Feds say Range Resources hasn't complied with EPA order

BY JACK Z. SMITH

The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint Tuesday in a Dallas federal court against Range Resources, contending that the Fort Worth-based natural gas producer failed to comply with all of an emergency order the Environmental Protection Agency issued Dec. 7 in connection with methane contamination of two Parker County water wells.
The DOJ filing seeks enforcement of the order, which the EPA issued after investigating complaints from residents that their water wells were contaminated by methane, the chief component of natural gas. EPA maintains that Range gas wells nearby caused or contributed to the contamination, a charge Range denies. The complaint asks the Dallas court to direct Range to comply and pay a civil penalty up to $16,500 per day.
The DOJ complaint says that, "while Range offered to provide two affected residences alternative drinking water and installed explosivity meters in their homes, it has failed to comply with other requirements to conduct surveys of private and public water wells in the vicinity, to submit plans for field testing and to submit plans to study how the methane and other contaminants may have migrated from the production wells."