Pennsylvania partners with natural gas driller on air and water monitoring amid new regulatory push
The state of Pennsylvania will work with a major natural gas producer to collect in-depth data on air emissions and water quality at well sites, enhance public disclosure of drilling chemicals and expand buffer zones
The state of Pennsylvania will work with a major natural gas producer to collect in-depth data on air emissions and water quality at well sites, enhance public disclosure of drilling chemicals and expand buffer zones, the governor announced Thursday, touting the collaboration as the first of its kind.
CNX Resources Corp., based in Canonsburg, will partner with the state Department of Environmental Protection on intensive environmental monitoring at two future well sites throughout all stages of the drilling and fracking process — a data-collection exercise that could be used to drive future policy changes, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
The announcement comes amid ongoing concerns about the potential environmental and health effects of fracking, and more than three years after a grand jury concluded that state regulators had failed to properly oversee the state's huge gas-drilling industry.
“Pennsylvanians want us to do everything we can to help keep them and their families safe," Shapiro said Thursday at a news conference at a CNX well pad in Washington County, in the state’s southwest corner. «I believe to do that, we need to bring transparency to this process, collect more data so we can ensure that we have the necessary and appropriate protections in place.»
State officials say they expect the monitoring program to “definitively measure” emissions at well sites. Some environmental groups were skeptical. One, Food & Water Watch, criticized Shapiro for “striking bogus partnerships to give frackers a
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