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PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 20 to 26 - 15 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Plugging Abandoned Shale Gas Wells; Revolution Pipeline Land Slip; Brief Compressor Fire; Crypto Mining? What's That Pink Stuff?

From January 20 to 26, DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database shows oil and gas inspectors filed 550 inspection entries.

DEP’s database is still catching up with posting inspection reports in January.

So far this year-- as of January 19--

-- NOVs Issued In Last Week: 70 conventional, 21 unconventional

-- Year To Date - NOVs Issued: 325 conventional and 58 unconventional

-- Enforcements 2024: 23 conventional and 4 unconventional

-- Inspections Last Week: 169 conventional and 295 unconventional

-- Year To Date - Inspections: 662 conventional and 1,322 unconventional

-- Wells Drilled Last Week: 2 conventional and 16 unconventional

-- Year To Date Wells Drilled: 7 conventional and 25 unconventional

NEW Section - Environmental Hearing Board

The Environmental Hearing Board recently posted these actions--

-- PA General Energy withdrew its appeal of a DEP permit rescission letter for the Yanity oil and gas waste injection well permit in Grant Township, Indiana County, without prejudice [Docket: 2020-046]

-- The Board denied a motion by the Lackawanna Energy Center natural gas-fired power plant to dismiss the portion of the Borough of Jessup’s appeal of a DEP Air Quality Permit saying the permit is inconsistent with the local Conditional Use Decision and Host Municipality Agreement. The Board allowed the appeal to continue on its merits on January 25, 2024. [Docket: 2023-068] Read more here.

-- On January 8, 2024, the Environmental Hearing Board issued an adjudication denying the 2021 appeal of a DEP permit for the Tri-County Landfill in Mercer County brought by Liberty Township and the Citizens Environmental Association of Slippery Rock Area. [Docket 2021007]

Among the issues raised by the appellants in their appeal were-- concerns the landfill’s operation would attract birds and interfere with the operation of the nearby Grove City Airport; that the oil and gas drilling wastes the landfill was allowed to accept presented a radiation hazard; and the landfill’s compliance history.

The Board’s 113-page adjudication was very critical of the case made by the appellants and the lack of expert testimony and the presentation of evidence relevant to the issues they raised..

A spokesperson for the Citizens Environmental Association of Slippery Rock Area told WFMJ news they would appeal this ruling. Read more here about the adjudication.

15 Abandoned Conventional Wells

On January 12, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of conventional wells Brezez/Hum 3, Ivory 1, McConnell 5, Yahner 4, Yahner 6 and Sharretts 2 in Clearfield Township, Cambria County operated by Apollo Resources, LLC and found them all to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP issued the original notices of violation for well abandonment on March 23, 2022 as well as violations of inactive well status and failure to submit annual production and waste generation and well integrity reports.

Previous inspections and violations have not been addressed or responded to by the operator.

DEP’s inspection reports [Ivory 1] requested written reports on bringing the wells into compliance by January 26, 2024.

On January 17, 2024 DEP did a routine inspection of the Cunningham 7 conventional well in Pinegrove Township, Venango County operated by Baron Crest Energy Co. and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP issued notices of violation for abandonment, and as noted last week, for failure to submit annual production and waste generation and well integrity reports.

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by February 2, 2024 on how the operator planned to bring the well into compliance.

On January 18, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of Paterra 1 conventional well in Carroll Township, Washington County operated by Diversified Prod. LLC and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by February 6, 2024 on how the operator will bring the well into compliance.

On January 25, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of the Jack 16 (Bradford Township) and Roy Williams 5 (Corydon Township) conventional wells operated by Pecora Enterprises in McKean County and found them to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP’s inspection report [Jack 16 - example] requested a written report by February 22, 2024 from the operator on how the wells would be brought into compliance.

On January 2, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of the Halcomb 1 conventional well in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County operated by Myrna Halcomb and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP issued violations for abandonment, failing to comply with corrosion control requirements on wastewater storage tank and for failing to submit annual production and waste generation and well integrity reports.

The report notes the listed operators are deceased and that a packet is being completed to start the process of plugging the well.

DEP’s inspection report requests the operator to submit a written report by January 19, 2024 on how the well will be brought into compliance.

On January 2, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of conventional well OTT 1 in North Bethlehem Township, Washington County operated by Rice Drilling B LLC [EQT Drilling] and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP noted the well was venting gas to the atmosphere.

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by January 18, 2024 from the operator on how the well will be brought into compliance.

In a response dated January 15, 2024, EQT said it completed a “water off the well” procedure on January 15, 2024 to prevent the upward flow of gas and that the company intended to plug the well in 2025.

On January 3, 2024, DEP did an administrative inspection of the River Ridge Dev. 25 conventional well in Cranberry Township, Venango County operated by River Ridge Gravel Co. and found it to be abandoned and not plugged.

The original notice of violation for abandonment issued on December 12, 2023 and for failing to submit annual production and waste generation and well integrity reports on November 9, 2022.

DEP’s inspection report notes the operator said the well will be plugged as soon as weather permits, but requests a written report by January 12, 2024 on how the operator plans to bring the well into compliance.

DEP cited River Ridge Gravel Co. for failing to submit annual production and waste generation and well integrity reports multiple times over the last three months, including 14 conventional wells on January 2, 2024; 11 conventional wells on December 6 and 7, 2023; 10 conventional wells on December 15, 2023; 7 conventional wells on December 27, 2023; 54 conventional wells on November 14, 2022; 34 conventional wells on November 21, 2022.

DEP’s eFACT database shows River Ridge Gravel Co has permits for 111 oil and gas wells.

On January 11, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection of the St. Basil the Great 4463 and St. Basil the Great 1 conventional wells in Lower Tyrone Township, Fayette County operated by Manufacturers Light & Heat Co. and found them to be abandoned and not plugged.

DEP originally issued notice of violation on April 26, 2023 for failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports, a damaged wastewater storage tank and other violations. An NOV for abandonment was issued originally on June 1, 2023.

DEP continued all violations since no effort was made to comply.

DEP’s inspection report [Basil 4463] requested a written report by January 24, 2024 on how the operator planned to bring the well into compliance.

[So far in 2024, DEP issued or continued 33 notices of violation for conventional oil and gas well abandonment.]

Gas Bubbling From Just Permitted Injection Well

On January 26, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection on conventional well Lot 580-580-1 operated by Catalyst Energy Inc. in Keating Township, McKean County and found gas was bubbling up from the outside of the casing and it was covered with water.

DEP’s inspection report noted the well is now permitted as a disposal well and indicated there will be a follow-up inspection that same day.

Cryptocurrency Data Mining At Abandoned Wells?

On January 22, 2024, DEP filed inspection reports for five conventional wells operated by Blackrock Enterprises LLC in Fayette County documenting a short phone conversation with the operator about multiple violations at the wells.

During that conversation, the inspection reports say, the “Operator discussed getting the wells setup for cryptocurrency mining.”

The wells involved were-- Smiley 1 in Springhill Township and Opperman 1, Smith 1, Smith 2 and Murray 1 in Georges Township. [DEP inspection report: Smiley 1 - example]

Four of the five wells have received violations for being abandoned and for other infractions--

-- Smiley 1: Abandoned and not plugged, failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports - originally issued October 18, 2023;

-- Smith 1: Abandoned and not plugged [January 10, 2024], failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports - originally issued;

-- Smith 2: Abandoned and not plugged, failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports - originally issued October 18, 2023;

-- Murray 1: Abandoned and not plugged, failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports - originally issued October 18, 2023; and

-- Opperman 1: Failure to submit production and waste generation and well integrity reports - originally issued October 18, 2023.

DEP did not change the compliance status of any of the wells as a result of the conversation with the operator.

Abandoned Conventional Well Survey

DEP did a number of abandoned conventional well inspection this week under the Federal Stimulus Planning Project to identify wells for plugging--

-- Cowboy Oil & Gas Co., Mineral Township, Venango County

-- Armstrong 2A: Venting Gas To Atmosphere

-- Armstrong 1A

-- Unknown Operator, Sugarcreek Borough, Venango County

-- Holden 5: Venting Gas To Atmosphere

Abandoned Shale Gas Wells

Since August 8, 2023, Roulette Oil and Gas LLC has failed to resolve abandoned well violations involving the Guardian B shale gas well pad in Hebron Township, Potter County, even after DEP met with the operator-- Jim Reynolds-- twice on the site, according to DEP inspection reports.

On January 3, 2024 DEP did a routine inspection of the Guardian B shale gas well pad and continued the violation for “Failure to plug the well upon abandoning it” for well 6H.

DEP’s January 3 inspection report said the purpose of the inspection was to review the pending submission of a Regulatory Inactive Well Status Extension by the operator to address the well abandonment violations.

Jim Reynolds from Roulette Oil and Gas was present at the inspection as was the property owner, according to the inspection report. Read more here.

Plugging Begins On Abandoned Shale Gas Well

On January 23, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection at the Coretsky shale gas well pad in Prospect Borough, Butler County operated by XTO Energy, Inc. [ExxonMobil] and found plugging operations had begun on the first of four abandoned shale gas wells at that pad.

DEP inspector Brian MacQuarrie noted AXIS workover Rig 53 was on location and at the Patton 2H and put 4,650 feet of tubing down the well and pumped 1,260 gallons of freshwater and thin drilling “mud” down the hole.

MacQuarrie’s inspection report noted he was on site observing the operation for about six hours on January 23. Read more here.

Compressor Station Fire

At 1:15 a.m. on January 21, 2024, DEP received a report of a small fire in a boiler at the EQM Gathering OPCO, LLC Pisces Natural Gas Compressor Station at 543 Templeton Road in East Finley Township, Washington County.

The report stated that emergency crews had already responded, extinguished the fire and no gas was released. DEP is following up with the operator.

According to notices on the EQM Gathering [Equitrans] website, the Pisces Station was undergoing “critical” “unplanned maintenance” from January 22 to 31, but that was changed to January 29 to February 2.

In connection with this maintenance, the notice said Pisces Unit #1 will be shutdown during the maintenance period. [Read notices here.]

Revolution Pipeline Land Slip

On January 5, 2024, DEP did an inspection of the Revolution Natural Gas Pipeline in Raccoon Township, Beaver County in response to a notification by ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC that on December 18, 2023 slope movement was discovered by their environmental inspectors.

The operator described the land slip area as small-- a 12-foot crescent shape with less than a foot displacement. A GeoTechnical evaluation was conducted on December 21, 2023.

DEP issued notices of violation for failure to construct and maintain the pipeline right-of-way and for failure to implement adequate erosion and sedimentation controls.

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by February 5, 2024 on how the area will be brought into compliance.

[Note: Both DEP and the operator of the Revolution Pipeline are very sensitive to land slips and slides because the pipeline exploded in September 2018 after landslides put pressure on the newly built pipeline and caused a rupture.

[ETC Northeast Pipeline was fined $30.6 million for violations leading to the explosion [Read more here], was later convicted of criminal charges by the Office of Attorney General for the violations [Read more here] and fined another $1 million for violations related to the pipeline by the Public Utility Commission [Read more here].]]

Conventional Well Site Not Cleaned Up For 66 Months

This Week, DEP did the most recent follow-up inspection of a conventional oil well site and found spills and releases at the site have still not been cleaned up since July of 2018.

The inspection report noted some bags of material contaminated by spills and releases have been removed, but the site appeared “unchanged” since the last inspection in June, 2023.

DEP’s report said-- “Production tanks remain on site and remain structurally compromised. Not all impacted material has been removed from the site's surface at this time.

“Wellhead remains covered in production fluid. The Department recommends cleaning the wellhead, along with the remediation efforts around the production tanks.”

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by January 31, 2024 on how the operator plans to bring the well site into compliance.

This is yet another example of why there should be protections in place for both conventional oil and gas well operators and taxpayers to make sure situations like this are properly cleaned up and the well plugged. Read more here.

Conventional Well Spill Cleanup Delayed By Landowner

On January 12, 2024, DEP did a follow-up inspection and meeting with T&T Compression’s cleanup contractor and Diversified Prod Co. about the cleanup of a spill at the Alexander Roy 1 conventional well site in Grant Township, Indiana County.

The cleanup of a release of an estimated 1,260 gallons of production wastewater at the site that happened on or about April 28, 2023 was delayed, according to DEP, by the refusal of the surface land owner to grant access to the operators and DEP to the site.

DEP’s inspection report said access to the property is now not restricted by the surface owner so remediation of the spill site is “encouraged to begin soon.”

The meeting was for the purpose of determining road maintenance procedures during remediation activities.

What’s That Pink Stuff?

On January 25, 2024, DEP did a routine inspection of the Fatur shale gas well pad operated by Apex Energy (PA) LLC in Salem Township, Westmoreland County and found multiple sites of contamination of an unknown pink fluid with elevated conductivity readings at the pad.

DEP’s inspector issued several violations related to the contamination and asked for information on what the fluid is.

DEP’s inspection report requested a written report by February 5, 2024 on how the operator will bring the site into compliance.

2024 Act 2 Oil & Gas Facility Pollution Cleanups

So far in 2024, DEP received these Act 2 Land Recycling notices related to oil and gas facility cleanups: Notices Of Intent-- 2 Final Reports--13 Approved-- 8 Technical Deficiencies-- 1 Disapproved-- 1 Remedial Investigations-- 1

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: Row 1- Apollo Resources, LLC abandoned conventional well; Baron Crest Energy Co abandoned conventional well; ETC Northeast Pipeline LLC Revolution Pipeline land slip area; Myrna Halcomb abandoned conventional well;

Row 2- Manufacturers Light & Heat Co. abandoned conventional well; Diversified Prod. Co. abandoned conventional well; Rice/EQT abandoned conventional well venting gas; T&T Compression conventional well spill site delayed cleanup;

Row 3- Apex Energy (PA) LLC “pink stuff” spill at shale gas pad (2 photos); Pecora Enterprises abandoned conventional well; Catalyst Energy Inc. just permitted as injection well found to be venting gas and covered with water (2 photos).)

[Note: If you believe your company was listed in error, contact DEP’s Oil and Gas Program.]

[Note: These may not be all the NOVs issued to oil and gas companies during this time period. Additional inspection reports may be added to DEP’s Oil and Gas Compliance Database.]

PA Weekly Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Jan. 20 to 26 - 15 More Abandoned Conventional Wells; Plugging Abandoned Shale Gas Wells; Revolution Pipeline Land Slip; Brief Compressor Fire; Crypto Mining? What's That Pink Stuff? [PaEN]

-- 5 Months Later, Roulette Oil & Gas Still Has Not Resolved Violations For Abandoning A Shale Gas Well Without Plugging It In Potter County [PaEN]

-- XTO Energy Begins Plugging First Of 4 Abandoned Shale Gas Wells At Butler County Well Pad [PaEN]

-- 66 Months Later, DEP Worked With Conventional Well Owner, But Multiple Spills At A Well Site Have Still Not Been Cleaned Up; No Protections In Place For Operators Or Taxpayers [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - January 27 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 84 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In January 27 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