A man who worked at a Marcellus Shale gas well in Bradford County, PA, has been charged with dumping 800 gallons of hazardous materials from the drilling site. State police said 27-year-old Josh Foster of Temple, Ga., admits dumping the chemicals on state game lands in Warren Township. Troopers said Foster worked for a contractor sub-contracting to Talisman Energy at one of its drill sites near the dump location.
According to police documents, a Talisman superintendent reported someone intentionally dumped what looked like black sludge-like material. An internal investigation by Talisman led them to Foster. He is behind bars in Bradford County on $100,000 bail.
A pool of viscous black liquid was discovered Thursday on State Game Lands 219 in Warren Township, Bradford County. The substance waa found less than two miles from a Talisman Energy natural gas well pad
....and this is the culprit; Josh Foster, 27, of Temple, Georgia,
There is definitely some fishy business going on here. The company that is removing waste is being paid to take it away and dispose of it (legally) BUT procedures are not being followed here and the waste ends up being dumped on gamelands 2 miles away, so someone is pocketing the money that should be used to dispose of this waste? Myles Lawrence, a Talisman Energy drilling superintendent, said that the substance, used in the gas drilling industry, is dangerous, according to the complaint, although the DEP is still trying to confirm what the substance is.
Ordinarily, it is supposed to be treated on-site, including by mixing it with dirt, and then taken to a landfill. The sludge was extracted from the Strope well site, but it was not treated before being dumped.
Then a little over a month later, on January 10th, we have
Police probe hydraulic fracturing fluid spill in Bradford County
Pennsylvania State Police, the state Department of Environmental Protection and Talisman Energy are investigating the Tuesday morning spill of up to 20,000 gallons of wastewater created by the hydraulic fracturing process at a natural gas well pad in Bradford County.
The actual volume of the spill at the well on Ayres Road in Canton Township was unknown Tuesday afternoon because the company had not yet finished measuring it, said Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Talisman Energy.
State Police in Towanda are investigating the spill as criminal mischief. Someone intentionally tampered with a tank on the well pad between midnight and 8:30 a.m. Tuesday to cause the spill, according to a police report.
Cox could not confirm the cause of the spill because it is still under investigation.
The spilled liquid is called production brine or "flow back water," Cox said, explaining that it's "the water that comes back after the hydraulic fracturing is complete."
"It flows to the surface after water and hydraulic fracturing fluid are injected into the well", she said.
It seems that this is not uncommon for this poorly-regulated industry in Pennsylvania, where shale drilling has been going on awhile, and where industry standards seem to have anything but Pennsylvanians and their environment's interests at heart. More later....
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