Source: Biweekly Status Report No. 10
by Kate Shunney
TC Energy, the owner of Columbia Gas Transmission, has reported the cleanup of drilling fluid from several sites in the Hancock area and work continues on a 4-mile gas pipeline connector between Fulton County, Pa. and Morgan County, W.Va.
In a March 19 report to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, TC Energy Environmental Compliance employee Jason Chambers summarized the project’s status and actions by contractors.
According to the biweekly report, contractors on February 17 grouted a bore hole that was the source of an inadvertent return (IR) of drilling fluid – bentonite slurry – onto the pipeline right of way property.
On February 20, another inadvertent return of drilling fluid occurred 30 feet north of Berm Road in Hancock. Cleanup efforts used vacuum trucks to capture the bentonite slurry. Other measures were taken to contain the liquid to the drilling area.
On February 21, an inadvertent return of drilling fluid occurred near Locher Road. Drilling was stopped and containment structures were put in place.
“One contained, cleanup began immediately and continued through the night,” the report says.
Contractors monitored the area and noted that there was groundwater following the same path as the drilling fluid, which was removed by vacuum and hauled to tanks along Locher Road.
The report says a “field delineation” confirmed that no rivers or streams were impacted by the fluid spill.
Drilling activities have continued in multiple areas, including grouting of holes used for horizontal directional drilling (HDD) under roads and streams.
TC Energy reports that on February 21, “a mechanical failure occurred resulting in the breakage of HDD equipment.”
The company reports that a pipe attached to the HDD bore head broke, leaving the contractor unable to retrieve the bore head or continue to drill.
“Columbia held a conference call with representatives from the Maryland Department of Environment (MDE) and USACE on February 24, 2025 to discuss the preferred approach to move forward with the Potomac River HDD,” the report says. “This approach included continued drilling at both the POD and Locher Road sites along the same alignment but at a depth approximately 50 feet below the initial proposed HDD alignment, in effort to reduce the risk of the HDD bore head self-grouting again and reducing the risk of an inadvertent return of bentonite drilling fluid.”
According to the report, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the company an exception to the restriction that all drilling around the Potomac river must be completed by March 1. The Army Corps of Engineers gave TC Energy until March 21 – last Friday – to have a partial stream closure for the project.
Drilling on the deeper drill path began on February 26, the report says.