PA Map Shows Fracking Wells/Violations Across Marcellus Shale Formation
The Marcellus shale formation is one of the big energy plays right now, and it has the potential to bring a whole lot of natural gas to the market. But how it’s brought to the market is another story.
Fracking has the potential to cause significant environmental damage to aquifers and watersheds, and PA is currently trying to deal with the wells that have been drilled to tap into the formation.
So far, there are 52 operators running 1,608 active wells. Those 1,608 wells have resulted in 1,532 violations and $2.8 million in fines.
While that would appear to be nearly 1 violation per well, the reality is that some wells have had repeated violations, while others have none.
This map shows the distribution of wells across Pennsylvania and those that have at least one or more violations.
It can be a cautionary tale for New York and other states considering fracking.
The map doesn’t indicate how many violations were racked up by individual operators or the severity of the violations. But, it’s a start.