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DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group
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DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group
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CP's breaking news and analysis of the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. Click here to join the "Frack Track" Google group and receive email updates.
This isn't quite breaking news â it's been covered by a few papers in western Pa. and I mentioned it briefly in a recent "Man Overboard" column â but it's gotten surprisingly little play in the media, considering the severity of the claims being made.
The Allegheny Defense Project, a grassroots group dedicated to preserving the environment, ecology, and wilderness of the Allegheny mountains, has charged the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection with illegally permitting water withdrawals.
Here's the breakdown: Hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation underlying much of Pa., requires water â lots and lots of water. In eastern and central Pennsylvania (the Delaware and Susquehanna river basins, respectively), that water can be drawn from Pa streams and rivers only with the permission of that watershed's river basin commission.
But in the part of western Pa. which lies in the Ohio River Basin, there is no basin commission to permit water withdrawals. Instead, argues the ADP, those rivers and streams are governed by riparian rights: governed, in other words, by the property owners themselves.
The group charges that DEP has been illegally giving drilling companies permission to withdraw water â charges which they outlined in a letter to DEP Secretary John Hanger (download the full letter here).
According to Board Director Bill Belitskus, the DEP â more than a month later â has yet to respond.
From the Allegheny Defense Project press release:
âThe fact is, the DEP has absolutely no authority to permit water withdrawals in Pennsylvania,â said Cathy Pedler, ADP's forest watch coordinator. âOutside of the Delaware and Susquehanna River watersheds, water withdrawals are governed by riparian rights common law, which means only those who live adjacent to the water can make reasonable use of the water on their land. A gas company cannot take water that flows through property it does not own.â
Nevertheless, documents obtained by ADP reveal that the DEP is unlawfully authorizing water withdrawals from western Pennsylvania streams and rivers. On March 31, 2010 the DEP approved a Water Management Plan for Hanley & Bird, Inc. The Water Management Plan allows Hanley & Bird to withdraw 1.44 million gallons of water a day from the Redbank Creek in Jefferson County for five years.
[...] DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group :: The Clog :: Blog A... [...]
[...] DEP is illegally permitting gas company water withdrawals, says watchdog group :: The Clog :: Blog A... [...]
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