From July 8 to 14, DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database shows oil and gas inspectors filed 672  inspection entries that resulted in reporting 52 violations (new and continuing) of environmental regulations-- 43 violation entries by the conventional oil and gas industry and 9 violations by the unconventional shale natural gas industry.

So far this year-- as of July 7-- DEP issued 3,427 formal notices of violation to conventional operators (104 more than the week before) and 761 to unconventional shale gas operators (12 more than the week before) based on 8,101 inspections of conventional facilities and 13,004 inspections of unconventional shale gas facilities.

Failed Conventional Well Plugging

On July 10, DEP did a follow up inspection of the Armac Resources, LLC Warren Rail Car 2 conventional gas well in the City of Warren, Warren County and found an attempt to properly plug the well had failed.  Another attempt will be made to stop the gas leak.

On July 12, DEP inspected a conventional gas well operated by Diversified Prod LLC known as Miller 49 in Dunkard Township, Greene County and found a severely corroded production wastewater tank with holes.

DEP’s inspection report included notices of violation for multiple issues and requested the operator to submit a written report by July 31, 2023 on how they plan to bring the well into compliance.

On July 12, DEP inspected the Ethel Port Culbertson in Porter Township, Jefferson County operated by Diversified Prod LLC and found the well to be plugged and the well site was temporarily restored, however, a notice of violation was issued because the road leading to the site has not yet been stabilized to prevent erosion and sedimentation.

On July 10, DEP inspected the JO Clark Jr. 2 and 6 conventional gas wells operated by Fairman Corp. in Banks Township, Indiana County and found them to be plugged, however, the operator was given notices of violation for not stabilizing the site to prevent erosion and sedimentation.

Leaking Conventional Wells

 On July 11, DEP inspected the Warrant 4335 140 conventional well in Foster Township, McKean County operated by First Amer Energy Inc. and found it was still leaking natural gas. 

DEP’s inspection report noted violations were continued for the leaking well, defecting casing or cementing and the failure to submit a mechanical integrity report.

On July 14, DEP inspected the Swenson 1 conventional gas well operated by Niche Energy LLC in Waterford Township, Erie County and found it continued to leak natural gas.

Although the operator did not submit a written report on how they plan to bring the well into compliance, they did submit production and waste generation and a mechanical integrity reports as requested.

The operator remains in violation of well labeling and posting requirements, but not abandoning a well without plugging it.

DEP’s inspection report continues the violation for venting natural gas to the atmosphere and the operator was requested to submit a written report by August 11, 2023 on how they plan to bring the well into compliance.

On July 14, DEP also inspected Niche Energy LLC’s Senson 1, Catherine Carlson and Cook 1 conventional gas wells in Waterford Township, Erie County and although the operator did not submit a written report on how they plan to bring the well into compliance, they did submit a production and waste generation and mechanical integrity reports as requested.

The operator remains in violation of well labeling and posting requirements, but not abandoning a well without plugging it.

Failed Shale Gas Well Plugging

On July 10, DEP continued violations for the Phoenix 590796 shale gas well operated by EQT Prod Co. in Duncan Township, Tioga County for a failed plugging operation that continues to allow gas to leak from multiple locations in the well.

Shale Gas Well Pad Spill

On July 14, DEP inspected the Rumpelstiltskin shale gas well pad operated by Rice Drilling B LLC in Somerset Township, Washington County in response to a report by the company of a production wastewater spill.

DEP’s inspection report said a dumpline failed and spilled a small amount of production wastewater-- one barrel (42 gallons), although DEP found more wastewater at the bottom of the excavation the operator had made to take away the contaminated soil.

DEP requested a written report by July 26, 2023 on how the operator plans to bring the well site into compliance along with a better estimate of how much wastewater was spilled.

Olympus Energy Disputes Spill Report

On July 5, 2023, Olympus Energy responded to notices of violation from DEP related to an inspection on June 9, 2023 of the Calliope Well Pad in Upper Burrell Township, Westmoreland County that found stained soil and conductivity readings from a puddle of liquid indicating a spill of production wastewater.

The inspection was conducted in response to a report from Olympus of a spill.

DEP’s June 9, 2023 inspection report noted, “At the time of the onsite inspection, there were 2 rolloff boxes that appeared to be full of contaminated materials and a soil stockpile of material near the rolloff boxes. No activity related to spill remediation was currently ongoing. No Olympus representatives were onsite.”

Olympus said in its response, “Olympus’ call to the Department on June 8, 2023, did not state that a brine release or any release had occurred. Rather, the purpose of Olympus’ call to the Department was to provide a courtesy notification of observed stains and measured elevated conductivity.

“At no time was there any observed substance leaking or spilling onsite, and there had been no previous reports of spills prior to the observed light staining.”

“Olympus’s consultants collected pad material samples on June 8, 2023 to get further insight into the composition of the stained areas. While the analytical lab results detected chloride and other brine indicators, these levels are below the Medium-Specific Concentrations (MSC) for regulated substances in soil (Act 2 Clean Up Standards).

“A draft of the analytical report and summary of the sampling results is provided as an appendix to this response. At the time of this response, final results are still pending analysis and these results are necessary for an accurate and complete response and remediation.

“Once Olympus receives the final results, it will supplement this response and address the questions of the Department.

“Based on the foregoing, there was no violation of 78a.54 and OGA3218.2(A) and it is premature to make a determination that Olympus was in violation of SWMA 301 or 78a64a(b).”

Federally-Funded Well Plugging

DEP continued to inspect federally-funded conventional oil and gas well plugging contract locations and found no violations.

The inspections were done in Allegheny County (Moon Township); Armstrong County (Gilpin & Manor Townships); Clarion County (Paint Township); Clinton County (East Keating Township); McKean County (Eldred Township); Venango County (Cranberry Township); Washington County (Cecil & North Franklin Townships)

Dimock Region, Susquehanna County

DEP again conducted multiple inspections of shale gas wells operated by Coterra Energy Inc. in Susquehanna County.

Failure To Submit Waste/Integrity Reports

On July 10, DEP continued violations for failure to submit annual production and waste generation and well mechanical integrity reports for the Quertinmont 1 and 2 conventional wells in German Township, Fayette County operated by Dorso LP.

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 and the Inspection Reports Viewer.

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.

(Photos: top- Diversified Prod LLC Miller 49 production wastewater tank with holes in Greene County; Leaking First Amer Energy Inc.  Warrant 4335 140 in Mercer County; bottom- Rice Drilling B LLC Rumpelstiltskin shale gas well pad dumpline failure in Washington County; Leaking Niche Energy LLC Swenson conventional gas well in Erie County.)

NewsClips:

-- Public News Service: Report: Oil And Gas Air Pollution Effects On Health Of Pennsylvanians 

-- TribLive: Protect PT Seeks Support For Proposed Ordinance Regulating Shale Gas Wells In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County; Meeting July 13

-- Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund: The Law Did Not Save Grant Township’s Water From PA General Energy Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Well, The People Of Grant Did

-- StateImpactPA - Susan Phillips: New Sinkhole Forms [Again] Along Mariner East Natural Gas Liquids Pipeline In Chester County

-- Independent Fiscal Office Reports PA Natural Gas Production Peaked In 4th Quarter 2021 [PaEN]

-- US Energy Information Administration: 2022 Appalachian Natural Gas Production Flat With Productivity Declines In Key Counties In PA

-- Bloomberg: Sweet Spot For Building New US LNG Natural Gas Projects Is Fading

-- Bloomberg: European Natural Gas Prices Have Biggest Weekly Loss Of The Year

-- Bloomberg: European Power Prices Fall Below Zero This Weekend With Green Power Boom 

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - July 8 to 14; Failed Shale Gas, Conventional Well Plugging; Leaking Conventional Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - July 15  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Risk Assessment Did Not Prove Chemicals Polluting Soil & Groundwater At American Refinery Group’s Bradford Petroleum Refinery Met Safe Environmental Cleanup Standards  [PaEN]

-- DEP Invites Comments On CNX Midstream Project To Expose Natural Gas, Water/Wastewater Pipelines To Prevent Longwall Coal Mining Damage In Greene County  [PaEN] 

-- DEP Posted 60 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In July 15 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- DEP Secretary Negrin To Citizen Activists: ‘We Don’t Represent Chevron, We Don’t Represent Shell And I’ve Made That Absolutely Clear-- We’re Holding Those Leaders Accountable’  [PaEN]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Do Oil & Gas Drillers Owe Taxpayers Royalties For Oil & Gas Under Roads, Streets, Bridges And Other Taxpayer-Owned Land?  [PaEN]

-- EQB No Longer Has Statutory Authority To Change Conventional Oil & Gas Well Bonding Amounts To Help Prevent 400 to 600 New Well Abandonments A Year; Adopts Proposed Changes To Water Quality Standards For Comment  [PaEN]

-- PA Eligible To Apply For $76.4 Million In Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Funding To Plug Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells; Conventional Operators Still Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts Draft Final Chapter 105 Environmental Assessment Alternatives Analysis; Will Discuss At Agricultural Advisory Board Meeting July 18  [PaEN]

-- DEP Announces July 13 Local Steering Committee Meeting For $5 Million Shell Petrochemical Plant Community Fund  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reminder Of July 25 Hearing On Proposed Oil & Gas Waste Injection Well In Clara Twp., Potter County

-- MethaneSAT-EDF Successfully Test Methane Detection Technology To Be Used To Document Methane Emissions From Onshore Natural Gas Production In North America  [PaEN]

-- DEP Blog: Do You Know What’s Below? Gasoline Stations And Aging Underground Storage Tanks In Pennsylvania [PaEN] 

[Posted: July 15, 2023]

7/17/2023