Law enforcement officers and biologists with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) said this week they will begin conducting field inspections of active drilling sites for Marcellus Shale gas wells beginning in December.

More than 150 active well sites have been identified so far for inspections, which would take place over the next several months.

“Until now our agency has only reacted to those drilling sites where a problem resulted in material entering a waterway or wetlands,” said PFBC Executive Director Douglas Austen. “We are now taking a proactive approach to identify possible problems at a drilling site and to work with the company to ensure [that] necessary measures are in place to minimize the possibility of damaging nearby waterways.”

The agency wants to focus on those well sites that are in close proximity to state waterways, including wetlands. The inspections would determine if adequate measures are in place at the drilling site and access roads to prevent damage to the nearby aquatic resources.

As part of the inspections, PFBC staff also plans to obtain water quality data from several locations in the nearby waterways.

“The commission recognizes the need for and importance of the development of the Marcellus Shale for gas production and believes it can be accomplished in a manner that provides protection to Pennsylvania’s valuable aquatic resources,” Austen said. “Because of the importance of this issue, waterways conservation officers and field staff have set aside other job duties and functions for a period of time in order to conduct these field inspections.”

In late September the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ordered Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to stop using hydraulic fracturing (hydrofrac) on its natural gas shale wells in Susquehanna County following three spills of a hydrofrac lubricant at a drilling site (see Daily GPI, Sept. 28). DEP ordered Cabot to update its pollution prevention plan outlining where waste would be treated and how pollutants would be prevented from entering the state’s waterways. Cabot also had to submit an engineering study.

DEP gave Cabot the go-ahead to resume hydrofracing wells in October (see Daily GPI, Oct. 20). However, earlier this month Cabot entered a consent order and agreement with DEP for a nine-square-mile area in Susquehanna County, which requires the company to provide a temporary water supply or treatment device to 13 homes. The area was identified by DEP because of concerns about the presence of methane in groundwater supplies (see Daily GPI, Nov. 6).

EP said it issued 1,592 permits to drill gas wells in the Marcellus Shale region in the first 10 months of this year.

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