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State Responds To Presumed Shale Gas Contamination In Plum

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Just months after the drilling for natural gas commenced at a well pad in Plum Borough, a neighbor complained that their water well had been clogged with debris and that foul odors were emanating from the drains in their house.

Since their well is within 2,500 feet of the well pad and the complaint fell within a year's time, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has put the driller Huntley and Huntley on notice.

"If both those things happen the department presumes the operator is responsible," said Lauren Fraley, a DEP spokesperson.

The investigation is still active with drilling company rebutting the claims and sending this statement:

"PA DEP has not yet filed a determination on this water well complaint; however, Huntley and Huntley has been working closely with Department officials to investigate the water well in question."

The company, however, must supply the property owner fresh water until a final determine is made.

"If it is finally determined that the operator is responsible then they would have to provide a permanent restoration of water that's equal to the quality and quantity to what they had before," Fraley said.

Over only one dissension, Plum Borough Council voted 15 months to approve shale gas drilling in municipality's rural and industrial zones, and while many in the borough showed up in support of drilling -- others did not.

Matt Kelso is both a resident of Plum and a member of the anti-drilling monitoring group Fractracker.

"The possibility of continued problems at this site is pretty significant and as they move further and further into Allegheny County toward city of Pittsburgh more and more people are going to be impacted," he said.

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