The Spring road dumping season is underway in Northcentral and Northwest Pennsylvania as conventional oil and gas operators get rid of their wastewater on the region’s dirt and hard roads.

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words and here is a photo of fresh road dumping on Follet Run Road in Warren County on March 12, 2024.

The weather was clear and the temperature was 41 degrees.

That’s a hard road, not a dirt road, so there is no other motive except to dump the wastewater.

The road dumping was reported to DEP’s regional office.

Citizens in the region are reporting roads are getting “hammered” this Spring with conventional wastewater.  But it also continued unabated during the Winter, Fall, Summer and last Spring.

Road Dumping Illegal

Road dumping of conventional oil and gas wastewater is illegal, but it continues as if wasn’t.

Penn State researchers, and others found the wastewater running off the roadways after spreading contains concentrations of barium, strontium, lithium, iron, manganese that exceed human-health based criteria and levels of radioactive radium that exceed industrial discharge standards.

In fact, 25 out of the 31 chemicals and pollutants found in the wastewater exceeded, and in many instances far exceeded, established health or environmental standards, including radioactive radium.  Read more here.

The same earlier Penn State study also found conventional oil and gas wastewater was no more effective than plain water in suppressing dust on roads.  Read more here.

Report Violations

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

Related Articles - Road Dumping:

-- Penn State: Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Fails To Meet Beneficial Reuse Recommendations For Use As A Dust Suppressant  [PaEN]

-- DEP Tells Citizens Advisory Council Road Dumping Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Still Does Not Meet Residual Waste Regulations; Remains Illegal   [PaEN]

-- New Penn State Study: Brine Water Pumped From Played-Out Conventional Oil & Gas Wells And Used As Dust Suppressants, Winter Road Treatments Exceed Environmental, Health Standards, Just Like Conventional Oil & Gas Brine Water   [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboards:

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 16 to 22 - Truck Rollover; 12 More Abandoned Wells; Failure To Submit Annual Reports; Another Chewed Wastewater Line Leaking  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - March 23  [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 80 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In March 23 PA Bulletin  [PaEN] 

Related Articles This Week - Gas:

-- DEP Reports The Number Of Methane Contaminated Water Supplies From Oil & Gas Drilling Is Up ‘Across The Board,’ ‘Not A Good Trend’  [PaEN]

-- DEP: Shale Gas Drilling Resulted In 54 Incidents Of New Wells Interfering With Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells, Water Wells Or Other Shale Gas Wells   [PaEN]

-- DEP Pursuing Federal Funding To Further Define Human Health Impacts Of Abandoned Conventional Oil & Gas Wells  [PaEN]

-- Spring Road Dumping Season Underway As Conventional Oil & Gas Operators Get Rid Of Their Wastewater   [PaEN]

-- Fayette County Commissioners Unanimously Pass Ordinance Restricting Oil & Gas Wastewater Injection Wells  [PaEN]

-- DEP Notified Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County It Can No Longer Operate Under An Air Quality Construction Permit And Has 120 Days To Submit A Full Title V Air Quality Permit Application  [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- PA Utility Law Project: On-Demand Webinar: Exploring The Impact Of LNG Gas Exports On Pennsylvania Families

-- EQT CEO Needs More Pipelines Because US Has A 'Duty' To Supply China With LNG Gas

-- Bloomberg: EQT Gas CEO Says There’s ‘No Longer An Effective Lid On Prices’ After Coal Power Plants Closed Because Of Competition With Natural Gas 

-- The Energy Age Blog: Well Communication Events Over Past 8 Years

-- The Energy Age Blog: Development Of Range Resources-Appalachia Augustine George Shale Gas Well Pad - Act 14 Notice To Municipalities

-- The Energy Age Blog: Act 14 Notice To Local Governments Offering The Chance To Comment On EQT For Habanero Well 22 In Washington County

-- DeSmog: Activists Launch Their Own Investigation Of Mud Spill Near Sunoco Mariner East Pipeline In Chester County

-- TribLive: Protect PT To Scrutinize Beaver Run Reservoir Fracking Water Usage In Wake Of Drought

-- TribLive: CNX Resources To Pay Nearly $13,000 For Each 1.5 Million Gallons Drawn From Beaver Run Reservoir, 3 Million Gallons A Day Limit, For Fracking In Westmoreland

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: Federal Rules Push Average Well Plugging Cost To $100,000

-- Observer-Reporter Letter: Shale Gas Fracking Leaves A Trail Of Destruction - By Megan McDonough

-- Broad+Liberty Guest Essay: Natural Gas Pipeline Progress In Pennsylvania Shouldn’t Be Held Back Because Of Reading Chocolate Plant Explosion And The Deaths  - By Fmr Rep. Becky Corbin

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Appalachian Methane Initiative Adds More Members Among Oil & Gas Producers

-- The Allegheny Front: Taxpayers Subsidize Polluting Plastics Plants Like Shell’s Petrochemical Plant, Report Finds

[Posted: March 19, 2024]

3/25/2024