DEP Fines Fortuna Energy Inc. $3,500 for Well Drilling
Violations in Bradford County
PA-DEP News Release
1 February 2010
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA., 17120
CONTACT: Daniel Spadoni, DEP Northcentral Regional Office - 570-327-3659
WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection has fined
Fortuna Energy Inc. of Horseheads, N.Y., $3,500 for violations
discovered last year at three of the company’s natural gas wells in
Troy Township, Bradford County.
“During routine inspections, DEP staff found minor reporting
deficiencies, but also more serious violations that were quickly
addressed by the company,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director
Robert Yowell.
An inspection in February 2009 at the Cease 1H well discovered that the
proper ownership information, including the well permit number,
operator’s name, address and telephone number, had not been publicly
posted by Fortuna as required by Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act.
During a follow up inspection in June at three natural gas wells
drilled on the same pad in Troy Township, flow-back fluids—or the
fluids that are used to break up underground rock and then return to
the surface—were found discharging into a drainage ditch, an adjacent
sediment basin, and eventually through a vegetated area into an unnamed
tributary of the south branch of Sugar Creek. These discharges violated
Pennsylvania’s Clean Streams Law, Solid Waste Management Act, and DEP’s
oil and gas regulations.
The company promptly placed a pump into the sediment basin to pump the
fluids back into tanks and hired a consultant to conduct appropriate
sampling.
The discharge did not cause a fish kill in the unnamed tributary and
DEP samples taken in June found the conductivity, pH, salinity and
total dissolved solid levels in that waterway to be within acceptable
levels.
For more information, call 570-327-3659 or visit http://www.depweb.state.pa.us