Tioga County man with flammable water seeks answers from DEC

By: Janelle Burrell

He says he can do his dishes and poach an egg at the same time. A Tioga County man says a natural gas leak on his property has made his well water flammable. Fred Mayer brought his case to the DEC, but as our Janelle Burrell tells us, he's not satisfied with the response.

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TIOGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Fred Mayer says he first noticed gurgling noises coming from his tap nearly a year ago, a year after he says Fortuna Energy used explosives on his property to determine whether there was natural gas below.

"They dynamited the whole side of my hill and this one gentleman said, 'you're a rich man. There's gas all over this place.’ I'm so rich, I got it in my drinking water," Mayer said.

Mayer says now all of the water in his Newark Valley home is flammable. He notified the DEC of his issue last January. The agency opened a spill investigation, which they closed less than a month later after determining there was no gas spill, without ever visiting Mayer's property.

"It's not correct. It's not correct. The DEC did not investigate it. They did not follow through," said Mayer.

Mayer's property sits on 97 acres and according to the DEC, the closest gas well is seven miles away and has been inactive for some time. Mayer says all he's looking for is for the DEC to come out here and investigate his case, so he can finally get some answers.

The DEC released a statement saying, "DEC investigates any complaint within a reasonable distance of a gas well - commonly 1/2 to 1 mile from a gas well... The determination made was that the gas in Mr. Mayer's well must be naturally occurring and that no further investigation was warranted."

Many opposed to drilling in the Marcellus Shale say Mayer's situation is an example of why the DEC should not lift its moratorium. Mayer disagrees. Right now, Fortuna pays him $57,000 a year for mineral rights to his property. He will likely get an even bigger payout in royalties if drilling is allowed.

"What they should do is let these gas companies pump the gas out of the ground,” Mayer said. “The quicker they get it pumped out, the quicker I don't have any gas in my water."

The answer, of course, isn't so simple.
But for now, Mayer says he will continue to buy bottled water and will wait for a decision from the DEC.

DEC officials say they have not received any complaints from neighbors in Mayer's area about gas leakage.