Natural gas disasters around the nation raise questions in Milford

By Anya Tikka
MILFORD TOWNSHIP — Could the Los Angeles natural gas leak happen here?

Milford's compressor station is undergoing a major expansion to handle the massive volume of fracked gas coming from the Marcellus Shale fields to the west. What are the risks locally of an environmental catastrophe like the one in Los Angeles, where natural gas gushed continually into the atmosphere for four months and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents?

The natural gas facilities in Milford and Los Angeles are different in important ways. The leak in Los Angeles was fed by gas from a large underground storage facility. By contrast, the Columbia Gas compressor station on Firetower Road does not store gas but is rather a junction point for three gas lines. The gas transported by these lines is compressed under high pressure and sent on its way, to New Jersey and beyond.

But the Milford station, like all industrial facilities, is subject to malfunction and failure, even if the consequences are not as dire as they are in Los Angeles. In the case of an accident in Milford, methane and other dangerous air pollutants could issue forth — and there's no clear evacuation route or emergency management plan yet in place.

Opponents say the station will pollute even without a major malfunction. The Damascus Citizens for Sustainability, which opposes the deep-drilling method of hydrofracking for natural gas that has overtaken much of central Pennsylvania, recently conducted a baseline test at the Milford site so that it will be able to track emissions increases when the station is up and running.

Currently, there’s no exit route north of the compressor station. Firetower Road eventually runs into a locked gate. From there, the road runs though state game land. A road that once connected Milford with Pond Eddy has long been closed.

Pike County Emergency Management knows about the lack of an emergency plan and is working on getting one, said Director Tim Knapp.

Because the site is in Milford Township, its zoning official, Bob DiLorenzo, is in charge of coordinating the plan. He said he’s just received from Columbia Gas an outline of the actions they'll take in case of a local emergency. The next step is to meet with all local representatives, including Pike County Emergency Management Services.

DiLorenzo said he’s been trying to get the old road to Pond Eddy reopened, but the county and town say it’s too long a stretch to fix. And while the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says it has no problem with the road through state game lands being used for evacuation, it has not yet responded with the necessary permit.

“I’m hoping to get Shohola and Westfall together on this to pay for it since Pond Eddy, Pa., is partly in both,” said DiLorenzo.

Columbia Gas did not return calls for a comment.

Scott Gabriel Knowles wrote a 2011 book on industrial disasters published by Pennsylvania University Press titled "The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America." But he couldn't offer much insight into the possibility of a natural gas disaster in his home state.

“Unfortunately it's outside of my realm of expertise," he wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, Firetower Road residents are advised to stay indoors in case of an emergency leak, and wait for direction from firefighters and other emergency personnel, DiLorenzo said.

Experts and local officials say the chance of a local disaster on the scale of the Los Angeles leak is slim since gas isn't stored in Milford. But activist Alex Lotorto, a leader of the environmental group that tried to stop the Milford expansion, said, "The total amount of methane and other gases that escape the gas pipes in Northeast Pennsylvania area is probably the same as in LA every day," although dispersed over a much larger area. “All pipes and joints leak and eventually can break, causing explosions and massive emissions.”

Opponents of the station say emissions are particularly likely during "blowouts," when excess gas is released into the atmosphere. Lotorto's group recently said the gas could be injected back to the pipes, eliminating both air pollution and noise, major causes of concern for nearby residents.

Last month, a judge dismissed the appeal of Columbia Gas and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to dismiss the case brought by Stop the Milford Compression Station Expansion, saying that Columbia Gas didn’t follow state environmental law mandating that the best available technology — electricity rather than combustion — be used to prevent pollution.

The leak in Los Angeles has prompted federal action on gas pipeline and storage regulations, calling for air monitoring for methane, mercaptans, benzene and hydrogen sulfide, and the use of infrared cameras and aircraft to determine whether methane is escaping.

In Pennsylvania, DEP Secretary John Quigley said recently new legislation is being finalized to better regulate gas and oil permitting, water and waste handling, and old wells.

Lotorto and other opponents of the compressor station say Milford’s zoning and planning boards should have had the final say in the site's land use. He said Governor Tom Wolf is not keeping his campaign promise on this point.

Economics may also determine how much the natural gas industry will continue to grow in Pennsylvania and other producing states. Currently, oil and natural gas prices have fallen so low, wells in some places are being closed because they are no longer profitable.