Arbitration Possible for Hydrofracking Dispute
Oil and gas giant Chesapeake Energy cannot yet arbitrate claims that its “ultrahazardous” hydraulic fracturing made groundwater flammable in Pennsylvania, a federal judge ruled.
They said the Chesapeake and its affiliates then had to conduct “remedial perforations and cement squeeze operations” on one of the wells in November 2011, “allowing contaminants … to escape from the well bore for as many as seven days” in May 2012.
Though the driller’s samples showed the Leightons’ water was of good quality in May 2011, stats allegedly changed after the hydrofracking occurred.
The Leightons said the state Environmental Protection Department and Chesapeake Appalachia took samples in May 2012 showing substantial increases in the levels of methane, ethane, propane, iron and manganese in the Leightons’ groundwater.
While the creek on the Leightons’ property began bubbling at the surface, the groundwater “drastically changed in clarity and color, had a foul odor, contained noticeable levels of natural gas,” and had “become flammable,” the couple claimed.
Chesapeake Appalachia allegedly made the water temporarily safe for residential uses, “but not for drinking,” the next month. To keep gas from infiltrating at “dangerous and explosive levels,” the company allegedly installed a “sub-slab air insertion system” in the Leightons’ basement.
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