Residents first reported water problems to DEP in 2008, shortly after the Price 1 Well was drilled, and again in 2010 after their pipes clogged, flooding their homes, and their water turned “milky black.”

“The water was so black you couldn’t even see through it,” one resident recounted to Public Herald. “Our water was good before.”

DEP sampled residents’ water in 2008 and 2010, but not for arsenic. DEP’s limited testing did, however, find methane and other heavy metals above Department standards.

But after seven months of waiting for DEP to reveal what was in their water, only two out of six residents received “positive determinations” from DEP linking their water pollution to Southwestern’s well operations – complaints #258959 and #258960. The other households, who reported water problems at the same exact time, received “negative determination” letters. According to DEP, their water problems “appear[ed] to be related to background conditions” and therefore not related to oil or gas operations.

Meanwhile, Southwestern’s waste pit was sitting – buried – nearby at Price 1V.

After DEP washed its hands of the issue, residents banded together and sued Southwestern for polluting their water. Ending a seven-year legal battle, residents’ settled for a meager sum in 2015. To get the money, Southwestern required each plaintiff to sign what has become an industry standard in oil and gas areas across the U.S. – the “non-disclosure agreement” (NDA) – whereby signing, residents trade money for their freedom of speech, agreeing never to talk about their water problems and the company again. (NDA’s are often referred to as “gag orders” by residents.)



For this report, the identities of gagged residents who spoke with Public Herald anonymously have been protected.

“DEP dropped us like a hot potato,” said one Lenox Township resident. Another recounted how “DEP just washed their hands of it.”

“The whole DEP, they just sloughed us off,” another resident said. “In other words – there was nothing wrong with your water, it all came from background conditions.”