Rally Ready: Marcellus Advocacy Group Demands That Rex Energy Restore Water Service in Connoquenessing

Marcellus Outreach Butler plans a rally today in front of Rex Energy's Butler office to protest the company's decision to stop providing water to 11 families in the Woodlands neighborhood of Connoquenessing Township.

The Butler County-based advocacy group said the homeowners’ water became contaminated after Rex Energy, which has operations in Appalachian, Illinois and Rockies regions, began natural gas drilling in the area two years ago.

The energy company has provided water to the families – including 31 people and their animals—since the changes in water quality, color, smell and quantity were first reported, according to the group.

On Wednesday, Rex Energy halted water delivery to the homeowners. Today's rally will call on the company to restore the service.  

“Citizens assembled at the rally will demand that Rex act responsibly and reinstate deliveries of replacement water so that they [the homeowners]may safely drink, cook, wash and bathe in their own homes,” the outreach group said.

Rex Energy spokesman Derek Smith the company automatically provides property owners with alternative water sources when any complaint is made. The company also notified the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection about the issue. The DEP then tested each affected water well, he said.

Rex Energy also tasked AMECEnvironment & Infrastructure, a third-party environmental consultancy company, to perform a regional groundwater quality investigation to determine if Rex Energy operations impacted the groundwater in Connoquenessing Township.

The results determined there was no notable difference in water chemistry between pre- and post-drill water quality tests.

“The laboratory results all unequivocally determine that natural gas development has not impacted water quality in the area,” Smith said.

The Rex Energy report indicated older oil wells in the region—possibly with deteriorated casing and antiquated drilling fluid management around the wellheads—might have affected the groundwater quality. The findings also noted there had been no complaints or concerns from dozens of homeowners who have well water and who live closer to the Rex Energy sites than those who live in the affected homes.

The wells in question are uphill from the Rex production locations, which means groundwater flows away from the wells and not toward them, according to the Rex report.

A Long History

This isn’t the first time Woodlands neighbors attended a rally Marcellus Outreach Butler in October to protest drilling in the Marcellus shale at the Marburger Dairy Farm in Evans City.

Among them were Kim McEvoy and Janet McIntyre, who live less than a mile apart. In a speech to attendees after the rally, McEvoy said she started to lose her hair after Rex Energy began drilling near her home last year. Her nails also began to recede, and her well water turned black and smelly. The problems dissipated once Rex Energy installed a water buffalo on her property, she said.

She added she was fearful what would happen if the company stopped water service to her home.

According to Marcellus Outreach Butler, one Woodlands family, including a newborn baby, is staying with relatives after Rex Energy on Tuesday removed their water trailer. Three other households are retaining their buffaloes and water deliveries at their own expense at a cost of about $125 per week, the advocacy group said.

The Rally in Butler

The Marcellus Outreach Butler rally will assemble at 3:15 p.m. at the Butler Farmers Market on West Diamond and Chestnut streets in Butler. From there, protesters will march less than a mile to the Rex Energy office.

Protesters will "urge the Environmental Protection Agency to use (its) authority to protect the rights guaranteed to citizens under the Pennsylvania Constitution to clean water, air and a healthy environment."

“To date, the PA Department of Environmental Protection has failed to ensure these rights,” a Marcellus Outreach Butler statement said. “The EPA must step in to mandate clelan and safe water be provided to replace the water that has been contaminated since gas drilling commenced in the area.”

Bottled water for the affected families also will be collected at the event.

For a full look at Rex Energy's analysis of the Western Connoquenessing Township water wells, click on the PDF toward the right side of this page (below the photo).