The Department of Environmental Protection has received and is reviewing the Act 2 Land Recycling Final Report by Equitrans on the cleanup of soil around the conventional gas well that failed and resulted in the uncontrolled venting of 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas from the Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County in November 2022. (PA Bulletin, page 201)

The report deals with the George Reade 1 conventional well.

The intent of the report is to prove Equitrans met the Statewide Health Standards in remediating soil contaminated by well plugging efforts designed to kill the well and stop the venting of gas.

Equitrans said the soil was contaminated with chloride, aluminum, boron, barium, iron, lithium, manganese, selenium, strontium, vanadium, zinc, acetone, xylenes, 2-butanone (MEK), and carbon disulfide.

Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information.  (PA Bulletin, page 201)

Groundwater Contamination

As recently as December 13, 2023, DEP conducted the latest in a series of inspections at the George Reade 1 well site and found Equitrans still has not resolved ground and surface water pollution issues related to plugging the well.

DEP has an ongoing water sampling effort involving the use of 10 monitoring wells to document groundwater conditions.

In addition, this inspection found a “rotten egg odor” from one of the monitoring wells which usually indicates the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas. Read more here.

 For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website, Report Emergencies, Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; visit DEP’s Blog,  Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.

(Photo: Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area venting gas as seen from space.  Courtesy Environmental Defense Fund.)

Related Articles - Equitrans:

-- DEP Issues Water Quality Certification For Equitrans Project To Replace Abandoned Natural Gas Storage Wells In Greene County Due To Coal Mining  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reaches $650,000 Settlement With Greene County Gas Storage Field Operator For Oil & Gas Act Violations [Swarts Gas Storage Complex]  [PaEN]

-- Attorney General Henry Announces Criminal Charges Against Equitrans For 2018 Natural Gas Explosion That Destroyed Home In Greene County [PaEN]

-- Equitrans Determined Leak Of Over 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas From Cambria County Storage Facility Was Caused By Corrosion In Conventional Gas Well Casing [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - September 9 to 15; First Abandoned Shale Gas Well Pad? Another Leaking Equitrans Storage Well; Plugging Grant Twp. Injection Well [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - September 2 to 8; Equitrans Issued NOVs For Failing To Provide DEP Inspectors Access To Facilities As Requested [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 4 to 12 - 9 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Leaking Wastewater Tanks; Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area Cleanup Continues; Pipeline Land Slips  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - January 13  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 61 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In January 13 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

2023 Oil & Gas Compliance Reports:

-- DEP Issued At Least 512 Violations To 95 Conventional Oil & Gas Operators For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them In 2023; 10 Shale Gas Operators Were Issued NOVs For Abandoning Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Record 6,860 Notices Of Violation To Conventional Oil & Gas Operators In 2023-- Nearly 52% More Than In 2021; ‘Culture Of Non-Compliance’ Continues  [PaEN] 

-- 2023 Shale Gas Operator Compliance Report: 1,310 Violations; Explosions; Pad Fire, Evacuation; Uncontrolled Gas Venting; Frack-Outs; Polluting Water Supply; Spills; Pipeline Crashing Thru A Home; More  [PaEN]

-- PA Environment Digest: Articles On Oil & Gas Facility Impacts

Related Articles This Week:

-- Environmental Hearing Board Allows Protect PT Appeal Of Olympus Shale Gas Well Permits In Westmoreland County To Proceed; Olympus Was Trying To Deprive Protect PT Of Its Rights  [PaEN]

-- PJM Interconnection: Winter Weather Forces Natural Gas Pipeline Fuel Restrictions, ‘Conservative Operations’ Declared To Assure Electric Grid Reliability Through Jan. 17  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issues Water Quality Certification For Equitrans Project To Replace Abandoned Natural Gas Storage Wells In Greene County Due To Coal Mining  [PaEN]

-- DEP Reviewing Equitrans Act 2 Soil Cleanup Report On Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area Conventional Well That Failed Venting 1.1 Billion Cubic Feet Of Natural Gas In Cambria County  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued Air Quality Permit For Leachate Evaporation System At Westmoreland  Landfill With Special Radiation Monitoring Due To The Disposal Of Shale Gas Drilling Waste  [PaEN]

-- DEP Sets Feb. 27 Hearing On Helix Ironwood Gas-Fired Power Plant Air Quality Permit Renewal, Lebanon County  [PaEN]

-- No False Solutions PA Coalition Issues Position Statement On Hydrogen, Carbon Capture & Storage, Chemical Recycling Of Plastics, Other Climate 'Solutions'  [PaEN]

-- Jewish Earth Alliance, Beth Am Israel Hosting Jan. 23 Online Program Rethinking Our Connection To Fossil Fuels - A Discussion  [PaEN]

-- Evangelical Environmental Network: EPA Proposes Waste Charge On Methane Leaking From Large Oil & Gas Facilities  [PaEN]

NewsClips This Week - Oil & Gas:

-- Bob Donnan Blog: Fracking Groundwater Study Underway In SW PA

-- TribLive: Olympus Energy Contends Natural Gas Compressor Station For Penn Twp. Not Harmful To Environment In Westmoreland County

-- Bob Donnan Blog: What’s Not To Hate About Natural Gas Compressor Stations?

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: PA Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity Problem Persists [Industry Points To Out-Of-State Pipeline Delays As Examples]

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Partisan Split On Energy, Environment Makes Compromise Unlikely

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Chesapeake Energy Buys Southwestern Leapfrogging EQT As Biggest Gas Producer In US

-- Bloomberg Columnist: US Oil And Gas Boom Doesn’t Feel Like One To Workers

-- Wall Street Journal - Kris Maher: Democrat PA Gov. Shapiro, CNX Fracking Executive And The Deal They Struck, Can It Work?

-- TribLive Editorial: Hydrogen Isn’t Clean If It Adds To Climate Pollution; Biden’s Rules Are A Good Start

[Posted: January 12, 2024]

1/15/2024