Rules to Drink By: State approval can help protect everyone's water
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
15 June 2010
After mishaps occurred this month at two Marcellus Shale gas wells --
in Clearfield County and in Moundsville, W.Va. -- assorted calls have
been heard around Pennsylvania for a moratorium on deep drilling for
natural gas.
Those calls are premature. What's needed is tough regulatory oversight
from the state Department of Environmental Protection and approval from
the Legislature for a Marcellus Shale tax that will support a fund to
address ill effects of such activity.
DEP has added personnel statewide to keep a close eye on the booming
industry and is conducting on-site safety reviews in response to the
Moundsville explosion, which burned seven workers. It is investigating
the cause of the "blowout" in Clearfield, after ordering the company at
the site to suspend new well drilling and well completion operations at
50 sites in Pennsylvania.
DEP must continue to be a vigorous regulator in this area, balancing
the interests of water consumers, business, property owners and the
state's natural environment. That's how the agency is approaching the
need for effective new rules on water that will see action this week in
Harrisburg.
An obscure rule-making body will have the chance to protect
Pennsylvania's rivers and streams and help preserve them as a source of
drinking water and a healthy environment for fish and other wildlife.
DEP has written two rules that would prevent fouling of the water
supply, and the state's Environmental Quality Board already has
approved them. The five-member Independent Regulatory Review
Commission, which has the job of making sure proposed regulations are
in the public's best interest, will consider them on Thursday.
The most significant of the two regulations would put limits on the
discharge into waterways of "total dissolved solids" -- elements
collected in water including sulfates, sodium, calcium and chlorides.
While TDS can be traced to a variety of industries, including coal
mining, the expansion of underground drilling for natural gas from the
Marcellus Shale makes this proactive move essential.
Millions of gallons of water are used in each well that extracts
natural gas from the rich deposits deep beneath the ground and it
becomes contaminated with dissolved solids, at levels that are 600
times what is safe for drinking. The volume of water involved in deep
shale drilling increases the hazard. Even though the discharges are
added to existing bodies of water, the concentration of pollutants can
go up significantly. Because water treatment plants generally are not
able to remove TDS during the filtration process, the only recourse
when safe limits are exceeded is to stop drinking the water.
If Pennsylvania doesn't manage to keep the level of dissolved solids in
its waterways under limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, tighter federal controls will would be imposed, further
restricting business operations and other uses. That's why this measure
is good for people, good for fish and good for business.
The second regulation ripe for action this week is the so-called buffer
rule. This would set aside strips of land on the banks of
Pennsylvania's most pristine rivers and streams so they could not be
developed. The rule would cover 25 percent of the state's waterways and
would prevent building within 150 feet of the water, but it provides an
exception for developers who get their applications completed and filed
within 90 days of when the rule would take effect.
DEP has carefully structured both rules in recognition of the needs of
businesses as well as the greater mission of preserving the state's
life-giving waters for the future. That's why IRRC, in considering the
interests of all stakeholders, should have no problem approving them.