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Gas driller to leave tanks with family

3 min read

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PHILADELPHIA – A natural gas driller will donate tanks that have been supplying water to families who claim the company polluted their wells, backing off plans to remove the storage containers amid fierce criticism that it was being heartless.

Tulsa, Okla.-based WPX Energy Inc. will leave the water tanks with two families in the Susquehanna County village of Franklin Forks, company spokeswoman Susan Oliver told the Associated Press.

WPX had planned to remove its water buffaloes and other equipment from the homes Monday but decided to give the tanks to the families after discussions with their attorneys this week, she said. WPX removed a third tank earlier.

State environmental regulators concluded in April that gas drilling wasn’t responsible for the problems in the families’ water wells, but environmentalists and the residents disagree.

The residents, who are suing WPX, and anti-drilling activists accuse the company of polluting the water. They dispute the DEP’s finding that methane in the residents’ wells is naturally occurring shallow gas – possibly from nearby Salt Springs State Park – and not production gas from the Marcellus Shale formation. WPX and industry officials say the region’s water supply is laced with naturally occurring methane.

The contamination in Franklin Forks attracted a high-profile visit earlier this year from anti-fracking celebrities Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Susan Sarandon.

WPX announced its change of course Friday afternoon, hours after Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former DEP secretary John Hanger criticized plans to remove the water tanks. Hanger said in a letter to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and Environmental Secretary Chris Abruzzo that the DEP should reopen its investigation into the contamination.

Oliver said the decision to donate the buffaloes had been in the works all week and that Hanger’s letter had nothing to do with it.

Hanger said the company’s initial plan to remove the tanks was the wrong move, especially given the holiday season.

“This is exactly the kind of arrogant, inhumane behavior that is creating widespread condemnation of the gas industry. To leave those families a week before Christmas without any water source takes my breath away,” he told the AP earlier Friday.

The company tried to work with the Mannings and the other residents to help them get their wells fixed, Oliver said.

But she said out-of-state anti-drilling activists have exploited them for their own political ends.

“If it wasn’t for the activists yelling and screaming, we could have helped that family fix the mechanics of their well,” she said.

The Mannings recently ordered a new water buffalo to replace the one WPX planned to remove, but couldn’t scrape together the money to pay for it, Tammy Manning said.

“We just didn’t have it,” she said. “It’s Christmastime, and we can’t even afford to fill our propane tanks.”

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