News Meet your Government Departments/Agencies Nations Blog RSSDONATE Obama Administration Sues Exxon for Polluting Pennsylvania Drinking Water with Toxic Fracking Waste Back to News inShare Wednesday, July 24, 2013 (photo: Ron Jenkins, Fort_Worth Star-Telegram/AP) Having settled one water pollution case, an Exxon subsidiary is now facing a federal lawsuit alleging its hydraulic fracturing operations contaminated water supplies in Pennsylvania. XTO Energy is accused of polluting groundwater with fracking waste from its natural gas well pad and storage facility in Hughesville, Lycoming County, according to the lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice claims XTO Energy allowed flowback fluid and wastewater byproduct to reach water supplies. The complaint says that “flowback fluid and produced fluid contain brine, proppant, hydraulic fracturing chemicals, dissolved solids, heavy metals and radionuclides.” The litigation comes only days after the Exxon subsidiary agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and to spend $20 million to improve wastewater management practices involving its Pennsylvania and West Virginia natural gas operations. The improvements are to include installation of an alarm system that will warn plant operators of onset of spills. In the settled legal case, the Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cited a Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection inspector’s visit to XTO’s Penn Township plant, where wastewater was seen spilling from an open valve from a series of interconnected tanks. The identical combination of pollutants was found in a Susquehanna River basin tributary, which was traced back to the XTO plant. The new lawsuit was filed almost simultaneously with media reports saying a “landmark federal study” commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy revealed “no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site.” The study’s controversial results were called “preliminary.” Both the study and the lawsuit involve fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation. The government’s lawsuit seeks civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day for violations occurring after January 2009, and an injunction against further violations of the Clean Water Act (pdf). -Noel Brinkerhoff To Learn More: U.S. Sues Fracker in Pennsylvania (by Erin McAuley, Courthouse News Service) XTO Settles Federal Water Pollution Charges in Pennsylvania (by Nick Snow, Oil & Gas Journal) EPA Halts Study Linking Fracking with Water Pollution (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov) Fracking Companies Buy Silence of Families with Contaminated Water (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov) Top Stories Unusual News Where is the Money Going? Controversies U.S. and the World Appointments and Resignations Latest News Only 1 in 5 Americans Trust the Government to Do What Is Right Big Drug Firms Mobilize Patient Groups to Lobby against Publication of Secret Drug Testing Data Secret Pakistan Report Documents High Civilian Death Toll from U.S. Drone Strikes Endangered Great Barrier Reef Hit with Unarmed U.S. Bombs during Exercise with Australia Is Angela Corey the Worst Prosecutor in the United States? Commentsmore Sean Gillhoolley 1 hour ago Here in Quebec the government has put a temporary ban on fracking until further studies can be done...to translate this for non-Quebecers, we will not allow fracking here. Americans need to start electing people who actually look out for their interests, which is not always the bottom line, but sometimes looks at things like quality of life. We dont get why you put up with so much nonsense down there.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:02:23 +0000
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