WILLIAMSPORT – A federal judge has approved settlement with a Texas firm over the discharge of fluids from a Marcellus Shale natural gas well site in Lycoming County.
The consent decree approved Wednesday by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann requires XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., to pay a $100,000 Environmental Protection Agency civil penalty.
In addition, the government estimates XTO will spend $20 million to implement preventive measures and adhere to the required recycling and disposal of fluids from hydraulic fracturing and well operations.
While this concludes the federal aspect of the case, XTO also is facing criminal charges filed earlier this month by the state attorney general’s office over the same 2010 incident in Penn Twp. outside Hughesville.
A preliminary hearing has been set tentatively for Nov. 5 for XTO to respond to five counts of unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Law and three counts of unlawful conduct under the Solid Waste Management Act.
The company is accused of illegally discharging more than 50,000 gallons of toxic waste water that got into a subsurface spring and a tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
A state Department of Environmental Protection inspector on Nov. 16, 2010, discovered a valve open on one of 57 tanks and its contents flowing on the ground. That 21,000-gallon tank was connected to five others of the same capacity.
In signing the consent decree, XTO, headquartered in Fort Worth, did not admit any liability or wrongdoing. The company has said it plans to fight the criminal charges calling them “an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.”
It contends there was “no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct (and) the incident did not result in significant or lasting environmental harm.”
Terms of the federal consent decree require XTO to recycle at permitted facilities a minimum of 50 percent of the fluids from fracking and well operations in Pennsylvania.
The company also must adhere to specific requirements for tanks, including placement within adequate secondary containment, alarm systems and the posting of contact information for its 24-hour monitored telephone line.
The government estimates the settlement will reduce discharges of total dissolved solids by 264 million pounds over the next three years.
The agreement covers all XTO’s operations within EPA Region 3, comprised of Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
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