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47-039-05714
This
well is on Harmon's Creek Road, across from a house. An email
to us after the photos from the property owner (the couple
lives in Florida) describes the well's drilling.
This
site is next to Harmon's creek road and the access drive to
the well is graveled. The site itself is poorly vegetated
on the pad. Pipework needs to be painted and at one spot,
an elbow joint in the tank inlet pipe, we couldn't tell if
the stain on the gravel was from rust or indicated a fluid
leak.
The
50-barrel steel tank doesn't have the required secondary containment
dike.
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A
view of the pad and poor vegetative cover. When a waterline
was being put through this area, equipment was stored
on the pad. |
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It's
hard to tell if what we're seeing is rust or signs of
a leak. This is a joint for the inlet pipe to the tank. |
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The
pipes for the gas well could use a coat of paint. |
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Tank
without required secondary containment. |
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Across
the state road from the well is a home. |
From
an email by the property owner:
When
they drilled "our" well, and I use that term so
very loosely, in fact lets just call it "ol' #11"
(short for Raymond City #11 or 039-05714), I did as much reading
as time allowed before actually trying to negotiate with the
Cabot Oil men. I really ended up trying to listen more than
talk preparing to stab at any chinks they exposed in their
quite considerable legal armor. They told me their process,
step by step, and I made a list of conditions I wanted them
to work under. First, I did NOT like their proposed drilling
site. When they admitted gas drilling did not have to be site
specific I made them the offer of a better location for them
(right next to the road) and ultimately (out of my driveway
and the heart of my property) for me. Second, they clear cut
about three acres to work in. They offered to pay for the
lumber removed so I didn't have to bring that up. Third, they
dig a swimming pool sized drill pit for their tailings and
waste mud. The pit is then lined with a plastic sheet liner
(presumably to protect the environment from these toxic waste
products you're currently blogging about). At the end of the
drilling this is usually just pumped out on the surrounding
landscape and the liner buried in the pit before "Site
Reclamation" begins. Huh? So I demanded the waste be
trucked away along with the liner, as all of this was occurring
just uphill of my spring.
Unfortunately
as a part-time resident I was unable to oversee the operation
personally. When we returned the well was in and the muddy
liner was in a heap on the ground next to it. There was no
sign of mud residue sprayed on the surrounding woods so I
figured things went as requested and the liner was yet to
be hauled away. The neighbors said a tank truck did indeed
suck up the liquid as agreed ( I was a little disheartened
when they told me just trucked it over the hill to the next
drill site and pumped it out on that property). However the
machinery we woke up to the next day was workers burying the
liner full of mud in the pit and then covered it over before
I realized what happened. I topped the hill to see a nicely
leveled site never dreaming they buried that liner. We thought
the machinery was loading the liner on a truck for removal.
The neighbors informed us a couple of days later that they
watched it get buried. Nobody returned my calls to Cabot about
that. I asked them to test the water in my spring before drilling
and was assured that was standard procedure. When asked about
that and later testing I was told they don't have to provide
me with test results and testing after the fact was certainly
my prerogative but at my expense. You know testing for some
of these chemicals is cost prohibitive for us regular folks,
if you even know which to test for.
It
would seem you've looked up every chemical that might be related
to their drilling at your place but good luck getting them
to commit to testing before and after at their expense. Be
careful how much you learn about this stuff. It only upsets
me when I know what they should have done but didn't. We've
come to the conclusion we'll never be able to filter our spring
water for household use, now I'm leery about using it for
irrigation in our veggie garden. So make them work with you,
but be there to hold them to their promises!
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