WASHINGTON, D.C. — A subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy has agreed to pay millions of dollars to restore 27 sites in West Virginia damaged by work that didn’t have the proper federal permits.
The federal EPA announced Thursday Chesapeake Appalachia LLC will spend $6.5 million to restore sites in Boone, Kanawha, Lewis, Marshall, Mingo, Preston, Upshur and Wetzel counties where fill material was dumped into streams and wetlands. The company will also pay a $3.2 million dollar fine for violating the federal Clean Water Act.
The EPA said 16 of the sites involved fracking used in the drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.
Under the settlement Chesapeake will fully restore the wetlands and streams where feasible and monitor the restored sites for up to 10 years.