Sitting atop huge gas reserve, Maryland debates drilling practice known as fracking

Lee Fuller, vice president of government relations for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said politics, not science, drove support for the bill.

“You don’t have to freeze the process for some unlimited amount of time,” Fuller said, noting that Pennsylvania allowed drilling and addressed environmental concerns as they arose. “They have an enormous amount of growth up there, but they’re still doing things to protect the environment.”

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A map showing the vast shale gas reserves, known as the Marcellus Shale Formation, across the United States.

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But Maryland lawmakers listened to environmentalists and residents complain in hearings that Pennsylvania did not do enough. Pennsylvania facilities were not prepared at first to treat the volume of contaminated wastewater, they said, and some of it was trucked to water treatment facilities outside the state and released into waterways.

The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association compiled a list of violations by Marcellus Shale drilling companies, relying on state records. According to the association, there were 91 violations of the state’s Clean Streams Law, 155 violations for discharge of industrial waste onto the ground and into waters, and 212 faulty pollution-prevention practices.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the New York Environmental Protection Agency are each engaged in environmental impact studies on hydraulic fracturing. The New York study is due within months.

There’s also the issue of where the enormous amounts of water needed for hydraulic fracturing is drawn.

“There’s big questions about where the water comes from to even do this kind of drilling,” Mizeur said. “Is it coming from local water supply or being trucked in from somewhere?”

At a state House Environmental Matters Committee hearing, a group called Clean Water Action estimated that 2 million gallons at a single well requires “549 tanker truck trips.” The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection estimated that a horizontal well requires 1,000 trips by heavy trucks, often on small roads, the group said.

The truck traffic was a lightning rod for complaints at the hearing in Maryland.

Nadine Grabania, co-owner of Deep Creek Cellars winery in Garrett County, said the traffic at a well proposed by Chief Oil would hurt her business and eco-tourism. Marilyn Moors said she bought a house on 100 acres without knowing the previous owner sold the gas rights and now feels trapped.

“I will be drilled under regardless of my desires and won’t receive a penny for it,” Moors said. “Those of us who do not stand to gain anything from the . . . drilling should not be asked to bear any of the costs, in terms of decreased property value or . . . environmental damage.”

Staff writer Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.