Pa. gas-well numbers on the decline

Pa. gas-well numbers on the decline

PITTSBURGH

The number of active Pennsylvania gas drilling rigs is continuing to decline, but the number in West Virginia is increasing.

Houston-based oil-field services company Baker Hughes Inc. reported that there were 95 drilling rigs operating in Pennsylvania, down one from the previous week. That’s also down from 108 a year earlier and from a peak of 16 reached during the summer of 2011.

There were 22 rigs in West Virginia last week, up one from the previous week and up four from a year ago.

Drilling rigs bore the holes and set pipes, but all wells don’t go into production immediately.

Water tests show safe levels in Pa. village

ALLENTOWN, Pa.

Federal regulators say the latest well-water test results for the northeastern Pennsylvania village of Dimock do not show unsafe levels of contamination.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed testing at 61 homes in Dimock, where a gas driller is blamed by some residents and anti-drilling groups for polluting the aquifer.

EPA released data on the final 12 homes. The agency says the latest sampling “did not show levels of contaminants that would give EPA reason to take further action.” Regulators say one home did show an elevated level of methane.

Cabot and pro-industry groups have said the EPA testing shows the water is safe. Residents who are suing Cabot and anti-drilling activists accuse EPA of misrepresenting the data.

Dimock has been at the center of a debate over the environmental and health effects of Marcellus Shale drilling.

Pa. says it probes all health complaints

PITTSBURGH

The Pennsylvania Department of Health says it investigates every claim by residents that gas drilling has caused health problems, but several people say the agency’s actions don’t match its words.

Two western Pennsylvania residents told The Associated Press that health officials have fallen short in responding to their health complaints.

The AP also found that the toll-free number the agency gives out for gas-drilling complaints doesn’t mention the issue in its automated menu, and the agency’s website doesn’t have a specific place for people to file such complaints.

And the AP inquiry showed that the agency didn’t begin keeping track of possible health complaints tied to gas drilling until 2011, several years after a surge of activity in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale.

“Everybody kind of just passed the buck,” said Sheri Makepeace, a northwestern Pennsylvania resident who said that starting last year, she tried calling the Department of Health and other agencies over fears that nearby drilling created health problems. “I’ve talked to so many different people and have gotten so many different stories.”

Christine Cronkright, a spokeswoman for the agency, said the agency stands by earlier statements that it responds to, investigates and issues a formal response to all complaints about gas drilling and public health. Officials are working on how and where to share information on the issue with the public and expect to release details in the near future, she said.

The AP also found that previous responses from the Department of Health about the numbers of complaints it has received about drilling and health have been at best confusing and at worst misleading.

Pa. fracking firm lays off 40 over low prices

BRADFORD, Pa.

A northwestern Pennsylvania fracking operation has laid off 40 workers because low natural-gas prices are slowing down drilling efforts.

Universal Well Services president Roger Willis told the Bradford Era he’s hoping the layoffs are a short-term problem and that the company is looking for more work.

The employees being laid off worked for the company’s office in Bradford, about 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

The company offers hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, services to drilling companies. Fracking is the process of injecting chemically treated water into the ground to release natural gas trapped underground, most notably in the Marcellus shale formation.