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Company wants to discharge drilling water into creek

DEP to hold hearing on permit that would allow discharge of treated gas-drilling water.

By Rory Sweeney rsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

The state Department of Environmental Protection will hold a hearing Tuesday for a permit to allow a second proposed facility to discharge treated gas-drilling water into the Susquehanna River watershed.

Hosted by the Tunkhannock Middle School, the hearing will focus on the application from Wyoming Somerset Regional Water Resources Corp. to construct a treatment plant in Lemon Township to treat water contaminated by gas-drilling operations and discharge it into Meshoppen Creek.

About a week ago, roughly 60 people showed up at the school for a similar hearing on a separate permit application to voice concern about how increased natural-gas drilling in the region could affect waterways.

Hydraulic fracturing, the type of drilling used to release gas from the Marcellus Shale, contaminates water by forcing it underground to fracture rock. When it comes back up, it’s laden with salts, minerals from the shale and various chemicals.

That all must be removed before it can be discharged into waterways, but residents are concerned the technology or regulatory oversight won’t be sufficient enough to prevent polluting the waterways. They argued that the water should be reused indefinitely to “frac” other wells.

Tuesday’s hearing will differ from the previous one because the proposed discharge is into a much smaller waterway. The other facility, proposed by North Branch Processing LLC, would discharge into the river directly.

DEP spokesman Mark Carmon said the two applications couldn’t be directly compared. “It’s a different company, different receiving waterway,” he said. “It’s obviously a much smaller waterway. A lot of the comments centered on water quality issues, really focused on the river and its many uses. Meshoppen Creek, it’s a whole different animal.”

The creek is designated a “cold water fishery” for the purposes of sustaining aquatic life, water supply and recreation, he said.

While the North Branch facility applied to discharge 500,000 gallons daily, Wyoming Somerset is looking for 380,000 gallons daily. The concentrations of materials in the discharge water are similar between the two applications.

Carmon lauded those who spoke at the previous hearing for positing “good questions and good testimony,” which he felt “was very worthwhile for the department staff.”

The applications come just weeks after fears over environmental contamination from gas drilling became a reality in Susquehanna County. In September, subcontractors for Cabot Oil and Gas spilled thousands of gallons of a gel used in drilling. The spill was cleaned, but DEP halted the company’s operations until better procedures could be initiated.

If you go

What: DEP hearing on a proposed permit to discharge treated water from gas-drilling operations into the Meshoppen Creek.

When: Tuesday, Oct. 20

When: A public meeting begins at 5 p.m.; the hearing begins at 7 p.m.

Where: The Tunkhannock Area Middle School