My Range Resources

 

You've probably seen the billboards, or perhaps heard the radio ads: real Pennsylvanians talking earnestly about the wonderful experiences they've had with Range Resources.  Range's website (http://www.myrangeresources.com/) has their stories, along with lots of information about how committed Range is to "making a real difference in the lives of people throughout Pennsylvania."

 

Well, that much is true: Range is indeed making a real difference.  However, a quick review of the PA Department of Environmental Protection records suggests that the truth is more complicated than the ads suggest (links to all of the incidents cited below can be found on my website: http://www.lhup.edu/rmyers3/marcellus.htm).

 

On its website Range affirms its commitment to safe water: "Because Pennsylvania has one of the largest water resources in the nation, we recognize that being good stewards of these resources is extremely important."  But apparently the folks at Range define good stewardship in a slightly different manner than is customary.  On May 27, 2009 a leaking waste-water pipe from a Range gas well polluted a tributary of Cross Creek Lake in Washington County.  The spill killed fish, salamanders, crayfish, and aquatic insects.[1]  On May 14, 2010, the DEP fined Range $141,175 for spilling 250 barrels of fracking fluid into a high-quality waterway in Washington County in October 2009. [2]

 

Range claims on its website that their "commitment to protecting the environment" can be seen in their erosion control efforts.  According to the DEP, Range was cited at least six times between 2009 and 2010 for "failure to minimize accelerated erosion" at sites in Clinton, Lycoming and Green counties.[3]  The citation of September 28, 2009 noted that their failure to implement and maintain an erosion plan resulted in sediment discharge into Hoagland Run.

 

Range also insists that they "work every day to train our employees and contractors and see that they follow and understand regulations and company standards related to safety."  If that's true, it's difficult to understand why Range was cited twice in 2009 for "Failure to notify DEP of pollution incident."  In the Cross Creek incident, Range employees waited nearly four hours before contacting DEP.[4]

 

Range's website notes that "After drilling is complete, our aim is to be a good guest and leave things the way we found them - or even better."  However, according to the DEP, one of Range's Greene County operations was cited on March 22, 2010 for "Failure to restore site w/in 9 months of completion of drilling or plugging."[5]

 

I don't mean to pick on Range--they are actually one of the better companies that are operating in Pennsylvania.  But I do find the persistent lying of this industry nauseating.  The natural gas industry has bought itself a governor and enough friendly politicians to make sure that it can continue to operate without substantial restraint in Pennsylvania.  I urge the industry to at least have the integrity to admit the truth: that over the next few decades they will turn Pennsylvania into an industrial wasteland.

 

1.  Pittsburgh Post Gazette "Waste from Marcellus" [6/05/09]; DEP, "2009 Marcellus Violations--violation #564165";  Range Resouces Report

2.  DEP, "DEP Penalizes Range" [5/14/10]; DEP "2009 Marcellus Violations--violations #573283-4, 574350"

3.  DEP "2009 Marcellus Violations--violation #572386; DEP, "2010 Marcellus Violations--violations #585558, 596657, 597425, 595743, 596659"

4.  DEP "2009 Marcellus Violations--violations #573284, 564166"

5.  DEP, "2010 Marcellus Violations--violation #585559"