new rules. But the multi-state/federal body has been at an impasse on those pro­pos­als for sev­eral months.