PA Environment Digest

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NEW FEATURE: Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Nov. 5 To 11

To give the public a better understanding of the compliance record of oil and gas industrial facilities in Pennsylvania, PA Environment Digest is starting a new feature summarizing the more serious violations DEP reports through its Compliance Reporting Database on a weekly basis -- Saturday through Friday.

This new feature will be in addition to -- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment-- which lists the permits DEP is considering and has issued for oil and gas facilities.

Taken together, the public will get a weekly report on how the oil and gas industry is expanding across Pennsylvania and the kinds of environmental violations reported as a result of DEP’s inspections.

Send your feedback on these features to: paenvirodigest@gmail.com.

This Week’s Summary

From November 5 through 11, DEP inspections resulted in reporting 255 violations of environmental regulations-- 241 violations by the conventional oil and gas industry and 14 violations by the unconventional shale natural gas industry.

So far this year-- as of November 4-- DEP issued 4,208 formal notices of violation to conventional operators and 991 to unconventional shale gas operators.

The most significant problem reported again this week was seven instances of failure to plug conventional oil and gas wells upon abandoning them by Dannic Energy Corp in Butler County (1) and Erie County (1), Stedman Energy, Inc. in Erie County (3) and River Ridge Gravel Co. in Venango County (2).

The second most significant issue was the failure of River Ridge Gravel Co. to file annual production and waste disposal reports and well integrity reports for 54 wells in Venango County.

The production and waste report is critical to understanding how much wastewater and other waste those wells generated and where it was disposed of.

The annual integrity report is critical because it helps ensure the operator is taking the steps needed to prevent natural gas, oil or contaminated water leaks from oil and gas wells.

Report Violations

To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage.

Check These Resources

Visit DEP’s Compliance Reporting Database webpage to search their compliance records by date and operator.

Sign up for DEP’s eNOTICE service which sends you information on oil and gas and other permits submitted to DEP for review in your community.

Violation Details

Violations Reported - Conventional

7 -- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

1 -- Discharged Waste Into Waters Of Commonwealth

1 -- Operator Vented Natural Gas Into The Atmosphere

1 -- Failure To Report A Release That Caused Or Threatens To Cause Pollution

1 -- Failure To Prevent Substances From Reaching Waters of Commonwealth

1 -- Failed To Properly Dispose Of Fluids, Wastes, Drill Cuttings

1 -- Operated A Residual Waste Processing Or Disposal Facility Without A Permit

1 -- Failed To Collect Brine And Properly Manage Wastewater

1 -- Failure To Construction Well To Maintain Its Integrity

54 -- Failed To Submit Well Integrity Report

54 -- Failed To Submit Well Production & Waste Management Report

1 -- Failure To Provide Free & Unrestricted Access

Operator/Location-Well Pad/Violations - Conventional

Allegheny County

-- Allegheny County - Moon Township - Raymond Anderson

-- Discharged Waste Into Waters Of Commonwealth

-- Failed To Properly Dispose Of Fluids, Wastes, Drill Cuttings

-- Failed To Collect Brine And Properly Manage Wastewater

-- Failure To Report A Release That Caused Or Threatens To Cause Pollution

-- Failure To Prevent Substances From Reaching Waters of Commonwealth

-- Operated A Residual Waste Processing Or Disposal Facility Without A Permit

Butler County

-- Dannic Energy Corp - Fairview Twp. - CUPEC 1

-- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

Cambria County

-- Equitrans LP - Jackson Twp. - George Reade

-- Operator Vented Natural Gas Into The Atmosphere

-- Failure To Construction Well To Maintain Its Integrity

-- Failure To Provide Free & Unrestricted Access

Erie County

-- Stedman Energy, Inc. - Le Boeuf Twp. - Belt 1

-- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

-- Stedman Energy, Inc. - Le Boeuf Twp. - Malacarne 1

-- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

-- Stedman Energy, Inc. - Le Boeuf Twp. - Sauers 2

-- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

-- Dannic Energy Corp. - Venango Twp. - G PROCTOR UNIT 1

-- Failure To Plug The Well Upon Abandoning It

Venango County

-- River Ridge Gravel Co. - Cranberry Twp. - INC 13