In 1930, my greatgrandparents purchased a beautiful farm in Bradford County, PA, in a little hamlet called French Azilum. In the summer, we spent time there, resting, breathing in the fresh air, enjoying the wild flowers, the bright stars and planets on a clear moonlit night, and swimming in the Susquehanna River. If gas drilling is allowed to continue, Bradford County and all of Pennsylvania will be forever changed, ruined beyond repair.
Salt Spring State Park
Laurel Lake Creek flows into Silver Creek which flows through this park.
[Photo: Gary Li]
It's a go for Laser Northeast Gathering Company! They can now resume their installation of the 33-mile natural gas pipeline. They had a little glitch- three "inadvertent returns" of drilling mud- this month, but now everything is back to drill, baby, drill normal. The pipeline has to go under Laurel Lake Creek, a stream designated as an exceptional value waterway. However, in eleven days, there were three accidents involving mud mixed with bentonite surging up into the pristine creek and making an utter mess. The PA DEP is saying that there will be no lasting damage, no effect on aquatic creatures. They say that most of the spilled material was recovered. Think about this: You pour gallons and gallons of mud into a creek. How do you know you got most of it up? And how do you really know how much mud actually did come up out of the ground and into that water?
Laser CEO Thomas Karam met with DEP Secretary Michael Krancer in Harrisburg Monday and got the go-ahead to proceed with the pipeline project. They re-started drilling on Tuesday. They are going to use a smaller drill to try and "intercept the existing pilot bore." Laser already constructed a flume at the site to divert the water around the bore. See video.
No fines have been levied thus far.
Comment regarding the mud return from Susquehanna River Watch: LINK
This is very sad news. Three mud spills in just a few days. No small matter to ruin a creek deemed exceptional value. But this kind of thing will continue in all probability because the pipeline industry cannot know that something is wrong before it happens. Or maybe they can know, but they will continue to drill and install pipelines anyway. A little collateral damage is okay, right?
An eyewitness covering this accident continues her report: "Next day , I went to see more clean-up activity than ever and more mud oozing out and two containment pits-- and it's spreading over a 1/2 mile to the next creek-- they can't stop it so far-- it's powerful mud and a lot a pressure under the earth pushing this out-- the creek is all brown and muddy and it was pristine clear-- what a sad sight--"
A PRISTINE WATERWAY IS RUINED
GAS DRILLING IS HAZARDOUS TO OUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH OF OUR PRECIOUS ENVIRONMENT
Laser Pipeline mud and bentonite blow out into exceptional-valued Laurel Lake Creek, Silver Lake Township, Susquehanna County, Pa. Videotaped 8-1-11. Rockford company drilling and drill bit came out into creek spilling the mud. Company pumped and contained the spill into a containment pond but it's still seeping downstream into the creek as we witnessed. DEP has been there and investigating. The latest impact on our delicate environment.
To read the Pennsylvania Code for High Quality or Exceptional Value Waters, click HERE. This accident has impacted a body of water designated as exceptional value.
The highest quality streams are rated as ‘EV’ and DEP testing must show a high biotic integrity and health with test data from over a year period to obtain this rank. EV streams include all streams that flow through state natural areas, or federally protected wilderness areas, other waters that receive a score of 92% biotic integrity ranking, and wilderness trout streams. Once a stream has been defined in such a way, the stream is protected in that DEP regulation does not permit uses along the stream that would lead to any degradation of the stream quality. The ‘HQ’ streams are the next level of quality (slightly degraded) and must show a macro-invertebrate community score of 83% or better, or be a state designated class A trout stream. HQ streams are defined as still sustaining cold water fisheries. The EV streams are mostly found in undeveloped areas of a watershed and represent, perhaps, some of the more pristine streams remaining in the state. One road block in this designation system is the number of streams that are untested or evaluated. Evaluations are usually made by DEP staff although the public can petition for a review. Because of staff limitations, many streams remain unevaluated.
