Pipeline company cleans Robinson creek after spill
Brian Coppola investigates the scene of the flowback of drilling lubricant chemicals that clouded Little Raccoon Creek.
One of two vacuum trucks National Fuel stationed by Little Raccoon Creek
National Fuel employees dredged and vacuumed the creek bed after a July 23 spill of bentonite, a “nontoxic clay-like” drilling lubricant.
BULGER – A July 23 leak of natural gas drilling lubricants from pipeline construction clouded residents’ well water for several days near the Route 22 pipeline project in Bulger.
Brian Coppola, of 121 Campbell Road, a former Robinson Township supervisor and litigant in the Act 13 challenge before the state Supreme Court, said it’s an example why the high court should rule that the state Department of Environmental Protection notify those who use private water sources in spills. DEP is currently only required to notify public water consumers.
“The neighbors were the first ones to notify me when they saw a National Fuel vacuum truck down by Little Raccoon Creek. This drilling mud first got into the stream. It was only there at first, but it eventually got into our wells,” Coppola said.
DEP spokesman John Poister identified the drilling mud as bentonite, a “generally nontoxic clay-like substance” used as a lubricant for drilling equipment.
“It was an inadvertent return of 50 gallons of bentonite, something that happens where there’s a hangup with the drilling. … This incident was controlled and was by the book, as National Fuel self-reported the same day. As soon as they found out, we sent inspectors, and they received a notice of violation,” Poister said, explaining National Fuel pumped water and debris from the source of the spill.
“The area affected will be monitored continuously throughout the drilling process and, as a precautionary measure, two vacuum trucks currently remain on site,” said National Fuel spokeswoman Carly Manino.
Coppola said the spill happened about a mile downstream from his house. Neighbor Brenda Vance said she noticed the bentonite in her water supply about seven days later.
“I poured water for my dog out of the tap, and it looked liked skim milk,” Vance said, explaining her husband later found unfamiliar grey sediment in their hot water tank. Both DEP and National Fuel have submitted water samples to test for potential pollutants, and Vance said they are awaiting those results.
“The water’s been clear the past couple of days, and National Fuel brought us a lot of bottled water. I don’t like that it happened, but National Fuel has been handling this as best as they could, and this new pipeline is needed,” she said. Her complaint isn’t with DEP, but with Robinson Township supervisors and administrators.
“This should have been brought up at the (Aug. 10) meeting. They really dropped the ball, not mentioning anything like this didn’t even happen,” she said.
Robinson Township manager Erin Sakalik acknowledged at that meeting there was a spill after residents asked about it and said appropriate parties were informed, but there was no planned report listed on the agenda.