Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Chesapeake Energy Corp. Fined For Water Withdrawal Violations

I guess the folks at Chesapeake Energy Corp. have trouble determining just how much water they are permitted to take out of the Susquehanna River in Bradford and Sullivan counties.  Is this believable?  You back your huge truck up to the river's edge and pump too much water into your truck- BY ACCIDENT?  Don't you just look at your clipboard and check the permit?  Aren't there gauges on those vehicles?

Chesapeake was fined $20,000 for 47 violations from April-December 2009.  A mere $425 per violation! The gas company spokesman Brian Grove says they regret the overdraws. Is this acceptable?  Is the "Just say you're sorry" approach enough?  Now the company has added "additional sourcing alternatives that will incorporate real-time automated control systems equipped with automatic shutdown protocols ensuring adherence to daily permitted withdrawal limits."  Well, it's about time.

Is it just me, or could we have reasonably assumed that Chesapeake Energy would already have had control systems in place by this time?  This isn't rocket science, is it?  If the gas drillers can't even figure out how much water they are taking out of our rivers, how can they be expected to handle much more serious operational tasks which can have lethal consequences?

We are in big trouble.

Read an article from the Towanda Daily Review (3/23/2010) by Staff Writer James Loewenstein.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!
LEAVE SOME WATER FOR THE FISH PLEASE!
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMay 18, 2010 at 4:12 PM

    The gas holes are a considerable nuisance regarding our public and environmental safety and our futures. I advice readers to do some research of what these companies have done to other towns all over our nation. They spread like parasites and suck from the earth until we have nothing to give our children and their children and so forth. And now they will build a ghetto in Sayre. As if they didn't have enough problems already.

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