Shallow natural gas – or methane – has historically been, and continues to be, present in communities across Pennsylvania. This methane, in many cases, has migrated over generations naturally into private water wells. In fact, a recent analysis by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a legislative research arm of the General Assembly, found that 20 percent of private water wells have methane present that is not related to natural gas development. Additionally, Pennsylvania is one of only two states in the United States that does not have private water well construction standards. What does this mean? In short, there are natural pathways for methane to migrate into water wells and without strong, commonsense standards to construct and protect water wells, this will remain an ongoing challenge.
To help explain this, the MSC recently released a new video that underscores the science and geology associated with methane migration, and more importantly, demonstrates the host of regulations and operational practices that natural gas producers take to address this issue.
