The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 2, 2012

Gas driller, Ohio DCNR probe fish kill in pond

Herald staff

BROOKFIELD — “Too many fish to count,” turned up dead Monday and Tuesday in a pond at Brookfield Acres and environmental experts are investigating whether runoff from slag at a future natural gas well is to blame for the kill.

Dale Appis, community manager of Brookfield Acres Manufactured Home Community said he wasn’t authorized to comment on the kill, but confirmed that state officials, along with representatives of an environmental cleanup company and the oil and gas company that plans to drill the well, had been at the pond cleaning up the mess.

The fish, stocked at the man-made pond for decades, started dying Monday, he said.

The pond is located on the north end of the trailer park, located on Warner Road between state Route 82 and Warren-Sharon Road in Brookfield. It sits adjacent to an area where Consol Energy is planning to drill an exploratory well into the Utica Shale beneath the area at Wollam Farms.

The company issued a news release in connection with the kill in which it acknowledged “its role as a responsible steward of the environment.”

“As such, we are working in conjunction with the ODNR (Ohio Department of Conservation and Natural Resources) and third parties to conduct a thorough analysis of the site and surrounding area to determine the makeup and cause of the situation,” the news release said. “CONSOL is taking water samples from the pond, which is adjacent to our property, as well as conducting biological sampling. These samples will enable us to determine what the cause of the aquatic impact was and where it originated.”

Representatives from Moody Groundwater Specialists, an environmental cleanup firm, were at the site on Tuesday and Wednesday collecting the dead fish, and had finished the cleanup by Wednesday night.

 

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