Companies that use fracking to drill for natural gas have begun turning to outside technology to help quash what they describe as a legacy of distrust built by years of bad business practices by some drillers.

To quell concerns about the impact wells might have on water, air, land and the quality of life in their communities, a number of energy companies — including some operating in Western Pennsylvania — are hiring independent companies to continuously monitor production and certify that operations meet or exceed government standards.

“The third-party review is part of a new wave of what’s come to be known as ‘responsibly sourced gas,’ ” said Dan Weaver, president and executive director of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, headquartered in Marshall Township in the North Hills. The organization represents 375 energy companies statewide.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, extracts oil and gas from bedrock thousands of feet below the surface by injecting a high-pressure mixture of water, sand or gravel and chemicals.

Industry leaders say the process is safe when done properly. They see voluntary, outside certification and monitoring as a way for energy producers to demonstrate they are committed to doing it right.

“Operators that want to be good neighbors by holding themselves to a high standard can now have a third party certify that they are doing what they say they are doing,” Weaver said.

Some environmental activists, however, said it will take more than just a third party looking over a driller’s shoulder for the industry to win back public trust.

Skeptics remain

Gillian Graber of Protect PT, which has been fighting against fracking in Penn Township and other parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania for seven years, said drilling companies already can prove they aren’t polluting the environment.

“If they are really committed to doing a better job than they have in the past, they can start by not submitting applications that are inadequate,” said Graber, whose organization has been involved in a number a legal actions against energy companies. “They can also start hiring contractors that know what they’re doing and be willing to get rid of them when they don’t.

“If the industry wants to repair its lack of public trust, there are a lot more ways than having a third party.”

Public trust has been eroded by operators who are willing to make fines issued for violations “just part of doing business,” Graber said.

“If they want to do better, how about they just pay the fine when they pollute the air and damage streams and land instead of hiring a team of lawyers to negotiate it down,” she said.

Rob Altenburg of the environmental advocacy organization PennFuture agreed with Graber. Energy companies already have the means to be better environmental stewards, he said.

But he doesn’t dismiss involving a third party to provide oversight.

“If a company wants to go above and beyond and meet a higher standard, nobody’s stopping them and nobody’s going to object,” said Altenburg, PennFuture’s senior director of energy and climate.

Altenburg said third-party certification and monitoring could help energy companies tamp down some opposition to drilling by eliminating concern that they are policing themselves.

But the only true way that can happen, he said, is if the state makes that certification mandatory.

“If it’s voluntary, then the companies that are predisposed to cut corners aren’t going to do it,” he said, adding that efforts by his and other organizations to require mandatory outside review during the drilling application process have been opposed by the energy industry. “If energy companies are now saying that it can be cost effective to have third-party certification and monitoring, then they should be OK with making it mandatory.”

Jim Welty, vice president of government affairs for the statewide Marcellus Shale Coalition trade group, said the trend toward certifying the environmental performance of operators “confirms what we’ve known for some time: Natural gas is being developed safely, responsibly and to the highest of environmental protection standards in the world.”

Righting past wrongs

PennEnergy Resources, which has drilling operations in Armstrong County, recently joined the growing number of companies seeking independent oversight. Its 378 wells are being certified through Project Canary, a Denver-based company that focuses on measuring and reducing methane and other emissions at well sites, monitoring how fresh water is used in the gas extraction process and examining how operations impact communities.

The company’s name is an homage to the practice of bringing birds into coal mines to detect the presence of dangerous gases before workers are overcome. It sets up equipment at well pads and other facilities that analyzes hundreds of data points to measure emissions and other environmental factors, according to company officials.

Project Canary has been contracted by 15 energy companies in Pennsylvania, company officials said.

A number of companies in the U.S. provide such services, including Project Canary’s primary competitors, Equitable Origins, headquartered in New York City, and Colorado-based MiQ.

The growth in the use of third-party monitors is a response, in part, to operators who tried to cash in quickly on the burgeoning industry, said Weaver of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association.

“Some of the problems the industry is trying to deal with are self-inflicted and go back to the start of the fracking boom in Pennsylvania during the 2000s when it was like the Wild West,” he said. “Drillers flooded the market, punched a bunch of holes in the ground and then left when they realized that getting the gas out wasn’t as easy as they thought it would be.”

During the drilling heyday, more than 100 companies were operating in the state, Weaver said. Now, there are about 15 “major players,” he said.

“I think the atmosphere is very different now in Pennsylvania,” he said. “The people involved in the industry aren’t working and living in someone else’s backyard like they used to. They’re working in their own backyards, so there’s a greater sense that they need to make sure drilling is done right.”

A number of companies have adopted criteria known as ESG — environmental, social and governance — to guide their operations.

In addition to Project Canary certification, Olympus Energy, which operates fracking wells in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Westmoreland County, adopted the ESG principle as part of its effort to be more socially responsible, said Tim Dugan, the company’s president and CEO.

“From the very start, Olympus has been committed to instituting leading technology and implementing a rigorous, self-monitoring regimen to ensure our sites are safe for our communities and the environment,” Dugan said. “Pledging to achieve independent certification … is public validation of the work we do to bring domestic energy safely and responsibly to market.”

Rich Weber, chairman and CEO of PennEnergy Resources, said his company adopted certification and monitoring because it is essential to meeting the company’s goals.

“Our core values — centered on environmental stewardship, honesty and integrity — inform and guide every decision and action we take as a company,” he said in a news release announcing participation in Project Canary.

During the past five years, the state has cited PennEnergy Resources six times, which resulted in about $58,000 in fines, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Four fines totaling $267,250 were levied against Olympus Energy and Huntley & Huntley — Olympus’ previous name — during the past five years, state regulators said.

Silver, gold and platinum

Brian Miller is senior vice president for public policy and growth at Project Canary. He said the certification and monitoring services his company provides are akin to the rating system created by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, which assigns a silver, gold or platinum rating based on a building’s energy efficiency and other environmental factors.

“To get a LEED rating, there are requirements and rules of the road that need to be followed,” Miller said. “In much the same way, we do a well-by-well certification to determine its impact on the air, water, land and surrounding community and then use equipment to monitor hundreds of data points at the site in real time.”

To achieve a silver rating, a well site must meet the standards set by the federal government. For a gold rating, operators must “employ industry best practices” that go above regulatory requirements. For platinum certification, a facility must be equipped with a system to continuously monitor emissions.

Miller said the company is bound by confidentiality and could not disclose the rating achieved by its clients operating in Pennsylvania. But he said companies are not stopping at the minimum.

“We help them get from having a good operation that meets the government’s requirements to being a gold- or platinum-rated operation that far exceeds those minimums,” he said.

State regulators do not endorse or promote third-party certification or monitoring providers, but they said using such services can play a role in reducing pollution.

“We’re always in favor of operators going above and beyond our regulations when it comes to protecting the environment,” DEP spokesman Neil Shader said. “If that’s something they can verify they are doing, then we certainly are in favor of it.”

Shader said the agency would review data collected from monitored drilling sites if companies provide it, but the information would not replace the work of state inspectors or shift responsibility when problems occur.

“Whether or not an outside party is involved,” he said, “the operator is ultimately responsible for complying with the regulations.”

Hard sell for skeptics

Graber, of Protect PT, said while the concept of independent oversight sounds promising, the industry’s track record leaves her skeptical.

“A common thread we’ve seen when things go wrong with a well is for the energy companies to point the finger at the contractors hired to do the work and for the contractors to point a finger right back,” she said. “Whether having a third party certify wells and install monitors improves the industry’s record is something we’ll just have to wait and see about.”

Oakmont Councilman John Arnold, a retired engineer and member of the group Citizens to Protect Oakmont, pushed for his borough to enact measures to regulate fracking. He said third-party certification and monitoring are a good first step.

“We definitely need independent oversight of the energy industry,” he said. “But just hiring a third-party company to do it would be inadequate.

“At the very least, there needs to be a coalition of citizens and elected officials at the county or state level to look over their shoulders.”

Some environmentalists said how third-party certification and onsite monitoring is implemented is critical.

“The idea raises questions about how much transparency will be part of the process,” said Myron Arnowitt, Pennsylvania director for Clean Water Action, a national nonprofit.

“If there’s a third party out there saying a company is doing a great job at drilling, how will we know that? How will it be demonstrated?” he said. “And will the public be informed if a drilling company has shoddy management and isn’t doing it right?”

Having voluntary third-party oversight also doesn’t do much to deter drillers who don’t care about the environment, Arnowitt said.

“If we think that that third-party certification and monitoring is something that will do a better job of protecting us, then why make it optional?” he said.

Arnowitt said the focus should be on investing in ways to produce energy without the need to drill for oil and gas.

“I think the climate crisis has advanced the idea that the oil and gas industry is on a timeline and that this is not going to last forever,” he said. “The most pressing question is, what role will oil and gas play in meeting our future energy needs?”

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