Maryland's Attorney General has told a gas driller working in Pennsylvania that he plans to sue the company for violating federal anti-pollution laws after thousands of gallons of hydraulic fracturing fluid spilled into the Susquehanna River watershed last month.
In a "notice of intent to sue," Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler said there was an equipment failure April 19 at a gas well being drilled by Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Leroy Township, in north central Pennsylvania. The failure resulted in "loss of control of the well."
"Tens of thousands of gallons" of "fracking" fluid, used to fracture bedrock and release natural gas from the Marcellus Shale deep underground, leaked out and escaped the berm built to contain it, Gansler said. The fluid crossed neighboring farms, then flowed into Towanda Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River.
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