Follow-Up On
Pine Creek Spill
by Morgan Myers
As reported last week, a Minuteman Environmental Services truck spilled 3,600 gallons of trade secret "Hydraulic Stimulation Fluid" into Pine Creek on September 26th. Responsible Drilling Alliance followed up with DEP and Restoration Ecologist Kevin Heatley to learn more about potential environmental impacts.
"In a receiving stream as large as Pine Creek, a 3,600 gallon discharge is not typically going to cause an environmental degradation," said DEP Water Quality Program Manager Tom Randis. "If it happened during a low flow period or in a headwaters stream we'd be talking about a different scenario."
"Will the spill kill Pine Creek?" said Heatley. "No, it wont - but what about the cumulative impacts?"
DEP conducted a water sampling survey and visually inspected the creek for signs of a fish kill following the spill. DEP decided not to do a macrobenthic survey, which would have provided more information about changes to the environment at the creek's bottom.
"We did not do a benthic survey because there was no visual fish kill," said Randis.
"Just because a bunch of fish didn't float to the surface does not mean that the stream was not injured," said Heatley. "When you pollute a stream the first thing that happens is you change the organisms at the bottom of the food chain."
A macrobenthic survey measures the potential impact to such organisms.
"The solution to pollution is dilution," said Randis. "Of course that's not something we advocate, but it does work."
"Dilution is not the solution to pollution," said Heatley. "Salty water will dilute, but what else was in that fluid? There is no safe threshold for radiation. One single radioactive impact could be the thing that triggers your cancer."
"You're talking about 3,600 gallons of fluid [discharged] into a stream flowing at 2,300 gallons per second. That's relatively insignificant in terms of a mixing zone," said Randis.
Hydraulic Stimulation Fluid is HydroRecovery LP's treated frack water. The exact formula is proprietary, but HydroRecovery confirmed that the fluid spilled by Minuteman contained constituents besides brine.
"We're going to get Minuteman's product data sheets tomorrow," said Randis. "Our investigative findings will be public information. The company would have to follow very specific protocol for that information to remain confidential."
The spill occurred upstream from Jersey Shore Water Authority's Pine Creek intake.
"DEP did not notify the Jersey Shore Water Authority because the intake there is only in operation during low flow periods," said Randis of DEP. "Pine Creek is a backup intake. Larry's Creek is their primary water supply."
DEP opted not to notify downstream residents of the contamination either.
"By the time they got the letter the contamination would have been long gone," said Randis. "Probably to Sunbury by then."
"What if your kid is splashing in the creek when that proprietary fluid floats by?" said Heatley. "This shows me that our regulatory community is not looking out for our best interests."
Minuteman Environmental Services will be issued a violation for an unauthorized discharge of an industrial waste.
"That's a clean streams law violation," said Randis. "We will determine if there will be any fines after we gather all the facts about damage to the receiving stream, what was released, and the response by the responsible party - in this case, Minuteman."
DEP was asked if Minuteman would pay for the clean up effort.
"The only assumption I can make is yes," said Randis.