MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - The Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) plagued with financial debt teams up with Consol Energy to host the local energy company’s fracking operations this month, the New York Times reports.
“The plan outlines six well pad locations and three centralized water impoundments and proposes a total of 47 Marcellus wells, with the future potential to drill Upper Devonian wells,” the statement on the Consol Energy website says. “These are largely dictated by topographical and environmental features and while they make temporary impacts, it is critical that these locations are chosen so as to not obstruct future airport growth,” according to the statement.
Consol will set up two vertical drilling rigs which will poke six holes over a mile down into the earth and a second rig which will drill horizontally extending 8,000 feet or more beneath PIT’s runways and terminals, the New York Times reports.
Fracking operations are predicted to yield nearly 280 billion cubic feet to 800 billion cubic feet of natural gas, Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports.
PIT is expected to earn nearly a quarter of its annual operating budget from hosting the local energy company's fracking operations. Gas drilled from the airport can potentially cover all of Pennsylvania’s needs for a year and a half.
The airport began losing money in 2004 when US Airways broke its long-term lease causing the previous 600 daily flights to drop to a mere 300. The 75-gate facility requires $91 million to operate, currently using about 42 percent of its annual budget to pay off debts according to the Times’ Matthew L. Wald. Projections of a $20 million annual profit from drilling would substantially alleviate the airport of its financial problems.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has reviewed the Environmental Assessment of the Pittsburgh fracking sites and has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision for Oil and Gas Drilling according to Consul Energy. Once horizontal rig operations begin, the vertical rig count will be reduced to one and both units will run for the duration of the project through 2018.
PIT is not the only airport in the United States with oil or gas exploration on its grounds. Dallas-Fort Worth and Denver International airports are both fracking sites.
