Oct. 19--Range Resources Corp. announced today that it is now recycling all of the waste water produced by its natural gas drilling operations in Washington County.

The recycling efforts will play a huge role in achieving the state Department of Environmental Protection's proposed 2011 water quality discharge standards, according to Range.

"Range's recycling program is helping to eliminate wastewater, lower drilling costs, reduce consumptive water needs by 25 percent, and lessen local truck traffic," said Jeff Ventura, Range's president and chief operating officer, in a statement.

Recycling won't be the only long-term water treatment option in reducing waste water from drilling, but it will play a significant role, Ventura added.

Ventura made the announcement during remarks at Hart Energy Publishing's "Developing Unconventional Gas East Convention" at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

Water recycling and reuse is a method of reducing water consumption and wastewater, but has not previously been used to the scale Range is using, the company said. It is reducing water needs by about one million gallons per horizontal well, Range said.

Earlier this year, state DEP Secretary John Hanger announced a proposal that all industrial water discharges contain less than 500 parts per million of total dissolved solids. The proposal would impact several industries, including natural gas development.

Water recycling is important because demand for treating wastewater from oil and gas production in the state is expected to reach about nine million gallons a day this year, according to a state DEP report. It is projected to increase to 16 million gallons next year and 19 million gallons a day in 2011, when new standards limiting such pollution would take effect.

Demand for treatment capacity comes at a time when drilling activity remains robust, despite the recession. It is driven by surging activity in the Marcellus Shale region in Pennsylvania and portions of surrounding states, which is estimated to hold enough natural gas to meet the country's needs for more than a decade.

Through mid-August, the DEP issued 1,067 permits for gas drilling statewide, compared with 476 for all of last year. The number of Marcellus wells drilled totaled 283, up 45 percent from 2008's 195 total.

Rick Stouffer can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7853.

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