DEP Allows Driller To Continue Operations Despite Two Accidents in As Many Months

• Marie Cusick
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  Marie Cusick was the Harrisburg reporter for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

In the span of two months the same gas drilling company, Carizzo Marcellus, has had two accidents in Wyoming County and spilled thousands of gallons of fracking fluid.
After the first accident on March 13 released more than a quarter million gallons of fluids and forced the evacuation of three homes, the state Department of Environmental Protection asked the company to halt all operations within the state.
But the DEP allowed Carizzo to resume work just a few weeks later, before the agency’s own investigation was complete.
Now Carrizo has spilled another 9,000 gallons at a different well site in Wyoming County.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly says both investigations are ongoing. She told WNEP-TV the accidents are being treated as separate incidents.
State records show the Texas-based company has drilled 89 wells in Pennsylvania since 2009 and paid more than $113,000 dollars in penalties for infractions ranging from administrative recording-keeping to mishandling waste.
According to the Associated Press, the recent spill impacted a farm with miniature horses, but the animals were moved to safety and the public was not in danger.
WNEP-TV has more on the most recent spill:

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