Aug 4, 2022 3 min read

Chris Lauff was standing outside his Mt. Pleasant Township house Monday morning when he said he was nearly overcome by the “most intense emissions” that he believes came wafting from a nearby natural gas well site.

Lauff said he and his wife, Janet, are somewhat accustomed to odors coming from the well pads, wastewater impoundment and pipelines near their Fort Cherry Road home, but what he smelled while leaving for work about 7 a.m. was completely different from what they’ve experienced in the past.

“What happened Monday morning was by far the most intense emissions or odors that we’ve ever experienced that came from any of those activities to date,” he said.

He called the state Department of Environmental Protection after the event and left a message, but was still waiting to hear back from the environmental regulator as of Wednesday. Lauff blamed the mysterious odor on the Cowden 3-6 well site operated by Range Resources.

“I wanted to know what we were experiencing,” he said of the reason why he called DEP. “I still don’t know what my family and potentially neighbors were exposed to, because no one is saying much.”

The family also called Mt. Pleasant Township volunteer firefighters, who responded to the scene but had limited knowledge of the situation, a department official said Wednesday. The fire company directed questions to Range Resources and the DEP.

DEP spokeswoman Lauren Fraley said the agency investigated the complaint, but “was unable to find evidence of a spill or release” when it went to the Cowden site Tuesday.

“Range informed DEP that it also received a call from a nearby landowner on Monday, responded, and replaced a valve,” Fraley said in an emailed statement. “DEP will follow up with a second inspection, which is not uncommon.”

Fraley said the DEP plans to contact Lauff about its findings, but has not done so yet because it remains an active investigation. She did not say whether the agency would contact him before closing its inquiry in an attempt for investigation to understand what nearby residents experienced.

“It is DEP’s practice to respond to every complaint,” she said. “This is still open while we investigated, heard back from the operator, and until we conduct a followup inspection, so that might be why he has not heard from us.”

Range spokesman Mark Windle called the issue a “very minor event that was resolved super fast.”

Chris and Janet Lauff have been at odds with the drilling industry for the past decade and have sued Range Resources over various issues near their house. Lauff declined to go into further detail about the event because his family remains in litigation with Range over its Carter impoundment near the well site in question. He also would not divulge whether anyone in his family suffered any adverse health effects in connection with the emissions Monday.

“This was the worst of all the issues we’ve dealt with,” he said. “I’m trying to find out what we were exposed to. No one is advising us.”