Three years and three months after fluid erupted along Main Street in the rural Greene County hamlet of New Freeport, a scientific study published Wednesday contends that the Pittsburgh gas giant EQT contaminated local water, and casts doubt on current standards of regulatory oversight.
The new research comes after two Greene County townships recently issued disaster declarations, while a judge in August declined to grant an injunction in an ongoing class-action lawsuit that would have compelled EQT to provide clean water to residents.
The peer-reviewed study published in Scientific Reports analyzed 75 local water samples in and around New Freeport, finding evidence of oil and gas brine and methane in more than half of the samples. Around one-fifth of the samples had methane above the state action limit, including two with “explosive levels” of gas, according to author John Stolz of Duquesne University.
EQT did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
The study concludes, based on evidence from New Freeport, that frack-outs — when fluid injected into the ground to fracture shale and release gas instead communicates with an abandoned well, sometimes arriving at the surface — can “result in widespread contamination” of underground water sources even well outside of currently regulated impact zones. The paper’s analysis found that “the extent of the contamination was wider than initially reported.”
“Here we have a situation that clearly demonstrates communication at 7,800 feet all the way to the surface,” said Stolz, a microbiology professor who specializes in water quality. Post-frack-out water chemistry clearly shows “through the presence of methane and other light hydrocarbons, that people no longer have potable water.”
Contamination far beyond regulated zone
The study cites Public Source reporting, published last year, that revealed video evidence of gas and fluid spewing from the ground on June 19, 2022, when the frack-out occurred, and workers observing a “direct correlation” between EQT’s fracking and an abandoned well in New Freeport.
EQT has publicly denied responsibility since the incident, arguing in filings to the state Environmental Hearing Board that there was “no evidence” to support that a communication incident had occurred. Confronted by residents in August 2023, CEO Toby Rice said he did not believe EQT was responsible.
Stolz said his research also shows that current regulation is insufficient to protect communities. State law sets a “zone of presumption” of a 2,500-foot radius around wells, and says that fracking operators are required to provide residents in that circle with water after suspected contamination or water loss. “The main area of impact [in New Freeport] is well out of the zone of presumption,” Stolz said. “And so therefore there’s no recourse for the harmed families.”
The study suggested that “at least a 5,000-foot buffer would be more appropriate.”
The zone of presumption was adopted before operators were drilling thousands of feet and injecting fluids at high pressures. The regulation “in no way contemplated the kind of drilling we’re seeing now,” said former state Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] Secretary David Hess. “It’s really an antiquated concept,” he added. “It really needs to be updated.”
“These people have a problem that is not their fault,” Hess said. “The government’s role should be to step in and fix it, to provide water until the problem is identified.” Instead, under current laws, the DEP is under no obligation to require EQT to provide water for people who are outside the zone of presumption. “They’re left out to dry until DEP has the resources to look into it,” Hess said.
A DEP spokesperson said the agency “will conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether the water supply has been affected” by drilling “regardless of a water supply’s location inside or outside of the zone of presumption.”
The DEP has investigated 24 cases in the New Freeport area to date, and has determined that those complaints of water issues were not related to fracking, according to the spokesperson. The DEP is currently investigating more recently submitted complaints.
EQT is providing water to some area residents, and nearly every home along Main Street in New Freeport is connected to a large tank of water, refilled weekly.
In November 2023, EQT mailed residents letters, offering to install water treatment systems or to continue supplying water, in exchange for non-disclosure agreements barring residents from publicizing the arrangement or disparaging EQT, and absolving EQT from future liability for property damage or personal injury.
Dispelling ‘myths of the Marcellus’
Stolz said he’s spent over 15 years trying to address the question: Does fracking impact sources of water?
Wednesday’s research, Stolz said, dispels two “myths of the Marcellus,” proving that fracking can and does contaminate groundwater, and casting doubt on the industry contention that “what goes on at 8,000 feet [below ground] does not impact the surface.”
The research also found that communication events occur at roughly 1% of wells in Pennsylvania, based on DEP data.
“Residents should feel a lot of validation,” said Sarah Martik, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, which has supported residents by distributing water, hosting town hall meetings and contacting local elected officials since the incident. “Clearly there is something happening in that aquifer.”
Martik said the organization has continued to receive new reports of contamination, and more residents coming out to public meetings.
“The watershed continues to be at risk,” said Stolz, and EQT continues to frack in the area.
State of emergency declared
The latest research comes as local officials sound the alarm. In June, the Freeport Township Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency.
“A contamination event caused by actions of EQT has caused or threatens to cause injury, damage and suffering to persons and property of Freeport Township,” the declaration reads. It notes:
- The lack of public water in the rural town
- Testing that shows contamination
- Warnings to the DEP and EQT that the “water is hazardous and unsafe for use”
- Resident reports of discoloration, odor and skin rashes after using water from private wells.
In August, neighboring Springhill Township declared a similar emergency.
Freeport Township Supervisor Tim Brady said the disaster declaration “was a last resort,” adding that it opens up access to state and federal grants that could help bring clean water to the community. The goal, he said, is to fund a public water line that would run roughly 13 miles from Rogersville to New Freeport and would cost roughly $12 to $15 million.
Brady did not know, though, if EQT would contribute to that cost or if it might fall entirely on the Pennsylvania taxpayer.
“They’re still drilling,” he said, “They haven’t slowed down any. The DEP gives them permits left and right.”
Regardless, he said, bringing public water to the community will take time: “We all know how government moves,” Brady said. “We’re not going to have water for seven to eight years. We’re forgotten out here.”
Preliminary injunction denied
A class-action lawsuit filed by residents of New Freeport against EQT in June 2024 sought injunctive relief for affected residents, asking a judge to order EQT to provide clean water.
Plaintiffs asked the court to demand that EQT provide a plan to supply safe drinking water to area residents who are already receiving water from the company and others who may request that service. The plaintiffs asked EQT to voluntarily provide water to roughly 600 potentially impacted residents, but “EQT refused,” according to the motion. The attorneys added in the filing that EQT reported 2022 operating revenues of $7.5 billion.
“It is difficult and hectic to have to buy water for ourselves constantly,” wrote New Freeport resident Bill Yoders in a signed affidavit accompanying the motion for an injunction. “It has been a struggle financially. We would not be able to afford continued weekly water delivery for our home.”
Nearly a year later, U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy, of the Western District of Pennsylvania, denied the request on Aug. 26, writing that the plaintiffs are not “experiencing immediate irreparable harm,” and that evidence “does not show that the harms at stake in this suit cannot be addressed by money damages.”
Counsel for the plaintiffs are appealing the decision.
Editor’s note (9/17): Comments received after initial publication of this story have been added.
Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at quinn@publicsource.org and on Instagram @quinnglabicki.
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