WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2020) Two companies involved in natural gas operations in the US state of Pennsylvania have been charged with environmental crimes, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced in a statement on Wednesday.
"Following a Grand Jury investigation, today I'm charging National Fuel Gas Supply Co and subcontractor Southeast Directional Drilling with environmental crimes," Shapiro said via Twitter. "These companies are being charged for polluting an unnamed tributary and groundwater in Washington [County], PA."
Last month, Shapiro released the findings and recommendations of a report on the unconventional oil and gas industry in the state. The Grand Jury's two-year investigation revealed a systematic lack of oversight of the hydraulic fracturing or fracking industry by government agencies.
Washington County along with the neighboring counties of Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland, outside of Pittsburgh, PA., have seen a spike of childhood cancers, many of them rare, since 2008. Environmental activists in the state have linked the dozens of cases to the booming fracking industry in the region.
Washington County now has nearly 1,200 active fracking wells, and production there has helped transform Pennsylvania into the nation's No. 2 natural gas state. But Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has documented more than 4,000 fracking violations in Washington County, including failure to properly dispose of residual waste and pollution, hazardous well venting and pollution of local waters with toxic substances.
Two other fracking companies - Range Resources and Cabot Oil & Gas - were charged with similar violations ahead of the grand jury report. Range has since pleaded no contest to environmental crimes committed in Washington County, while the case against Cabot is ongoing.
