by Quinn Glabicki, PublicSource
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. It was originally published by PublicSource, a nonprofit newsroom serving the Pittsburgh region. Sign up for its free weekly newsletters.
Residents of New Freeport have gone to federal court to demand clean water more than two years after a June 2022 “frack-out” involving an EQT Corp. well pad led to reports of contaminated local water wells.
“Our priority is to get these people clean water,” said attorney Joy Llaguno, of Waynesburg-based law firm Hook & Hook. “This is a clear issue of public health and safety.”
The firm’s injunction request, filed Aug. 30, follows a June 20 class-action filing in the Western District of Pennsylvania. The complaint, filed nine days after PublicSource’s reporting on water problems in New Freeport, alleges that EQT, a global gas giant, was “negligent, careless” and “reckless” in its conduct, which “caused surrounding residents and their property to be exposed to hazardous gasses, chemicals, and industrial waste, and caused damage to the natural resources of the environment, including contaminating the drinking water supply.”
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According to the injunction request, on June 19, 2022, fracking activity at EQT’s Lumber Pad made contact deep underground — known in drilling as a “communication” — with an abandoned gas well, known as Fox Hill No. 1, sending “a 15-foot geyser” onto a property along Main Street. As EQT paused and restarted its fracking on the site, fracking fluid, gas and water spewed out of the ground, according to the motion.
Video obtained by PublicSource through a public records request shows fluid erupting from the ground at that property that day:
A video file obtained by PublicSource under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law shows fluid spurting from the ground in New Freeport on June 19, 2022.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, residents have “suffered significant damages, including increased risk of serious health issues, loss of use and enjoyment of their property, diminution in value, loss of quality of life, and other damages.”
The suit requests recognition of a class encompassing residents within a roughly 2-mile radius of any portion of the two well bores it operates near the unincorporated New Freeport community.
The suit alleges eight violations of state and federal law, including violation of the Hazardous Site Cleanup Act, negligence, strict liability, public and private nuisance, trespass and fraudulent misrepresentation. It also asks the court to establish a medical monitoring program for residents to help identify long-term health concerns and aid in epidemiological study.
The class-action complaint is brought by three named plaintiffs who say they were affected by the 2022 frack-out, and was jointly filed by Hook and Hook and The Russell Law firm, based in Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs are suing EQT and Beusa Holdings, a Delaware-based fracking contractor for both the Lumber and Spleen Splitter Pads, according to the complaint.
PublicSource previously reported on the ongoing water problems in the Greene County hamlet, which residents said may be spreading.
Neither EQT, Beusa, nor defense attorneys responded to PublicSource’s requests for an interview regarding the lawsuit or the ongoing situation in New Freeport. EQT has not yet submitted responses to the filings, and the judge has granted an extension until Sept. 20 for the company to respond.
A water buffalo stands outside a home in Deep Valley, just outside of New Freeport, in Greene County, Pennsylvania. EQT has been supplying water to some residents who say their supplies have been affected by the 2022 “frack out.” Photo by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource
Seeking immediate relief
PublicSource previously published a separate video, filmed by EQT workers, which showed the company’s test hours after the incident was first reported by a resident in New Freeport. The low resolution file shows a grass-covered hole in the ground as a roar drowns out the sounds of chirping birds.
“There’s gas coming out like crazy!” a person off camera says over the roar. Seconds later, they note that fluid has begun to seep out of the hole.
“That’s a direct correlation in my book.”
A video taken by EQT workers during the company’s initial injection test at the abandoned well in New Freeport on June 19, 2022.
In later filings with the state Environmental Hearing Board, EQT wrote that there was “no evidence” supporting the DEP’s contention that the communication incident had occurred.
Water in the area “remains unsafe to drink,” according to the motion, which cites PublicSource reporting, supported and republished by the Pulitzer Center, of tests showing high levels of methane, ethane, salts and heavy metals in surrounding private wells.
The filing notes that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] is investigating the matter but that the agency “has yet to inform residents of the conclusion of their investigation, or the safety and status of their ground water.”
The motion notes that EQT has been providing water to “select residents” of the area, and has agreed to continue to do so.
The motion demands that EQT provide to the court a plan to provide 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 add that EQT reported 2022 operating revenues of $7.5 billion.
It asks that EQT provide residents of the communities with information about “potential water contamination” and provide a means for them to request water delivery.
Because they lack safe drinking water, residents are “repeatedly seeking out alternative safe drinking water sources,” according to the motion, “adding worry, frustration and financial burden” to their lives. “The anxiety and financial strain caused by a lack of consistent access to safe drinking water are deteriorating a rural community with already limited access to resources, which has suffered this water crisis for over two years.”
Plaintiffs say they’ve suffered in the aftermath.
“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.”
PublicSource reported from New Freeport in the weeks following the 2022 incident.
Yoders’ affidavit recalled the day of the frack-out. His son emerged from the shower with “stinging, red welts all over his body, including on his face, and was extremely distressed.”
The next day, Yoders, who worked as a foreman under EQT CEO Toby Rice at his former company, Rice Energy, noticed that the water was “discolored, greasy to the touch, and had a strange odor.” His dog refused to drink it. The family had not had prior issues with their water, according to the affidavit.
Last fall, EQT approached residents with a proposed agreement: The company would provide water buffaloes to residents or install a water treatment system if they agreed to release EQT “from any and all claims” including property damage or any “personal injuries from the Water Conditions.”
Bill Yoders (center left) along with other residents of New Freeport and members of the Center for Coalfield Justice, confront EQT CEO Toby Rice (in plaid) at the company’s “Unleash U.S. LNG” town hall meeting in Waynesburg on August 23, 2023. (Photo by Quinn Glabicki/PublicSource)
According to Yoders, he and his wife received that offer, but refused to sign after a representative of Culligan Water, contracted by EQT, told residents their systems would not be capable of removing fracking fluids.
“Although we do not want to lose access to clean water in the short term, we are concerned about giving up the ability to bring a claim for any negative health effects and loss of use of my property caused by the water contamination,” wrote Yoders in the affidavit. “Residents in the area have been talking about their negative health effects from the well water since the fracking incident.”
Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at PublicSource and a Report for America corps member. He can be reached at qu***@pu**********.org and on Instagram and X @quinnglabicki.
This article first appeared on PublicSource and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
