EcoWatch
A drilling rig in Dimock, Pa.
A press release dated Nov. 1 from Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White (D-Allegheny/Beaver/Washington), stated that White called for state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for alleged misconduct and fraud revealed by sworn testimony given by a high-ranking DEP official.
White said he received a letter and corresponding documents highlighting the sworn testimony of DEP Bureau of Laboratories Technical Director Taru Upadhyay, who was deposed in a lawsuit alleging nearby natural gas drilling operations contaminated drinking water supplies in Washington County, causing serious health issues. In the deposition, Upadhyay said that the DEP was clearly aware of water impacts from Marcellus Shale drilling, but no notices of violation were filed—a violation of the state’s Oil & Gas Act.
Of more critical concern to Pennsylvania residents, according to White, was that the deposition revealed that the DEP developed a specialized computer-code system to manipulate the test results for residents whose water was tested by the DEP over concerns of adverse effects from gas drilling operations.
According to the transcripts, which have been filed as exhibits in a related lawsuit in Washington County Court of Common Pleas (Haney et al. v. Range Resources et al., Case No. 2012-3534), the DEP lab would conduct water tests using an EPA-approved standard, but the DEP employee who requested the testing would use a specially designed ‘Suite Code’ which limits the information coming back from the DEP lab to the DEP field office, and ultimately to the property owner.
The code in question, Suite Code 942, was used to test for water contamination associated with Marcellus Shale drilling activities, yet specifically screens out results for substances known to be hazardous and associated with Marcellus Shale drilling. Similar codes, Suite Code 943 and 946, are also used by the DEP in similar circumstances; both of these codes omit the presence or levels of drilling-related compounds.
As a result, if Suite Code 942 is applied, the report generated for the homeowner by DEP only includes eight of the 24 metals actually tested for: Barium, Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Magnesium, Manganese, Sodium and Strontium. The homeowner would not be given results for: Silver, Aluminum, Beryllium, Cadium, Cobalt, Chromium, Copper, Nickel, Silicon, Lithium, Molybdenum, Tin, Titanium, Vandium, Zinc and Boron.
“This is beyond outrageous. Anyone who relied on the DEP for the truth about whether their water has been impacted by drilling activities has apparently been intentionally deprived of critical health and safety information by their own government,” White said. “There is no excuse whatsoever to justify the DEP conducting the water tests and only releasing partial information to residents, especially when the information withheld could easily be the source of the problem. This goes beyond incompetence; this is unlawful and reprehensible activity by the DEP. If these allegations are true, there needs to be a thorough and objective investigation to determine if someone belongs in a jail cell.”
White continued: “I am not releasing this information to hurt Marcellus Shale development in Pennsylvania, but to help ensure the reality matches the rhetoric. The Marcellus boom was built on the assumption that the DEP was competent and capable of balancing the positive impacts of the industry with its job of keeping residents safe and secure, but we now know that simply isn’t the case. Like most of us, I want the Marcellus Shale industry to succeed by doing things the right way, so it is crucial to find out what exactly the DEP was up to. If the system is indeed rigged, we must do everything in our power to root out corruption and restore public confidence in our ability to have an honest conversation with one another about developing a responsible energy policy for Pennsylvania.”
Due to the strong possibility of unlawful conduct, White is calling on the U.S. Attorney’s office, the Environmental Protection Agency, state Attorney General Linda Kelly and any other appropriate law enforcement agency to pursue an investigation of the DEP to discover the scope and depth of this scheme to withhold important information from Pennsylvanians. White is also sending a letter to the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NJ-NELAP), to investigate whether the DEP’s conduct and practices violated the accreditation standards for the DEP laboratories. If accreditation standards were violated, White is requesting the DEP’s accreditation be stripped, rendering the agency unable to conduct and certify its own tests.
White said he is sending a letter to DEP Secretary Michael Krancer seeking a summary of how many constituents in his legislative district, which includes communities with high levels of Marcellus Shale drilling activity, had DEP tests done using Suite Codes 942, 943 or 946. White also intends to make a blanket request on behalf of his constituents that DEP release the full testing data directly to the individual property owners in question.
Any Pennsylvania resident who received water quality test results from the DEP should look for the number 942, 943 or 946 as a ‘Suite Code’ or ‘Standard Analysis.’ White encouraged anyone with questions to contact his district office at 724-746-3677 for more information and noted that the property owner should be entitled to the complete testing results from DEP.
“This isn’t a technicality, and it isn’t something which can be ignored,” White said. “We are talking about people’s health, safety and welfare. The sworn testimony from inside the DEP about a scheme to withhold vital information about potential water contamination is truly alarming. An investigation is necessary to answer these serious allegations.”
Watch as Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White blasts H.B. 1950, the Marcellus Shale bill, as a one-sided giveaway to billion-dollar drilling conglomerates that strips local governments of reasonable controls:
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This is outright fraud and is certainly a criminal act. I hope these people responsible are prosecuted. I am also wondering how high up this goes? Who got paid off? Putting peoples health at risk by lying is just despicable. Heads should roll here.
Thank you for this story.
It is unacceptable that we can’t trust our local, state and federal governments to protect our basic rights to a clean healthy environment in which to live. How is it that an entire industry is exempt from obeying laws enacted to protect the citizenry. It time for a mass turnover in our representatives. A revolution is brewing in this country. We have simply had enough of corruption, greed, and simple stupidity on the part of out governments. The mass rush to “energy independance” has blinded us to looking out for owr own safety and the future of our children. Ond day our children and grandchildren will look back and say ” how could you let this happen to us?”
The paid off officials goes all the way to the top at state level. That is why the industry and reoilcans want it controlled at state level not federal. If the feds would investigate all aspects of what is happenening in the states they will find criminal acts everywhere, especially here in Arkansas.Hopefully with all the lawyers looking for something to do,some with a spine will step up and bring em down. State attorny generals won’t do it cause they all want to be govenors some day.
These are the chemicals running around Arkansas since they came to town look em up some are quite nasty. UN# 2922, 1903,1242,1788,1789,1814,3265,1791,1902,3082,1824,1799,3109,2924,3375,3286,3266,2810, I have seen these all in the last 2yrs going thru the school zone as I was on the corner with a protest sign while school leaving out. Thank God no spill then. Just a matter of time though.
Dirk, real quick no spills that were reported. We had 3 spills at Cross Creek Lake 1 reported and 2 not.
The other thing I wanted to say is the pay off goes into Corbetts office. There is a local group that is pressing a suite against Corbett for accepting bribes from the industry.
Yep there have been several spills here in Arkansas and they never make the news as our news channels here are owned by the stephens group who also owns an oil gas production company. The three worse ones were hydrochloric acid we have it on film. And only one generated a fine by our epa.