Last week, we told you about a Department of Environmental Protection employee’s deposition testimony claiming the state does not report complete lab results, when testing for water contamination near natural gas drilling sites. ”The heavy metals left out of one particular report back to a resident of Washington County,” we reported, “included cobalt, silicon, tin, [...]
A Mount Pleasant, Washington County resident is withdrawing his appeal of the community’s natural gas drilling ordinances. As the Post-Gazette reports, that means the Public Utility Commission will soon send the township its impact fee revenue. The PUC has moved forward with zoning reviews, even as the state Supreme Court weighs whether or not to [...]
Four Pennsylvania townships that have had their impact fee payments withheld say the Public Utility Commission has no right to deny them the money authorized by the state’s new drilling law. Those same four municipalities have sued to have aspects of the new law, Act 13, overturned. A state appeals court ruled in their favor, [...]
Note: Chesapeake Energy’s production data has not been included in the Department of Environmental Protection’s report yet. The company says it submitted the information to the state by Wednesday night’s deadline, and blames a “technical issue” for the snag. Once Chesapeake’s information is included, Bradford County’s totals will certainly go up . We’ll update this [...]
The new natural gas-drilling impact fee puts a lot on township supervisors’ plates. It injects tens of thousands of dollars – in some cases, more than $500,000– into their budgets. And if the township has drilling regulations on the books, the new statewide law will change them. So, when the Pennsylvania State Association of Township [...]
Doctors in heavily drilled areas across Pennsylvania are starting to see more patients who report symptoms they think might be related to gas activity. But with all the talk about health concerns and Marcellus Shale, what are the links between the two? And where does a doctor turn for answers? For this story, we spoke [...]
The Post-Gazette takes a look at the southwestern municipalities who are preparing to challenge Pennsylvania’s new impact fee in court. Their problem: language limiting local governments’ ability to zone and regulate drilling: South Fayette has joined other municipalities in considering legal action against House Bill 1950, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law Feb. 8. [...]
The Department of Environmental Protection says a December spill at a Washington County well was larger than initially thought. Again, the Tribune-Review has more: A gas well leak in Washington County likely involved 80 barrels of condensate, or wet natural gas, in the soil instead of two barrels, the state Department of Environmental Protection said [...]
The Tribune-Review takes a look at some of the jobs natural gas drilling is creating: From 2000 to 2007, the state recorded 17,000 to 20,000 workers in mining and logging, Department of Labor records show. That has jumped by more than 50 percent, largely since May 2009. More than 33,000 Pennsylvanians worked in that sector [...]
Yesterday, we told you about a preliminary Penn State University study showing no correlation between Pennsylvania’s natural gas drilling boom and crime rates. The study found calls to the State Police and arrests have stayed relatively level in Pennsylvania’s top drilling counties. In a phone interview with StateImpact Pennsylvania today, author Gary Zajac stressed the [...]
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