Penna. Attorney General Josh Shapiro

From an Article by Deb Erdley, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, 6/12/20

Range Resources, a major driller in the region’s Marcellus Shale industry, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of negligent oversight of Washington County well sites and will pay $50,000 in fines and $100,000 in contributions to the Washington County watershed funds, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Friday.

The plea was the culmination of a two-year statewide Grand Jury investigation into allegations of environmental crimes across the state by oil and gas companies companies engaged in horizontal drilling and fracking.

The charges alleged that Range’s negligent maintenance of a waste water storage pond at the Yeager well site in Amwell Township contaminated the water at local springs on the Yeager property. The neighborhood’s longstanding battle over allegations of air and water contamination was detailed in “Amity and Prosperity,” the 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner for nonfiction.

Charges involving the Brownlee well site in Buffalo Township alleged that leaks from a containment tank holding fracking waste water contaminated nearly ⅓ acre of a nearby farm and required the removal of approximately 100 trees and 12,000 square feet of soil.

“In Pennsylvania, clean air and pure water is a constitutional right, yet too often frackers from across the country come to our Commonwealth, walk into our communities, and — sometimes without care or consequence — strip us of those basic rights. Backed by big investors and big influence, too many fracking companies act like they’re above the law, and put themselves ahead of the people who work on the job site, as well as the farmer, neighbor, and children impacted by their operations. We’re here to remind these fracking companies that the people of Pennsylvania come first,” Shapiro said.

A spokesman for Range Resources said the company has taken responsibility for the incidents cited in the charges, has completed “full remediation, approved by regulators,” at both sites and has enhanced containment operations.

“Over the past decade, Range has led significant advancements in operational innovations that have enhanced the safety and sustainability of our industry, which include becoming the first company to voluntarily disclose our fracturing fluid, and to achieve 100 percent reuse levels through our water recycling program,” Range spokesman Mark Windle said.

Terms of the pleas agreement call for Range to pay a $6,000 fine to the Solid Waste Abatement Fund, $3,000 to the Clean Water Fund, a $16,000 charitable contribution to the Washington County Watershed Alliance for the Brownlee site, $41,000 to the Solid Waste Abatement Fund, and an $84,000 charitable contribution to the Washington County Watershed Alliance for the Yeager site.

The City of Morgantown hereby ordains that Article 721 of its Business and Taxation Code is repealed in its entirety and replaced with a new Article 721 which reads as follows:

721.03 DRILLING PROHIBITED; PENALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT.

(a) Drilling a well for the purpose of extracting or storing oil or gas using horizontal drilling and/or fracturing or fracking methods within the limits of the City of Morgantown or within one mile of the corporate limits of the City of Morgantown is prohibited. For purposes of calculating the one mile distance, it shall be measured from the well head.

(b) Any person who violates this section shall be fined up to the sum of five hundred dollars ($500.00). Each day that such person continues to violate this section after being advised by the City Manager or any law enforcement officer of the City of Morgantown that the law has been violated shall be considered a new offense.

(c) The City Manager shall have the authority to direct the City Attorney or such other legal counsel as may be employed, to institute a civil action seeking an injunction to prevent the violation of this ordinance.

721.04 PERMIT REQUIRED FOR DRILLING WELLS NOT INVOLVING HORIZONTAL DRILLING AND/OR FRACTURING OR FRACKING.

Wells which do not involve drilling operations that utilize horizontal drilling and/or fracturing or fracking shall be allowed within the City of Morgantown; however, no person shall commence to drill any such well for water, oil, gas, or natural or artificial brine or carry on any such development within the City, except pursuant to a permit issued by the Director of Finance, after approval by the City Manager.

721.05 PERMIT APPLICATION; FEE.

Any person desiring to engage in the drilling of a well for water, oil, gas or natural or artificial brine allowed under Section 721.04 of this Article or to carry on the operation of a water, oil, gas or natural or artificial brine well within the City, as allowed by Section 721.04 shall make application to the City Manager upon such forms as may be prescribed. Such application for the drilling of a well for water shall be accompanied by a fee of ten dollars ($10.00), and for the drilling of a well for oil, gas or natural or artificial brine, a fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00).