A year after Range Resources was accused of allowing a leaky well to taint nearby water supplies and refusing orders to fix it, the Department of Environmental Protection said the cause of the contamination is under investigation and rescinded an $8.9 million fine it had proposed against the state's fourth-largest gas driller.

The DEP declined Tuesday to answer questions about what prompted the agency's change from blunt language by then-Secretary John Quigley that clearly blamed the methane contamination on the Marcellus shale driller.

“We are currently investigating the source and the remedy and then will take appropriate enforcement action,” DEP spokesman Neil Shader said in an emailed response to questions.

Range has denied the gas came from its Harman Lewis well in Lycoming County, citing tests that show it was there before drilling began. The company declined to comment on the agency's most recent move.

Shader's comments differ from assertions made in June by Quigley when he said the DEP would seek the record fine against Range for gas found in five private wells and a stream.

“Range Resources has the responsibility to eliminate the gas migration that this poorly constructed well is causing,” Quigley said in a written statement at the time.

When asked what changed, Shader responded only that the investigation of the driller continues and that the rescission is “part of ongoing negotiations between DEP and Range to ultimately resolve the issue.” Range had appealed the fine but withdrew the appeal May 13 under an agreement with DEP that clarified it was not a final order.

“The public always deserves a full investigation before an execution,” said Rep. John Maher, a critic of DEP and chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. The Upper St. Clair Republican said he had no inside knowledge of the case.

A status report in a related appeal filed by Range before the Environmental Hearing Board states the company and DEP are discussing a settlement of the case after Range spent months completing “remedial” work at the well and conducting tests.

DEP did not answer questions about those activities.

Mike Krancer, an attorney who led DEP under Gov. Tom Corbett from January 2011 to April 2013, said it sounds to him as if the department does not have the evidence to prove Range is to blame. The investigation began under his watch.

“There was clearly a misstep of some sort by the department,” he said, comparing the burden of an environmental regulator to that of a district attorney in a criminal case. “You need to be comfortable the evidence is there to support an enforcement action or prosecution.”

Quigley resigned Friday amid a review by Gov. Tom Wolf's office of a profanity-laced email he sent from a private account to environmental groups criticizing them for failing to be more politically active in a debate over new drilling regulations.

Rob Altenburg, director of the energy center at environmental advocate PennFuture, said DEP's move likely indicates it is negotiating a new fine.

“I have not seen any indication … that Range is off the hook,” he said. “It very well may be that they don't end up paying $8.9 million, but that was just a proposal in the first place.”

The investigation of the well began in 2012. Quigley said he started reviewing the case as soon as Wolf appointed him in January 2015. Five months later, DEP issued an order blaming Range for stray gas from an improperly constructed well and directing the company to fix it, and a letter warning of the $8.9 million fine. Range appealed both the fine and a related order.

Since then, Range and DEP have exchanged revised plans for dealing with the gas well, and data collected through several studies, according to the status report in the pending appeal of the order.

After years of such tests, Marian Harman said she wants to see the gas well on her property either removed or brought online. Her water well does not have gas in it, and she said those that do were tainted before drilling began.

“They've investigated it enough already,” she said.

David Conti is the assistant business editor at the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 412-388-5802 or dconti@tribweb.com.

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