Responding to a number of complaints voiced by Hedgehog Lane
residents at a Bradford Township supervisors meeting last week, the
owners of two area oil companies said Friday that their operations
have always complied with relevant laws and the state Department of
Environmental Protection.
A DEP official confirmed their compliance Monday.
According to Freda Tarbell, DEP’s community relations
coordinator, since October, a few Notices of Violation have been
issued to Schreiner Oil and Gas Inc. of Ohio and Aiello Brothers
Oil and Gas Inc. of Marshburg, and the companies have rectified all
the issues to date.
Tarbell added that the notices issued against the companies
aren’t “out of the ordinary” when it comes to oil and gas
developments.
“We have received complaints from seven families,” Tarbell said.
“We are still actively investigating out there.”
Tarbell said the complaints were focused on water quality, so
DEP officials have taken samples at six different private water
wells, taking multiple samples from four of the wells.
Some of the results are still pending analysis, but, Tarbell
said, DEP officials did find that one well on Hedgehog Lane was
“influenced by oil and gas activity.”
According to Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act, an operator who
disrupts a public or private water supply must “restore or replace
the affected supply with an alternate source of water adequate in
quantity or quality for the purposes served by the supply.”
Tarbell said the companies have drilled a new well for the
source they disrupted.
The companies are also providing bottled water to another family
while awaiting the pending results of the water samples.
But residents argue that water quality is only one of the
problems the development has caused.
Some residents complained of mud in the road and dirtier
streams, which the DEP has confirmed is true.
It issued a Notice of Violation in February to the companies for
not sticking to the plan they submitted to control erosion and
sedimentation.
The notice was due to sedimentation that was flowing into a
stream near Hedgehog, resulting in a violation of the Clean Streams
Law.
Again, Tarbell said the two oil and gas companies have taken
measures to correct the issue.
“Any concern that anyone has, we don’t throw it in a drawer and
don’t do anything about it,” said Mike Schreiner with Schreiner Oil
and Gas. “We try to find amicable solutions to what they may
be.”
Schreiner said this concern for complaints extends beyond lawful
matters. He said that all complaints, from agencies or individuals,
are reviewed.
Paul Aiello of Aiello Bros., which is partnered with Schreiner
for the Hedgehog Lane project, emphasized the time they put into
reviewing each complaint.
“Oil and gas people have to be responsible when conducting
operations,” Aiello said. “I live here. I have to go to the same
grocery store. If a property owner has a legitimate concern that I
can of assistance to and ease the pain, well that’s just good
business.”
When it comes to the muddy-roads complaint, Aiello said that his
workers are stepping up the policing of the roads. Tarbell added
that the company has recently laid gravel at the beginnings of the
access roads to mitigate the amount of mud that is drug onto
Hedgehog.
Aiello said the company is continuing as planned with the
development of land near Hedgehog, but feels confident that as the
companies continue to “revegetate” the area, that the complaints
may fade a bit.
“We drilled Gilbert Lane two years ago,” Aiello said. “And
though we didn’t have the same publicity, people raised concerns. I
told them then that ‘when we are done we will move out and it won’t
be bad when we move out.’ It takes serious effort on behalf of the
people doing it and the people affected by it.”
Aiello Bros. and Schreiner have been conducting oil and gas
operations in the region for more than 25 years, according to a
joint statement from the two owners.
