Department of Environmental Protection Fines Pennsylvania Natural Gas Drilling Company

A Pennsylvania natural gas drilling company has been issued a $97,350 fine for spilling hydraulic fracturing fluids in the southwest part of the state.

According to a press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Atlas Resources LLC did not report a spill that polluted a high-quality reservoir in Hopewell Township, Washington County.

It is reported that an unknown amount of fracking fluid spilled into a tributary of Dunkle Run. The spill violated Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and Solid Waste Management Act and the state’s Clean Streams Law.

Atlas Resources is not the only gas company that has committed violations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale, an underground rock formation with large amounts of natural gas that extends under parts of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and Maryland. According to a report recently released by the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, the state has identified 1,435 violations by 43 drilling companies since January 2008. 952 of those violations were said to have likely impacted the environment.

In a separate analysis, Clean Water Action reports 565 drilling violations between Jan. 1 and June 18.