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Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Facility Malfunction Dec. 27 Released 1.1 Million Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas; Same Facility Plagued Community With Blowdowns 3 Times A Day, 7 Days A Week For Nearly 10 Years Until Criminal Charges Brought Against CNX

On December 27, 2022-- Christmas week-- a malfunction at the CNX Oak Springs Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Station in South Franklin Township, Washington County resulted in the release of an estimated 1.1 million cubic feet of natural gas and hazardous air pollutants.

This same Station plagued the community with blowdowns releasing natural gas and liquid chemicals three times a day, seven days a week for nearly 10 years before Attorney General Shapiro brought criminal charges against CNX.

The blowdowns were documented in hundreds of videos and photos by the nearby Borello Family.

From approximately 10:14 a.m. to at least 11:55 a.m. on December 27 an apparent valve malfunction at the Oak Springs Pigging Station which launches and recovers “pigs” used to clean the natural gas gathering pipeline it serves caused the pulsing release of natural gas that sounded like a jet plane engine being turned on and off every few seconds.

Click Here for video and sound of the Dec. 27 releases.

The Borello Family-- Jodi, her husband and three children-- live about 1,500 feet from the Pigging Station. They first heard the uncontrolled venting of natural gas about 11:15 a.m. or so.

“We were all watching TV and relaxing with the kids. My husband went…I don’t know if he was going to the gym or what he was doing, but he went outside,” said Jodi Borello. He came back in and said, “Holy crap, something is going on up there, listen.”

“We all stopped what we were doing and then you could hear it. I thought “Oh, my God” My husband ran outside, which I wish he wouldn’t have, but he was watching it from outside where he could see it blowing around and then that’s when I grabbed my camera and started taking photos and videos. I think that was at 11:24 a.m.

The Borello Family was very familiar with this sound because from 2012, when the facility was first built, through mid-2019 the Pigging Station was doing deliberate blowdowns-- releases of natural gas, liquids and hazardous air pollutants-- three times a day, seven days a week.

[Yes, three times a day, seven days a week for nearly a decade.]

Click Here for video and sound of a typical release from 2012 to 2019.

The Borello’s continuous complaints to DEP, county and local officials and to the Office of Attorney General resulted in the Attorney General starting an investigation of the CNX Pigging Station in January 2019 that resulted in successfully bringing criminal charges against CNX for the station’s operations that were resolved in December 2021.

But more on this later.

Ironically on December 25, just two days before the Oak Springs malfunction, the Energy Transfer Revolution Cryogenic Natural Gas Processing Plant just a few miles away suffered an explosion and fire that burned for 11 hours releasing ethane and other chemicals into the air. Read more here.

“It’s Going To Blow”

On December 27, after they confirmed what the noise was, Jodi Borello called emergency responders because there was no one at the Pigging Station.

“I ended up calling 911 because I thought - - ‘It’s going to blow,” said Jodi. “There’s no one there, there’s no one standing over there and something is leaking out of this and it’s very, very loud.”

“You could tell it was a high pressure coming out of a very small hole. I mean, it was very, very loud. I called 911 and I called the DEP Emergency Line,” said Jodi.

“The fire department came to my home, and I told them the incident is at the pig station across the road,” said Jodi. “Then I watched them drive up and they went to a gas well pad that is also visible from my house.”

“So even they did not go to where the incident was occurring. No one showed up for nearly three hours later [from the company]. There were no vehicles there for that long. It was several hours later. They all were at the gas well.

“Which, I can't figure out why. Why would you be there? That's not where there's an issue. So I don't know, were they afraid something was going to happen? I don't know. Was I supposed to evacuate?” said Jodi.

DEP Response

After being notified by Jodi on December 27, a DEP inspector came to the Borello’s home and did an inspection of the Oak Springs Pigging Station on January 3.

Click Here for a copy of the DEP inspection report.

As a result of the inspection, DEP requested a report from CNX on the malfunction which they received on January 17.

Click Here for a copy of the CNX incident report.

CNX said a valve at the Oak Springs Pigging Station resulted in venting natural gas for a total of 29 minutes during two “events” from approximately 10:14 to 11:20 a.m. CNX said the venting resulted in the release of 564,702 cubic feet of natural gas.

However, the duration of the releases is disputed by video and direct observations by the Borrelo Family which documented continuing, loud venting pulses from at least 11:24 a.m. to nearly Noon when the State Police log shows they arrived on the scene.

The CNX report also says a contractor on site at 12:30 p.m. found a valve locked in the open position and then closed the value and locked it.

Relying on the Borello Family’s observations would double the estimated total release of natural gas to over 1.129 million cubic feet of gas.

CNX said the Oak Springs Pigging Station serves as a natural gas gathering pipeline connecting five nearby shale gas drilling pads-- one CNX pad and four Diversified Gas and Oil well pads.

Because the Pigging Station was built prior to 2018 it is not covered by an Air Quality Program permit from DEP. The gathering pipeline is not regulated by the state Public Utility Commission, according to the PUC.

In fact, the Oak Springs Pigging Station did not have a record in DEP’s eFACTS database as a regulated Air Quality facility until after the Attorney General began investigating the facility in 2019, according to Jodi.

There was a record in eFACTS for the erosion and sedimentation permit when the facility was built in 2012.

Current Status

DEP’s investigation of the December 27 uncontrolled venting at the Oak Springs Pigging Station is still ongoing.

“They [DEP inspector] ended up coming out to the house [January 3], and it seemed like everything was going well. I thought they’re really going to take this seriously this time. And then I didn’t hear from them for about a month,” said Jodi.

She said she sent an email to the DEP inspector in the beginning of February that was at her home and got a copy of the DEP inspection report and the CNX incident report, but then heard nothing back.

“So I ended up calling the DEP, calling the number that I had for her, which was disconnected. So then I called the main line and I asked to be connected to her phone,” said Jodi. “I couldn't get in contact with her. And that's when they informed me that she and two other people in that department working on my case, no longer work there.”

“They told me to contact [another DEP inspector]. So I did email her and she said that they were training people, and she will attempt to update me sometime in the near future with what has transpired with my case. And that was March 2nd,” said Jodi.

“And I still have not heard from anybody,” said Jodi. “It's the same story over and over again. I mean, I have a right to know what we were exposed to that day. I really should have the right to know that. And that's quite unfortunate. But I've been asking the same question for over a decade.”

Surrounded By Oil & Gas Facilities

The Oak Springs Pigging Facility isn’t the only natural gas facility in the Borello Family’s neighborhood.

Jodi said there are three stand-alone pigging facilities within a mile of their home, and that’s not including the ones at the shale gas well pads.

There are four shale gas well pads within a mile or just over a mile of their home, each with multiple natural gas wells connected by the gathering pipeline as well as two large water impoundments serving those well pads, although one was removed and the other is being permitted as a waste holding facility.

They also have an air shaft for an underground coal mine near them.

CNX Criminal Charges

The Oak Springs Pigging Station has a long history of problems before the December 27, 2022 incident.

In September 2012, DEP issued CNX Resources a Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation Control Program for the Oak Springs Natural Gas Pipeline Pigging Station and a 1 million gallon storage tank on the same site.

“So they end up putting [in] this quote “aboveground pipe system.” It was red and it is very large, and all of a sudden they were shooting something out of it, and we're like, "What is that? It sounds like a jet engine. What is it?" said Jodi.

“It is close enough that whatever the substance that they're blowing out of it blows into my yard and I can see it, and we have 60 seconds to get in the house and I have thousands of videos,” said Jodi.

Click Here for video/sound of a typical release from 2012 to 2019.

"At first I thought nothing of it, maybe it was a one time thing that a substance is coming out of the pipe system, so let’s just forget about it, right?” said Jodi.

“So then we started noticing we were having rashes, and that's when I thought, good God, we need to find out what's coming out of that pipe,” said Jodi. “So, I called the DEP, they came out, they gave me a permit number, and told me that I would have to do a file review to find out what this quote “above ground valve system” is, is what they kept calling it.”

"So, after that, eventually the DEP told me they were doing blowdowns of the well pads from this above ground valve system,” said Jodi.

“They would blow off from this above ground valve system seven days a week, three times a day for nearly a decade [2012 to mid-2019],” she said. “They would come in the morning about 8:00 or 9:00, then they'd come at around lunch at one o'clock, and then they'd come back around six o'clock in the evening every day, even holidays. And sometimes I wouldn't even see them put a pig in it.”

The Borello Family adjusted to life with the pigging facility as best they could with blowdowns happening seven days a week and no one helping them.

“So when we see somebody at the pig station, we do not go outside. And if we are outside and we see someone drive up to the pig station, we come indoors,” said Jodi. “So we are no longer having rashes. And I equate it to the fact that we're not dumb enough to stay outside when they blow off.”

She said DEP did set up a summa canister air sampler once in August of 2014 in an attempt to document air emissions from the pigging facility.

“The results came back that there was high acetone, but the DEP told me not to worry that that was happening all over the state. And that was the end of that,” said Jodi. [Click Here for results.]

[Note: Acetone can cause skin irritation, drying and cracking of the skin with redness. Read more here.]

Jodi said she was not aware of any soil sampling DEP did around the pigging facility to identify chemicals coming out during the nearly 10 years of blowdowns.

“I called the DEP over and over and over again. Finally, I contacted the Attorney General's Office and that is when things began to change in the aspect that the DEP started questioning CNX for their pigging logs,” said Jodi.

“Because at this point, CNX finally said, "Well, that is a pig station," but the DEP in 10 years never thought to ask CNX what this above ground valve system is for or why anything is blowing out of it.”

“CNX said that it was methanol at one point. The DEP said that it’s quote, "Everything that they're pumping down into the gas well is coming out of this pipe system." So you can take a guess from that,” said Jodi.

“Sometimes when I would see a sprinkler system, it looked like a sprinkler, when you water the lawn, like a sprinkler, it would appear like that,” said Jodi. “I would always say it was a liquid and that was refuted by the DEP for many, many years, even though I have video.

“So, anyway, it shoots about approximately 40 feet up in the air, and then it blows towards my house and into my yard,” said Jodi.

On January 2, 2019, the state Office of Attorney General received a formal referral from the Washington County District Attorney requesting the state OAG to assume jurisdiction of a criminal investigation of the CNX Oak Springs Pigging Station. [Attorney General’s Affidavit - #2]

The referral was needed because the Attorney General does not have the authority to initiate environmental investigations on its own without a referral from a county District Attorney or DEP.

“The DEP was unable to find any violations related to the volume or contents of the emissions [from the Pigging Station], but because of Jodi Borello’s record keeping, they were alerted to the possibility that CNX Resources was not accurately reporting the number of times that their station at Oak Springs was being pigged.” [Attorney General’s Affidavit - #8]

On December 3, 2021, CNX Resources pleaded “no contest” to criminal charges for misreporting air emissions from the Oak Springs Pigging Station as well as the number of times it conducted pigging operations. Read more here.

In its plea agreement, CNX Resources agreed to donate $30,000 to South Franklin Township, Washington County where the violations occurred to put toward a stream restoration project in Chartiers Creek and for park services. It also donated 184 acres to Allegheny County in Elizabeth Township. Read more here.

“The Attorney General was the only person that listened, and I am beyond grateful to them,” said Jodi.

“CNX never apologized to my family, for starters. And I really thought, "Well, this is the end. They're never going to blow anything out of that pipe again." I was feeling very hopeful,” said Jodi.

“And that's why this December 27nd of 2022, I was very shocked at what happened up here. And I don't know why it happened,” said Jodi.

Hole In Regulating Pigging Stations

No one has a clear idea of how many pipeline pigging stations there are in Pennsylvania, although well over 2,800 pig launchers and receivers reported air emissions to DEP.

There are free-standing pigging stations like Oak Springs and others located at compressor stations, well pads and natural gas processing facilities; anywhere there is a natural gas, natural gas liquids or petroleum products pipeline anywhere across the state.

The shale gas industry and the build out of new natural gas infrastructure started in Pennsylvania in 2003.

From 2011 to 2016, DEP’s Air Quality Program only required oil and gas operators to maintain records of how frequently they conducted pigging operations. [Attorney General’s Affidavit - #5]

In January 2016, DEP first required operators to start reporting air emissions from pigging operations [for the previous year] as part of an initiative to start an emissions inventory for natural gas-related facilities. [Attorney General’s Affidavit - #6]

Earthworks reported in September 2017 DEP said emissions from pigging operations were originally considered to be of minor significance until it became clear from company reports that they had been “significantly understated by industry.” Read more here.

According to the Clean Air Council, DEP did not start regulating air emissions from pigging operations until 2018 when it adopted Air Quality General Permit #5 and General Permit #6. Click Here for technical guidance.

However, they only apply to facilities constructed or modified after August 8, 2018.

DEP only requires the applicant for these general permits to notify the local government where the facility is to be located that it is applying for coverage under these general permits. [Technical Guidance page 20]

DEP only publishes a public notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin when the permits are issued.

However, these notices typically lump together a number of air pollution sources covered by these General Permits, like compressor stations, flares and other equipment and frequently do not mention pigging operations.

The General Permits are also not included in DEP’s eNOTICE system which provides the public with notice that applications were submitted in their municipality or county.

Once a facility has a General Permit, it isn’t clear how often DEP’s Air Quality Program actually inspects these facilities, in particular stand-alone pigging operations, or does an administrative review to make sure they are submitting the required reports under the permit.

Like with the Oak Springs Pigging Station, the only way DEP is likely to know about air emission problems is if they get a complaint from the public who documents the violations.

The Clean Air Council said they and other environmental groups recommended DEP include pigging operations in its recently adopted VOC/methane emission control regulations for conventional and unconventional oil and gas operations, but DEP declined to include them. Read more here.

The Council noted they and other groups also recommended the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopt performance standards and emission guidelines for pigging and blow down activities in its initial methane regulations covering oil and gas operations, but they did not.

The Council also said DEP submitted comments to EPA on February 7, 2023 on its latest proposal to regulate methane from oil and gas operations recommending, “EPA should establish requirements to reduce methane and VOC [volatile organic compound] emissions from new and existing pigging operations.”

The Environmental Defense Fund reported EPA and DEP did take enforcement action in April 2018 against MarkWest Liberty Midstream for federal and state air pollution act violations covering 273 compressor stations and stand-alone pigging facilities in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Read more here.

The action was said to reduce VOC emissions by 706 tons per year and achieve a 91.5 percent annual emission reductions throughout the covered natural gas gathering system. MarkWest also paid a $610,000 penalty.

The Environmental Health Project did not have specific information about the health impacts of pigging operations, however, they said the impacts would be similar to producing natural gas wells, pipelines, compressor stations and other natural gas infrastructure.

The potential hazards include methane, volatile organic compounds, EPA hazardous air pollutants, radioactive materials such as radon and radium as well as chemicals like ethane.

In addition, there are waste liquids produced at pigging stations that can result in spills or leaching into soil and groundwater, if not properly handled.

Jodi’s Experience Is ‘Typical’

Lois Bower-Bjornson, a Field Organizer for the Clean Air Council, has seven years of experience in Western Pennsylvania working with families and communities impacted by all kinds of oil and gas infrastructure.

She runs tours of the region to show the real impacts of these facilities.

When asked if she thought the Borello Family’s experience with pipeline pigging facilities was typical or out of the ordinary she said--

“It is typical. The only difference is that where Jodi is, she can see it. This goes on a lot of places, but it's out in the middle of a farmer's field where there’re cows.

“It happens at times when they think no one is looking, at night on the weekends, while people are at work so then people aren't doing anything about it.

“I've had experiences with people where, again, there was a blow down or a hissing or something going on, and it goes on for hours, and hours, until someone even comes in to shut it off because no one's around from industry.”

“So it does happen way more than anybody wants to admit to,” said Lois.

Lois said after DEP finalized the Air Quality General Permits 5 and 5A in 2018 to cover pigging and other oil and gas air pollution sources, members of her community went to DEP’s Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee and talked with DEP staff in Harrisburg to say they had serious concerns about the permits.

“It was a very highly contentious meeting and it was really awful. It was very telling [when Committee members said], ‘Well, we had this all written down and we'd done all this work.’

“The DEP staff basically said what they said, ‘Well, it's all here. We have the best practices’ - Is what we kept hearing - ‘We have the best practices.’

“But we [said], ‘Well, that's wonderful and we appreciate all your work. However, nothing's being implemented [in the field]. So nothing that you have written down is working,’" said Lois. “They took high offense to that.”

When asked how frequently DEP gets out to enforce the provisions of the Air Quality General Permits on oil and gas operations, Lois said--

“I can only speak for the people that I work with and what I see-- and I don't see that happening really at all. Never, have to be honest with you.

“I know how difficult it is to even get the DEP out when something's going on. It takes days, and then by that point, the violation is over. When they do show up , they do the walk around, [the] sniff - see - hear test and say nothing's wrong.

“It's the lack of staffing. It's the lack of funds. There are good people in the DEP. I'm not saying that there aren’t, but they're overwhelmed,” said Lois.

Lois said the failure to provide public notice and any opportunity to comment on Air Quality General Permits covering these facilities is a real problem.

She said the requirement to notify local municipalities when permit applications are submitted just doesn’t work-- “no one's going to pay attention to [that] notice.”

“I know of people in Jefferson Hills [Washington County], for example, where fracking is banned. The manager from Jefferson Hills knew of the largest well pad and compressor stations in North America coming to the neighboring township (Union township) and never told them [the public or council members]. That is a dereliction of duty.” said Lois.

“A lot of times things are already done and then they're having a meeting about it, but it's already been pushed through. And that's on all levels really,” said Lois.

In response to the question of how the DEP enforcement issues can be fixed, Lois said, “Well, you need more people, and you need boots on the ground... people that understand what they're dealing with and how to test and show up and be there.”

“A lot of times, people call the [oil and gas] company, and no one shows up. For example just recently in West Virginia, raw gases were being expelled into the air for eight hours, until someone showed up from industry.

“When they call the DEP, the DEP says to call industry. The DEP doesn’t show up or they'll be out Monday, or whenever or never, just depending. They let industry self-report on the violations."

“I've never heard anyone say, ‘Hey, I called the DEP and they showed up immediately,’ ever,” said Lois. “If they do show up it's never that day.”

“We can't wait three days to get out here, it doesn't matter if it's Christmas or a holiday or whatever, we need people on call that we're paying to get out and take a look at this and look at it properly with the correct tools, whether it's air monitors, samples they need to grab, whatever is needed to help the people living next to these violations.” said Lois.

Conclusion

Jodi Borello summed up her family’s situation with the pigging facility, DEP and oil and gas development this way.

“So [with DEP’s] Air Quality District supervisor, and she's the one that had quit. And I was very hopeful. She seemed very honest and as if she was going to take care of this. And I felt very confident for the first time in a decade, and then it was just dead in the water for over a month,” said Jodi.

“And I try to be respectful, Right? I mean, I'm an adult. I know how long it takes for things to be handled, but this is an ongoing issue.

“This should not be happening. I've been dealing with the inadequacies of the DEP for a decade, and that's not fair to my family, my kids, my community. It's just not, and I would like to send you photos of what we look like when we have rashes because it's not acceptable.”

“My experience is... Let me think how to word this. People that are not... How can I say this? That [DEP doesn’t] have employees that maybe don't have support of their state government, and maybe they're getting burnt out because they don't have adequate resources. And I think that things are not set in place that can help them to do their job,” said Jodi.

DEP: See Something, Say Something

Natural gas well pads, water and natural gas pipelines, compressor stations, pigging facilities, natural gas processing plants, oil and gas waste injection wells, impoundments for waste and water storage, water withdraw points, pipeline stream crossings, natural gas flares, solid waste disposal areas, road spreading conventional wastewater and wastewater treatment and recycling facilities are located all over Pennsylvania where oil and gas drilling is being done in rural, suburban and urban areas.

Because they are so widespread, it is particularly important for the public to notify DEP of the problems they see when spills, explosions, discharges, malfunctions or anything unusual happens at them or to you because your health and the environment could be at risk.

To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint by telephone or online, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage or call your nearest DEP Regional Office emergency number.

The state Office of Attorney General Shapiro also has a hotline citizens can use to report environmental issues with oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania-- 507-904-2643 or send an email to: fracking@attorneygeneral.gov.

(Photos: Pictures of rashes on Nico and Jodi, Borello; Bottom- Typical blowdown from 2012 to mid-2019; Right- DEP photo of Oak Springs Pigging Facility from Jan. 3, 2023 Inspection Report.)

[Written by David Hess, former Secretary, PA Department of Environmental Protection. Send comments to: PaEnviroDigest@gmail.com.]

[Note: Read how Acting DEP Secretary Richard Negrin wants to encourage a culture of excellence within DEP and fight for what the agency needs to succeed during his remarks to all DEP staff “all hands” meeting on February 15 - We Are Guardians Of Our Neighborhoods, We Are To Act In Service To Our Neighbors.]

Related NewsClips:

-- The Allegheny Front: CNX Pleads To Criminal Charges For Misrepresenting Air Pollution In Washington County Pigging Facility

-- Post-Gazette: MarkWest Settles EPA/DEP Air Pollution Claims On Compressor Stations, Pigging Operations

-- Post-Gazette-Laura Legere: No Venting At Night? Agency Finds Tweaks To Pipeline Pigging Operations Could Reduce Risks To Residents

-- DEP Ongoing Explosion/Fire Investigation: Energy Transfer Reported An Uncontrolled Release Of Ethane For 9.5 Hours From Its Revolution Natural Gas Processing Plant In Washington County [PaEN]

-- DEP Has Ordered A ‘Top To Bottom Review’ Of How It Regulates Underground Natural Gas Storage Areas As A Result Of The Equitrans Gas Leak In Cambria County In Nov. [PaEN]

Impacts On Families - Oil & Gas Facilities

-- Observer-Reporter: Ongoing Water Donation Drive Helping Dozens Of Greene County Families Who Haven’t Had Clean Drinking Water Since June Following Alleged ‘Frack-Out’ At Natural Gas Well Site [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Navy Veterans Patrick & Helen Robinson Relate Their 7-Year Struggle Dealing With Impacts Of Mariner East Pipeline Construction In Indiana County, And They Continue [PaEN]

-- Oil & Gas Industry Impacts: Cambria County Family Sues Sunoco After 3 Years Of Dealing With Damage To Home, Well, Septic System, Property From Mariner East Pipeline Construction [PaEN]

-- Washington County Family Lawsuit Alleges Shale Gas Company Violated The Terms Of Their Lease By Endangering Their Health, Contaminating Their Water Supply And Not Protecting Their Land [PaEN]

-- FracTracker Alliance Announces 7 Winners Of 2022 Community Sentinel Award For Environmental Stewardship; Including PA’s Laurie Barr [PaEN]